JPH06237324A - Facsimile server - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a facsimile server able to execute system call control efficiently. CONSTITUTION:Abbreviation dial information registered in optional facsimile equipments 2, 3, 4 is read sequentially from an abbreviation dial information read section 21 of the facsimile server and stored. When the read is finished, a synthesis section 22 synthesizes the abbreviation dial information to generate new abbreviation dial information. The abbreviation dial information generated newly is stored in a storage section 23 being an internal memory of the facsimile server. Thus, the abbreviation dial information in common to plural facsimile equipments is simply generated and the plural facsimile equipments are managed and controlled by the common abbreviation dial information and the efficiency of the entire system operation is improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile server apparatus, and more particularly, to a facsimile apparatus which is located between a plurality of host computers (hereinafter abbreviated as hosts) and one or a plurality of facsimile apparatuses and which controls the facsimile apparatuses. Regarding server device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there have been many examples of constructing a unique network such as a LAN in a company, and it is considered that the tendency will increase more and more in the future. In many of such networks, a facsimile device is arranged in the network to enable connection with other networks by using a communication line such as a public line or a dedicated line.

As is well known, a facsimile machine has the functions of a scanner, a printer, and a communication control, and can read, receive, or use a host computer (hereinafter
A document transferred from a host (abbreviated as host) can be transferred to a facsimile machine at a remote place, which is very useful as a resource in the network.

An example of such a system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-249560. This system connects a facsimile device and a personal computer, and controls the facsimile device by the personal computer.

[0005]

Since the conventional system as described above controls one facsimile machine by one host, it cannot cope with the increase in the amount of information to be processed. There was a problem that the speed could not be met in time, or it could not handle multiple hosts (terminals) in the network.

Therefore, a system using a facsimile server device that accepts processing requests from a plurality of hosts, selects a facsimile device to be used from a plurality of facsimile devices, and executes the process is conceivable.

In this case, when an arbitrary host connected to the network instructs the facsimile server device to transmit data, the facsimile server device uses the facsimile device connected thereto to call the remote facsimile device. The issue is how to manage dial information.

A plurality of facsimile devices connected to the facsimile server device have already registered abbreviated dial information, or the number of abbreviated dials that can be registered is different depending on the capability of the facsimile device. Therefore, how the facsimile server device manages the speed dial information is a big problem.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile server device that can efficiently perform call control of the system.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 1 is a facsimile server apparatus which is connected to a plurality of hosts and a plurality of facsimile machines and controls the facsimile machines. It is characterized in that it is provided with a unit for reading the speed dial information from the facsimile apparatus, a combining unit for combining the read speed dial information, and a unit for accumulating the speed dial information newly created by the combination. .

The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that an ID number is added to the speed dial information stored in the storage means.

[0012]

According to the invention of claim 1, the speed dial information of the facsimile server apparatus can be created by using the speed dial number already registered in the facsimile apparatus, so that the speed dial information can be easily created. There is. Further, since the unique abbreviated dial information can be stored in the facsimile server device, the call origination control of the system can be efficiently performed.

According to the third aspect of the invention, it is possible to easily check the remote facsimile machine that transmits or receives. For this reason, it is possible to prevent communication with a facsimile device other than the registered remote facsimile device, so that it is possible to prevent leakage of confidential data and also prevent unauthorized incoming such as direct mail.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of a system including a facsimile server device to which the present invention is applied.
Although details of the facsimile server device 1 will be described later, the facsimile server device 1 is connected to the facsimile devices 2, 3 and 4 by an individual connection line 9, and is also connected to a network 5 such as a LAN. The facsimile devices 2, 3 and 4 may be high-end machines having a memory for storing document data or low-end machines having no memory.

The facsimile machines 2, 3 and 4 are connected to a telephone network and an exchange network such as ISDN by a line 8.
Also, the facsimile server device 1 is connected to the individual connection line 9.
Connected with. This connection line 9 is, for example, RS-23.
2C, GPIB, SCSI, etc., the facsimile server device 1 and the plurality of facsimile devices 2,
You may house 3 and 4 in one housing, and may be connected by an internal bus.

The network 5 is, for example, Ethernet,
The digital data network is a LAN such as FDDI or a switching network such as PBX. The hosts 6 and 7 are composed of general-purpose computers, workstations, personal computers, and the like, and may include those without a document data processing function.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an outline of a hardware configuration of the facsimile server device 1.

In the figure, a CPU 10 controls the entire facsimile server device 1 according to a control program stored in a ROM 11. The RAM 12 stores the input or received image information, or stores various control data and tables.

The network connection unit 13 is an interface circuit of a digital data network such as a LAN such as Ethernet or FDDI, or a switching network such as PBX. The code conversion unit 14 is a circuit that converts the code data into image data for facsimile when the document is transmitted as code data from the terminal.

Facsimile connection units 15 and 16 are connected to a facsimile machine by a separate connection line 9, for example, RS-232.
Interface circuits such as C, GPIB, and SCSI. The keyboard control unit 17 and the CRT control unit 18 are
It is an interface circuit of a keyboard and a CRT display which constitute a console of the facsimile server device 1. The bus 19 connects each circuit in the device. In addition to this, an external storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disk may be provided.

Next, an outline of the operation of the system shown in FIG. 7 will be described. In FIG. 7, for example, when the host 6 communicates, first, an instruction is sent to the facsimile server device 1. The facsimile server device 1 selects, for example, an available facsimile device that can be transferred at the highest speed, and transfers the transmission data from the host to the selected facsimile device. The facsimile machine that has received the transfer executes the transmission process in accordance with the instruction from the facsimile server machine 1. The facsimile server apparatus 1 always keeps track of the status of each facsimile apparatus such as busy, idle, or broken.

Next, a first embodiment of the present invention relating to the management of the speed dial information of the facsimile server device 1 will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the function of this embodiment.

In the figure, reference numerals 2, 3 and 4 are the facsimile machines, 21 is a speed dial information reading section for reading speed dial information from the facsimile machines 2, 3, 4 and 22 is a combination of the read speed dial information. The synthesizing unit 23 is a storage unit that stores the synthesized shortened dial information. Here, the speed dial information reading unit 21 and the synthesizing unit 22 are functions that the facsimile server device 1 has, and correspond to the program in the ROM 11 and the CPU 10 that executes the program, and the storage unit 23 is a facsimile server. The internal memory of the device, that is, the area of the RAM 12 backed up by the power source or the ROM 11
Equivalent to.

Next, the procedure of the abbreviated information creation process of the facsimile server device of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S1, one of the facsimile machines 2, 3 and 4 is selected, and in step S2, it is instructed to transfer the speed dial information. In step S3, the transferred speed dial information is received and stored. In step S4, it is determined whether or not all the facsimile devices have been selected. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S1.
Select another fax machine.

The above operation is repeated, and step S
If the determination at 4 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S5 to combine the speed dial information collected from all the facsimile devices. At this time, the facsimile server device generates the speed dial number regardless of the number stored in the facsimile device. In step S6, the new abbreviated dial information after composition is stored in the internal memory of the facsimile server device.

For example, the speed dial information read from each of the facsimile devices 2 and 3 is shown in FIG.
If it is a or 3a, the shortening dial information is synthesized as 22a in the synthesizing unit 22 or the step S5.

At the time of this composition, the speed dial information 2a, 3
If there is the same full dial number (telephone number) in a, ..., A common abbreviated number is given to each full dial number without giving an abbreviated number.

When new common shortened dial information is stored in the memory of the facsimile server apparatus 1 as described above, the common shortened information creation process ends, but after that, the host issues a transfer instruction. In response to this, the facsimile server device 1 sends the speed dial information to the host. As a result, the host can use this speed dial information to execute the communication job.

Alternatively, if there is an instruction from the host to output as visible information from the printer of an arbitrary facsimile apparatus, the facsimile server apparatus 1 sends the speed dial information to the facsimile apparatus in response. The facsimile machine prints out the speed dial information. This makes it possible to more clearly understand the common speed dial information.

Next, the operation of transmitting the original data using the common speed dial information stored in the facsimile server device 1 as described above will be described. FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining this operation.

When there is a request for starting a communication job, for example, a transmission job from the host, the facsimile server apparatus accepts the request in step S11, and subsequently receives the destination information. As the destination information, the speed dial number in the common speed dial information is generally used.

In step S12, it is determined whether or not the destination information is registered in the speed dial information. When it is determined that the data is registered, the process proceeds to step S13, and the transmission data (original data) and other information (information such as paper size, resolution, number of pages) are received from the host.

On the other hand, when it is not registered, error processing is performed because it is a defective number. That is, the reception of the communication job is stopped, and the fact is notified to the host. By this processing, it is possible to prevent erroneous dialing and fraudulent dialing, and it is possible to prevent the information of the secret document from leaking out of the network.

If the destination information from the host is a full dial number, it is collated with the full dial number of the speed dial information stored in the internal memory of the facsimile server device, and the full dial number is used as the speed dial information. Check if it is included in. If it is not included, the error processing is performed.

In step S14, the facsimile server machine 1 selects a facsimile machine to be used for transmission, then converts the speed dial number into a full dial number and transfers it to the facsimile machine.

In step S15, the facsimile server device 1 executes the transmission job and then transfers the transmission data received from the host. The facsimile device that has received this information automatically calls the full dial number,
When the facsimile machine of the other party responds, the transmission data is transmitted.

As described above, in the present embodiment, even if the speed dial information has already been registered in the plurality of facsimile devices, it is possible to read out the speed dial information and create new speed dial information. There is an effect that the information creation process is easy.

Further, since the common speed dial information can be transferred to the host in accordance with an instruction from the host or can be printed out from an arbitrary facsimile machine, it is easy to use and has good operability.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment is characterized in that ID information for ID check is added to the speed dial information of the first embodiment. This ID information corresponds to, for example, the machine number and nickname of the facsimile machine, and is used in the CSI, TSI, CIG in the protocol.
Commands are used to communicate. Of course, NS
F, NSS, NSC commands may be used.

With reference to FIG. 5, the operation of receiving data using this embodiment will be described. When one of the facsimile machines connected to the facsimile server machine receives an incoming call, the facsimile machine notifies the facsimile server machine of the incoming call. Therefore, the facsimile server apparatus accepts the reception job, which is the communication job, by the process of step S21, and then receives the ID number of the remote facsimile apparatus.

In step S22, it is determined whether or not the ID number is registered in the speed dial information. When this determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S23 to instruct the facsimile device to execute the communication job.
On the other hand, if the determination in step S22 is negative, I
As D failure, error processing is performed. That is, the acceptance of the communication job is stopped and the facsimile apparatus is instructed to release the line.

According to this embodiment, since the receiving job is executed only when the ID numbers match, it is possible to prevent an illegal incoming call such as direct mail.

Next, a modification of the reception and reception described above will be described with reference to FIG. In this modified example, the above-mentioned ID mismatch check is made to be performed by the facsimile apparatus that received the call.

In step S31, the communication job is accepted as in step S21. However, in step S32, the facsimile server device 1 determines the ID of the remote facsimile device registered in the internal memory.
Transfer the information to the incoming fax machine.

In step S33, the facsimile machine checks the ID number. If the ID number is registered, the process proceeds to step S34 to execute the communication job. On the other hand, if not registered, the facsimile device interrupts communication and notifies the facsimile server device.

In this modified example as well, similar to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to prevent an unauthorized incoming call such as a direct mail.

[0047]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, common speed dial information can be automatically created from the speed dial information possessed by a plurality of facsimile apparatuses, so that speed dial information can be easily created. .

Further, since a plurality of facsimile machines can be managed and controlled by the common speed dial information, the efficiency of operation of the entire system can be improved.

According to the invention of claim 2, the host can make a communication request by using the common speed dial information. Therefore, the communication request from the host can be simplified and the efficiency of the operation of the entire system can be improved.

According to the third aspect of the invention, it is possible to easily check the remote facsimile machine that transmits or receives.

According to the fourth and fifth aspects of the present invention, it is possible to prevent leakage of confidential data and also prevent unauthorized incoming mail such as direct mail.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing functions of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of processing for synthesizing speed dial information.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when transmitting using the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a modified example of the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the entire system.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a facsimile server device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Facsimile server apparatus, 2, 3, 4 ... Facsimile apparatus, 5 ... Network, 6, 7 ... Host computer, 21 ... Speed dial information reading section, 22 ... Compositing section, 2
3 ... Storage unit.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H04N 1/32 F 2109-5C

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile server device connected to a plurality of hosts and a plurality of facsimile devices to control the facsimile device, a means for reading the speed dial information from the plurality of facsimile devices, and the read speed dial information. A facsimile server device comprising: a synthesizing unit for synthesizing the above, and a unit for accumulating abbreviated dial information newly created by the synthesizing. 2. The facsimile server device according to claim 1, wherein the speed dial information accumulated in the accumulating means is transferred to the host or the facsimile device according to an instruction from the host. Server device. 3. The facsimile server device according to claim 1, wherein an ID number is added to the speed dial information stored in the storage means. 4. The facsimile server device according to claim 1, further comprising means for checking whether destination information from the host is included in the speed dial information when a transmission request is received from the host. A facsimile server device characterized in that the communication procedure is stopped when it is not included. 5. The facsimile server device according to claim 3, further comprising means for checking whether or not the ID number of the calling facsimile device is included in the abbreviated dial information when receiving a call. A facsimile server device characterized in that the reception procedure is stopped when not in use.