JPH0562858B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention is directed to so-called facsimile storage, which automatically transmits manuscripts with the same content (hereinafter referred to as broadcast messages) to multiple destinations (destinations) in facsimile communication. Regarding a broadcast device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, with the increase in facsimile communications, facsimile storage and broadcasting devices have come into increasing use.

Conventional broadcasting devices temporarily store messages received from terminals and control broadcasting according to the control content of the messages.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the above-mentioned facsimile storage and broadcasting device does not check the status of the other party's site, that is, whether or not the other party's site is in operation, in accordance with the request for broadcast message transmission. , the broadcast telegram had been sent to the other party's destination.

Therefore, if the destination site is in operation, transmission to the destination site will fail, resulting in poor utilization efficiency of the broadcasting device and line. Furthermore, if there is a limit to the number of retransmissions, there is a problem in that the broadcast message to the other party may not be delivered.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and monitors the operation status of the other party's station, that is, whether the broadcasting device is already using the other party's station or whether the other party's station is busy or not. To provide a facsimile storage broadcasting device that can improve the utilization rate of broadcasting devices and lines and further reduce the rate of non-delivery of broadcast messages by prohibiting transmissions that are predicted to occur. The purpose is to

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides that the terminal of the other party is busy (busy here refers to a state in which the other party is connected to a third party) or is in use. (Here, "in use" refers to a state in which the party and the other party are connected.) In addition to having a busy monitoring circuit and an in-use monitoring circuit that respectively monitor A calling prohibition control means is provided for prohibiting transmission to the destination terminal when the monitoring result indicates that the destination terminal is busy or in use.

Function: Before a broadcast message is transmitted, the busy monitoring circuit monitors whether the destination terminal is busy or not, and the busy monitoring circuit monitors whether the destination terminal is busy or not. be monitored. When any of these monitoring results indicates that the destination terminal is busy or in use, the call prohibition control means prohibits the broadcast message from being sent to the destination terminal.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a broadcast communication system to which a facsimile storage and broadcast device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

This broadcast communication system includes a plurality of conventionally known facsimile terminals for both sending and receiving functions (some of which may be dedicated to receiving) FAX ₁ , FAX ₂ , ... FAX _o ,
Each facsimile terminal FAX ₁ , FAX ₂ ,...
An exchange S connected to FAX _o via a facsimile communication line, and a facsimile storage/broadcast of an embodiment of the present invention connected to the exchange S via a plurality of receiving and transmitting lines (two lines in the illustrated example) It is equipped with a device M. In the figure, M _IN indicates the connection end of the reception line, and M _OUT indicates the connection end of the transmission line.

In this embodiment, a mark sheet (OCR) is used as a means of inputting control information for controlling broadcast communication.
(You may also use a sheet, etc.).

As shown in FIG. 1, the facsimile storage/broadcast device M includes a facsimile reception control section (increased or decreased depending on the number of lines) in charge of facsimile reception control.
1, a reception channel control section 2 that controls a plurality of facsimile reception control sections, a message reception management section 3 that manages reception of broadcast messages, a message storage section 4 that stores the contents of broadcast messages, and a broadcast message storage section 4 that stores the contents of broadcast messages. Controls a message management information storage unit 5 that stores and manages information other than the content of the message, such as the date and time of reception, a message distribution management unit 6 that retrieves broadcast messages when transmission is necessary, and a plurality of facsimile transmission control units. Transmission channel control unit 7
In addition to being equipped with a facsimile transmission control unit 8 that controls the transmission of broadcast telegrams to the other party's destination, it is also equipped with a facsimile transmission control section 8 that controls the transmission of broadcast telegrams to the other party's destination. A mark sheet recognition unit 9 for recognition, a terminal information storage unit 10 for storing preliminary terminal information, a terminal usage status management unit 11 for managing usage status for each terminal,
It also includes a call prohibition control section 12 that prohibits the transmission operation even if a transmission request occurs.

The terminal information storage section 10 is provided with a plurality of storage sections in which destination information for broadcast communication is stored in advance, and is configured to be able to search each storage section at random.

Each storage section has a terminal number (each facsimile terminal number) storage section, a terminal name (distribution destination name,
It consists of a storage section (management section name, etc.) storage section, a station number (dial) storage section, etc., and destination information is stored and managed separately in each of these storage sections.

The destination information in each storage section is taken into the message reception management section 3 and the message distribution management section 6, respectively, as necessary.

As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal usage status management unit 11 has a plurality of monitoring circuits 11a, 11b, . . . for each terminal.
11m, each monitoring circuit 11a, 11b,...
11m includes a busy monitoring circuit 100 that outputs a transmission invalidation signal while the terminal is in a busy state, and a busy monitoring circuit 100 that outputs a transmission invalidation signal while the terminal is busy; An in-use monitoring circuit 101 that outputs an intermediate transmission invalidation signal, and an OR circuit 10 that outputs a transmission invalidation signal to the call prohibition circuit 12 when any one of the transmission invalidation signals becomes valid.
2.

Next, the operation of the facsimile storage and broadcasting apparatus M having the above-described configuration will be explained.

Now, if you set a document with the mark sheet as the first page and the broadcast telegrams superimposed on the second and subsequent sheets on the facsimile terminal FAX ₁ , and perform the transmission operation, these messages will be sent using the general-purpose facsimile transmission procedure. Accordingly, the data is sent to the facsimile reception control unit 1 via the exchange S, where it is received as image information. The received image information is inputted into the message storage section 4 via the reception channel control section 2 and the message reception management section 3, and simultaneously inputted line by line into the mark sheet recognition section 9. This input data is the mark sheet recognition unit 9
The presence or absence of a mark, that is, the presence or absence of control information necessary for broadcast communication, is detected.

When the existence of this control information is confirmed, the control information is separated into the terminal number information of the other party and other broadcast control information, and is further stored in advance in the terminal information storage unit 10. The destination information of the broadcast communication, that is, each information (terminal number) in each storage section is compared.

As a result of the comparison, if it is determined that the two pieces of information do not match, information indicating that the two pieces of information are not registered is returned to the sender, and if it is confirmed that they match, the broadcast communication possible information is sent to the mark sheet recognition unit. 9 to the facsimile consultation control unit 1, and also outputs to the terminal usage status management unit 11 that the terminal on the originating side is in the transmitting state.

The facsimile reception control unit 1 that has received the broadcast communication enable information as described above sends the broadcast message to the message reception management unit 3 via the reception channel control unit 2.
Transfer to. Then, the management section 3 stores the contents of the broadcast message in the message storage section 4, while accumulating information other than the message contents (reception date and time, etc.) in the message management information storage section 5. At this point, the series of receiving operations ends.

When the need for transmission arises, the message distribution management unit 6 retrieves the terminal information (station number, etc.) of the other party from the terminal information storage unit 10, and notifies the terminal usage status management unit 11 that there is a request for transmission to the other party. Output.
The terminal usage status management unit 11 determines whether the other party's terminal is busy or not, whether another broadcast message is already being sent, and if the other party's terminal is a half-duplex terminal, it is not already receiving data. In other words, it monitors whether it is in use or not, and outputs the monitoring result to the call prohibition control section 12. Based on the monitoring results sent from the terminal usage status management unit 11, the call prohibition control unit 12 outputs to the message distribution management unit 6 whether or not the transmission request is prohibited. And if that request to send is valid,
Broadcast messages (including message contents and other information) are retrieved from the message storage section 4 and the message management information storage section 5, and transferred to the facsimile transmission control section 8 via the transmission channel control section 7 for message distribution. The management unit 6 outputs a signal to the terminal usage status management unit 11 indicating that the other party has entered the receiving state. below,
Normal facsimile broadcast communication control is performed via this transmission control unit 8, and broadcast telegrams are transmitted sequentially or all at once to the destinations (facsimile terminals FAX ₂ , . . . FAX _o ). At this time, if the transmission fails and the cause of the failure is that the other party is busy, a signal to that effect is output to the terminal usage status management section 11.

In addition, in Figure 1, the facsimile terminal FAX ₁
Although we have explained an example in which FAX 2 is the originating terminal, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the terminal FAX ₂
can also be used as the originating terminal.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, a case has been described in which the mark sheet is used as the first sheet and the broadcast telegrams are superimposed on the second and subsequent sheets to form a single set, which is then applied to the transmitting terminal. , it is also possible to perform broadcast communication by simultaneously transmitting these to the terminal at the originating location. In this case, the terminal at the other end will accept broadcast telegrams for each mark sheet.

Further, although an example has been described in which control information necessary for broadcast communication is inputted via a dedicated sheet, it is also possible to input it using, for example, half of the front page of a broadcast message, if necessary.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, the present invention monitors the busy state or busy state of the other party's terminal, and prohibits transmission if the monitoring result indicates that the other party is busy or in use. Therefore, it is possible to improve the utilization rate of the broadcasting device and the line, and further to reduce the rate of non-delivery of broadcast messages.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a broadcast communication system to which a facsimile storage and broadcasting device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of main parts showing a schematic configuration of a terminal usage status management unit that is installed. 11...Terminal usage management department, 11a, 11
b, ~11m...monitoring circuit, 12...call prohibition control unit, 100...busy monitoring circuit, 101...busy monitoring circuit, 102...OR circuit, M...facsimile storage and broadcasting device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Busy monitoring means for monitoring whether the destination terminal is busy, busy monitoring means for monitoring whether the destination terminal is in use, the busy monitoring means, and the busy monitoring means, respectively. facsimile storage, comprising a call prohibition control means for inputting the monitoring results of the terminal, and prohibiting transmission to the destination terminal when any of the monitoring results indicates that the destination terminal is busy or in use. Broadcast device.