JP4061552B2 - Image communication device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image communication apparatus that transmits and receives image data using a call control protocol such as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol).

In recent years, an IP facsimile apparatus that establishes a media session by SIP and transmits and receives image data has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3). In such an IP facsimile machine, destination information can be specified by a telephone number in the same manner as in the G3 facsimile machine, so that the user can perform a transmission operation in the same manner as in the G3 facsimile machine. In addition, there is an advantage that the communication cost is reduced compared to the G3 facsimile.
JP 2004-172853 A JP 2004-221945 A JP 2004-260535 A

  In facsimile communication, the user on the receiving side can recognize when there is an incoming call by means of a ring tone, incoming call display, etc., but the content of the document being received has been received and is recorded on recording paper, etc. There is an inconvenience that no content information can be obtained until it is printed out. In particular, while receiving a multi-page document such as 50 pages, 100 pages, etc., the user is wondering what kind of content is being received. Also, if the number of pages is large, the received data may be printed out, and there is a concern that the recording paper may be wasted.

  If information relating to the original document, for example, information such as the original title, the number of pages, the sender, etc. is displayed on the display unit of the receiving apparatus during communication, the above inconvenience is eliminated, but an IP facsimile using a call control protocol such as SIP. No such function has yet been proposed in the device.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an image communication apparatus such as an IP facsimile apparatus using a call control protocol such as SIP transmits and receives an arbitrary character string during communication, and the contents of the character string. An object of the present invention is to provide an image communication apparatus that can notify a user of the above.

  The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an image communication apparatus that establishes a media session and transmits image data by exchanging a call control protocol message with a counterpart, an input unit that inputs an arbitrary character string; Description means for describing the input character string in a predetermined part that does not affect the establishment of the media session in a message requesting establishment of the media session, and transmitting the message in which the character string is described to the other party And a transmission means.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image communication apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising means for storing a character string described at the predetermined location as communication history information.

  4. The image communication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an image communication apparatus that establishes a media session and receives image data by exchanging a call control protocol message with the other party requests establishment of the media session received from the other party. And extracting means for extracting a character string described in a predetermined location that does not affect establishment of a media session in the message to be output, and output means for outputting the extracted character string.

  An image communication apparatus according to a fourth aspect is the image communication apparatus according to the third aspect, further comprising means for storing a character string described in the predetermined location as communication history information.

  An arbitrary character string is transmitted from the calling side to the called side when the image communication device according to claim 1 is used as the calling side and the image communication device according to claim 3 is used as the called side to transmit and receive image data. The character string is output on the called side. Therefore, if information on the original is input in the calling side device, the user of the called side device can know the information on the original from the output character string even during the reception of the original.

  The image communication apparatus according to claim 3 is used as a calling side, and the image communication apparatus according to claim 4 is used as a called side to transmit and receive image data. A character string transmitted from the side to the called side is stored in both apparatuses as communication history information of the document. For example, if information on a document to be transmitted / received in the calling side device is input, the management of communication history for various types of documents can be facilitated later using a character string (information on the document) stored as communication history information. Figured.

  Hereinafter, a multi-functional facsimile machine will be described as an example of the image communication apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. This multifunctional facsimile machine has an IP facsimile communication function for transmitting and receiving original image data using a call control protocol, a G3 system facsimile communication function for transmitting and receiving image data through a public switched telephone network, and the like. ing. In addition, a facsimile server function for providing communication services such as IP facsimile communication and G3 facsimile communication in response to a request from the client device is also provided.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a facsimile machine 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. That is, the facsimile apparatus 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 3, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 4, an image memory 5, a modem 6, an NCU 7, a codec 8, a reading unit 9, and a recording unit 10. , A display unit 11, an operation unit 12, and a LAN interface 13, and the units 2 to 13 are connected by a bus 14.

  The CPU 2 functions as a control unit that controls each part of the facsimile apparatus 1 according to a control program stored in the ROM 3. The RAM 4 functions as a main memory and work area for the CPU 2. Further, the RAM 4 stores character strings and communication history information that are input and registered by operating the operation unit 12. Here, the communication history information is information relating to communication performed by the facsimile apparatus 1, and is, for example, communication time, communication time, destination telephone number, character string described later, communication error information, and the like. The image memory 5 stores image data compressed and encoded by the codec 8. The image memory 5 stores the received image data by the facsimile apparatus 1.

  The modem 6 is, for example, an ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union) recommendation V.3. Modulate and demodulate transmitted / received data according to the 34 standard or the like. The NCU 7 is a line network control device that performs operations of closing and opening a line with the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) 15, and connects the modem 6 to the PSTN 15 during facsimile transmission / reception by the G3 method or the like. The codec 8 compresses and encodes image data during facsimile transmission or the like, and decodes received image data or the like.

  The reading unit 9 reads image data of a document, and includes, for example, a CCD color line image sensor, an A / D converter, an image processing circuit, and the like. The recording unit 10 takes out the recording paper from the paper feed cassette and records the image data on the recording paper.

  The display unit 11 includes, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) arranged in parallel with the operation unit 12 and displays and outputs various screen information and character strings. The operation unit 12 includes various operation keys such as a start key, a character input key, and a function key, and various operations by the user are performed in the operation unit 12. The operation unit 12 also functions as a character string input unit. Note that the character string is not limited to Hiragana, Kanji, Katakana, and English characters, and anything that can be a text code, such as numbers and symbols, corresponds to the character string.

  The LAN interface 14 is an interface that connects the facsimile apparatus 1 and a LAN (local area network) 16. Through this, the facsimile apparatus 1 transmits and receives image data to and from other apparatuses that are also connected to the LAN 16. As shown in FIG. 2, in addition to the router 17, the client PC 18 and other facsimile apparatus 1 are connected to the LAN 16. The facsimile machine 1 can perform IP facsimile communication with other facsimile machines 1 connected to the same LAN 16 and with other facsimile machines 1 connected outside the LAN 16.

  The facsimile apparatus 1 having the above configuration implements a media session by SIP by implementing TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol), SIP, RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol), SDP (Session Description Protocol), and the like. Once established, a function for transmitting and receiving image data to and from the other party is realized. In this embodiment, SIP is described as an example of a call control protocol. However, a call control protocol other than SIP may be applied as long as a message is exchanged prior to establishing a media session. Is possible.

  In the facsimile apparatus 1, when an operation for transmitting image data using SIP is performed on the operation unit 8 or the client PC 18, an arbitrary character string can be input or a previously input character can be selected. . The character string input or selected here is displayed on the display unit 11. The input or selected character string is described in a predetermined location that does not affect the establishment of the media session in the SIP request message “INVITE”, and is transmitted to the destination. The predetermined part that does not affect the establishment of the media session does not affect the call control for establishing the media session even if an arbitrary character string is described therein, and the contents of the established media session (media Type, codec type, communication port number, etc.). For example, the “s” field, “v” field, “t” field, and the like in the SDP header correspond to this.

  On the other hand, the destination facsimile machine 1 determines whether or not a character string is described at the predetermined location in “INVITE” received from the calling facsimile machine 1. These are extracted and displayed on the display unit 11.

  Hereinafter, processing operations executed when the facsimile apparatus 1 exchanges SIP signaling messages, establishes a media session, and transmits and receives image data are shown in the sequence diagrams of FIGS. 2 and 5, and FIGS. 3 and 4. This will be described based on a flowchart. Note that the processing operation of the facsimile apparatus 1 described based on these drawings is executed in accordance with a command issued by the CPU 2 based on a control program stored in the ROM 3.

  Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the facsimile apparatus 1 serving as a calling side is referred to as a calling side apparatus 1A, and the facsimile apparatus 1 serving as a called side is referred to as a called side apparatus 1B. When the facsimile transmission operation is performed on the client PC 18, the operation unit 12 of the facsimile apparatus 1 corresponds to the operation unit of the client PC 18, and the display unit 11 of the facsimile apparatus 1 corresponds to the display unit of the client PC 18.

  The facsimile apparatus 1 accepts an input of an arbitrary character string to be transmitted together with an image data transmission instruction operation using SIP. The character string is input through an input operation on the operation unit 8. Further, the facsimile apparatus 1 can register a character string previously input from the operation unit 8 or the client PC 18 in a storage unit such as the RAM 4, and performs a transmission instruction operation on the character string input and registered in advance. At any time, any one of them can be selected as a character string to be transmitted by being displayed on the display unit 11.

  When there is an image data transmission instruction operation using SIP in the facsimile apparatus 1 and an arbitrary character string input operation or the character string selection operation as required by the user (S1), a request to establish a media session is made. A request message “INVITE” is generated (S2). As shown in FIG. 2, the request message M includes a SIP header M1 and an SDP header M2. When the input operation or selection operation of the character string to be transmitted has been performed in S1 (S3: YES), the character string designated as the one to be transmitted is described in a predetermined place of “INVITE” (S4), and The character string is output to the display unit 11 of the calling device 1A and the content is displayed during communication (S5). In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, it is described in the “s” field, which is a location that does not affect the establishment of the media session in the SDP header (it is also a location where the SIP server is not involved). It is like that. Of course, as long as the location does not affect the establishment of the media session, the location described is not limited to the “s” field, and may be another field in the SDP header or a SIP header.

  If there is no character string input operation or selection operation in S1 (S3: NO), the process proceeds to the next procedure without performing the description process of S4 and the output process of S5.

  The calling-side apparatus 1A transmits “INVITE” generated in S2 or the “INVITE” in which an arbitrary character string is described in the “s” field in S4 to the partner (S6, T1). If the calling side device 1A receives an error message without receiving a success response message for “INVITE” from the called side device 1B, which is the other party (S7: NO), the calling side device 1A performs a predetermined calling error process. Perform (S10). For example, the communication error information is recorded in the communication history information, the received error message is displayed on the display unit 11, or the error message is printed out in the recording unit 10.

  On the other hand, when the called device 1B receives “INVITE” sent from the calling device 1A in S6 (S101: YES), it establishes a media session in the SDP header in the received “INVITE”. It is determined whether or not a character string is described in the “s” field, which is a predetermined location that does not affect the operation (S102). For example, when a character string such as “Weekly Status Report No. 110” is described in the “s” field as shown in FIG. 2 (S102: YES), the character string is extracted and output to the display unit 11 Is displayed (S103). As a result, the user of the called device 1B can grasp, for example, information relating to the document being communicated, from the character string input by the user of the calling device 1A.

  Next, the called device 1B generates a success response message “200 OK” for the received “INVITE” (S104), and transmits this to the calling device 1A (S105). Thereafter, when receiving the error message without receiving the final response confirmation response “ACK” from the calling side device 1A (S106: NO), the called side device 1B performs a predetermined response error process ( S107). For example, the response error information is recorded in the communication history information, the information to that effect is displayed on the display unit 11, or the information to that effect is printed out in the recording unit 10.

  When the calling side apparatus 1A receives the success response message “200 OK” transmitted by the called side apparatus 1B in S105 (S7: YES, T2), the calling side apparatus 1B sends a final response confirmation response “ACK” to the called side apparatus 1B. This is received by the called device 1B (T3, S106: YES). Thereafter, a media session is established between the calling device 1A and the called device 1B (S9, S108), and data communication such as image data is started (S10, S109). After the data communication is completed, the session end request message “BYE” is transmitted from the calling side device 1A to the called side device 1B (T4), and the response message “BYE” is sent from the called side device 1B to the calling side device 1A. After “200 OK” is returned (T5), the media session is disconnected.

  When the calling side apparatus 1A transmits “BYE” and receives “200 OK”, it is considered that the data communication processing is completed (S11: YES), and the output of the character string to the display unit 11 is terminated. (S12). Then, the calling device 1A records and stores the character string described in “INVITE” and transmitted to the other party as communication history information (S13).

  On the other hand, when the called device 1B receives “BYE” and transmits “200 OK”, it is considered that the data communication processing is completed (S110: YES), and the character string is output to the display unit 11. Is finished (S111). Then, the called device 1B records and stores the character string extracted from the “s” field of “INVITE” as communication history information (S112).

  By the way, when a media session is established between the two devices 1A and 1B and data communication processing is being performed on the media session, an arbitrary character string input operation or a registered character string is performed in the calling device 1A. When the selection operation is performed, the calling-side apparatus 1A accepts the operation as a character string retransmission instruction (S14: YES). Then, as shown in FIG. 5, an SIP request message M ′ that can send an arbitrary character string to the other party, for example, a character string designated by the input operation or the selection operation by the SIP method “MESSAGE”. Transmit to the called device 1B (S15, T101). In addition, the character string transmitted by “MESSAGE” in S15 instead of the character string being output on the display unit 11 of the calling device 1A is output and displayed on the display unit 11 (S16). Then, the process is returned to S11, and when the data communication process is completed (S11: YES), after the character string display output is finished (S12), the character string last transmitted to the other party is added to the communication history information. As a record (S13). The last character string transmitted to the partner is a character string described in the “s” field of the SDP header of “INVITE” and transmitted to the partner when “MESSAGE” is not transmitted. When “MESSAGE” is transmitted, the character string described in the message body of “MESSAGE” transmitted last.

  On the other hand, when “MESSAGE” is received during the data communication processing (S113: YES), the called side device 1B replaces the character string output to the display unit 11 with the character string (message body) received by “MESSAGE”. Is output and displayed on the display unit 11 (S114). When the data communication process is completed (S110: YES), the character string display output is terminated (S111), and the character string last received from the other party is recorded and saved in the communication history information as communication history information (S113). ). Here, the last character string received from the other party is the character string described in the “s” field of the SDP header of “INVITE” when “MESSAGE” is not received, and during data communication When “MESSAGE” is received, it is a character string described in the message body of “MESSAGE” received last. As described above, according to the facsimile apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the character string transmitted to the other party and output at the other party is changed even while the media session is established. Can do. Moreover, the contents of the character string can be changed any number of times while the media session is established.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the output to the display unit 11 is described as an example of the output form of the character string in S5, S16, S103, and S114. It is only necessary to be able to notify, and the output to the display unit 10 is not limited. For example, a character string may be output to the recording unit 10 to be printed out, or a means for converting the contents of the character string into voice data may be provided and notified by voice by sound generation means. Further, it may be output to a device other than the facsimile device 1. If the output state does not continue, such as print output, re-output is performed.

  In S13 and S112, the last transmitted / received character string is recorded and saved as communication history information. However, all characters exchanged between the calling side device 1A and the called side device 1B. The column may be recorded.

  As is clear from the above description, according to the facsimile apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, when a media session is established by SIP and data communication of image data is performed with the other party, the media session is separated. An arbitrary character string can be transmitted and received independently, and the character string can be displayed on the display unit 11 of the calling side device 1A and the called side device 1B. For example, if information related to a communication document is input as a character string at the calling side, the users of both apparatuses grasp the information regarding the document currently being communicated by looking at the character string displayed on the display unit 11 during communication. be able to. In addition, when the user of the calling side device periodically transmits a periodic publication or the like to the customer by facsimile, the publication number (for example, the “s” field of the SDP header M2 in FIG. 5 or the message body M ′ of “MESSAGE”). 1 is input as a character string, the input publication number is used as reception history information of the called device 1B of the customer. Records are saved. Thus, the customer can easily grasp whether or not the manuscript of the periodicals is received every week by referring to the reception history information.

  The present invention can be applied to, for example, an image communication apparatus that transmits and receives image data in a media session established by SIP.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a facsimile apparatus (image communication apparatus) according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is the sequence diagram which showed the communication procedure formed between a calling side apparatus and a called side apparatus. 6 is a flowchart showing processing operations executed by the calling side device when there is an instruction to transmit image data using SIP in the calling side device (image communication device) according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is the flowchart which showed the processing operation which a called side apparatus performs, when the message which requests | requires establishment of a media session is received in the called side apparatus (image communication apparatus) which concerns on embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure formed between a calling side device and a called side device, and shows a communication procedure when an arbitrary character string is exchanged during data communication such as image data. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1, 1A, 1B Facsimile device (image communication device)
2 CPU
3 ROM
4 RAM
M Message requesting establishment of media session

Claims (4)

  In an image communication apparatus that establishes a media session and transmits image data by exchanging a call control protocol message with a partner, an input means for inputting an arbitrary character string, and the input character string as the media session A description unit that describes a predetermined part that does not affect the establishment of a media session in a message that requests establishment; and a transmission unit that transmits the message in which the character string is described to a destination. An image communication apparatus.   2. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for storing a character string described in the predetermined location as communication history information.   In an image communication apparatus that establishes a media session and receives image data by exchanging a call control protocol message with the other party, the media session is established in the message that requests establishment of the media session from the other party. An image communication apparatus comprising: extraction means for extracting a character string described at a predetermined location that does not affect; and output means for outputting the extracted character string.   4. The image communication apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for storing a character string described in the predetermined location as communication history information.

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