JPH01101060A - Facsimile communication adapter sharing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To share one facsimile communication adapter among plural work stations by providing a facsimile adapter control part, which is operated in accordance with instructions sent through a network, on the work station to which the facsimile communication adapter is connected. CONSTITUTION:A user interface part 105 transmits instructions to a facsimile adapter control part 503 through a local area network 400 in accordance with requests of a user and reports status information sent from the facsimile adapter control part 503 to the user. The facsimile adapter control part 503 transmits and receives image (picturte) data while directly controlling a facsimile communication adapter 200 in accordance with instructions sent from the user interface part 105 through the local area network 400 and reports results to the user interface part 105. Thus, plural data processors share one facsimile communication adapter.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a communication adapter that connects to a data processing device using a microcombi device and enables facsimile communication, and in particular, relates to a communication adapter that enables facsimile communication by connecting to a data processing device using a microcomputer. The present invention relates to a factor-only communication adapter sharing method suitable for.

[Conventional technology]

A conventional technique will be explained using drawings. FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of the conventional technology. 100 is a general-purpose data processing device (hereinafter referred to as a workstation) using a microphone, a facsimile communication adapter, and 300 a public network. The facsimile communication adapter 200 compresses and modulates the data sent from the workstation LAN 100 according to the command from the workstation LAN 100, and sends the compressed and modulated data to the public network 500 and the public network 30.
The data sent as 0 is demodulated, decompressed, and sent to the workstation 100. In this way, the facsimile communication adapter 200 enables the work stage 100 to perform facsimile communication.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the facsimile communication adapter 200. 201 is a code compression/expansion unit, 202 is a modulation/demodulation device, and 203 is a network control device. Cord compression/expansion section 2
01 compresses image data or expands compressed image data. Modulator/demodulator 202 converts digital signals to analog signals and vice versa. The network control device 203 connects and disconnects the public network 3000 line according to instructions from the workstation.

When the facsimile communication adapter 200 as described above is connected, documents and graphic data created with the word processor on the work stage can be transferred to the facsimile machine, and vice versa, images sent from the facsimile machine to the work station 100 can be transferred to the facsimile machine. It is possible to realize advanced facsimile communication in which data is edited on one work stage.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the above conventional technology, only one workstation directly connected to one communication adapter can use the communication adapter, but if multiple users try to send data on one workstage by facsimile, the communication adapter Either the connected workstations must be rotated or one communication adapter must be connected to each workstation. The former is inefficient in terms of time and usability, and the latter is expensive and uneconomical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to enable efficient use of a single 7 axis communication adapter from multiple workstations.

[Means for solving problems]

The above purpose is to provide a facsimile communication adapter in a network system consisting of a local area network to which a plurality of workstations are connected and a facsimile communication adapter connected to one of the workstations. on the connected work stage (hereinafter referred to as the 7Axis server).

A facsimile adapter control section was provided to control and operate the facsimile communication adapter according to commands sent through the network and to send and receive image data, and on the other hand, commands were given to the facsimile adapter control section through the network on each work stage. This is achieved by providing a user interface unit that monitors the status of the fax simulator adapter control unit.

[Effect]

The user interface section sends commands to the facsimile adapter control section through the network and also sends and receives files according to instructions from the user. Then, wait for the execution results for the command to be sent from the facsimile server.

When it is sent, the user will be informed of the contents.

On the other hand, the facsimile adapter control section sends and receives files to and from the workstation, and at the same time controls the facsimile communication adapter according to instructions sent through the network. Then, the execution result of the command is transmitted to the user interface unit.

With the above, multiple workstations can use one facsimile communication adapter.

〔Example〕

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

First, the configuration of the entire system is shown in FIG.

Reference numerals 100 to 120 indicate a plurality of work stages 1 from which the user performs facsimile transmission and reception operations.

500 is a facsimile server that organizes requests from multiple work stages 1 and sends a facsimile communication adapter 20
Controls 0. The facsimile communication adapter 200 establishes a line with other facsimile devices through the public network 500 and sends and receives image data. A local area network 400 transfers control codes and files between each work stage 1 and the 7 axis server 500.

Next, a method of controlling the facsimile communication adapter 200 via a network, which is a feature of the present invention, will be described below.
To simplify the explanation, we will focus on one work stage server and a 7-axis server. In FIG. 1, 105 is a user interface section, and 503 is a facsimile adapter control section. These two are the features of the present invention. Reference numerals 401 and 405 are local area network control units having functions up to the safety layer of the 08I (Open Systems Interconnection) hierarchical model. 402 is a local area network cable.

105.104.501.502 is an image data file that is created and referenced by an application 101 such as a word processor or a graphic editor, or is output to the printer 102. 200
is connected to the public network 3ooVc with a facsimile communication adapter. In the same figure, IG.

Other work stage errors have been omitted.

In accordance with the user's request, the user interface unit 105 sends a command to the facsimile adapter control unit 503 through the local area network 400, and notifies the user of status information sent from the facsimile adapter control unit 505. tfl:... Also transfers files as needed. On the other hand, the facsimile adapter control unit SO5 is connected to the local area network 4.
According to the command sent from the user interface section 105 through 00, the facsimile communication adapter 2
It transmits and receives image data while controlling 00, and notifies the user interface unit 105 of the results. It also transfers files as needed.

Hereinafter, the actual transmission/reception control procedure will be explained.

First, the transmission control procedure will be explained using FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing only the transmission-related portion of FIG. 1 extracted and a part of it in detail. The detailed parts are the transmission control section 1051 and 7 axis control information 1052 in the user interface section 105, the file reception section 5o31, the facsimile transmission waiting key 5052, and the facsimile transmission section 5033 in the facsimile adapter control section 503. be. The user issues a transmission request to the user interface section 105 along with the destination's telephone number and file name. The user interface unit 105 creates facsimile control information 1052 by adding the work stage number of the sender of the transmission request to the destination's telephone number and file name. after that.

The transmission control unit 1051 requests the facsimile adapter control unit 503 to transmit the facsimile control information 1o52 through the local area network 400. On the facsimile server 50o, the file receiving unit 5031 in the facsimile adapter control unit 503 receives Jin's request) and notifies the requesting work stage whether the transmission is possible or not. If transmission is possible, the transmission data file 103 on the requesting work stage is sent to the transmission control unit 1051.
The file receiving unit 5051 transfers the file to the facsimile server 50o via the local area network 400. This transmission data is transmitted in the transmission data file 501 (5
011.

...5012) Stored K-day. Along with this.

The facsimile control information 1o52 sent from the user interface section 105 is sent to the facsimile transmission waiting key.
Joined '5052.

On the other hand, the facsimile transmission section 5033 in the facsimile adapter control section 503 has a facsimile transmission waiting key 5.
032, and first requests the facsimile communication adapter 20011C to make a call to the destination telephone number. When the line is established, the file specified by the file name is extracted from the transmission data file 501 and transmitted through the communication adapter 200. Finally, the result is notified to the work stage that requested the transmission. This completes the transmission.

Next, the reception control procedure will be explained using FIG. 6. 6th
The figure shows a portion of FIG. 1 relating to reception extracted and a part of it in detail. The details are the reception control section 1053 in the user interface section 105 and the file transmission section 5034% and facsimile reception section 5035 in the facsimile adapter control section 503. When the facsimile communication adapter 200 receives an incoming call, it notifies the facsimile receiving unit 5os5K of the fact, and thereafter the facsimile receiving unit 5035 transfers the image data sent from the facsimile communication adapter to the received data file 502 ( 5021,...
5022) K.

On the other hand, the user refers to and specifies a round file and requests the user interface unit 105 to receive it.

Then, when the file transmitter 5o34 receives this request through the local area network 400, it checks whether the file exists in the received data file 502, and if it exists, transfers the file to the reception controller 1053 through the local area network 400. do. Note that when the user specifies a received file, the user can specify the file name, destination name, ID number, etc. Finally, the reception control unit 1o55 transfers the sent data to file 1.
Tooshi on 04.

Complete reception.

This concludes the description of the embodiment.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, since a facsimile communication adapter can be used via a local area network, a plurality of data processing devices can share one facsimile communication adapter. Therefore, multiple users can efficiently perform facsimile communications.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a known example, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a facsimile communication adapter in the known example, and Fig. 4 is a block diagram of the present invention. The configuration diagrams of the system to which this is applied, Figures 5 and 6, respectively, are
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating parts related to transmission and reception in slightly more detail. 100... Workstation 1 (15...
... User interface section 200 ... Facsimile adapter 300 ... Public network 400 ... Local area network 500
...Facsimile server 503...Facsimile adapter control unit Fig. 1 +00...7-7 station 200-7t')? ')了9')'5300-...l
tA East Net Figure 3 203---Ki key control Shun Naoki Figure 4 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A communication adapter for performing facsimile communication by a data processing device using a microcomputer, one data processing device that controls the communication adapter, and a local computer connected to the data processing device. In a network system comprising an area network and a plurality of data processing devices other than the above data processing device connected to the network, the data processing device connected to the communication adapter receives instructions sent through the network. Accordingly, the facsimile machine is characterized in that a facsimile adapter control section for controlling the communication adapter is provided, and each of the plurality of data processing devices is provided with a user interface section for sending commands to the facsimile adapter control section through the network. Communication adapter sharing method.