JP3444018B2 - Communication device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device such as a facsimile device having an automatic redial function, and more particularly to a communication device for prohibiting a redial operation when an unused dial number is erroneously called. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a communication device having an auto redial function, a facsimile device, a personal computer and the like have been known. The auto redial function is to automatically dial a preset number of times at regular time intervals when the line is not connected to the other party.

By the way, when such a communication device having an automatic redial function is a facsimile device, the redial operation is unconditionally repeated even when the destination is a device having no facsimile function, such as a telephone. .

As a result, the other party is inconvenienced as well as the use efficiency of the communication line is lowered, and when the telephone or the like responds (off-hook), communication costs are incurred and it is not economical. It was

In order to solve such a problem, conventionally,
When a ring back tone (RBT) is detected after calling and a busy tone (BT) is detected after that, it is determined that the other party has a facsimile function and the redial operation is prohibited or the number of redials is reduced. Facsimile devices that perform processing are known (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 4)
-230167 and JP-A-5-110802).

That is, when a call is made from the facsimile device to a telephone having no facsimile function, the telephone operator goes off-hook in response to the ringing tone generated by the call, but only the facsimile signal can be heard from the handset. When it is determined that communication is impossible, the handset goes on-hook. In this case, the calling side facsimile machine has RB
After receiving T, BT will be received.

Therefore, when receiving the BT after receiving the RBT, it is determined that the other party is a telephone having no facsimile function, and the redial operation is prohibited or the number of redials is reduced to solve the above problems. Is.

The RBT (ringing tone) is an audible sound signal for notifying the caller or the calling terminal that the called terminal is calling, and BT means that the called terminal is busy. It is an audible sound signal to be transmitted to the caller or the calling terminal.

[0009]

By the way, the above-mentioned conventional Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-230167 or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
The device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 110802 is intended to prevent erroneous redialing of usable dial numbers, that is, existing dial numbers, and does not consider the case of erroneous dialing of unused dial numbers.

If the user dials an unused dial number by mistake, the RBT will simply announce that the telephone number you have called is not currently in use.
Is not sent over the line.

Therefore, the above-mentioned Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-230167.
In the facsimile machine described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1102802/1993, if an unused dial number is erroneously dialed, the RBT is not detected. Therefore, the redial operation is repeated until the facsimile communication succeeds. During this redial operation, the line connecting this facsimile machine is occupied, which may interfere with other facsimile communication, that is, the incoming call from the other facsimile machine or the other outgoing call from the facsimile machine. There was a problem.

Therefore, the present invention eliminates such problems, prevents meaningless redial operation when a dial number that is not used is mistakenly called, and mistakenly dials a dial number that is not used thereafter. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication device that prevents a call from being made.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, if a line is not connected to the other party due to a call to the other party, automatic redialing is performed at regular intervals until the line is connected to the other party. In a communication device having a redial unit (5a in FIG. 1), first detecting means (4 in FIG. 1) for detecting a ringback tone from the line when the call is made, and a busy tone from the line when making the call When the ring back tone and the busy tone are not detected by the second detecting means (3 in FIG. 1) and the first detecting means and the second detecting means,
A control means (5 in FIG. 1) for prohibiting the redial operation by the automatic redial unit is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when a line is not connected to the other party due to a call to the other party, automatic redialing is automatically performed a predetermined number of times every fixed time until the other party is connected to the line. Redial part (5 in Fig. 1
In the communication device having a), first detecting means (4 in FIG. 1) for detecting a ringback tone from the line when the call is made, and second detecting means for detecting a busy tone from the line when making the call. (3 in FIG. 1), and when neither the ringback tone nor the busy tone is detected by the first detection means and the second detection means, the preset number of times by the auto redial unit is set to be higher than the number of times. The control means (5b in FIG. 1) for changing the number of times to a small number is provided.

Preferably, in the first aspect of the invention, when the redial operation is prohibited by the control means, a notification means (9 in FIG. 1) for notifying the caller of the fact is further provided. .

In the first invention, when neither the ringback tone nor the busy tone is detected by the first detecting means and the second detecting means, the storing means (for storing the dialed number) Figure 4
11) is further provided, and the dial number stored in the storage means is compared with the dial number related to the call. If the two match, a confirmation process is performed to confirm the dial number related to the call. Means (51b in FIG. 4) is further provided.

[0017]

In the first invention, the first detecting means does not detect the ringback tone from the line when the call is made to the other party, and the second detecting means generates the busy tone from the line when the call is made to the other party. When not detected, the control means prohibits the redial operation by the auto redial function.

Thus, it is possible to prevent meaningless redial operation when a call is made to an unused dial number by mistake.

In the second invention, the first detecting means does not detect the ringback tone from the line when the call is made to the other party, and the second detecting means generates the busy tone from the line when the call is made to the other party. If not detected, the control means changes the preset number of redial operations by the automatic redial unit to a number smaller than the preset number, thereby reducing the number of redial operations by the automatic redial unit.

As a result, it is possible to reduce the load of meaningless redial operation when a dial number that is not used is called by mistake.

When the notifying means is provided in the first invention,
The control means detects the ringback tone from the line when the call is made to the other party, and the second detection means does not detect the busy tone from the line when the call is made to the other party. The redial operation is prohibited, and the notification means notifies the calling party that the redial operation by the automatic redial unit is prohibited.

This makes it possible to prevent a meaningless redial operation when a call is made to an unused dial number by mistake, and the caller immediately recognizes the wrong dial number to make sure that the other party is correct. You can make calls with various dial numbers.

When the storage means and the confirmation processing means are provided in the first invention, the first detection means does not detect the ringback tone from the line when the call is made to the other party, and the second detection means When the busy tone from the line is not detected when the call is made to the other party, the dial number of the call is stored in the storage means. The confirmation processing means confirms the dial number stored in the storage means and the dial number related to the call when making a call.

Thus, it is possible to prevent the dial number which is not used from being erroneously called.

[0025]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the facsimile apparatus includes a network control unit 1, a modem 2, a BT detection unit 3, an RBT detection unit 4,
The communication control unit 5, the reading unit 6, the recording unit 7, the input panel unit 8, the notification unit 9, and the timer 10 are included.

The network control unit 1 is connected to a switching network (not shown) via a communication line L, has an interface function between the switching network and the facsimile apparatus, and controls line connection / release.

The modem 2 is connected to the network control unit 1 and the communication control unit 5 and performs modulation / demodulation processing of transmission / reception signals. The BT detection unit 3 extracts the busy tone at the time of call connection from the network control unit 1 and detects it. The RBT detection unit 4 extracts the ringback tone at the time of call connection from the network control unit 1 and detects it.

The reading unit 6 reads an image.
The recording unit 7 has a function of printing the received facsimile information and the communication report to the sender. The input panel unit 8 is a user interface panel including a numeric keypad for dial number input, a start button for starting communication, and the like. The notification unit 9 is a liquid crystal display, and displays the dial number input from the input panel unit 8 and the mode of facsimile communication, and also displays the communication result. The timer 10 is used to measure a time-out time described later.

The communication control unit 5 automatically redials at regular intervals until the line is connected to the other party when the line is not connected to the other party due to a call made to the other party. The automatic redial unit 5b and the automatic redial unit. 5b has a dial number changing unit 5b for automatically redialing, and changing a preset number to a number smaller than the preset number, for transmitting / receiving data to / from the modem 2, BT detecting unit 3 and RBT detection. The automatic redial unit 5a and the dial number changing unit 5b are controlled by the detection result of the unit 4, and various controls are performed on the reading unit 6, the recording unit 7, the input panel unit 8, the notification unit 9, and the timer 10.

Next, referring to the flow chart of FIG.
A call processing procedure of the facsimile apparatus of FIG. 1 will be described.

In FIG. 2, first, when the call start button is pressed for the dial number input from the input panel unit 8, the reading unit 6 reads the image information, and the communication control unit 5 causes the input dial number. Call processing corresponding to the number is performed (steps 101 and 102). Then, the communication control unit 5 uses the timer 1 to monitor the RBT and BT.
The measurement of 0 is started (step 103).

Thereafter, the communication control section 5 judges whether or not the RBT detection section 4 has detected the RBT (step 104),
When the RBT is not detected, the BT detection unit 105 is further added.
Determines whether BT has been detected (step 105),
If the BT is not detected, it is further determined whether or not the timer has passed a predetermined time, that is, the timeout time (step 106). If the RBT and the BT are not detected, the RBT and the BT are continued until the timeout time elapses.
Detection is repeated.

If the time-out time has elapsed in step 106, that is, within the time-out time, RBT and B
When T is not detected, the communication control unit 5 recognizes that the call is made by an unused dial number, disconnects the call (step 107), and causes the automatic redial unit 5a to prohibit the redial operation. Is performed (step 108). After that, the communication control unit 5 resets (initializes) the timer 10 (step 109), notifies the notification unit 9 that the redial operation is prohibited (step 110), and ends this processing.

On the other hand, when the RBT is detected in step 104, the communication control unit 5 waits for a response from the other party and receives a reception preparation completion notification from the other party according to the response of the other party (in the communication phases A and B). Done) and (step 111),
The image information is transmitted to the other party (step 112), and after the image information is transmitted, the timer 10 is reset (step 1).
13) This process ends. If the other party does not respond in step 111, or if the other party responds but cannot receive the reception preparation completion notification, the call is disconnected (step 1
14) and reset the timer 10 (step 11
5) After that, the redial process is performed on the automatic redial unit 5a (steps 116 to 118). That is,
When the call is recalled (step 116) and the reception preparation completion notice is received from the other party (step 117), step 1
12, the image information is transmitted to the other party, the timer 10 is reset thereafter, and this processing is ended. If the reception ready notification from the other party cannot be received, the recalling process is repeated until the preset number N of redials is exceeded. If the number N is exceeded, the process proceeds to step 110. Then, the fact that the facsimile transmission has not succeeded, that is, the image information could not be transmitted is notified to the notification unit 9 (step 110), and this processing ends.

When BT is detected in step 105, the calling is stopped and the call is released (step 114).
Then, the timer 10 is reset (step 11
5) The redial processing of steps 116 to 118 described above is performed. Then, in this redial process, when a reception preparation completion notice is received from the other party (step 11
7) The image information is transmitted and the timer is reset in steps 112 and 113, and the present process is terminated. Even if the preset number N of redials is exceeded, a reception preparation completion notification is received from the other party. If not, the notification unit 9 is notified that the facsimile transmission was not successful (step 110), and the present process is terminated.

Thus, in the first embodiment, RB
When neither T nor BT is detected, it is considered that the call is made to an unused dial number, and unnecessary redial processing is not performed.

Next, an application example of the first embodiment will be described.

In the first embodiment, the redial process is prohibited by the automatic redial unit 5a as a process when neither RBT nor BT is detected. However, the application of the first embodiment In the example, the number of redials is reduced as a process when neither RBT nor BT is detected.

The configuration of the application example of the first embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, but the processing of the communication control unit 5 is different. That is, a new dial number changing unit 5b for changing the preset number of redials is newly provided in the auto redial unit 5a.

The process of the communication control unit 5 will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. 3, and the difference from the process of the communication control unit 5 of the first embodiment will be described.
The communication control unit 5 in the application example of the embodiment of
If the RBT and BT are not detected in step 2, the call is disconnected. Thereafter, the dial count changing unit 5b changes the value N of the number of redials set in the automatic redial unit 5a, which is used in the determination in step 118, to the value
The value is reset to a smaller value M (step 120). Then, a process of repeating the redial operation in steps 116 to 118 up to M times is performed.

As a result, it is possible to reduce useless redial operations performed when a call is made to a dial number that is not in use, and it is possible to obtain substantially the same effect as the prohibition of redial operations in the first embodiment. You can

Next, the second embodiment will be described.

FIG. 4 shows the construction of a facsimile apparatus according to the second embodiment. The construction of the second embodiment is as follows.
A memory unit 11 for storing past false dial numbers is added to the configuration of the first embodiment. In addition, the memory unit 11
The communication control unit 51, which processes based on the past erroneous dial numbers stored in, is different from the communication control unit 5 shown in the first embodiment.

A call processing procedure of the facsimile apparatus according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In the second embodiment, whether the confirmation processing unit 51b of the communication control unit 51 tries to call the wrong dial number stored in the memory unit 11 with the same dial number before performing the calling process. Is judged (step 203), and if it is the same dial number as the erroneous dial number, it is notified to the notifying section 9 (step 204), the caller is asked to confirm the dial number, and the caller is confirmed. Call processing using the correct dial number is performed (steps 205, 2).
06). The processing from step 207 to step 223 is the same as the processing from step 103 to step 118 in the first embodiment, but the dial number for which redial processing is prohibited in step 212 is stored in step 214 as an incorrect dial number. It is different from the first embodiment in that it is registered in the section 11. The erroneous dial number registered in step 214 is then used in the dial number comparison process in step 203.

When registering the wrong dial number in the memory unit 11 in step 214, if the memory cannot be registered because the memory capacity is insufficient, the oldest wrong dial number is sequentially deleted.

According to the second embodiment, it is possible to prevent the transmission of an erroneous dial number by comparing it with the past erroneous dial number before calling.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the notification unit 9 is arranged to give a notification to the effect that the redial processing of the dial number is prohibited, but the present invention is not limited to this. Without notification, the notification means of the notification unit 9 may be, for example, "prohibit redial, confirmation of dial number".
The message may be printed as a communication report, or may be notified by voice or a warning sound using a speaker.

Also in the second embodiment, as in the application example of the first embodiment, the value N of the number of redials determined in step 223 is determined without performing the redial operation prohibition process in step 212. The value may be reset to a value M smaller than this value N, and redial processing may be performed based on the reset number M of redials.

Further, in the second embodiment, the memory unit 11
If the wrong dialed number in the above and the entered dialed number match, the entered dialed number is not called and the caller is prompted to confirm the entered dialed number. The call is made after confirming the person's dial number. However, when the dial communication that matches the erroneous dial number is made and the facsimile communication is successful, the call is registered in the memory unit 11. You may add the process of deleting an erroneous dial number. This improves the reliability of the erroneous dial number stored in the memory unit 11.

[0053]

As described above in detail, in the first aspect of the invention, the first detecting means does not detect the ringback tone from the line at the time of making a call to the other party, and the second detecting means makes the other party. If the busy tone from the line is not detected when making a call to the other party, the control means prohibits the redial operation by the auto redial part, so meaningless redial operation when accidentally calling an unused dial number is prevented. It has the advantage of being able to.

In the second invention, the first detecting means does not detect the ringback tone from the line when the call is made to the other party, and the second detecting means generates the busy tone from the line when the call is made to the other party. If not detected, the control means changes the preset number of redial operations by the auto redial unit to a number smaller than the preset number, thereby reducing the number of redial operations by the auto redial unit. This has an advantage that it is possible to reduce the load on the meaningless redial operation when a wrong dial number is called by mistake.

When the notifying means is provided in the first invention,
The control means detects the ringback tone from the line when the call is made to the other party, and the second detection means does not detect the busy tone from the line when the call is made to the other party. The redial operation is prohibited and the notification means notifies the caller that the redial operation by the auto redial unit is prohibited, so meaningless redial operation can be performed if an unused dial number is accidentally called. Can be prevented and
The calling party has the advantage that he can immediately recognize the wrong dialed number and can make a call with the correct dialed number of the other party.

When the storage means and the confirmation processing means are provided in the first invention, the first detection means does not detect the ring back tone from the line when the call is made to the other party, and the second detection means When the busy tone from the line is not detected when the call is made to the other party, the dial number of the call is stored in the storage means. When making a call, the confirmation processing means performs confirmation processing of the dial number stored in the storage means and the dial number related to the call, so that it is possible to prevent accidentally making a call to an unused dial number. It has the advantage of being able to

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a calling processing procedure in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a call processing procedure in an application example of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a call processing procedure in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Network control unit 2 ... Modem 3 ... BT detection unit 4 ... RB
T detection unit 5 ... communication control unit 6 ... reading unit 7 ... recording unit 8 ... input panel unit 9 ... notification unit 10 ... timer L ... communication line

Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04M 1/27 H04M 11/00 303 H04N 1/00 106 H04N 1/00 107 H04N 1/32

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A communication device having an auto redial unit that automatically redials at regular intervals until a line is connected to the destination when the line is not connected to the destination due to a call made to the destination. First detecting means for detecting a ringback tone from the line when a call is made to the destination, second detecting means for detecting a busy tone from the line when making a call to the other party, and the first detecting means A ringback tone from the line is not detected, and a busy tone from the line is not detected by the second detecting unit, the control unit prohibits the redial operation by the auto redial unit. Communication device. 2. When the control means controls the redial operation by the automatic redial unit to be prohibited, a notification means for notifying the caller of the fact is further provided. Communication device. 3. When the ringback tone from the line is not detected by the first detecting means, and the busy tone from the line is not detected by the second detecting means, the dialed number for the call is set. The storage means for storing is compared with the dial number stored in the storage means and the dial number of the other party involved in the call, and if they match, the dial number of the other party involved in the call is confirmed. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a confirmation processing unit that performs processing. 4. An automatic redial unit for automatically redialing a predetermined number of times until a line is connected to the other party due to a call made to the other party until the line is connected to the other party. In the communication device, first detecting means for detecting a ringback tone from the line when making a call to the partner, second detecting means for detecting a busy tone from the line when making a call to the partner, When the ringback tone from the line is not detected by the first detecting unit and the busy tone from the line is not detected by the second detecting unit, the preset number of times by the auto redial unit is set to the number of times. And a control means for changing the number of times to a smaller number.