JPH0234085A - Timer transmitter in data transmission - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the communication charge cost by designating the transmission time properly and effectively in response to the distance to a destination and the quantity of data to be sent. CONSTITUTION:A control section 15 calculates the communication time required for the transmission from the data quantity as to each document when the storage of picture information of a prescribed quantity and the registration of a destination telephone number are implemented in the case of sending a transmission data to a remote location, indexes a transmission distance from a destination number inputted to an attached information memory 12 to obtain a communication charge. Then the communication start time is changed to obtain the communication charge and when the difference of the communication charge between time axes is larger than a specified value, the transmission start time offering low cast is set and the result is written respectively in the attached information memory 12. When the set time comes, the document is read from the picture memory 11, the destination telephone number stored in the memory 12 is called and the picture information is sent.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Summary) The present invention relates to a timer transmission device for data transmission. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a timer transmitting device that can perform data transmission while taking into account the transmission time zone. a charge data memory that stores charge data based on the distance to the destination and the time of day; a timer for measuring time; a control section that controls the operation of each of the memories and timers; It consists of an operation section for inputting instructions.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a timer transmission device for data transmission, and more particularly to a timer transmission device that can automatically perform economical data transmission in consideration of the amount of data to be transmitted and the distance to the destination.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, various data transmission devices such as facsimiles (hereinafter referred to as facsimile devices) have become widespread not only for business use but also for personal use, and data such as documents and images are frequently transmitted through communication lines. Ta. As documents are transmitted frequently and in large quantities in this way, communication costs can amount to a considerable amount for document senders, so they try to cut down on communication costs as much as possible. As one solution for reducing such fees, there has been the idea of timer transmission. A conventional example of such a timer transmitting device for a facsimile machine is shown in FIG. 5, for example.

In this figure, reference numeral 1 is an image memory in which images of multiple documents are stored, and 2 is a time set memory in which the recipient's phone number and the time at which each document starts to be sent to the recipient are stored. . Further, reference numeral 3 is a timer that measures the operation start time of the timer transmitting device, and 4 is each of the memories 1.
2 and a control unit that controls the operation of timer 3;
1 is an operation section, ie, a panel, for inputting operation instructions to the control section 4. In such a timer transmitter, after a document containing a document to be transmitted is set in the facsimile machine, the operator inputs the recipient's telephone number and transmission start time from the operation panel 5, and then the facsimile operates. When a command is also input through the operation panel 5, the transmission start time is input into the time set memory 2 by the operation of the control section 4, and then the reading section of the facsimile machine is operated to transfer the original document to the image memory 1. Store. When such operations are performed for a number of documents, various documents (the destination is different for each document) are input to the image memory 1, while in the time set memory 2, information is input to the image memory 1.2. The transmission start time corresponding to each stored document is stored. Then, the time to be sent is measured by the timer 3, and when the time stored in the time set memory in advance arrives, the corresponding document is read out from the image memory 1 by the control unit 4, and while dialing the destination, the document is is transmitted through the communication line. By performing such timer transmission, when an operator wishes to receive a discounted rate for a document to be sent, he or she can designate a time period during which such discount is available and record it in the time set memory. As a result, transmission of the corresponding document is automatically started within the facsimile device when the time comes, so that it can be applied, for example, to facsimile transmission at late-night charges.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, with such conventional timer transmitting devices for data transmission, it is entirely up to the operator's judgment as to whether or not the discount rate should be applied to the document he or she wants to send. The operator determines the amount of documents and the urgency of sending the documents,
The user must decide the time to start transmission by himself or herself, and then set the transmission start time through the operation panel 5. For this reason, there is a problem in that the operator has to judge various items when transmitting a document, which is cumbersome.

The present invention was made in view of such conventional problems, and its purpose is to reduce communication fee costs by appropriately and effectively specifying the transmission time according to the amount of data to be transmitted and the distance to the destination. It is an object of the present invention to provide a timer transmitting device in data transmission that reduces data transmission.

(Means for Solving the Problems) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle configuration of a timer transmitting device according to the present invention. In this figure, 11 is an image memory in which transmission data is stored, 12 is an accompanying information memory in which data such as the recipient's phone number and transmission start time for each document composing the transmission data is stored, and 13 is a transmission memory. This is a charge data memory in which charge data based on the distance to the destination and the time period is stored. Further, reference numeral 14 is a timer for measuring the operating time of the timer transmitting device in the present invention, and 15 is each of the memories 1
1.12.13 and a control section that controls the operation' of the timer 14; 16 is an operation section that inputs operation instructions to the control section 15;

[Effect]

When the operator sets the original document in the facsimile machine, inputs the destination phone number, and issues a start instruction, the control unit 15 reads the image information and converts the read image information into the image. The information is stored in the memory 11, and the other party's telephone number is stored in the accompanying information memory 12. When a plurality of such documents are read together with the input of a telephone number of the other party, the image information is stored one after another in the image memory 11, and each telephone number of the other party is stored in the accompanying information memory 12. When a predetermined amount of image information has been accumulated and the destination telephone number has been registered, the control unit 15 calculates the communication time required for transmission of one document from the amount of data, and inputs the data into the accompanying information memory 12. Calculate the sending distance from the recipient's phone number. Then, the control unit 15 calculates the communication charge from the calculated communication time data and the charge data stored in the charge data memory 3, and then changes and sets the communication start time between several time periods. Find the communication charges in each case. If the difference in communication charges between the time slots is greater than the specified value when the time slots are changed, the cheaper transmission start time is set and written in the accompanying information memory 12. Such operations are performed for all documents, and a transmission start time is set for each document. Then, when the time set in the incidental information memory 12 arrives due to the operation of the timer 14, the document to be transmitted at that time is read out from the image memory 11, and the recipient's telephone number stored in the incidental information memory is read out. It reads out the information, calls the other party through the line control unit, and then sends the image information.

(Embodiment) FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing an embodiment of a timer transmitting device and its operation in data transmission according to the present invention. The timer transmitting device according to this embodiment includes an image memory 11 in which transmission data is stored, an accompanying information memory 12 in which data such as a destination telephone number and a transmission start time are stored, and various data constituting the transmission data. Regarding documents, there is a charge data memory 13 in which charge data serving as basic data for calculating the transmission start time is stored, a timer 14 for measuring and managing the transmission start time, etc., and each memory 11, 12, 13, and timer 14. a control section 15 that controls the operation of the control section 15, and an operation section 1 that inputs operation instructions to the control section 15;
It consists of 6. In the image memory 11, each document, such as document 1, document 2, document 3, . . . document n, is stored in a predetermined memory area. Associated information memory 12
represents each document 1.2.3, . . . stored in the image memory 11.
Data such as the destination telephone number and transmission start time are stored as accompanying data corresponding to each of n.

The charge data memory 13 has a format configuration as shown in FIG. 3, for example, and the communication time is stored in the time periods according to the basic charge when transmitting data, such as daytime, evening to night, and late at night. It is divided. Furthermore, according to the telephone number of the other party, it is divided into distance-based sections corresponding to local calls, relatively short-distance long-distance calls, medium-distance long-distance calls, and long-distance long-distance calls, and each time zone A table is constructed that shows the relationship between communication time and charges by associating them with distance, etc. For example, in the case of a local call, during the daytime, the charge is 10 yen for the first 3 minutes, and then 10 yen is added every minute after that, whereas in Tokyo and Osaka, for example, Between points that are more than 500km apart, during the day the price increases by a yen for the first minute and by b yen every minute thereafter, and at night the price increases by 0 yen for the first minute and d for every minute thereafter.
For each time period, the price increases by one yen,
Charges corresponding to communication time and distance are stored as data. Further, the control section 15 uses a CPU, and the operation section 16 is further provided with an operation panel equipped with a numeric keypad and the like.

The operation of the timer transmitter for data transmission having such a configuration will be described below. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of this timer transmitter. To perform facsimile transmission, the operator sets the document on the facsimile machine in the processing step (hereinafter simply referred to as step) STI, and also inputs the recipient's telephone number and transmission time T from the operation panel 16. , the capabilities of the other party's facsimile machine (for example, GII, GIII, etc.). When multiple documents are set and the recipient's phone number is inputted, the data of each document, that is, the image information, is stored in the image memory 11, while the recipient's phone number, the capabilities of the recipient's facsimile machine, etc. The data is stored in the accompanying information memory 12. Then, when a certain amount of data is stored in the image memory 11 and the accompanying information memory 12, the control unit 15 first reads out the image information and accompanying information, etc. for the document l in step ST2, and calculates the time required to calculate the fee. Set the band to TB=0, then step S
At T3, it is checked whether the capabilities of the facsimile machine to which the document is to be sent are known. In this step ST3, if the capabilities of the other party's device are not known, it cannot be determined for document 1 whether or not it is economical to reduce the fee by changing the transmission start time. Therefore, in step STI, it is decided to transmit the data under the same conditions input by the operator, and only one document number is updated without changing the data in the accompanying information memory, and the next document is sent in step ST3.
goes into action. On the other hand, if the capabilities of the model of the destination of document 1 are known, the process moves to step ST4, and the distance from the sender to the receiver is calculated from the telephone number corresponding to this document 1. Next, in step ST5, the communication time is calculated based on the data amount of document 1 and the capabilities of the destination machine. Next, the control unit 15 calculates the communication fee (referred to as Pi) when transmitting at the time To input by the operator in step ST6 from the data from the fee data memory 13 and the communication time obtained in the previous step ST5. . Next, in step ST7, the time period referred to for calculating the communication fee is TB=text, where: sentence: number of time periods for each communication fee system such as daytime, nighttime, late night, etc.

If it is determined that the time period TB is not a sentence, the process moves to step ST8 and the time period TB is
is incremented by 1, and then in step ST9, the communication charge (referred to as pg) for that time period TB is determined by the same operation as in step ST8. Then, in step 5TIO, the difference between the communication charge P□ obtained in the previous step ST6 and the communication charge P2 obtained in step ST9 is calculated, and it is checked whether P□-P2>Po. These communication charges P1 and P2
If it is determined that the difference between the two charges is greater than 'P o, it is determined that sending the data using the cheaper communication charge will be very advantageous from an economic point of view, so the next step 5T
In II, the communication fee is determined at the transmission time period P2, that is, the transmission start time, and this time is written into the accompanying information memory 12 as the transmission start time of document 1. On the other hand, if it is not determined in step 5TIO that p, -p2>PO, it means that the change to that time period will not reduce the charge to the extent that it is still advantageous from an economic point of view, and the control unit At step 15, the process returns to step ST7, and it is checked again whether or not TB=sentence. If it is not a sentence, the operations from step ST8 to step 5TIO are performed again. If the steps ST8 to STIO 5TIO are repeated and the TB=sentence is reached without the reduction in charges becoming economically advantageous, for that document 1, the transmission time is changed and the accompanying information memory 12 The process moves to step 5T12 without rewriting . This step 5T
12, it is checked whether the document number (assumed to be m) is n (n is the number of documents stored in the image memory 11), and the document number is still the maximum. If the value n has not been reached, the document number m is incremented by 1 and the process moves from document 1 to document 2) Step ST3
The following process begins. Repeat these actions,
For all documents 1.2.3...n, find the communication charges when changing the communication charge and the time zone of the transmission start time, and then calculate the difference between each communication charge to reduce the communication charge. It is determined whether it is economically advantageous or not, and when it is determined that it is economically advantageous, the transmission start time data in the accompanying information memory 12 for the document is rewritten so that the final data in the accompanying information memory 12 is Created.

After the data in the incidental information memory 12 is recreated, the timer transmitting device is switched to data transmission mode, and while the timer 4 measures time, the control unit 15 cooperates with the timer 14 to transmit the incidental information. Search data in memory 12.

When the timer 14 notifies the control unit 15 of the time set in the accompanying information memory 12, the control unit 15 reads out the document to be transmitted at that time from the image memory 11, and
Data such as the telephone number of the other party corresponding to the document is read from the accompanying information memory 12, and data transmission processing begins. In this way, data is transmitted to the other party's facsimile machine through the communication line every time a predetermined time comes, and data transmission is performed.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, when sending a large amount of documents, that is, transmission data to a remote location, communication is performed based on the distance from the sender to the receiver and the time taken for data transmission. The timer transmitter automatically determines the economically advantageous transmission start time to calculate charges, and then sets that time to automatically transmit data, allowing operators to reduce charges. There is no need to consider various conditions, and communication costs can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a timer transmitter in data transmission according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional timer transmitting device. 11... Image memory 12... Associated information memory 12 13... Charge data memory 14... Timer 15... Control unit (CPU) 16... Operation unit (operation panel) #: August/ ) Gato Tamari-118 Figure 1ira The structure of the fee data memo is shown in Figure 1.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An image memory that stores transmission data consisting of a plurality of documents, an accompanying information memory that stores transmission time data determined for each document, and a distance and time zone to the transmission destination. A timer for data transmission comprising: a charge data memory in which charge data based on the base rate is stored; a timer for measuring time; a control unit that controls the operation of each of the operating units; and an operation unit that inputs operation instructions to the control unit. Transmitting device.