JPH0294959A - Facsimile gateway system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transmit and receive pictures between a work station in a LAN and a facsimile by adding a document number to picture data sent from the facsimile, holding them by a buffer memory and transferring them to the work station which designates the document number. CONSTITUTION:When the picture data are sent from the work station connected to a LAN trunk line 21 to the facsimile connected to a public line 25, a facsimile gateway 13 sends the telephone number information of a transmitting destination as it is together with the picture data. On the other hand, when the picture data are sent from an unspecified facsimile through the public line 25, the document number is added to the picture data, they are held temporarily by a buffer memory 27, and when the document number is designated by the work station, the picture data of the said document number are read out of the buffer memory 27 and transferred to the work station which makes the designation. Thus, the picture data can be transmitted and received between the work station in the LAN and the facsimile.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a facsimile gateway system that connects a local area network having a plurality of workstations to a public line and sends and receives image data. .

(Prior Art) In recent years, as local area networks (hereinafter referred to as rLANJ) have developed, a variety of needs have arisen using these networks. It is being considered that it could be connected to a regular facsimile machine to send and receive data.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, since the current facsimile is only considered as a terminal device for public lines, there is no problem when transmitting image data from the workstation side to the facsimile. When sending image data from the facsimile to a workstation within the LAN, the facsimile does not have a function to send information that identifies a specific workstation from among multiple workstations.
It was not possible to actually communicate.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and
It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile gateway system that is connected between an AN and a public line and enables image data to be transmitted and received between a workstation and a facsimile machine in the LAN.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means and Effects for Solving the Problems) The present invention is such that when sending image data from a workstation to a facsimile machine, the telephone number information of the destination is sent directly from the buffer memory along with the image data. On the other hand, when image data is sent from an unspecified facsimile, a document number is attached to the image data sent via the public line, the data is temporarily stored in the buffer memory, and the workstation stores the image data in the buffer memory. When the document number of an image to be stored in memory is specified, the image data of the corresponding document number is read from the buffer memory and transferred to the workstation that made the above specification. It becomes possible to send and receive image data between them.

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

Figure 2 shows the overall system configuration.
is a workstation (WS), 12 is a LAN trunk line to which multiple workstations 11.11 are connected, and 13
is a facsimile gateway, and these workstations 11, 11% LAN trunk line 12, and facsimile gateway 13 constitute a LAN. An unspecified number of facsimiles (FAX) 15, 15 are connected to this facsimile gateway 13 via a public line 14.

Next, according to FIG. 1, the facsimile gateway 13
The detailed configuration will be explained below.

In the figure, 21 is a LAN trunk line similar to the LAN trunk line 12 shown in FIG. , 24 is a public line transmitting/receiving unit for transmitting and receiving interface control with the public line, 25 is a public line similar to the public line 14 in FIG. 3 above, 2B is a CPU, and RO that stores a program.
27 is a large-capacity hard disk drive (HDD) that stores the contents even when the power of the facsimile gateway 13 is turned off;
28 is an interface for HDD 27 (HDD-I
F), 29 is a local printer that prints out image data in response to control commands from the control unit 2B.

In the above configuration, when the workstation 11 sends a document to a specific facsimile 15, as shown in FIG. The document data and the destination facsimile 1 are sent to the facsimile gateway 13.
5 dial information is transferred. The facsimile gateway 13 converts the document data into a data structure according to the method of the facsimile 15, and performs a dialing operation based on the destination information. After receiving a response from the other party's facsimile 15 and performing a series of communications for data transmission and reception, the converted document data is sent to the facsimile 15. The facsimile 15 receives the sent document data and prints it out using an attached printer.

Next, the operation when transmitting a document to the workstation 11 in the LAN using the facsimile 15 is shown in FIG. 3 (II). First, the facsimile gateway 13 responds in response to a dialing operation performed by the facsimile 15, and a series of communications for data transmission and reception is performed.The facsimile 15 then converts the document data into a format for transfer and uses the public line 14. It is transmitted to the facsimile gateway 13 via the facsimile gateway 13. The facsimile gateway 13 converts the sent document data into a format that can be used on the LAN, and saves it with a received document number attached. At the same time, the facsimile gateway 13 stores a part of the saved document data, for example, the first page or 1/2 page and the newly set mail number, in the internal mailbox as mail information. The workstation 11 searches the mailbox periodically or as required by the user, and displays the data in the mailbox on its own display device. If there is document data related to the user among the displayed data, the user specifies the mail number of the document and requests the facsimile gateway ■3 to transfer the document data. In response, the facsimile gateway 13 transfers the document data of the document number corresponding to the mail number to the workstation 11. The workstation 11 displays or prints the received document data according to preference.

In the above operation, the following processing is performed inside the facsimile gateway 13.

Transferring documents to a specific facsimile 1 on workstation 11
5, from workstation 11 to LAN
The document data sent via the main line 21 (12) and the dial information of the destination facsimile 15 are first sent to LA.
N transmission/reception transmission/reception subcommittee 2 and held in the shared memory 23. The control unit 26 converts the document data held in the shared memory 23, and then causes the public line transceiver unit 24 to read the document data and transmit it to a specific facsimile 15 via the public line 25 (14). .

Next, when sending a document to the workstation 11 in the LAN using the facsimile 15, the control section 26 automatically causes the public line transceiver section 24 to receive the data sent in response to a dial call from the facsimile 15. , are held in the shared memory 23. The control unit 26 converts the document data held in the shared memory 23 into a format that can be used on the LAN, assigns a document number, and stores it in the HDD 27 via the HDD-IF 28. At the same time, the control unit 2G sends a part of the saved document data, for example, the first page or 1/2 page, along with the mail number to the HD.
Save it in the mailbox provided in D27. When a request is made from the workstation 11, the control unit 2
B transfers the contents of the mailbox to the workstation 11 via the LAN transmission/reception transmission/reception subcommittee 2. and,
When a mail number is specified from the workstation 11, the document data of the document number corresponding to the mail number is read from the HDD 27 and transferred to the workstation 11.

Note that when the storage capacity of the HDD 27 becomes full or when there is a request from the workstation [1], the control unit 2B stores document data that cannot be stored in the HDD 27 or specified document data locally. printer 2
9 and print it out.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, when image data is sent from a workstation to a facsimile machine, the telephone number information of the destination is sent as is along with the image data, while an unspecified facsimile machine When image data is sent from a computer via a public line, a document number is attached to the image data and a portion of it is stored in a buffer memory, and the workstation uses the document number of the image stored in the buffer memory. When specified, the image data of the corresponding document number is read from the buffer memory and transferred to the workstation that made the above specification.
It is possible to provide a facsimile gateway system that allows image data to be transmitted and received between workstations and facsimiles within N.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the detailed circuit configuration of a facsimile gateway, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall system configuration, and FIG.
The figure is a diagram showing the operating state during communication. 11...Workstation, 12.21...LA
N trunk line, 13...Facsimile gateway, 14.
25...Public line, 15...Facsimile (FAX)
), 22... LAN transmitting/receiving unit, 23... shared memory, 24... public line transmitting/receiving unit, 26... control unit,
27...Hard disk drive (HDD) Face 28...Hard disk drive ink (HDD-I)
F) 29...Local printer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim] A gateway method for connecting a local area network having a plurality of workstations and a public line, in which a document number is attached to image data sent from an unspecified facsimile machine via the public line. a buffer memory for storing the image as an image; a specifying means for specifying a document number of an image to be stored in the buffer memory by an arbitrary workstation; and image data of the corresponding document number to be stored in the buffer memory in accordance with the specifying means. A facsimile gateway system characterized by comprising: control means for reading and transmitting the information to the specified workstation.