JP3848115B2 - Telephone terminal system, parent device control device and method, and child device control device and method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a telephone terminal system including a parent machine and a wireless terminal child machine capable of sending and receiving mail via a communication line, and more specifically, a parent machine control unit and a child machine control in the telephone terminal system. The present invention relates to a mail information management means and method between units.
[0002]
[Prior art]
With the recent development of information and communication technology, e-mail has spread explosively, making it possible to send and receive / view e-mail not only on PCs but also on various electronic information terminals, and in various forms such as mobile phones and PDAs. Mail terminals are being developed. Among them, products that realize e-mail on cordless telephone terminals in the home have been developed, and there are products that can send / receive / browse e-mail not only on the base unit but also on cordless handset units. Has been developed.
[0003]
Furthermore, there is a FAX terminal as an information communication device. Recently, a home-use FAX with a cordless phone has become widespread and has been replaced by the cordless phone. When this FAX is applied to the above mail terminal, a data output function such as a printer function provided in the FAX terminal and a data input function such as a scanner function can be used. Thereby, print output of mail, scanner input of mail attached image, and the like can be performed, and the function of the terminal can be further improved.
[0004]
On the other hand, in such information communication terminals for homes, the technical progress of information communication is very fast, so the product cycle is very short. Therefore, when developing such a short life cycle information terminal, it is necessary to start up the product efficiently in a short period of time. To realize this, the inside of the product is subdivided and unitized, Corresponding to various forms by replacing units.
[0005]
The above cordless telephone terminals are also being unitized, and in particular, there are many units in which the base unit and the cordless handset are unitized.
[0006]
In this case, the master unit is classified into a system unit that controls the system of the master unit and a slave unit control unit that controls the slave unit. For example, in the system change on the slave unit side, the slave unit control unit and the slave unit terminal are Since it only needs to be replaced, new products can be developed efficiently.
[0007]
Further, in the case of a system such as a cordless telephone terminal, it is useless to have the same processing twice in the slave unit and the base unit, and the processing is distributed because it causes a cost increase. Taking the e-mail management method as an example, the master unit has management of the sent and received mails instead of being performed by the master unit and the slave unit. Processing such as passing the contents to the handset is performed.
[0008]
In order to further reduce the cost, the slave unit has a single function, for example, the data storage capacity of the slave unit has been reduced. However, in the above-mentioned terminal, when trying to view the mail information managed by the cordless cordless handset by the cordless cordless handset, the data capacity that can be stored by the cordless cordless handset is small. It is necessary to pass the mail information of the master unit to the cordless slave unit each time. In this case, on the master unit side, when transmitting a large amount of data to the slave unit, a function for managing the slave unit such as subdividing the data or estimating the data capacity required by the slave unit However, such a function is realized in the system unit and not in the slave unit control unit.
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The handset management function in the system unit is a drag on unitization. In other words, if there is a management function for the slave unit on the master unit side, the system cannot be changed by simply replacing the slave unit and slave unit control unit, and the slave unit management function on the master unit side is also changed. I will have to. As a result, there is a problem that the functions of the master unit and the slave unit are completely separated and cannot be enjoyed as a unit, and high-efficiency product development cannot be performed.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention specifically provides the following solutions.
[0011]
A telephone terminal system comprising a master unit and a wireless terminal slave unit capable of sending and receiving mail via a communication line, wherein the master unit is capable of transmitting and receiving information to and from each other via a communication means. A control unit for controlling, and a slave unit control unit for controlling the wireless terminal slave unit, the master unit control unit, the line connection unit for connecting to a communication line, A mail transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives mail via a communication line using a line connection unit; and a mail management unit that stores and manages mail transmitted / received by the mail transmission / reception unit, and responds to a request from the slave unit control unit Accordingly, all the specific mail information managed by the mail management means is transmitted to the slave control means via the communication means, and the slave control means receives the communication means. A division unit that divides the specific mail information into a plurality of blocks according to the capability of the wireless terminal slave unit, and a slave unit communication unit for communicating with the wireless terminal slave unit; The telephone terminal system, wherein the specific mail information is transmitted to the wireless terminal slave unit in block units in response to a request from the wireless terminal slave unit via the slave unit communication means.
[0012]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is further characterized in that the specific mail information is mail list information, or the specific mail information is mail text information for at least one mail. . Furthermore, when the specific mail information is unread mail information, a first block is transmitted from the slave unit control means to the radio terminal slave unit in response to a request from the radio terminal slave unit, When drawing is performed on the wireless terminal slave unit, the slave unit control unit requests the mail management unit unit to change the status of the mail from unread to read.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a communication system in an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a facsimile machine base unit of the present embodiment, and 110 denotes a slave unit that performs a telephone call or mail transmission / reception via the facsimile machine base unit 100. 101 is a display unit of the master unit, 102 is an operation unit of the master unit, 103 is a handset, and 130 is a line connecting the master unit and the public line. Reference numeral 111 denotes a display unit of the slave unit, and 112 denotes an operation unit of the slave unit.
[0014]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of base unit 100. The parent device 100 includes a system unit 200 and a child device unit 220. The system unit 200 is a unit that performs control of the parent device, line control, and the like. The CPU 201, the ROM 202, the memory 203, the interface unit 204 with the handset, the modem 205, the line interface unit 206, and the interface with the child device unit. A unit 207, a display unit 208, an operation unit 209, a printer unit 210, and a reading unit 211.
[0015]
The slave unit is a unit that performs processing around the slave unit, such as communication control between the slave unit and the master unit, reception of mail data from the system unit, conversion processing of mail data, and the like. The CPU 221, ROM 222, memory 223, system It comprises an interface unit 224 with a unit and a wireless control unit 225 with a slave unit.
[0016]
Communication between the slave unit 220 and the system unit 200 is performed via the system bus 226. Mail list information and mail information, which will be described later, are stored in the RAM in the slave unit 220 via the system bus 226.
[0017]
Further, as shown in FIG. 2b, the configuration of the slave unit includes a CPU 241, a ROM 242, a memory 243, a wireless control unit 244 that communicates with the slave unit 220, a display unit 245, and an operation unit 246.
[0018]
Mail transmission / reception / management is performed by the system unit 200. When receiving a mail, the CPU 201 connects the line to the mail server through the line interface unit 206, transmits / receives data by the modem 205, and stores the data as a newly received mail in the memory 203. Further, the CPU 201 changes the received mail list in the memory according to the newly received mail information stored in the memory 203. During this time, mail-related operations are not performed in the slave unit.
[0019]
FIGS. 3a to 3c are flowcharts when the mail operation is performed in the slave unit, and FIG. 4 is a display corresponding to the flowchart. When the slave unit displaying the standby screen (D01) is instructed to start mail (S01) (S02), the master unit checks whether or not the slave unit that requested the start can perform mail operation. In order to notify that the slave unit is in the middle of mail, a mail start request is issued from the slave unit to the system unit through the slave unit. The system unit checks whether or not the mail operation can be performed, and if possible, changes the status of the slave unit into mail and returns mail start OK (S03). If the mail operation cannot be performed, the mail start NG is returned through the handset unit, and the handset returns to standby.
[0020]
The slave unit that has received the mail start OK displays a mail screen (D02) stored in the slave unit (S04). When scrolling is performed, the screen after scrolling (D03) is read and displayed in the slave unit.
[0021]
The user selects the displayed item using the operation unit 112. Although the operation unit 112 is described as a numeric keypad, this is an example of an embodiment and may be a jog dial.
[0022]
Here, a case where the received mail list is selected (S05) will be described. When the received mail list is selected, the handset 110 requests the received mail list from the system unit 200 through the handset unit 220. The system unit 200 reads the received mail list data stored in the memory 203 of the master unit (S06), transfers all the list data to the slave unit, and the slave unit 220 stores it in the memory 223.
[0023]
Since the slave unit 110 in this embodiment does not have a function of converting text data into an image, the slave unit 220 generates image data by processing the received mail list data according to the drawing capability of the slave unit 110. (S07) and transfer to the slave unit 110. Of course, the slave unit 110 itself may have an image conversion function including a character code table, and display data may be generated from the received text data.
[0024]
The slave unit 110 draws the transferred data on the screen (S08, D04). When the screen is scrolled by the slave unit 110 (S09), a new display image is requested from the slave unit 220, image data is created by the slave unit 220 (S07), and transferred to the slave unit 110. . The slave unit 110 draws the transferred data on the screen (S08, D05). The data may be bitmap image data, for example. During this period, the system unit 200 does not perform operations related to the slave unit mail.
[0025]
When the received mail to be displayed is selected (S11), the handset 110 requests the received mail from the system unit 200 through the handset unit 220. The system unit 200 reads the received mail data stored in the memory 203, transfers all the mail data to the slave unit 220, and stores it in the memory 223 (S12).
[0026]
The slave unit 220 divides the received mail data into a predetermined size according to the drawing capability of the slave unit 110, creates image data (S13), and transfers the image data to the slave unit 110. The slave unit 110 draws the transferred data on the screen (S14, D06). If it is unread mail, the status is changed to read (S15).
[0027]
If there is insufficient data to be drawn in the slave unit 220 when the screen is scrolled by the slave unit 110 (S18), a new display image is requested from the slave unit 220, and the slave unit 220 Image data is created (S19) and transferred to the slave unit 110. The slave unit 110 draws the transferred data on the screen (S20, D07). In this embodiment, image data is created in S19 in response to a request from the slave unit. However, data previously generated in step S13 may be transmitted when requested.
[0028]
During this time, in the system unit 200, operations related to the slave unit mail are not performed. When an operation to return from the received mail display to the received mail list display is performed (S16, D12), the handset 110 requests the received mail list from the system unit 200 through the handset unit 220. The system unit 200 reads the received mail list data stored in the master unit 100 (S06), transfers it to the slave unit 220, saves it in the slave unit 220, creates image data (S07), and sets the slave unit. 110 is transferred. The slave unit 110 draws the transferred data on the screen (S08, D13).
[0029]
Since the system unit 200 reads the received mail list data whose status is changed, the system unit 200 can always provide the latest correct display to the slave unit 110. When the end of the slave unit mail operation is selected (S10, S17), the slave unit 110 notifies the system unit 200 of the end of the mail through the slave unit 220. The system unit 200 changes the status of the slave unit 110 to standby and returns a slave unit standby OK (S21). The slave unit 110 that has received the slave unit standby OK displays a standby display (D01) and ends the email operation (S22).
[0030]
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a data storage method in the communication system. In the communication system, mail is stored and managed in the system unit 200 of the parent device 100. For mail management, a list file that describes information about each mail is prepared in addition to the mail body. The list file is composed of mail status, destination / sender, subject, date, etc. In order to refer to each mail body, the address and size of the storage destination described here are used.
[0031]
In this way, until one piece of mail data is transferred from the system unit to the handset unit, and other data such as other mail data and list display data is required, only the handset unit and the handset By performing display screen creation and display operations, it is not necessary to change the system unit even when the slave unit specifications are changed, and the specification can be easily changed. The interface related to the slave unit mail is separated from that of other operations, and status management and event management are simplified. There is an effect. In addition, by changing the mail status when only the first block of the mail text is passed to the slave unit, it is not necessary to manage large data in the slave unit. The change can be made at an early timing when the status needs to be changed and at a timing when the drawing is surely performed.
[0032]
[Other embodiments]
Note that the present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, and a printer), and a device (for example, a copying machine and a facsimile device) including a single device. You may apply to.
[0033]
Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or recording medium) in which a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or Needless to say, this can also be achieved by the MPU) reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. In addition, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.
[0034]
Furthermore, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function is determined based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.
[0035]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, even when the storage capacity of the slave unit is small and not all of the mail data for one case can be stored, all the mail data can be transferred to the slave unit. Become. Thereby, even when the storage capacity of the slave unit becomes large, the system can be updated by changing the slave unit and the slave unit without changing the configuration of the system unit of the master unit.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a communication system.
FIG. 2a is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a communication system parent device;
FIG. 2b is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a communication system slave unit.
FIG. 3a is a flowchart of a mail operation.
FIG. 3b is a flowchart of the mail operation.
FIG. 3c is a flowchart of the mail operation.
FIG. 4 is a display screen transition diagram of mail operation.
FIG. 5 is a data storage method in a communication system.

Claims (8)

A telephone terminal system consisting of a master unit and a wireless terminal slave unit capable of sending and receiving mail via a communication line,
The master unit can transmit and receive information to and from each other via communication means.
A master control means for controlling the master,
A handset control means for controlling the wireless terminal handset,
The base unit control means
A line connection means for connecting to a communication line;
Mail transmitting / receiving means for transmitting and receiving mail via a communication line using the line connecting means;
Email management means for storing and managing emails sent and received by the email sending and receiving means;
In response to a request from the slave unit control unit, all of the specific mail information managed by the mail management unit is transmitted to the slave unit control unit via the communication unit,
The slave control means is
A dividing unit for dividing the specific mail information received by the communication unit into a plurality of blocks according to the capability of the wireless terminal slave unit;
A handset communication means for communicating with the wireless terminal handset,
The specific mail information divided by the dividing unit is transmitted to the wireless terminal slave unit in block units via the slave unit communication unit in response to a request from the wireless terminal slave unit. Terminal system.   The telephone terminal system according to claim 1, wherein the specific mail information is mail list information.   The telephone terminal system according to claim 1, wherein the specific mail information is mail text information for at least one mail.   When the specific mail information is unread mail information, a first block is transmitted from the slave control means to the wireless terminal slave in response to a request from the wireless terminal slave, and the wireless terminal slave 4. The slave unit control means requests the mail management means to change the status of the mail from unread to read when the drawing is performed on the machine. The telephone terminal system described in 1. In a telephone terminal system consisting of a master unit and a radio terminal slave unit capable of sending and receiving mail via a communication line, information can be sent and received with a slave unit control unit for controlling the radio terminal slave unit via a communication unit A parent device control device for controlling the parent device,
The master unit includes the slave unit control means and the master unit control device,
The slave unit control unit includes a split unit that divides specific mail information received from the master unit control device via the communication unit into a plurality of blocks according to the capability of the radio terminal slave unit, and the radio terminal unit A slave unit communication means for communicating with the mobile unit, and the specific mail information divided by the split unit is sent in block units via the slave unit communication unit in response to a request from the wireless terminal slave unit. Transmitted to the wireless terminal slave unit,
The master unit control device
A line connection means for connecting to a communication line;
Mail transmitting / receiving means for transmitting and receiving mail via a communication line using the line connecting means;
Email management means for storing and managing emails sent and received by the email sending and receiving means;
In response to a request from the child machine control unit, the master unit control device and transmits all, the slave unit control means via said communication means of said particular mail information managed in the mail management unit . In a telephone terminal system comprising a master unit and a wireless terminal slave unit capable of sending and receiving mail via a communication line, information can be sent and received with a master unit control means for controlling the master unit via a communication unit A handset control device for controlling a wireless terminal handset,
The parent device includes the parent device control means and the child device control device,
The base unit control means includes a line connection means for connecting to a communication line, a mail transmission / reception means for sending / receiving mail via the communication line using the line connection means, and a mail sent / received by the mail transmission / reception means. Mail management means for storing and managing, and in response to a request from the slave control device, all of the specific mail information managed by the mail management means is sent to the slave control device via the communication means. Send
The handset controller is
Dividing means for dividing the specific mail information received by the communication means, into a plurality of blocks in accordance with the capabilities of the wireless Tanmatsuko machine,
Comprising at least a handset communication means for communicating with the wireless terminal handset,
The specific mail information divided by the dividing unit is transmitted to the wireless terminal slave unit in block units in response to a request from the wireless terminal slave unit via the slave unit communication unit. Remote control device. In a telephone terminal system consisting of a master unit and a radio terminal slave unit capable of sending and receiving mail via a communication line, a control method of a master unit control device for controlling the master unit provided in the master unit,
A line connection process for connecting to a communication line;
A mail transmission / reception step of transmitting / receiving a mail via a communication line using the line connection step;
A mail management process for storing and managing the mail transmitted and received in the mail transmission / reception process,
Wherein in response to a request from the radio Tanmatsuko machine control unit which the master unit is provided for controlling the radio Tanmatsuko machine, all specific mail information managed in the mail management step, the radio Tanmatsuko machine control unit To send to,
The wireless terminal slave unit control unit is configured to divide the specific mail information into a plurality of blocks according to the capability of the wireless terminal slave unit, and a slave unit communication unit for communicating with the wireless terminal slave unit. The specific mail information divided by the dividing unit is transmitted to the wireless terminal slave unit in block units via the slave unit communication unit in response to a request from the wireless terminal slave unit. control method of the parent device control apparatus according to. A control method of a slave unit control device provided in the master unit for controlling the radio terminal slave unit in a telephone terminal system comprising a master unit and a radio terminal slave unit capable of sending and receiving mail via a communication line, ,
A mail receiving step for receiving the specific mail information included in the parent device controller master unit comprises for controlling the master unit from the master unit control section,
A division step of dividing the specific mail information received by the mail reception step into a plurality of blocks according to the capability of the wireless terminal slave unit;
In response to a request from the wireless terminal slave unit , the wireless terminal slave unit is passed through a slave unit communication unit for communicating the specific mail information divided in the splitting step with the wireless terminal slave unit. A transmission step of transmitting to the machine ,
The base unit control unit includes a line connection unit for connecting to a communication line, a mail transmission / reception unit for transmitting / receiving mail via the communication line using the line connection unit, and a mail transmitted / received by the mail transmission / reception unit. A mail management unit for storing and managing, and in response to a request from the slave unit control device, transmitting all of the specific mail information managed by the mail management unit to the slave unit control device , To control the slave unit control device .

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