JPH0468852A - Data communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To exactly use the network of an entrepreneur having the most low- priced network by operating an LCR function after calculating time for communication according to the amount of a data to be actually transmitted and velocity for communication. CONSTITUTION:When a start button is pushed, a called party number is stored in a called party number holding means 11, and original information read from a scanner is stored in a picture storage memory. When all the original information is stored in the picture storage memory, capacity 12 using the picture storage memory is calculated. On the other hand, communication velocity 13 and protocol time 14 are decided in advance, and these data are supplied to a communication time calculating means 15 so as to calculate time for communication. Next, a correspondent network selection number is read from an LCR table 16 while referring to the LCR table 16 according to an area code in the called party number held in the called party number holding means 11 and the time for communication. Afterwards, the network selection number and the called party number are transmitted to an automatic dial device 17, successively dialed in this order and transmitted to a line.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a data communication device, and particularly to an LCR (Lea
The present invention relates to a data communication device that uses an inexpensive communication network by using the St Co5t Routing function.

(Prior Art) Currently, public telephone networks are provided by a plurality of telecommunications carriers, and the fee structure differs depending on the carrier.

Communication charges under this rate system are basically determined according to the communication time corresponding to the place of arrival, assuming that the place of call origination is fixed, but the unit of time to which communication charges are added is determined by each Since each carrier is different, which carrier's network is cheaper to use will vary depending on the communication time.

In this way, communication charges vary depending on the carrier's network, so it becomes necessary to choose the cheapest carrier's network, or the operator calculates the cost every time you communicate and uses the cheapest carrier's network. It is very troublesome. Therefore, facsimile machines and the like are equipped with a function that automatically determines this and selects the cheapest carrier's network, that is, an LCR function.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, the LCR function fixes the communication time, which is the basis for judgment, at a certain value and calculates communication charges for each carrier, or has the operator manually calculate the communication time. Since the charges were calculated and the cheapest carrier's network was selected, if the actual airtime differs from the fixed airtime or the airtime entered by the operator, the cheapest carrier's network will be selected. There was a problem with not being able to use the net.

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the problems of the prior art described above,
By determining communication charges based on actual communication time,
The aim is to provide data communication equipment that allows the use of exactly the cheapest carrier networks.

(Means and effects for solving the problem) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an LCR table storing a network selection number that allows communication at the lowest cost using a partner number and communication time as parameters, and an amount of data to be communicated. and a means to find
communication time calculation means for calculating the communication time from the data amount and communication speed; means for referring to the LCR table based on the communication time and the partner number calculated by the communication time calculation means and outputting the network selection number; It is characterized by having means for dialing the network selection number and the other party's number in that order.

In the present invention, the LCR table is accessed from the partner number and the amount of communication data. Then, the network selection number stored in the LCR table is read out. The network selection number and the destination number are sent to the dialing means and dialed in this order.

As a result, data communication can be performed at the lowest communication charges.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Although the following description will mainly be made using a facsimile device as an example, the present invention is not limited to a facsimile device, and may be applied to other data communication devices.

FIG. 2 is a system block diagram showing the general configuration of the facsimile machine.

In the figure, 1 is a scanner that reads the original, 2 is an encoding unit (codec) that compresses the read original information using an encoding method with high compression efficiency, 3 is an image storage memory that stores the compressed original information, and 4 5 is a modem that modulates the original information read from the image storage memory 3 and demodulates the received original information; 5 is a modem that automatically dials and sends a message to the other party when there is a transmission instruction using one-touch dialing or speed dialing. This is a line control unit (NCU) that calls stations and performs predetermined communication procedures using a predetermined protocol.

Reference numeral 6 indicates a printer that prints the received document information; 7 indicates an operation panel having a numeric keypad, various function keys, a display section, etc.; and 8 indicates C, which controls the operations of the various blocks described above.
PU 9 is a ROM that stores control programs for operating this system, various basic data, etc., and an LCR table; 10 is a ROM that provides a work area and is used for speed dialing registered from the operation panel 7; This is a RAM that stores data and the like.

An example of the LCR table is shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, the LCR table has items for area code, communication time, and network selection number. Stores the selection numbers of available networks. The communication time column stores predetermined time intervals or the time when the cheapest communication network is switched. For example, for data at time intervals of 10 seconds, or for the first minute from the start of communication, carrier A's network is the cheapest, and then
If carrier B's network is the cheapest for minutes up to 30 seconds, data of 60 seconds and 90 seconds is stored in the communication time column.

Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of the main parts of this embodiment.

The operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

A document is set on the scanner l, and the operation panel 7
When the other party's number is inputted from , and the start button is then pressed, the other party's number is stored in the other party's number holding means 11 in the RAM 2O. Further, when the CPU 8 detects that the start button has been pressed, it starts the scanner 1. The document information read by the scanner 1 is compressed by the encoder 2 and stored in the image storage memory 3.

When all the document information is stored in the image storage memory 3,
The image storage memory usage amount 12 is determined.

Furthermore, the communication speed 13 and protocol time 14 are known in advance, and these are supplied to the communication time calculation means 15.

The communication time calculating means 15 calculates the communication time using the following calculation formula.

Communication time - (image storage memory usage) / (communication speed) +
(Protocol time) Next, the area code in the destination number held in the destination number holding means 11, for example, 052 (Nagoya), 06 (Osaka)
Then, the LCR table 16 is referred to based on the communication time determined by the above calculation formula, and the corresponding network selection number is read from the LCR table 16. Note that since the protocol time in the above equation is usually constant, it may be deleted from the equation.

The network selection number and the destination number held in the destination number holding means 11 are sent to the automatic dialing device 17. The automatic dialing device 17 dials the network selection number and the other party's number in that order and sends the dialed numbers to the line.

Through the above-described operations, it is possible to select the network of the operator that provides the cheapest communication according to the amount of document information.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart mainly showing the functions of the CPU 8 for the transmission operation.

The CPU 8 first determines whether the other party's number has been input (
Step S1) and whether or not the start button is turned on are determined (Step S2). If these determinations are affirmative, a document reading command is sent to the scanner L, and the read document information is sequentially stored in the image storage memory 3. Accumulate in (
Step S3).

When the storage in the image storage memory 3 is completed, the amount of image data is determined (step S4). Next, the communication time is calculated using the above formula (step S5).

Next, based on the area code of the other party's number input in step S1 and the communication time obtained in step S5,
The network selection number is searched by referring to the R table (step S6).

Next, the NCU 3 is controlled to dial the network selection number and the other party's number in that order (step S7).

When the line is connected to the other party by this dial, the data stored in the image storage memory 3 is transmitted (step S8).

In the above manner, you can communicate using the cheapest carrier's network.

As is well known, the fee structure of business operators differs depending on daytime and nighttime, or depending on the day of the week. Therefore, the time zone, day of the week, etc. to be used in the LCR table can also be taken into consideration. FIG. 5 shows an example of an LCR table that takes time zones into account.

Further, although the LCR table shown in FIG. 3.5 is for domestic use, it is also possible to create one for international telephone calls having the same meaning as the present invention and incorporate it into a facsimile machine. in this case,
The area code may be replaced with a country and/or region code.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the communication time is calculated from the amount of data actually transmitted and the communication speed,
Since the communication time is used to activate the LCR function, it is possible to accurately select the cheapest network.

Furthermore, the operator no longer needs to input the communication time, which can be expected to improve operability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a facsimile machine, and FIG.
5 and 5 are diagrams showing specific examples of the LCR table, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the transmission operation. 1... Destination number holding means, 5... Communication time calculation means, 6... LCR table, 7... Automatic dialing means,

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A data communication device that can communicate using the communication networks of multiple telecommunications carriers, which includes an LCR table that stores the network selection number that allows the cheapest communication using the partner number and communication time as parameters, and the data to be communicated. means for calculating the amount of data; communication time calculation means for calculating the communication time from the data amount and communication speed; referring to the LCR table using the communication time and the partner number calculated by the communication time calculation means, and determining the network selection number. A data communication device comprising: means for outputting; and means for dialing the network selection number and the other party's number in that order.