JPH05308456A - Facsimile relay equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce a wait time by implementing control of connection of plural facsimile equipment directly or indirectly to one telephone line, thereby enabling the plural facsimile equipment to read transmission data simultaneously and enabling the plural facsimile equipments to implement transmission and reception of data simultaneously. CONSTITUTION:This equipment is provided with an external facsimile data transmission reception section 28 implementing facsimile communication with an external equipment through a telephone line, an external facsimile data storage section 27 storing external data, and internal facsimile data transmission reception section 15 sending and receiving data from the plural facsimile equipments simultaneously and an internal facsimile data storage section 14 storing each of data to implement facsimile transmission reception efficiently while the plural facsimile equipments use one telephone line in common.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile repeater for transmitting / receiving data via a communication line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a general company, a facsimile machine is provided with a telephone line dedicated to one facsimile machine, and only one facsimile machine is connected to this communication line. Normally, one fax machine has one
It is shared by one department, and in a department shared by many people, the operating rate of one facsimile machine increases. Therefore,
It becomes necessary for each individual to share efficiently.

Therefore, there is a facsimile apparatus having a function of reducing the time when each individual occupies a facsimile. For example, in order to reduce the communication time with the outside, 1
Having a high-speed modem with the capability of 44 kBPS,
Alternatively, it is a G4 (group 4) facsimile machine or the like using the redundancy suppression coding technique. In addition, in order to eliminate the waiting time while receiving data from the outside, even if the facsimile is being received from the outside, multiple internal facsimiles read the transmission original and save it in the temporary memory. There is a facsimile device that transmits the data stored in the memory to the outside when the data reception from the device is completed.

On the other hand, in a large-scale company, a telephone line dedicated to a facsimile machine is usually run by each department, and one facsimile is installed in each department. Here, for example, when frequently exchanging information with an external office by facsimile, data is usually sent from the outside to a representative facsimile device such as a sales department. After that, a person in charge of the sales department arranged the received data in another department, for example, the product planning department or the design department, and transferred the received data to each department. Further, when necessary, the data was sent directly to the respective departments from outside by using the sequential broadcasting function of the facsimile machine.

[0005]

However, 144
The communication time of a facsimile machine or a G4 facsimile machine having a high-speed modem having the capability of kBPS cannot be shortened unless the communication partner is a facsimile machine having the same function. Further, even in a facsimile machine that temporarily stores transmission data in a memory, there is a problem that the transmission data cannot be read by two or more machines at the same time. Further, a facsimile machine to which these functions are added is expensive and hard to use. In addition, particularly when the distance to the facsimile machine is large, such as in a large office or factory, it is necessary to make a round trip to the place where the facsimile machine is located every time the facsimile transmission is performed, and this time is wasted. Therefore, it is conceivable to increase the number of facsimiles, but this does not solve the problem that the installation cost and the subsequent line usage fee are extra, and the telephone line is effectively used.

Further, when the data sent to the representative facsimile machine is transferred to each department, it takes a considerable time for each department to obtain the same information. First, the facsimile duty sorts the received data and distributes the received data to each person in charge of the sales department. After that, each person in charge transfers the necessary received data to the related department by facsimile within the company. Since the person in charge cannot use the facsimile at the same time, there will be a considerable delay before the facsimile reaches the related departments. In order to prevent such a delay in the received data, the facsimile data may be directly sent to two or more destinations from the outside, but the communication cost is not stupid. Further, since the data received by facsimile is often copied and transferred to each department, there is a problem that the image quality deteriorates.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a plurality of facsimiles are directly or indirectly connected to a telephone line, and transmission / reception of the plurality of facsimiles is controlled, whereby a plurality of facsimiles are controlled. The transmission data can be read simultaneously by the facsimile, and the transmission and reception can be simultaneously performed by the plurality of facsimiles.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile repeater capable of reducing the waiting time and efficiently utilizing one telephone line.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile repeater capable of simultaneously transmitting data transmitted from the outside to a plurality of facsimiles when receiving data from the outside and saving the labor of transferring the data.

[0009]

In order to achieve this object, the invention of claim 1 is connected to at least one telephone line and is connected to a plurality of facsimile subunits via a plurality of dedicated lines. A facsimile repeater,
Transmission storage means for storing a plurality of data to be transmitted from the facsimile subunit to the external facsimile device through the dedicated line and telephone line, transmission means for sequentially transmitting the data stored in the transmission storage means, and the dedicated line And a receiving means for receiving data sent to the facsimile subunit from a plurality of external facsimile devices via the.

In addition to the above configuration, when data is received from an external facsimile machine through a telephone line, the external facsimile machine is based on a non-standard function identification signal included in the data. Data from
It is provided with a sending means for sending simultaneously to each of a plurality of facsimile subunits connected through a dedicated line.

[0011]

In the facsimile repeater having the above structure, only one telephone line or a small number of telephone lines are connected. Then, a large number of facsimile subunits are connected to the facsimile repeater via a plurality of dedicated lines. Therefore, the facsimile subunit shares one or a small number of telephone lines. At this time, when the transmission data is sent to the facsimile repeater from a large number of facsimile subunits, the facsimile repeater sequentially sends the transmission data via the telephone line.
Since the transmission storage means can store a large amount of data, the present facsimile repeater has almost no waiting time regardless of whether the telephone line is in use or not, and is transmitted from the facsimile subunit. Data can be received.
Therefore, on the slave side, a large amount of data can be transmitted without waiting time.

Further, the facsimile repeater according to claim 2 has the following function in addition to the function of the facsimile repeater according to claim 1. First, a non-standard function identification signal is extracted from the data received by the receiving means. Then, the facsimile repeater simultaneously sends out the data via the dedicated line based on the non-standard function identification signal.

[0013]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus. The facsimile server 1 is connected to the telephone line 3 by the modular jack 2. Also, the facsimile server 1 has a first facsimile interface 4
(Hereinafter referred to as the first interface), the second facsimile interface 5 (hereinafter referred to as the second interface), the third facsimile interface 6
(Hereinafter, referred to as a third interface). The first interface 4 is a modular jack 4a
It is connected to the facsimile 7 via the dedicated line 7a connected to the. Similarly, the facsimiles 8 and 9 are connected to the second interface 5 and the third interface 6 via the modular jacks 5a and 6a and the dedicated lines 8a and 9a, respectively. The facsimiles 7, 8 and 9 are required to have three basic elements for reading, recording, and communicating to configure a facsimile, and a general desk-top facsimile can be used.
An interface can be added to the option unit 10 provided in the facsimile server 1, and a maximum of four facsimiles can be connected in this embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the facsimile server 1. For example, the first interface 4 has a current supply circuit 11 that supplies a current to the facsimile 7, a current detection circuit 12 that detects the state of the facsimile 7, and a bell ringing circuit 13 that sends a bell signal to the facsimile 7, and
An internal facsimile data storage unit 14 for controlling transmission / reception of the facsimile 7, an internal facsimile data transmission / reception unit 15, and an interface CPU 16 are provided.

First interface 4 and facsimile 7
The exchange of data with the switch 17, the line transformer 1
This is performed by the internal facsimile data transmission / reception unit 15 via S8. The internal facsimile data storage unit 14 serves as means for storing two types of data under the control of the interface CPU 16. One is the received data from the facsimile 7, and the second is the transmitted data to the facsimile 7 sent from the outside. The above is the configuration of the first interface 4, but the second interface 5 and the third interface
The interface 6 also has the same configuration, so its illustration is omitted.

On the other hand, in the mother section 21 of the facsimile server 1 which mediates between the telephone line 3 and each interface, the telephone line 3 and the modular jack 2 are connected to the switch 2
A direct current detection circuit 23 and a dial circuit 24 are connected via 2, and a mother CPU 25 as a control unit, an external facsimile data storage unit 27, and an external facsimile data transmission / reception unit 28 are further provided. Note that the first, second,
The respective third interface CPUs are connected to the mother CPU 25 via the mother bus 20.

Data exchange between the mother unit 21 and the outside via the telephone line 3 is performed by the external facsimile data transmission / reception unit 28 via the line transformer 29.
The external facsimile data storage unit 27 is the mother CPU 25.
It becomes a means for storing two kinds of data under the control of. One is externally received data via the telephone line 3 and is sent to each interface via the mother bus 20. The second is data from each interface sent via the mother bus 25, and is for sending to the outside via the telephone line 3. Facsimile 7
And telephone line 3 open switch 17, switch 30
Direct communication is possible by closing (external direct connection mode).

FIG. 3 shows an example of an external panel of the facsimile server 1. The first interface 4, the second interface 5, and the third interface 6 are plug-in type in the main body of the facsimile server 1. The option section 10 allows the user to easily add an interface. Each interface is provided with an indicator 4b, an indicator 5b, an indicator 6b, which can indicate which interface is in use. The indicators 1a and 1b indicate the operating status of the mother CPU 25.

Next, a transmission / reception control method in this facsimile apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a flowchart from one of a plurality of facsimile machines to transmission to an external facsimile apparatus. FIG. 5 is a flowchart in the reception priority mode for transferring received data from an external facsimile apparatus to one of a plurality of facsimiles. FIG. 6 is a flowchart in the device priority mode for transferring the received data from the external facsimile apparatus to one of a plurality of facsimiles.

In FIG. 4, when data is sent from the facsimile 7, the data is sent to the telephone line 3 depending on whether or not the telephone line 3 is in use (step S1, hereinafter referred to as S1 and the same below). There are two routes depending on the state. One is when the telephone line 3 is not used, and the switch 17 and the switch 22 are opened and the switch 30 is closed to switch the relay to the external direct connection mode (S2) and directly send the data to the outside (S3). The communication state of the facsimile 7 is detected by the current detection circuit 12.

The other is S1 in which the telephone line 3 is in use, and the switch 30 is opened and the switch 17 is closed to send data to the internal facsimile data transmission / reception unit 15 via the line transformer 18. The sent data is temporarily stored in the internal facsimile data storage unit 14. Here, the external telephone number transmitted by the facsimile 7 is stored (S4), and the data is transmitted to the interface CPU 16 (S5). After that, it is judged again whether the telephone line 3 is in use (S6), and if the telephone line 3 is free in S6, the transmission data of the facsimile 7 temporarily stored in the internal facsimile data storage unit 14 is the interface CPU1.
6 passes through the mother bus 20 and is moved to the external facsimile data storage unit 27 by the mother CPU 25 (S
7).

Next, after the switch 22 is closed, the dial circuit 24 dials the party to which the facsimile 7 wants to send (S8). In S4, the dial number sent by the facsimile 7 is detected by the current detection circuit 12. If it is connected to the outside, the transmission data from the facsimile 7 in the external facsimile data storage unit 27 is sent to the outside by the external facsimile data transmission / reception unit 28 via the line transformer 29 (S9).

Since the processes of S6 to S9 are processes not involved in the facsimiles 7, 8, 9 side, the facsimiles 7, 8, 9 side can perform the following processes when S5 ends. it can. When the process of S5 is finished,
The leased lines 7a, 8a and 9a are similarly opened. Therefore, by operating the interface CPU 16 by the well-known multi-task control, the facsimiles 7, 8 and 9 can continuously send a large number of transmission data. That is, when the reception of the first transmission data from the facsimiles 7, 8 and 9 ends (end of S5), simultaneously with the processing from S6, the multitasking processing causes The data for transmission can be received. Therefore, as long as the capacity of the internal facsimile data storage unit 14 permits, the facsimiles 7, 8 and 9 can send the transmission data without waiting time.

Further, except for the processing of S7 to S9, most of the processing is performed by each interface CPU 16 side independently,
At the same time, multiple faxes can be sent to the corresponding interface. That is, when transmitting in the direct line connection mode by the facsimile 7 connected to the first interface 4, the facsimile 8 connected to the second interface 5 and the facsimile 9 connected to the third interface 6 correspond at the same time. It becomes possible to send to the interface.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a control method for determining to which facsimile the data received from the outside via the telephone line 3 is transferred when the data from the outside is received in the reception priority mode. .. Mother CPU 25 is the first
It is determined whether the interface 4 is in use (S1
1) If the first interface 4 is not in use, the relay is switched to the external line direct connection mode by the same operation as S2 (S12). Then, in the same direct connection mode as in S3, the facsimile 7 receives data from the external facsimile device (S13).

Further, in S11, the first interface 4
Switch is in use by the mother CPU 25
2 is closed and the data is transferred from the external facsimile data transmission / reception unit 28 to the external facsimile data storage unit 27 via the line transformer 29 (S14). Next, the received data of the external facsimile data storage unit 27 is sent to the second interface 5 or the third interface 6 judged by the mother CPU 25 via the mother bus 20, and is sent to the facsimile connected to the appropriate interface. .. If the transmission is to the facsimile 8, S15
The processing of steps S17 to S17 is executed, and if the facsimile 9 is transmitted, the processing of steps S18 to S20 is executed.

Further, in the device priority mode, when there is a facsimile reception from the outside through the telephone line 3, when the mother CPU 25 is communicating with any of the interface CPUs and the facsimile reception cannot be received from the outside, As shown in 6, the mother CPU 25 sets the telephone line 3 in advance.
It is also possible to connect to the optimum facsimile (priority machine) by switching the switch so that the data from the outside can be directly sent to the facsimile. In the present embodiment, the case where the facsimile 7 is used as a priority machine to transfer received data will be described. In this case, S21 to S23
Then, the same operation as S11 to S13 shown in FIG.
21, if the first interface 4 is in use, S
In 24 to S27, the same operation as S14 to S17 shown in FIG.

Next, a non-standard function identification signal (hereinafter referred to as NSF
Is written. 7), a configuration in which an external facsimile device side sends data to an individual slave facsimile will be described with reference to FIG. In this case, the external transmitting side facsimile device embeds a code (several may be used) indicating the slave facsimile in the NSF in the protocol for transmission. By the processing shown in FIG. 7, the facsimile server 1 sends the data following the protocol only to the child device desired by the sender.

First, it is determined whether or not the code representing the slave facsimile exists in the NSF of the protocol of the signal transmitted from the external facsimile apparatus via the telephone line 3 (S50). If the protocol to which the code is added is transmitted in S50, the code is extracted from the received protocol and stored (S51). Then, data reception is instructed to the interfaces connected to all the slave facsimiles indicated by the code (S52).
Then, the received data is sent to the mother bus 20 (S
53). Each interface CPU 16 instructed to receive the data receives and stores the data appearing on the mother bus 20. At this time, receive a predetermined amount of data,
Every time it is processed, a status signal indicating completion of reception is sent to the mother CPU 25.

The mother CPU 25 waits until a status signal indicating completion of reception is received from all the interfaces instructing data reception, and then sends the next data. Therefore, data can be transferred at high speed to a large number of interfaces. When all the data have been transferred, the interface connected to the slave facsimile indicated by the code is instructed to transmit the data to the corresponding slave facsimile (S54).

If the code does not exist in S50, the same process as the flowchart of FIG. 5 is performed (S5).
5). In response to the instruction, the interface CPU 16 sends the stored data to the corresponding slave facsimile. Since this processing is performed without the intervention of the mother CPU 25 or the like, it can be performed independently for each interface. That is, when there are a plurality of codes, transmission is simultaneously performed to a plurality of corresponding slave facsimiles.

As described above, since the data from the outside can be temporarily stored and the data from a plurality of facsimiles can also be stored, even when the telephone line is used, Multiple facsimiles can send and receive. In the past, a plurality of slave facsimiles were provided with memory means, but in the present invention, since they are provided in each interface of the facsimile server 1, the cost of slave facsimiles can be reduced.

Next, another embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the facsimile apparatus. The facsimile 51 is connected to the modular jack 52 via a dedicated line 51 a, and inside the facsimile server 50, the first facsimile data control unit 53.
It is connected to the. Similarly, the facsimile 55 is connected to the modular jack 56 via the dedicated line 55a, and is connected to the second facsimile data control unit 57 inside the facsimile server 50. Further, by connecting a telephone line 70 to the modular jack 58 of the facsimile server 50, transmission / reception can be performed with the external facsimile device 60. Further, the facsimile server 50 has an external facsimile data control unit 61 and a mother bus 62 that connects the external facsimile data control unit 61 to the first and second facsimile control units 53 and 57.

In the above configuration, the facsimiles 51, 5
An operation of simultaneously transferring the same data to the memory 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for setting the simultaneous broadcast bit which is a non-standard device signal, and FIG.
3 is a flowchart showing a data transfer operation. First, in FIG. 9, it is assumed that the external facsimile device 60 can be set for simultaneous broadcast transmission by a switch or the like during transmission (S31). First, in S31, it is determined whether or not simultaneous broadcast transmission is to be performed. The user specifies simultaneous broadcast transmission if the transmission data needs to be transmitted to all the slaves. When the simultaneous broadcast settings are specified,
The external facsimile device 60 internally sets the NSF simultaneous broadcast bit (S32). In addition, in S31,
If the simultaneous broadcast bit is not set, another process is performed (S33).

On the other hand, in FIG. 10, on the side of the facsimile server 50, when there is a reception from the external facsimile device 60 (S41), first, the simultaneous broadcast bit of the NSF from the external facsimile device 60 is set. It is determined whether or not (S42). If the simultaneous broadcast bit is set, external data is temporarily stored in the external facsimile data control unit 61 (S43). The temporarily stored data is the external facsimile data control unit 61.
Is sequentially transferred to the first facsimile data control unit 53 and the second facsimile data control unit 57 via the mother bus 62 (S44, S45). The first facsimile data control unit 53 and the second facsimile data control unit 57 are connected to the facsimile 51 and the facsimile 5 respectively.
5 to make an independent phone call, and an external facsimile device 60
Transfer data from. If the simultaneous broadcast bit is not set in S42, another process is performed (S4).
6).

As described above, since the received data is sent to each of the plurality of facsimiles based on the NSF, the same data can be transferred to the plurality of facsimiles at the same time, which saves the human labor of transferring the data and makes a copy or the like. The characters are not crushed by.

[0037]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, since a plurality of facsimiles are directly or indirectly connected to and controlled by one telephone line, the plurality of facsimiles simultaneously transmit. Since a single fax line has conventionally occupied a telephone line during communication, one telephone line can be shared and used effectively, and waiting time can be increased. The number is reduced, and the efficiency of facsimile transmission / reception can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the data from the external facsimile machine is received through the telephone line, the data from the external facsimile machine is received from the external facsimile machine based on the non-standard function identification signal included in the data. Since the data is sent simultaneously to each of the multiple facsimile main units connected through a dedicated line, the data can be sent to multiple facsimiles at the same time, saving the trouble of transferring the facsimiles and the characters due to repeated transfer. It is possible to eliminate the collapse.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a facsimile server.

FIG. 3 is an external panel view showing an example of a facsimile server.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing transmission of facsimile data to the outside.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing reception of facsimile data from the outside.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing reception of facsimile data from the outside.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing reception of facsimile data from the outside.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a simultaneous broadcast setting operation.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a data transfer operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Facsimile Server 3 Telephone Line 4 First Facsimile Interface 5 Second Facsimile Interface 6 Third Facsimile Interface 7 Facsimile 7a Leased Line 8 Facsimile 8a Leased Line 9 Facsimile 9a Leased Line 14 Internal Facsimile Data Storage 15 Internal Facsimile Data Transmission / Reception 16 Interface CPU 25 Mother CPU 20 Mother Bus 27 External Facsimile Data Storage Unit 28 External Facsimile Data Transmission / Reception Unit 50 Facsimile Server 51 Facsimile 51a Dedicated Line 53 First Facsimile Data Control Unit 55 Facsimile 55a Dedicated Line 57 Second Facsimile Data Control Unit 60 Facsimile Device 61 External facsimile data control unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile repeater connected to at least one telephone line and connected to a plurality of facsimile subunits via a plurality of dedicated lines, wherein the dedicated line and the telephone are connected from the facsimile subunit. From a plurality of external facsimile devices via the dedicated line, transmission storage means for storing a plurality of data to be transmitted to an external facsimile device through a line, transmission means for sequentially transmitting the data stored in the transmission storage device, A facsimile repeater, comprising: a receiving unit that receives data sent to the facsimile subunit. 2. When data is received from an external facsimile machine through a telephone line, the data from the external facsimile machine is connected through a dedicated line based on a non-standard function identification signal included in this data. 2. The facsimile repeater according to claim 1, further comprising a sending means for sending simultaneously to each of the plurality of facsimile subunits.