JPH0568154A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To more efficiently attain highly reliable resending processing in accordance with the states of a terminating terminal and a communication line by providing this facsimile equipment with a software switch for resending processing such as resending frequency and a resending interval in each abnormal state of communication. CONSTITUTION:Resending information corresponding to the contents of plural different communication errors is stored in a RAM 13-2, communication error information from communication parts 8, 9 and a communication control part 10 is detected by an MPU 12, the contents of an communication error based upon the detected communication error information are analyzed, and resending information corresponding to the contents of the communication error obtained by the analysis is selected from the RAM 13-2 and set up.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, for example, a facsimile machine having a function corresponding to group 4.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of device, when communication is abnormally terminated, the retransmitting process is performed only when the partner terminal is out of paper, disk full, or busy during communication. Regarding the number of re-transmissions and the re-transmission interval, only certain processing was performed according to the service software switch.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional example, there is only one type of retransmission processing, and fine retransmission processing cannot be performed. In other words, there is a drawback in that transmission is interrupted because a communication abnormality that is likely to be transmitted if it is retransmitted after a certain period of time is treated as an abnormal end.

Further, even in the case of bad communication line conditions in international communication, there is a drawback that even if transmission is performed every time without performing retransmission several times, abnormal termination occurs. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to
An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile device capable of more efficiently and highly reliable retransmission processing.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the object, the facsimile device according to the present invention is a facsimile device that performs communication processing of group 4 according to a predetermined protocol, and storage means for storing retransmission information corresponding to a plurality of different communication error contents, Detecting means for detecting the communication error information, analyzing means for analyzing the communication error content based on the communication error information detected by the detecting means, and resending information corresponding to the communication error content obtained by the analyzing means for the storing means. It is characterized by comprising a setting means for selecting and setting from.

[0006]

According to this structure, the storage means stores the resend information corresponding to each of a plurality of different communication error contents, the detecting means detects the communication error information, and the analyzing means detects the communication error information detected by the detecting means. The communication error content is analyzed on the basis of the communication error content, and the setting means selects and sets the retransmission information corresponding to the communication error content obtained by the analysis means from the storage means.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. (Explanation of the facsimile machine) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the facsimile machine of this embodiment. In the figure,
A key input unit 1 is operated by an operator to input various information. A display unit 2 displays various messages. The key input unit 1 and the display unit 2 are provided on the same operation panel (not shown). A panel control unit 3 controls the key input unit 1 and the display unit 2. A DMA controller (hereinafter referred to as "DMAC") 4 performs DMA transfer of image data and the like. An image information output unit 5 is, for example, a laser beam printer or the like that forms an image on a recording medium based on image information output via an image input / output control unit 7 described later. An image information input unit 6 photoelectrically reads a document image and inputs image information by a digital signal. An image input / output control unit 7 includes image information input units 5 and 6 and a system bus 1.
Interface control with the image information output unit 5 and the image information input unit 6. Reference numerals 8 and 9 denote communication units that perform communication via the communication lines 21 and 22, respectively. A communication control unit 10 controls the communication units 8 and 9. An auxiliary storage unit 11 has a large-capacity memory such as a hard disk for storing the compressed image information received via the communication units 8 and 9. Reference numeral 12 denotes an MPU such as a microprocessor, which controls the entire terminal device, and in particular, outputs various data signals and control signals according to a control program stored in a ROM 13-1 described later to output the entire device. You are in control. 13-1 is a ROM
A control program and the like according to the flow chart of FIG. 4 described later are stored therein, and 13-2 is a RAM, which is used as a work area of the MPU 12 and temporarily stores various control data.

Reference numeral 14 denotes an image memory, which temporarily stores the image data input from the image information input unit 6 or received from the communication units 8 and 9 and outputs the image data to the image information output unit 5. Stores data etc. A compression / expansion unit 15 is a compression / expansion unit that compresses / expands image information transmitted / received via the communication units 8 and 9. 16 is a system bus. Reference numeral 17 is a status confirmation lamp, which displays the status of the apparatus by turning on and off.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between each unit of this apparatus and the hierarchy of the OSI7 layer in the group 4.
In the figure, the communication parts 8 and 9 are responsible for the physical layer, the data link, and the network layer.
Connection, disconnection, etc. The communication control unit 10 is in charge of the transport and session layers, and performs data transfer, negotiation for consistency of terminal characteristics (paper size, resolution, etc.), page-by-page communication confirmation, and the like.

The presentation layer is an encoding of transfer data, which is realized by the compression / decompression unit 15.
The main encoding is modi-eyed modi-id reed (MMR), modi-fied reed (MR), modi-id eye Huffman (MH), and the like. The MPU 12 is in charge of the application layer. Since this device is a facsimile machine, the application is to transmit and receive facsimile documents.

In the configuration as described above, in this embodiment, the number of times of retransmission and the time interval until retransmission (retransmission interval) corresponding to each of the communication units 8 and 9 and the communication control unit 10 are previously stored in the RAM 13-2. Have on top. Figure 3
It is a figure explaining the number of re-transmissions and a re-transmission interval for performing the software switch of a present Example, and the number of re-transmissions is N1, corresponding to each of communication parts 8 and 9 and communication control part 10.
N2 and N3, and the retransmission intervals are T1, T2 and T3. The parameter indicating the number of times and the interval can be set by the key input unit 1.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the processing at the time of transmission in the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment. The operation described below is mainly controlled by the MPU 12, but the operation of each unit is also included. In FIG. 4, first, in step S1, the document image set in the image information input section 6 is read, and the read image information is stored in the auxiliary storage section 11. The operation in step S1 will be described in more detail. First, when the user gives an instruction from the key input unit 1 regarding the destination, reading mode, etc., and then performs an operation for storing and transmitting, the panel control unit 3 sends a storing and transmitting instruction request to the MPU 12. To send. As a result, the MPU 12 outputs a reading instruction to the image input / output control unit 7 and activates the DMAC 4. The image input / output control unit 7 activates the image information input unit 6 according to the instruction from the MPU 12, compresses the image information read therein by the compression / decompression unit 15, and temporarily stores it in the image memory 14 to assist it. Data is transferred to and stored in the storage unit 11.

When the storage of the original image is completed in this way, the process proceeds to step S2, where the MPU 12 issues a transmission request to the communication control unit 10 and starts transmission. The communication control unit 10 sends data to the communication line via the communication unit 8 or the communication unit 9. Next, in step S3, it waits until the transmission is completed. When the transmission is completed, the communication control unit 10 causes the MPU 1
The end of communication is transmitted to 2 with the result. In step S4, the result is judged, and if normal, the transmitted image data stored in the auxiliary storage unit 11 is erased in step S5, and the process is ended. Step S4
If the communication result is abnormal in step S6, the process proceeds to step S6 to perform error analysis.

The content of this error is the location where the error has occurred, that is, whether it is an error to be retransmitted with the communication units 8 and 9 or the communication control unit 10. As a result,
In step S7, it is judged whether or not the error is to be retransmitted, and if it is not retransmitted, the process goes to step S5 to perform the termination processing. In the case of an error to be retransmitted, the number of retransmissions is checked, and when the number of retransmissions shown in FIG. 3 is reached, step S
Go to 5 and finish the process. If the number of retransmissions has not been reached, the retransmission interval is set in a timer (not shown) in step S8. In step S9, the system waits for time-up, and in step S10, a transmission request is sent to the communication control unit 10 to start resending. Next, in step S11, the end of transmission is waited, and when the transmission is completed, the number of retransmissions is incremented by one in step S12, and the communication result is judged again in step S4.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
By classifying the communication abnormality for each layer and changing the retransmission process, more efficient and highly reliable communication can be performed. That is, if the error is at the data link layer level, the line is often abnormal, and there is little possibility that the communication will end normally even if it is retransmitted immediately. On the other hand, if the error is at the session layer level, several pages are often received, there is a high possibility of a temporary failure on the terminal side, and there is a high possibility of a normal end even if sent relatively quickly. By analyzing the errors in detail and individualizing the response like these,
For the line status of the place where it is installed and the other party's terminal,
It is possible to perform optimal retransmission processing. Further, when there is a high possibility that communication will not be possible, it is possible to avoid wasteful transmission by reducing the number of retransmissions.

[0016]

Other Embodiments In the above embodiment, the error is roughly divided into the communication unit and the communication control unit. However, the error may be divided into more detailed layers. Further, since it is possible to support various networks such as ISDN and existing networks in the network layer and below, it is possible to change the correspondence for each line.

Furthermore, it is possible to change not only the communication result but also the correspondence for each destination. For example, it is conceivable to increase the number of retransmissions to the other party such as overseas and decrease the number of retransmissions to a highly reliable line in Japan. Also, the protocol of group 4 has a resending procedure at the page boundary, and may be combined with this.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By classifying the communication abnormality for each layer and changing the retransmission process, more efficient and highly reliable communication can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a fax machine of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between each unit of the apparatus and a layer of an OSI7 layer in a group 4.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the number of retransmissions and a retransmission interval for executing the software switch of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining a process at the time of transmission in the facsimile machine of this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Key Input Section 2 Display Section 3 Panel Control Section 4 DMAC 5 Image Information Output Section 6 Image Information Input Section 7 Image Input / Output Control Section 8, 9 Communication Section 10 Communication Control Section 11 Auxiliary Storage Section 12 MPU 13-1 ROM 13- 2 RAM 14 image memory 15 compression / expansion unit 16 system bus 17 status confirmation lamp

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In a facsimile device for performing communication processing of group 4 according to a predetermined protocol, a storage means for storing retransmission information corresponding to each of a plurality of different communication error contents, and a detection means for detecting the communication error information. An analyzing means for analyzing the content of the communication error based on the communication error information detected by the detecting means; and a setting means for selecting and setting the resend information corresponding to the content of the communication error obtained by the analyzing means from the storage means. A fuxamillimeter device comprising: 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detecting means detects the communication error information by generation from each unit inside the main body. 3. The facsimile machine according to claim 2, wherein each unit is a different communication means for performing communication. 4. The facsimile equipment according to claim 1, wherein the retransmission information includes the number of retransmissions and a retransmission interval from the occurrence of the communication error to the retransmission. 5. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising changing means for changing the retransmission information stored in said storage means.