JPH05219253A - Data communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To send data by having only to set a telephone number of a destination without retrieval of a most inexpensive communication network and a call time by the operator itself to use the most inexpensive communication network and time automatically. CONSTITUTION:The communication equipment is featured to be provided with a destination setting means 10 setting a data transmission destination, communication network selection means 11, 12 selecting a communication network and a time band offering the cheapest communication charge depending on a destination telephone number and transmission means 13, 14 sending data to the destination at the selected time band through the selected communication network.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data communication apparatus having a function of selecting a communication network having a low communication charge and a function of setting a transmission time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of a data communication device that transmits and receives data via a communication network, a facsimile device is generally used. A facsimile machine has been developed which has a function of automatically transmitting the image data of a document when the scheduled transmission time is set when the image data of the document is transmitted. Further, in facsimile communication, particularly when transmitting to a far-distance partner, it is economically advantageous to transmit at night when the communication charge is cheap. For this reason, when transmitting to the other party so that the communication charge is cheaper, the operator himself determines the time when it is cheaper, sets it, and transmits it.

Recently, a plurality of first-class telecommunications carriers have their own communications networks to carry out communications business, and the communication fee system is different for each communications carrier. When the user is in an environment in which one of the plurality of communication networks can be selected and used, the communication can be performed at a very low cost by appropriately selecting the communication network used for communication and the communication time.

[0004]

In the prior art as described above, the operator himself has to set a cheaper time in order to transmit the communication charge at the lowest price, and a plurality of times are required. When one of the communication networks can be selected and used, the price can be further reduced, but it has been necessary to investigate which communication network is used at which time and which is the cheapest.

[0005]

A data communication apparatus according to the present invention comprises a destination setting means for setting a data transmission destination,
Communication network selecting means for selecting a communication network and a time zone having the lowest communication charge according to the telephone number of the other party, and transmitting data to the other party through the selected communication network in the selected time zone. And a transmission means.

[0006]

According to the data communication apparatus of the present invention, by setting the data transmission destination, the communication network and time at which the communication fee with the transmission destination is the lowest is selected, and the above selection is made. It is possible to communicate using the communication network selected at different times.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Taking the present invention as an example of a facsimile communication device,
Description will be made based on the block circuit diagram shown in FIG. 1 and the flowchart shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present facsimile communication apparatus includes a facsimile communication circuit 3 for carrying out facsimile communication by means of a telephone line 1, a relay 2 for switching connection between a facsimile section and a telephone section, and a telephone line 1, and a facsimile communication circuit for carrying out facsimile communication. A facsimile signal processing circuit for changing the data received by the communication circuit 3 into image information and the image information read from the original into data for facsimile communication 4, a printing circuit for printing the image information on recording paper 5, an image from the original Document reading circuit 6 for reading information 6, telephone circuit 7 for transmitting DTMF or dial pulse, clock circuit 8 for counting the current time, telephone number input circuit 9 for inputting the destination telephone number, and storing the destination telephone number A destination storage circuit 10 for storing, a communication charge data storage circuit 11 for storing the communication charge for each time zone of the available communication network, A data comparison circuit 12 for comparing the destination telephone number and the communication charge data to determine the communication network with the lowest communication charge and the communication time, and a timer circuit 13 for detecting whether or not it is time to make a dial call. , A dial transmission circuit 14 for transmitting the destination telephone number.

Next, the operation of the facsimile communication apparatus having the above configuration will be described.

In the case of facsimile reception, when the facsimile signal is transmitted from the destination terminal through the telephone line 1 by switching the relay 2 to the terminal a side, the facsimile communication circuit 3 receives the facsimile signal and the facsimile signal processing circuit receives the facsimile signal. The image data is converted into image data by 4 and is guided to the printing circuit 5 to print the image data on a recording sheet (not shown). In the case of facsimile transmission, the relay 2 is switched to the terminal b side, the dial signal is transmitted from the telephone circuit 7, and the relay 2 is switched to the terminal a side after calling the destination terminal. After that, the image data is read from the document set in the document insertion port of the document reading circuit 6 and guided to the facsimile signal processing circuit 4. After the circuit 4 converts the image data into a facsimile signal, the facsimile communication circuit 3 Sent to the destination terminal.

The operation of the facsimile communication apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step S ₁ , a document to be transmitted to the other party is set in the document insertion port of the document reading circuit 6 section.

In step S ₂ , the destination telephone number is stored in the destination storage circuit 10 using the telephone number input circuit 9.

At step S ₃ , when the input of the telephone number of the other party is completed, the data stored in the preliminary communication charge data storage circuit 11 is searched based on the telephone number of the other party, Determine the cheapest available communication network and time zone.

In step S ₄ , the communication network designation number and the destination telephone number which are retrieved and determined in step S ₃ are set in the dial transmission circuit 14.

In step S ₅ , the transmission time close to the current time is set in the timer circuit 13 in the time zone searched and determined in step S ₃ .

In step S ₆ , the process waits until the transmission time set in step S ₅ is reached.

When the set transmission time is reached, the process proceeds to step S ₇ , where the telephone circuit 7 captures the telephone line 1,
The dialing circuit 14 in step S _8, to dialing a communication network specified number and the destination telephone number.

After the dialing is completed in step S ₉ , after the dialing is completed, the process proceeds to step S ₁₀ to switch the relay 2 to the terminal a side.

In step S ₁₁ , facsimile transmission is performed, the facsimile communication circuit 3 communicates with the other party, and the original set in step S ₂ is read by the original reading circuit 6 and converted into facsimile data by the facsimile signal processing circuit 4. , Is transmitted to the other terminal by the facsimile communication circuit 3.

[0021]

As described above, according to the data communication apparatus of the present invention, when the data is transmitted to the other party at the lowest communication charge, the operator himself / herself can obtain the cheapest communication network and the transmission time. Data can be automatically transmitted using the cheapest communication network and time simply by setting the telephone number of the other party without searching.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the facsimile apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Telephone line 2 Relay 3 Facsimile communication circuit 4 Facsimile signal processing circuit 5 Printing circuit 6 Original reading circuit 7 Telephone circuit 8 Clock circuit 9 Telephone number input circuit 10 Destination storage circuit 11 Communication charge data storage circuit 12 Data comparison circuit 13 Timer circuit 14 Dial transmission circuit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───Continued from the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication H04N 1/34 2109-5C

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A destination setting means for setting a destination of data transmission, a communication network selecting means for selecting a communication network and a time zone with the lowest communication charge according to the destination telephone number, and the above-mentioned selection. A data communication device, comprising: a transmission unit that transmits data to a partner via the communication network in the selected time zone.