JPH0583438A - Data transmission device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently transmit data of a mixed mode. CONSTITUTION:In a repeater station capacity deciding part 15 and a terminal station capacity deciding part 16, whether a repeater station or a terminal station has the capacity for receiving and processing character data or not, respectively is decided. The decision is based on the other station information registered in advance. In the case the repeater station has the receiving capacity, a processing of a document is entrusted to a receiving capacity decision of the terminal station by the repeater station. Also, in the case the repeater station has no receiving capacity, in accordance with whether the terminal station has the receiving capacity or not, a document obtained by converting the character data part to image data is sent out in the case it is necessary. In the case the repeater station has not receiving capacity, and also, a station having the receiving capacity and a station being not so are mixed in the terminal station, in accordance with a decision of an instructing station by its mixed state, a document obtained by converting the character data part to image data is sent out in the case it is necessary.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data transmission device, and more particularly to a data transmission device capable of efficiently transmitting mixed mode data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a communication method of document data, there is a method such as a teletex method in which a document consisting only of characters is converted into character data by character encoding and is efficiently transmitted, and an arbitrary method which cannot be encoded by the character encoding. There is a method such as a facsimile for transmitting a document including image data.

Both of the above systems differ in their encoding systems, but there is also a common point in the protocol system between the facsimile of Group 4 (G4) and Teletex, for example. For these reasons, a mixed mode communication system that integrates both has come to be realized.

According to this mixed mode communication system,
It is possible to efficiently transmit a document in which image data and character data are mixed. That is, if all the documents in which the image data and the character data are mixed are transmitted as image data, the data amount becomes large and the transmission time becomes long.

On the other hand, in the character data, since each character can be transmitted as a set of codes, the data amount can be made smaller and the transmission time can be shortened as compared with the case where the entire document is uniformly transmitted as image data.

By the way, the G4 facsimile includes a class 1 capable of transmitting and receiving only image data, a class 2 capable of receiving character data in addition to transmitting and receiving image data, and a class 3 capable of transmitting and receiving both image data and character data. is there.

Therefore, even in the communication between the G4 facsimile machines, the character data may not be transmitted when the partner machine has only the class 1 function.

To solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-2
A device as described in Japanese Patent No. 52740 has been proposed. This device converts character data into image data when the partner station does not have the ability to receive character data and display or print a document based on that data (hereinafter referred to as receiving ability). And then send it.

[0009]

The above-mentioned conventional device has the following problems. In the above apparatus, for example, a problem occurs in relay broadcasting in which a document sent from an instruction station is received by a relay station and the relay station transfers the received document to a plurality of terminal stations.

In other words, when only the relay station has no reception capability, even if a plurality of terminal stations have the reception capability,
According to the above apparatus, all documents sent from the instruction station are converted into image data. Therefore, the terminal station receives a document consisting of only image data that can be received by the relay station, even though the terminal station itself has the ability to receive character data.

Since the communication time of the image data is longer than the communication time of the character data, there is a problem that the communication cost, which should be saved originally, is increased in the conventional device as far as relay broadcasting is concerned.

Also, one of the major purposes of transmitting mixed mode data is to utilize the easiness of editing character data and create a new document based on the received data. However, even if the terminal station has the ability to receive character data and perform editing, if the document transmitted from the relay station is only image data, the ability cannot be fully exerted. there were.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a data transmission device capable of judging the capability of all relay stations and terminal stations, and based on the judgment, capable of transmitting data processed in an optimum processing mode.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object of the present invention, the station serving as the indicating station indicates the identification information of the transmission partner and the presence / absence of the character data receiving capability examined in advance. The other station information storage means for storing the capability information, and the capability presence / absence determining means for determining the presence / absence of the character data receiving capability of the relay station and the terminal station based on the capability information are provided. If the relay station determines that the relay station has the receiving capability, the processing of the document is left to the relay station to determine the receiving capability of the terminal station, and if the relay station determines that the relay station does not have the receiving capability. , Depending on whether or not the terminal station has receiving capability,
When necessary, send a document in which the character data part is converted to image data, and the relay station does not have the receiving capability, and the stations that have the receiving capability and the stations that do not have the receiving capability are mixed in the terminal station. In this case, according to the judgment made by the instruction station depending on the mixed state, the document in which the character data portion is converted into the image data is sent out when necessary, is featured.

[0015]

According to the present invention having the above characteristics, the instruction station can judge not only the relay station which directly transmits the document from the own station but also the receiving ability of the terminal station. Therefore, based on this determination result, the mixed mode data can be transmitted more efficiently by the relay broadcast method.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a facsimile apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the image information of the document read by the reading device 1 is stored in the image memory 2 as image data. Information such as characters, numbers and symbols input from the keyboard 3 is stored in the image memory 2 as a predetermined character code, that is, character data.
Stored in. The image information stored in the image memory 2 is displayed on the CRT 4, and while referring to the display information on the CRT 4, the keyboard 3 and the mouse 5 are operated to edit the image information such as deletion, insertion, enlargement / reduction, etc. I do. The edited image information can be stored in the disk device 7 provided as needed.

After the image data of the edited image information is compressed by an appropriate encoding means, the character data is sent as it is to the line through the line control device 6 and transmitted to the partner station. The image information received by the facsimile device is once stored in the image memory 2 and then output by the printer 8.

The received image information can be displayed and edited on the CRT 4 before being printed out by the printer 8. By doing so, it is possible to print not only the image information as received, but also the image information that has been arbitrarily edited.

Each of the above components is a CPU according to a program or control data stored in advance in the control memory 9.
Controlled by 10.

In this embodiment, the image information displayed on the CRT 4 and edited has the structure shown in FIG. 3, which is based on the CCITT recommendation.

In the document structure shown in FIG. 3, each page of a document composed of a plurality of pages has a plurality of blocks b1 to b.
4 and the blocks b2 and b3 form one frame f1. The frame f1 and the block b
1 to b4 are defined by rectangular areas each having a side parallel to the side of the page.

In this way, the document can be decomposed into pages, frames, blocks and text content. As for the position of each block or frame, that is, the object, the starting point of each object is specified on the coordinate system of the fourth quadrant with the upper left point of the page as the origin. Each object is positioned one level above it, eg, a block, with respect to the frame.

Each page, frame and block has a textual content as well as a header indicating the attributes of the block. The contents of the header include information such as an identifier for identifying a page, a frame, and a block, position coordinates of the frame and the block, size, and whether or not the data is character data.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment when relaying a document having the above document structure by the facsimile apparatus having the above-mentioned hardware structure will be described. In the present embodiment, first, it is investigated in advance whether the partner station of relay broadcast communication, that is, the station which may be a relay station or a terminal station, is in class 1 or 2 or 3, and the investigation is conducted. Based on this, the partner station number to which the reception capability information is added, that is, the dialed number, is registered for each station. Then, it is determined whether or not the station designated as the partner station of the relay broadcast communication has the character data receiving ability, and the processing form is changed depending on the presence or absence of the receiving ability.

Here, the processing form is selected as follows depending on the presence or absence of the receiving capability. (Processing mode 1) When the relay station has a receiving capability, the document is transmitted as it is even if the document includes character data. In this case, the relay station determines whether or not the terminal station has the reception capability, and for the terminal station having no reception capability, the relay station converts the character data into image data and transmits the image data.

(Processing Mode 2) When the relay station does not have the reception capability, the instruction station determines whether the terminal station has the reception capability. If all the terminal stations have receiving capability, the document is sent as it is, even if it contains character data. When all the terminal stations do not have the receiving capability, the character data is converted into image data and transmitted.

(Processing Mode 3) When the relay station does not have the receiving capability, and the terminal stations are mixed with the stations having the receiving capability and the stations having no receiving capability, the instructing station is the terminal station having the receiving capability. , And the terminal stations that do not have receiving capability are assigned to different groups, and the relay broadcast communication is performed for each group. That is, a group in which all the terminal stations have the receiving capability and a group in which all the terminal stations do not have the receiving capability are formed, and the relay broadcast communication is performed for each group.

(Processing mode 4) Of the two groups, a group having a large number of included terminal stations is selected, and the document is transmitted by relay broadcast only to the terminal stations belonging to the selected group. For the terminal station belonging to the group having the smaller number, the direct communication is performed from the instruction station in a data format according to the receiving capability of the terminal station.

Next, the operation relating to the above processing form will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, FIG.
Now, the relay broadcast communication including the processings 1 to 3 will be described. In step S1 of FIG. 4, the input of a relay broadcast instruction is awaited. If there is an instruction of relay broadcast,
In step S2, the capability information of the station corresponding to the dialed number of the station designated as the relay station is read from the control memory 9 or the storage unit provided in the disk device 7 to determine whether or not the character data reception capability is present. Determine.

If there is reception capability, the process proceeds to step S3,
Make a call to the relay station. In step S4, a signal indicating that the communication is a relay broadcast and the terminal identification information, that is, the dialed number of each terminal are sent to the relay station. If the relay station has the receiving capability, the image information is sent without converting the character data into the image data. Therefore, the relay station determines the receiving capability of the terminal station and converts the data if necessary. Therefore, in step S4, a signal for notifying the relay station that the data transmitted in the communication is the mixed mode data is also included.

Further, the relay station having the ability to receive character data automatically determines the type of the received document and transfers the data according to the receiving ability of the terminal station, regardless of the notification from the instruction station. You may do so.

In step S5, the image information data is transmitted. If the relay station has reception capability, this completes the procedure.

On the other hand, if the relay station does not have the reception capability, the presence or absence of the reception capability of each terminal station is checked. In other words, if the relay station does not have the receiving capability, step S2 becomes negative and the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, one of the plurality of terminal stations is
The identification information, that is, the dialed number, is read for one terminal station, and it is determined in step S7 whether or not the terminal station has the receiving capability. If it is determined that the receiving capability is available, the process proceeds to step S8, and the code A indicating that the receiving capability is available is added to the terminal station of the dialed numeral. Then, step S
At 9, the counter value A indicating the number of stations capable of receiving is incremented.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the receiving capability is not available, the process proceeds from step S7 to step S10, and a symbol B indicating that the dialing capability is not available is added to the terminal station of the dial number. Succeedingly, in a step S11, a counter value B indicating the number of stations having no reception capability is incremented.

In step S12, it is determined whether or not the determination of the presence / absence of reception capability is completed for all the terminal stations. Steps S6 to S11 are repeated until all the planned terminal stations have been judged. When the determination is completed for all the terminal stations, the process proceeds to step S13, and it is determined whether or not there is a terminal station having no reception capability, depending on whether the counter value B is "0". If there is no terminal station having no reception capability, the affirmative decision is made in step S13 and the operation proceeds to step S3 to perform a calling operation for relay broadcast communication.

If step S13 is negative, that is, if a station having no reception capability is included, step S13 is performed.
Proceeding to step 14, it is determined whether all the terminal stations do not have the receiving capability, depending on whether the counter value B is "0" or not.
If all the terminal stations do not have the receiving capability, the affirmative answer is obtained in step S14 and the operation proceeds to step S15. In step S15, the character data of the image information data is converted into image data. In step S16, the converted data is stored in the image memory 2. Then step S
Proceed to 3 and start relay broadcasting. In this case, step S
In 4, the image information of the document in which the character data is converted into the image data is transmitted.

On the other hand, if some stations have reception capability and some do not, the determination at step S14 becomes affirmative and the process proceeds to step S17. In the processes after step S17, the relay broadcast is separately executed for each of the station of code A and the station of code B.

First, in step S17, a document including character data is converted into image data, and then in step S17.
At 18, the document after data conversion is stored in a storage area of the image memory 2 different from the document before conversion.

In step S19, the relay station is called.
Succeedingly, in a step S20, the dialed number of the terminal station to which the code A is added is transmitted to the relay station, and in a step S21, the image information data including the character data is transmitted.

In step S22, the dialed number of the terminal station to which the code B is added is transmitted to the relay station, and step S23
Then, the image information data after converting the character data into the image data is transmitted. In step S24, the count values A and B are cleared.

Next, the relay broadcast communication according to the processing mode 4 will be described with reference to FIG. Since the previous stage of this process is the same as steps S1 to S12 of FIG. 4, description thereof will be omitted.

First, in step S31, it is determined which of the codes A and B is added to many stations. If there are more stations to which the code B is added, step S31
Is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S32, and a flag Fb indicating that the terminal station added with the code B is selected is set.
In step S33, the character data of the document is converted into image data. In step S34, the converted image information data is stored.

On the other hand, if there are more stations to which the code A is added, the process proceeds to step S35, and a flag Fa indicating that the terminal station to which the code A is added has been selected is set.

In step S36, a call is made to the relay station.
In step S37, it is determined which of the flags Fa and Fb is set. If the flag Fa is set, the process proceeds to step S38 and the identification information of the terminal station to which the code A is added, that is, the dialed number is transmitted to the relay station and step S39.
Proceed to. In step S39, the non-converted image information data including the character data is transmitted.

If the flag Fb is set, the process proceeds to step S40 and the identification information of the terminal station with the code B, that is, the dialed number is transmitted to the relay station and step S4 is performed.
Go to 1. In step S41, the image information data after converting the character data into image data is transmitted. In step S42, the flags Fa and Fb are cleared.

The relay station which has received the image information data transmitted by the above-mentioned processing, according to the receiving ability of its own station, if it has no receiving ability, ends the received image information data without performing any processing. Transfer to the station. Further, the relay station having the receiving ability determines the receiving ability of the terminal station, converts the character data into image data if necessary, and then transfers the image information data to the terminal station.

In this embodiment, the image information of the block composed of the image data among the image information transmitted to the partner station is coded data compressed by an appropriate method such as MH, MR, MMR. You can

In this embodiment, the case where the relay station is determined in advance has been described in detail, but the relay station can be determined when the relay broadcast is performed. That is, prior to the relay broadcast communication, it is first checked whether or not all the stations which are to transmit the document have the receiving capability. Then, a station having at least a receiving capability and having a function that is convenient for the relay station to possess, for example, a station having a high image quality mode function, is determined as the relay station. As a result, the station having at least the ability to receive the character data can be set as the relay station, so that the instruction station does not need to convert the image information and all the processing can be left to the relay station.

Next, the function of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a main part of a facsimile apparatus for performing an operation as an instruction station.

In the figure, the partner station information storage unit 11 identifies partner station information such as station names and dialed numbers, and the presence / absence of character data reception capability for a plurality of partner stations scheduled for communication. Identification information is stored. These pieces of information are input from the partner station information input unit 12.

The communication partner storage unit 14 stores the identification information of the communication partner station of this time, that is, dialed numbers. This dialed number is input from the communication instruction input unit 13. Of the dialed numbers stored in this communication partner storage unit 14,
The dialed number of the station designated as the relay station is input to the relay station capability determination unit 15, and the dialed number of the station to be the terminal station is input to the terminal station capability determination unit 16.

In the relay station capability judging section 15 and the terminal station capacity judging section 16, according to the dialed numbers supplied from the communication partner storage section 14, the corresponding station is identified as the partner station information storage section 1.
The partner station registered in 1 is searched, and the reception capability presence / absence information added thereto is determined.

When the relay station capability determining section 15 determines that the relay station has the character data receiving capability, the relay station capability determining section 15 outputs the signal s1. In response to this signal s1, the line control unit 6 causes the communication partner storage unit 1
Call the relay station according to the dialed numbers of the communication partner station including the relay station and the terminal station supplied from No. 4. When the relay station responds to this call, the dialed digits of the terminal station and the image information data supplied from the pre-conversion data storage unit 21 are sent to the relay station.

The image information data stored in the pre-conversion data storage unit 21 includes image information read by the reading device 1 and image information data composed of characters input from the keyboard 3, that is, character data. It is image information data in which image data is mixed. On the other hand, when it is determined that the relay station does not have the ability to receive character data, the relay station capability determination unit 15 outputs the signal s2. The terminal capacity determination unit 16 responds to the signal s2, and the communication partner storage unit 1
According to the dial number of the terminal station supplied from 4, the corresponding station is searched from the partner stations registered in the partner station information storage unit 11 and the capability presence / absence information added to that station is determined. ..

The terminal station capability judging section 16 discriminates the capability presence / absence information for a plurality of terminal stations in order, and when it judges that the terminal station has the character data receiving capability, it outputs the signal a and also has the receiving capability. If it is determined that it has not been performed, the signal b is output. In response to the signals a and b, the capability code adding unit 17 adds a code for distinguishing the presence or absence of communication to the partner station identification information stored in the communication partner storage unit 14. These signals a,
In response to b, the counter values of the A counter 18 and the B counter 19 are each incremented.

The discriminator 20 includes the A counter 18 and the B counter.
Each counter value is input from the counter 19.
Then, based on the respective counter values, that is, the numbers of the terminal stations having the receiving ability and the terminal stations having no receiving ability, the judgments as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are made.

That is, when the value of the A counter 18 is "0", that is, when all the terminal stations do not have the ability to receive character data, the discrimination signal s3 is output. In response to the signal s3, the image conversion data stored in the pre-conversion data storage unit 21 is converted into image data by the data conversion unit 22. The converted image information data is stored in the converted data storage unit 23.

Further, in response to the signal s3, the line control unit 6 calls the relay station according to the dialed numbers of the current communication partner station including the relay station and the terminal station supplied from the communication partner storage unit 14. When the relay station responds to this call,
The dialed number of the terminal station and the image information data supplied from the converted data storage unit 23 are sent to the relay station.

On the other hand, the value of the B counter 19 is "0".
In the case of, that is, when all the terminal stations have the ability to receive character data, the discrimination signal s4 is output. In response to this signal s4, the line control unit 6 calls the relay station as described above. Then, when there is a response from the relay station, the image information data stored in the pre-conversion data storage unit 21 is sent to the relay station.

Further, the discriminator 20 compares the sizes of the counter values of the A counter 18 and the B counter 19 and
When the counter value of the counter 18 is large, the capability code addition unit 17 instructs the line control unit 6 to perform relay broadcast communication with only the station to which the code having the reception capability is added according to the signal a as the terminal station. In this case, the transmitted image information data is the data stored in the pre-conversion data storage unit 21.

On the contrary, when the counter value of the B counter 19 is large, only the station to which the code having no receiving capability is added according to the signal b by the capability code adding section 17 is relayed and broadcast as the terminal station. To the line controller 6. In this case, the image information data to be transmitted is the data stored in the converted data storage unit 23.

The data converter 21 is composed of a character generator which outputs bit data corresponding to character data.

The function of the indicator station has been described above with reference to FIG.
On the other hand, the functions required for the relay station can be the same as the functions shown in FIG. 1 except that the elements for judging the capability of the relay station itself are removed from the components shown in FIG.

As described above, in this embodiment, the receiving ability of the relay station and the terminal station which are the objects of communication this time is judged based on the receiving ability information of the character data added to the partner station information registered in advance. Therefore, the optimum processing form according to the ability is adopted.

In this embodiment, the image information is transmitted regardless of the presence or absence of the character data receiving ability. However, the relay station ability determining section 15 and the terminal station ability determining section 1 are described.
The result judged in 6 is displayed on the CRT 4 or the printer 8
It is also possible to print it out on and wait for the operator's judgment.

For example, if the operator determines that there is a partner station that is judged to have no reception capability based on the display or printout result, that operator is excluded from the broadcast communication target this time, and such station is The data-converted document may be sent again later.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the relay station does not have the reception capability and the station having the reception capability and the station having the reception capability are mixed as the terminal stations, first, in one processing mode, All terminal stations were divided into groups with reception capability and groups without reception capability, and relay broadcast was performed after each group.

In another processing mode, for a group having a large number of distributed stations, when the stations distributed to the group do not have the receiving capability, the character data is converted into image data only for that station. The converted document is broadcasted by relay.

In addition to the processing mode described in detail above, if the relay station does not have the reception capability, and a station with the reception capability and a station without the reception capability coexist as a terminal station, another determination is made. Instead, the character data may be converted into image data at the instruction station. Further, both the instruction station and the relay station may directly transmit the document. In this way, the relay station or the terminal station stores the received document in the memory. In other words, for the time being, even if you do not have the ability to process character data and print it out,
Printing can be performed by connecting a printer device having such a processing function, and processing that cannot be processed can be replaced with a special display later.

Since the receiving capability of the partner station may change, it is desirable to periodically check the capability and update the contents of the partner station information storage section 11. For example, the partner station information can be automatically updated based on the capability information obtained from the partner station as a result of the communication protocol.

In this embodiment, the transmission of the image information data transmitted by the facsimile apparatus has been described, but the present invention is not limited to the facsimile apparatus, but can be used for data communication between personal computers and data communication between workstations. Can be similarly implemented.

Therefore, the structure of the document to be transmitted is not limited to that according to the CCITT recommendation described with reference to FIG. 3, and the character data portion and the image data portion can be converted so that the data can be converted. The present invention can be applied to any document edited so that the attribute of can be identified by appropriate instruction information.

Further, the above processing mode may be selected by an operator's instruction.

[0074]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the data processing mode of the instruction station is not limited by the reception capability of the relay station, and all the objects subject to relay broadcast communication can be obtained. The data processing form can be selected according to the receiving capability of the partner station. Therefore, it is possible to select a processing mode for ensuring the advantage of transmitting the mixed mode data, that is, shortening the transmitting time and facilitating the editing.

Further, based on the receiving capability of all the partner stations forming the relay broadcast, a station having a large capability, which is optimum as a relay station, is set as the relay station, so that the mixed
It is possible to surely obtain the above-mentioned advantage by transmitting the mode data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main function of a facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a document structure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... reader, 2 ... image memory, 3 ... keyboard,
4 ... CRT, 6 ... Line control device, 8 ... Printer,
10 ... CPU, 11 ... Partner station information storage section, 15 ... Relay station capability determination section, 16 ... Terminal station capability determination section, 20 ... Data conversion section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data transmission device having data conversion means for converting character data into image data, and transmitting mixed mode data to a plurality of parties by relay broadcast, the identification information of the transmission partner and preliminary investigation. Partner station information storage means for storing capability information indicating presence / absence of character data reception capability, relay station capability determination means for determining presence / absence of character data reception capability of a relay station based on the capability information, and based on the capability information , A terminal station capability determining means for determining whether or not the terminal station has character data receiving capability, and if the relay station is determined to have the character data receiving capability, the character data is converted into image data. Instead, the document is sent to the relay station, and the processing of the document is left to the relay station to judge the receiving capability of the terminal station. If it is determined that the terminal station does not have the receiving capability, it sends the document in which the character data part is converted into the image data when necessary, depending on whether the terminal station has the receiving capability or not. Does not have the ability to receive character data,
Moreover, if stations that have reception capability and stations that do not have reception capability coexist in the terminal station, the character data part is replaced with image data when necessary according to the judgment planned by the instructing station according to the mixed state. A data transmission device, characterized in that it is configured to send a document converted into.