JPH06121092A - Facsimile exchange system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To back up a faulty front end processor when a prescribed processor is faulty among plural front end processors in the facsimile exchange system. CONSTITUTION:The facsimile exchange system has CPUs 1-1, 2-1 and is provided with front end processors 1, 2 sending/receiving a facsimile communication and picture signal between a host computer 200A and facsimile equipments 101 (1-m) and the processors 1, 2 are interconnected by a cable 12 and each of the front end processors 1, 2 is provided with the cable 12 and a changeover means 11-1 (11-2) connecting/cutting off between the CPUs 1-1, 2-1 and a changeover control means 13-1 (13-2) making channel opening/closing of a signal to other side front end processor 1 (2) by its own side CPU1-1, 2-1 by controlling the changeover means 11-1 (11-2) of its own and the other front end processors 1, 2 as required.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is provided between a host computer and a facsimile machine, distributes an image signal given from the host computer, and sends the image signal obtained from the facsimile machine to the host computer. The present invention relates to a facsimile exchange system including a plurality of front end processors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional facsimile exchange system is shown in FIG.
Shown in. In this system, the switching network (PSTN)
Facsimile devices 101 ₁ to 101 _m are connected to 100,
In addition, FEP (front end processor) 102 ₁ , 1
02 ₂ is connected. The FEPs 102 ₁ and 102 ₂ have the same configuration, and a plurality of FAX (facsimile) units 103 are connected to a switching network 100 via a line 104 and connected to a host computer 200 via an interface (IF) 105. . The FEP 102 has a CPU 106,
Each part is controlled via the system bus 107. The FAX unit 103 and the interface 10 are connected to the system bus 107.
In addition to 5, the disk device 108 is connected to store the image signal of the original or the like. The host computer 200 is provided with a disk device 201 used for storing image signals and the like.

In such a system, FEP 102 is a C
Under the control of the PU 106, the image signal given from the host computer is received via the interface 105, temporarily stored in the disk device 108, the FAX unit 103 is controlled to make a call to a predetermined facsimile device 101, and stored by a response. The read image signal is read out and transmitted by facsimile according to a predetermined transmission control procedure. The facsimile apparatus 101 performs recording output based on the received image signal. on the other hand,
The FEP 102 receives the image signal of the original transmitted from the facsimile apparatus 101 at the FAX unit 103 and receives the image signal from the disk apparatus 10.
Accumulate to 8. The accumulated image signal is read by the CPU 106 and transmitted to the host computer 200 via the interface 105. Image signal is a host computer
The data is received by the storage device 200, stored in the disk device 201, and used later for display or the like.

[0004]

However, according to the above facsimile exchange system, a plurality of FEP10s are used.
Since 2 relays independently, one FEP
If a failure occurs in one of them, the other FEP cannot assist it and must wait until the failure is recovered. Especially the F on the failure side
When the EP is in a state where the image signal that needs urgent storage is stored in the disk device, it is necessary to take a measure by another facsimile system or by a person to bring the document, and the system is required to be safe.

Therefore, it is conceivable that the system is duplicated so that the same data (image signal) is received by two different FEPs, but such a method makes the system extremely large and costly. Dots occur.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional facsimile exchange apparatus, and its purpose is to provide a facsimile exchange system having higher safety than before without increasing the size of the configuration. Is to provide.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A facsimile exchange system according to the present invention has a CPU and is provided with a plurality of front end processors for performing facsimile communication and image signal transmission / reception between a host computer and a facsimile apparatus. In the exchange system, at least two front-end processors of the plurality of front-end processors are connected by a cable, and each front-end processor connected by the cable connects the cable and the CPU. Switching means for disconnecting, and switching control means for controlling the switching means of the front-end processors of the own side and the other side so that the CPU of the own side controls passage / closing of a signal to another front-end processor. Is provided.

[0008]

Since the facsimile exchange system according to the present invention is configured as described above, even if one of the front-end processors goes down due to a failure, the switching control means performs the switching, and the CPU of the normal front-end processor is switched. The control is transmitted to the front-end processor related to the failure via the cable and the switching means, and the CPU of the normal front-end processor can control the whole and operate the system.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Facsimile machines 101 ₁ to 101 _m are connected to the public network (PSTN) 100, and front end processors (FEP) 1 and 2 are connected to a plurality of lines 1-12 to 1-14 and 2-12 to respectively. It is connected via 2-14. FEP1 and 2 are lines 1-3 and 2 respectively.
-3 is connected to the host computer 200A.

The host computer 200A is provided with a disk device 201 for accumulating data such as image signals, and analyzes status data sent from FEP1 and FEP2 or an image between FEP1 and FEP2. Detecting that transmission / reception of signals has become impossible, detecting a failure in FEP, and giving a switching instruction to normal FEP
EP fault detection / switching instruction means 202 is provided. The host computer 200A is also connected to an input unit 211 including a keyboard and a display unit 212 including a CRT display device. The display 212 has a FEP
Fault information is displayed by the host computer. The operator looks at the displayed FEP failure information and inputs the input unit 211.
Can be input to send a switching instruction to a normal FEP. The switching instruction is one of the above two types.
It is realized by at least one method.

Switching means 11-1, 11-2 are provided in the FEPs 1, 2.
Are provided, and a cable 12 connects between them. The FEPs 1 and 2 are provided with CPUs 1-1 and 2-1 and disk devices 1-5 and 2-5. CPU1-
1, the disk 1-5 is connected to the switching means 1-11, CP
The U2-1 and the disk 2-5 are connected to the switching means 11-2, and the switching means 11-1 and 11-2 are connected to the FAX.
Other components such as a communication unit are also connected. Also, FEP
Switching control means 13-1 and 13-2 are provided on the reference numerals 1 and 2, respectively, and the switching means are controlled under the control of the CPUs 1-1 and 2-1.
Controls switching between 11-1 and 11-2. That is, CPU1-
1, 2-1, is given a switching instruction from the host computer 200A, and transfers control to the switching control means 13-1, 13-2 to switch the switching means 11-1, 11-2,
The CPU on the own side enables access to the disk devices 1-5 and 2-5 on the other side and other devices.

A more detailed structure of the portions of FEP1 and 2 in the above structure is shown in FIG. Since FEP1 and FEP2 have the same configuration, FEP1 will be explained and FE
The description of P2 is omitted. FEP1 has a system bus 1
-4 is provided, and the CPU 1 is connected to the system bus 1-4.
-1, host interface (IF) 1-2, disk device 1-5, and FAX communication units 1-6 to 1-8 are connected. However, the CPU 1-1 is connected to the system bus 1-4 via the switching unit 1-11. Further, the switching unit 1-10 is connected to the system bus 1-4, and the switching unit 2-10 of the FEP 2 facing each other via several lines of the cable 12 is connected.
Connected to. The FEP 1 is provided with a switching control unit 1-9, which receives control from the CPU 1-1 to control switching of the switching unit 1-10 and the switching units 2-10 and 2-11 of the other side FEP. The switching units 1-10 and 1-11 are configured by, for example, switches, the switching unit 1-10 is opened in a normal state, and the switching unit 1-11 is closed in a normal state.

In the FEP constructed as described above,
When the switching instruction signal is output from the host computer 200A shown in FIG. 1, this signal is given to the CPU 1-1 through the host interface 1-2, the system bus 1-4, and the switching unit 1-11. The CPU 1-1 analyzes this, transfers the control to the switching control unit 1-9, and the other side F
A switching state is displayed when EP2 becomes a failure.
That is, the switching control unit 1-9 includes the switching unit 1-10 and the other side FEP.
The control signal is sent to the switching units 2-10 and 2-11 of the switching unit 2 and the switching unit 1
Control is performed so that -10 and 2-10 are closed and the switching unit 2-11 is opened. As a result, the CPU 1-1 is connected to the system bus 2-4 on the other side via the system bus 1-4, the switching units 1-10 and 2-10, and the disk device 2-5 and FAX are connected.
It is possible to control access to the communication units 2-6 to 2-8. The CPU 2-1 is separated from the system bus 2-4, and the influence of the failure of the CPU 2-1 is removed. Therefore, the CPU 1-1 can execute the facsimile exchange by using the disk device 2-5 and the FAX communication units 2-6 to 2-8, like the respective units on the own side. Therefore, the disk device 2-
The image signal in 5 can be taken out, and the FAX communication section 2-6 to
The channel due to 2-8 is not lost, and the traffic of the system can be almost maintained.

FIG. 3 shows another system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals. In this embodiment, the disk devices 1-5 and 2-5 are connected to both the system buses 1-4 and 2-4 via the switching units 1-20 and 2-20. The difference is that the switching units 1-20 and 2-20 are switched by the switching control units 1-21 and 2-21 of the FEPs 2A and 1A on the other side, respectively. In the normal state, the switching unit 1
-20 is connected to the system bus 1-4 side, and the switching unit 2-20 is connected to the system bus 2-4 side. And FEP2A
When a failure occurs in the switching control unit 1-21, the switching unit 2
-20 is switched to be connected to the system bus 1-4. As a result, the CPU 1-1 can read out the image signal stored in the disk device 2-5 and deliver the image signal to the facsimile device or transmit it to the host computer 200A. It is possible.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, even if one of the front end processors is down due to a failure, the switching control means performs the switching so that the CPU of the normal front end processor can be controlled by the cable and It is transmitted to the front-end processor side related to the failure via the switching means. Therefore, the CPU of the normal front-end processor can access the required parts constituting the failed front-end processor and continue operating the system as a whole without any problem. In particular, by making the image signal storage means accessible, the image signal for emergency communication can be transmitted instead of the front-end processor involved in the failure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram of essential parts showing another example of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional facsimile exchange system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 front-end processor 1-1, 2-1
CPU 1-5, 2-5 Disk device 11-1, 11-2
Switching means 12 cables 13-1, 13-2
Switching control means 100 Public network 101 ₁ to 101 _m
Facsimile machine 200A Host computer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile exchange system comprising a plurality of front-end processors each having a CPU for performing facsimile communication and image signal transmission / reception between a host computer and a facsimile device, wherein at least one of the plurality of front-end processors is provided. The two front-end processors are connected by a cable, and each front-end processor connected by the cable has switching means for connecting and disconnecting the cable and the CPU, and when necessary, for the own side and the other side. A facsimile exchange system, comprising: switching control means for controlling the switching means of the front-end processor so that the CPU on its own side performs passage / closing of a signal to another front-end processor. 2. The front end processor is provided with a system bus, and the switching means is the system bus and CP.
The facsimile exchange system according to claim 1, wherein the facsimile exchange system disconnects from the U. 3. The facsimile exchange system according to claim 1, wherein the front-end processor is provided with storage means for storing image signals, and the switching means connects or disconnects the storage means and the CPU. .