JPH0715599A - Multiple address call communications equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To utilize effectively a channel by detecting an idle channel from among plural channels registered as a channel group and making a call to the channel and setting a call disabling time zone to an optional channel. CONSTITUTION:A telephone number of another party's equipment and a communication enable channel are formed as a group and channels 1-6 are connected respectively to a prescribed line and a line network. In the case of calling another party's equipment whose abbreviated numbers are 001 and 008, calling channels are channels 1,2 and when the channel 1 is busy, the channel 2 is used for calling. In this case, a call enable channel is selected from plural channels grouped to the same destination of the other party by checking the presence and absence of channel designation and the state of a channel to discriminate the propriety of the call and the calling channel is decided. Furthermore, a call disable time zone is provided to secure an incoming call channel. Thus, the channel is used efficiently.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a broadcast communication device which effectively utilizes a small number of communication channels to reduce waiting for incoming and outgoing calls.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to transmit the same image information to a plurality of destinations registered in abbreviated form, a storage device for storing a network ID such as a telephone number and channel information for each abbreviated number should be provided and transmitted. There is known a technique of temporarily storing image information and then transmitting the image information to the other party simultaneously or sequentially.

FIG. 10 shows details of data in a system table storing random access memory (hereinafter abbreviated as SRAM) for storing the shortened registration contents of the other party in the conventional broadcast communication apparatus.

In FIG. 10, represents the number of digits of the abbreviated registered telephone number. In this example, since the telephone number of the abbreviated number 001 is "34919191", it is eight digits, and therefore "0".
8 ". Is the telephone number itself and is stored in IA5 code. Is a part for storing channel information, and the lower 4 bits indicate the channel number. here,
Since the output channel of the abbreviated number 001 is ch1, "01" is stored here.

In the conventional broadcast communication apparatus configured as described above, an output channel for a destination of a certain abbreviated number
To specify (output port), directly specify (1) channel number (output port number) or (2) extension line, outside line, G3, G
4, ISDN, PSTN (general public line), etc., to specify the same type of hardware, protocol, and line type.

[0006]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above
In the device that directly specifies the channel number in (1), the telephone number of the destination that is abbreviated and the channel that calls that number are registered as a pair of data. If the call channel is registered, even if there is an empty channel that can be called, it cannot be used. Extension, outside line, G3, G of (2) above
4. ISDN, PSTN (general public line), etc. The same hardware, protocol, and device that specifies the line type can be called when the line contract is different under the same hardware or protocol conditions such as the second electric power or facsimile network contract. However, there is the inconvenience of not being able to select a contract line. Therefore, conventionally
Due to the channel designation of (1), there is no choice but to adopt a configuration in which only one channel for calling a certain destination telephone number is designated.

Further, if all channels provided in the broadcast communication device are set to allow outgoing and incoming calls, there arises a disadvantage that if all channels are outgoing, no reception can be accepted for a long time. In order to prevent this, conventionally, as shown in the timing chart of FIG. 11, measures such as setting a desired interval without immediately performing the next communication after the end of the communication being executed have been taken. However, this also causes another problem such as a long transmission waiting time due to the interval.

Further, as shown in FIG. 12, the management data for the conventional broadcast communication designates the necessity of reception / result report after the so-called "from-to" information indicating from which requesting station to which destination. By adding the data to be specified, it is possible to specify the necessity of reception / result report for one broadcast request. In FIG. 12, the station registered with the abbreviated number 001 is the requesting station, and abbreviated 002, 003, 004 from there.
The case where the broadcast transmission is instructed with the station as the other party is shown.

Here, the presence / absence of the reception / result report is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2 (a), (1) a method of notifying the presence / absence from a terminal requesting broadcast, and as shown in FIG. 12 (b), (2)
There is a method of referring to the unique system setting information set in the broadcast communication device.

In the method (1), it is necessary to put on the communication protocol for each communication requesting relay, the operation of the device requesting relay becomes complicated, and the communication protocol when requesting relay becomes redundant. There was a problem.

The method (2) has a problem that the system setting is a fixed value in the broadcast communication device, so that once it is set to "necessary", it is returned to an unnecessary requesting station.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a broadcast communication device capable of performing communication by using a vacant channel which can be called. .

A second object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast communication device in which all the channels are transmitting and no reception is received for a long time. To do.

A third object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast communication device in which reception of a broadcast communication request and return of a result report can be set for each requesting station that has been registered in a shortened manner.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned first object, the present invention provides a plurality of communication means for communicating image information by a facsimile procedure, a telephone number of a partner device to communicate with and a partner device. Storage means for storing the communication means capable of communication as a group, and control means for selecting one of the communication means in the group and instructing communication of image information to a partner device stored in the storage means. Be prepared.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned second object, the present invention further comprises a plurality of communication means for communicating image information by a facsimile procedure, a storage means for storing a telephone number of a partner device to communicate with, and an arbitrary storage means. The communication means is provided with a control means for designating a time zone during which a call cannot be made.

Further, in order to achieve the above-mentioned third object, the present invention, communication means for communicating image information by a facsimile procedure, a telephone number of a partner device to communicate and a broadcast communication request to the partner device. It is provided with storage means for storing the necessity / non-necessity of the reception / result report and control means for referring to the necessity / non-necessity of the reception / result report stored in the storage means as management data at the time of the broadcast communication. .

[0018]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, even if a plurality of requesting stations specify the same communication means (calling channel), a call can be made to a channel stored as a channel group. If there is a free channel, communication can be performed using that channel, and effective use of the channel can be realized.

Further, according to the second structure of the present invention, it is possible to prevent a situation in which at least one channel cannot be called and no reception is received for a long time.

Further, according to the third configuration of the present invention, the reception and return of the result report to the requesting station during the broadcast communication can be set for each requesting station that is registered in a short form.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

First, a schematic structure of a broadcast communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 9 shows a schematic block diagram of a broadcast communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 9, reference numeral 1 denotes a central control unit for controlling the entire apparatus, which uses a plurality of communication boards to control communication application software such as multi-broadcast communication, relay communication, and incoming program communication. CPU 101, read-only memory for programs in which communication application software is stored (hereinafter referred to as program RO)
102), a random access memory (hereinafter abbreviated as SRAM) 103 for storing a system table of a device, a work area for application programs and a random access memory (hereinafter abbreviated as DRAM) 104 for storing image information 104. , SRAM10
3. Backup power supply 105 for DRAM 104, DR
IC card 106 for increasing the storage capacity of AM4,
An interrupt control controller 107 that controls interrupts of a plurality of communication boards, an interrupt control controller 108 that controls interrupts for displaying on a display described later, a parallel port 109 for opening a bus to the communication boards, timer communication, etc. It is composed of a clock circuit 110 used for. Two
Is a bus for connecting the CPU 1 and the communication infrastructure.
Reference numeral 3 denotes a G4 communication board that communicates image information according to the G4 standard. The CPU 301 is a main control circuit of the board, and a program R that stores a program for operating the board.
OM 302, DRAM 303 for temporarily storing image information communicated by the board, interrupt controller 304 for communication interrupt control, image conversion circuit 305 for linear density conversion and image conversion of image information, image information to be transmitted is compatible with a partner device A coding circuit 306 that performs coding by a coding method that performs coding, a decoding circuit 307 that decodes received image information, a coding circuit 306, and a DR that serves as a buffer memory of the decoding circuit 307.
AM 308, DRAM 309 serving as a buffer memory of the image conversion circuit 305, CGROM 310 serving as a character generator, and an electrically programmable ROM for a modem (hereinafter referred to as EPRO) for outputting analog data (G3 standard) using a digital line network described later.
311 and link access procedure balanced for digital channel B channel access (hereinafter LA)
And a link access procedure D channel (hereinafter abbreviated as LAP-D) 313 for digital channel D channel access. 4 is G4
It is a digital line network for communication. Reference numeral 5 is a G3 communication board for communicating image information according to the G3 standard.
The components up to 1 have the same configurations as 301 to 311 of the G4 communication board 3, and the description thereof will be omitted. Reference numeral 512 denotes a modulation / demodulation circuit (hereinafter abbreviated as a modem) that converts a digital signal into an analog signal, 513 a code decoding circuit (hereinafter abbreviated as CODEC) that performs analog-digital conversion when an analog line is connected to a digital line, and 514 a network. A control unit (hereinafter abbreviated as NCU). 6 is a general public line network for G3 communication, 7 is a display controller for displaying the status of the CPU 1, 8 is a display for displaying the status of the device by the panel controller 7, and a keyboard for receiving an input from the user.

In the broadcast communication device configured as described above, the features of the present invention are: (1) Call origination from a vacant channel that can be called, (2) Securing destination channel, (3) Each partner device Each of the broadcast reception and the return necessity instruction of the result report will be described below.

(1) Calling to the other party from an empty channel that can be called will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 as to how to make a call to another party from the empty channel that can be called.

First, FIG. 1 shows detailed data of the SRAM 103 for storing the abbreviated registration contents in one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, represents the number of digits of the abbreviated registered telephone number. In this example, since the telephone number of the abbreviated number 001 is "34919191", which is eight digits, "08".
Becomes Is the telephone number itself and is stored in IA5 code. Is a part for storing channel information. When the most significant bit is 1, the group is specified as described later and the lower 4 bits indicate the group number. When the most significant bit is 0, the channel is specified as usual and the lower 4 bits are specified. Indicates the channel number. Is a part for storing the necessity of the reception report for the broadcast communication request. If this is 0, the reception report is not required, and if it is 1, the reception report is required. Is a part for storing the necessity or non-necessity of the result report for the broadcast communication request. If this is 0, the result report is not, and if it is 1, the result report is necessary.

Here, regarding the point that the channel information of is registered so that the group can be designated in addition to the conventional channel designation,
This group designation will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of group designation. Channel 1 and channel 2 are designated as group 1 and channel 4 as output ports to a G3 standard facsimile in which the destination device is connected to a public line. Group 3 is used as an output port to a G3 / G4 standard facsimile in which the partner device is connected to the company line, and channel 4 is a G4 in which the partner device is connected to the public line.
Group 3 as an output port to standard facsimile,
A case is shown in which the channel 5 and the channel 2 and the channel 1 are respectively registered in the group 4 as output ports to the G3 / G4 standard facsimile connected to the public line by the partner device.

Here, for example, if the selected channels of the group 4 are registered in the order of channel 5 → channel 2 → channel 1, the CPU 101 searches for an empty channel in this order. The registration order can be arbitrarily set by the user of the device, for example, in ascending order of communication charge or in ascending order of transmission rate, or even if the order is automatically determined from the data of communication fee and transmission rate. Good.

Next, the group designation shown in FIG.
The channel from which each abbreviated number station registered in the SRAM 103 with the content shown in (3) is called will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually showing whether or not the output ports from channels 1 to 6 can be connected to the partner device which has been abbreviated and registered.

In FIG. 3, channel 1 and channel 2 are each connected to a G3 (analog) public line,
After that, channel 1 is connected to an analog public network and channel 2 is connected to a digital network (hereinafter abbreviated as ISDN). Channel 3 is a G3 (analog) public line,
Channel 4 is connected to the exchanges in the company via G4 (digital) lines. Channel 5 is G4
Digital circuit network (ISDN) via (digital) circuit
Connected to. Channel 6 is G4 (digital)
It is connected to the packet switching network via a line.

The destination terminals registered with the abbreviated numbers 001 to 010 are abbreviated numbers 001 and 008 to the analog public line network, the abbreviated number 002 to the analog public line network which is an international communication line, and the abbreviated numbers 004 and 004, respectively. 005,
006 is connected to ISDN, abbreviated numbers 003 and 007 are connected to an exchange in the company, and abbreviated numbers 009 and 010 are connected to a packet switching network.

It is understood from FIG. 1 that the channel information of the broadcast communication device connected in this way is group 1 when a call is made to the partner device with the abbreviated number 001 and the abbreviated number 008. As can be seen from FIG. 2, the call channels of group 1 can first call channel 1 and then call channel 2. That is, when calling the partner device with the abbreviated number 001, it is possible to call from channel 1 first, and if channel 1 is busy, it is possible to use channel 2. Here, the entry from the ISDN to the analog public network is realized by a network connection which is a known technique.

Next, there is a case where a call is made to the partner device with the abbreviated number 002. In this case, the channel information is designated as channel 1 as is apparent from FIG. This is because even if the partner device with the abbreviated number 002 has hardware, a protocol, and a line type that can be connected from the channel 2, the channel for which the international communication contract is made is only the channel 1.

Next, when making a call to the partner device with the abbreviated number 003 and the abbreviated number 007, it can be seen from FIG. 1 that the channel information is group 2. As is clear from FIG. 2, the call channels of the group 2 can first call the channel 4 and then the channel 3. That is, abbreviated number 00
When making a call to the partner device of No. 3, it is possible to make a call from channel 4 first, and if channel 4 is busy, it is possible to make a call using channel 3. The reason why the channel 4 is prioritized over the channel 3 is that the G4 standard allows faster transmission than the G3.

Next, when making a call to the partner device with the abbreviated number 004, the abbreviated number 005 and the abbreviated number 006, it can be seen from FIG. 1 that the channel information is group 4. As is clear from FIG. 2, the call channels of group 4 can be called from channel 5, then channel 2, and then channel 1. That is, when calling the partner device with the abbreviated number 004, first call from channel 5, if channel 5 is busy, then call from channel 2, and if channel 2 is busy, then call from channel 1. It is possible. The reason for making a call in the order of channel 5, channel 2, and channel 1 is that the G4 standard is capable of transmitting data faster than G3, and the other device with the shortened number 004 is connected to the ISDN line.

Next, when making a call to the partner device with the abbreviated number 009 and the abbreviated number 010, it can be seen from FIG. 1 that the channel information is group 3. As is clear from FIG. 2, the call channel of group 3 can be called from channel 5 first, and then can be called using channel 6 if channel 5 is busy. Where ISDN
The connection between the network and the packet switching network is realized by a network connection which is a known technique. Although it is possible to get in from the channel 1 and channel 2 by the above-mentioned network connection, since the partner device of the abbreviated number 009 and the abbreviated number 010 is a G4 dedicated machine, there is no compatibility on the terminal side, and thus the channel group 3 It can be seen that there is no point in registering channel 1 and channel 2. Of course, if the partner device with the abbreviated number 009 and the abbreviated number 010 can communicate with both G4 and G3, it is possible to add a channel 1 and a channel 2 to the channel group 3 to make a more efficient broadcast communication device. Needless to say.

It has been described above that the broadcast communication apparatus of this embodiment selects a callable channel from a plurality of channels grouped to the same destination.

Next, how to select a callable channel from a plurality of grouped channels will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a process for determining a calling channel. First, when the broadcast transmission process is started (step 401), it is judged from the channel information (see FIG. 1) for the designated destination device whether or not the destination device is a call by channel designation. (Step 402). If the result of this determination is that a channel has been designated, that channel is set as the calling channel (step 40).
3). After that, the channel state is checked by the channel state check described later (step 404), and if the result is that the call can be made (step 405), the channel set in step 403 is determined as the call channel (step 406), and the call is made. Move to call processing (step 40)
7). If the result of step 404 (step 405) is that the call cannot be made, it is determined that the channel is line busy (step 408), it is determined whether the specified number of retries has been completed (step 409), and the number of retries still remains. If so, the process for waiting for re-calling is started (step 410). As a result of step 409, if the specified number of re-calls have been completed, it is treated as a call error (step 411).

When it is determined in step 402 that the channel is not designated, it is determined whether or not the group is designated (step 412). If it is determined that it is not a group designation either, this is error-processed as a registration error (step 413) (step 414). If it is determined in step 412 that the group is designated, the number of selected channels (the number of registrations) that can be used by the channel group shown in FIG. 2 is stored as n (step 415) and the channel to be called first is called. It is set as a call channel (step 416). After that, the channel state is checked by the channel state check described later (step 417), and if the result (step 418) is that the call can be made, step 416 is performed.
The channel set in step 4 is determined as the calling channel (step 406), and the call processing is started (step 4).
07). If the result of step 417 (step 418) is that the call cannot be made, the current n is set to n-1 (step 41
9) Until the number becomes n = 0 (step 420), the next channel registered in the designated group is set as a channel to be called (step 416). As a result, when a callable channel is determined by the time n = 0, the call processing by that channel is performed (steps 406 and 407), and there is a callable channel by the time n = 0. If not, it is once assumed that all channels in the group are busy (step 408), and the specified number of retries are repeated for all channels in the group (steps 409 and 410). As a result of step 409, if the specified number of re-calls have been completed, it is treated as a call error (step 411).

Next, the channel state check processing will be described. The channel state check process is a detail of the process corresponding to steps 404 and 417 described above.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of the process for checking the channel state. First, the process is started (step 5).
01), it is determined whether or not the designated channel is in communication (step 502). If the result of step 502 is that communication is not in progress, it is determined whether this channel is a restricted channel (step 503). Here, the regulated channel is a channel that is regulated so that it is not possible to make a call, and this will be described in more detail in the description of "securing the incoming channel" described later.

If the specified channel is not the restricted channel as a result of step 503, the designated channel is a callable channel (step 504) and the process returns to the main flow of FIG. 4 (step 505).

If the channel designated as a result of step 503 is a restricted channel, it is determined whether or not this channel is currently within the restricted time (step 506).

If the result of step 506 is not within the regulation time, the designated channel is a callable channel (step 504) and the process returns to the main flow of FIG. 4 (step 505).

If the result of step 506 is within the regulation time, the designated channel is a channel that cannot be called (step 507), and the process returns to the main flow of FIG. 4 (step 505).

If it is determined in step 502 that the designated channel is already in communication, it is a channel that cannot be called (step 507) and the process returns to the main flow of FIG. 4 (step 505).

The operation of the broadcast communication apparatus according to the present embodiment for detecting an empty callable channel from a plurality of grouped channels and making a call has been described above.

Next, the second feature of the present invention, "securing the incoming channel", that is, by detecting the empty channel which is the first feature and making a call, the number of channels is small but efficient. A control will be described for preventing a situation in which an incoming call cannot be received for a long time because all channels are transmitting, even though the outgoing call is realized.

(2) Securing incoming channels FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b) show channels 1 and 2 registered as channel group 1 in one embodiment of the present invention, respectively, over time. Shows the standby state of.

How to secure the incoming channel will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b).

In FIG. 6 (a), it is possible to make and receive a call from the channel 1 of the channel group 1 from 14:00 to 9:00, and thereafter make a call at 1 hour intervals from 9:00 to 14:00. It indicates that the setting is made such that “not possible” and “call possible” are alternately repeated.

FIG. 6B shows that the channel 2 of the channel group 1 can always make and receive a call.

When the channel 1 and the channel 2 of the channel group 1 are set as described above, in response to the call request by the channel group 1, the channel 1 is set to 9:00.
10:00, 11:00 to 12:00, 13:00 to 13:00
In the time zone of 14:00, the call cannot be made (during regulation time) and the call is made only from the channel 2. During this period, the effect of detecting an empty channel, which is the first feature point, and making a call cannot be obtained, but naturally the number of channels that can be called increases when the regulation time ends. As long as the broadcast communication apparatus of this embodiment has a configuration for detecting an empty channel and making a call, all channels may be blocked for making a call.
In order to prevent this, it is necessary to apply the above call restriction to any channel.

The call restriction time can be particularly effectively prioritized by designating a time zone in which a relatively large number of calls are received from 9 am to 10 am in a company.

Further, by setting the call regulation so that at least one channel can be always called for each channel group, it is possible to secure the transmission of each channel group.

As described above, the broadcast communication apparatus of this embodiment is constructed so as to detect an empty channel from a plurality of channels registered as a channel group and to make a call, and further to an arbitrary channel. By setting a time zone during which calls cannot be made, even if the number of channels is small, this can be used effectively to make efficient calls, and all channels will be blocked for a long time because of calls. It realizes extremely efficient use of the channel with no inconvenience.

Next, the third characteristic point of the broadcast communication apparatus of the present embodiment, which can instruct the necessity of receiving the broadcast communication and returning the result report for each registered partner, will be described in detail.

(3) Indication of necessity of broadcast reception / result report return for each partner device FIG. 7 shows management information of the broadcast communication device of this embodiment.

As is apparent from FIG. 7, unlike the conventional management information, the management information of the broadcast communication device of this embodiment is management data that only indicates the request station and the broadcast partner station.

Here, whether or not the reception of the broadcast communication and the return of the result report to each requesting station is necessary is the data of the SRAM 103 for the reception report / result report described in FIG. 1 (reception report), (result report). Calligraphy). This reception / result report is data that can be arbitrarily set for each requesting station that is abbreviated.
101 refers to this data and instructs each requesting station whether or not it is necessary to return the broadcast reception / result report.

Here, the instruction of whether or not each requesting station needs to receive the broadcast and return the result report is processed according to the flow chart shown in FIG.

In FIG. 8, when the processing is started (step 801), the CPU 101 accepts information from the requesting station from the speed dial table stored in the SRAM 103.
Acquire the necessity data of the result report (step 80).
2). As a result of step 802 (step 803) If the acceptance report is necessary, the acceptance report is returned (step 804). If the result of step 802 (step 803) The acceptance report is unnecessary, acceptance Eliminates the need for report return processing. When the necessity of the reception report is determined, the CPU 101 next determines whether or not the result report is necessary (step 805), and if the result report is necessary, the result report return processing is performed ( Step 806),
If the result acceptance report of step 805 is unnecessary, the return processing of the result report is unnecessary and it is determined whether or not it is necessary to receive the broadcast and return the result report to the requesting station (step 80).
7).

That is, in the case of the example in FIG. 7, the information regarding the reception / result report of the abbreviated number 001 which is the requesting station is SR
It is read from the AM 103 and referred to, and there is a reception report and no result report.

[0068]

As is apparent from the above description, the broadcast communication device of the present invention is configured to detect an empty channel from a plurality of channels registered as a channel group and to make a call, and further to make an arbitrary call. By setting a time period during which calls cannot be made to channels, even if the number of channels is small, it can be effectively used to make efficient calls, and all channels are blocked for making calls. It is possible to realize extremely efficient use of the channel in which no inconvenience occurs.

Further, according to the present invention, in the broadcast request from each requesting station which has been abbreviated, it is possible to specify an instruction as to whether or not it is necessary to receive the broadcast and return the result report for each requesting station. On the other hand, even if the reception / result report is not required, it will always be returned, and all requesting offices must obtain the report in order to receive the reception / result report to only one requesting office. It is possible to obtain a broadcast communication device without causing any inconvenience.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows the contents of a speed dial table of the present invention and SRA.
Detailed diagram of data in M

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing selected channels for each channel group of the present invention and their communication partners.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of connection with a communication partner according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing call channel determination of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing channel status check.

FIG. 6A is a timing diagram showing the state of call restriction of channel 1; FIG. 6B is a timing diagram showing the state of call restriction of channel 2;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing management data during broadcast communication according to the present invention.

[Fig. 8] Flow chart for receiving broadcast communication and determining whether to output a result report

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a broadcast communication device of the present invention.

FIG. 10: Contents of conventional speed dial table and SRA
Detailed diagram of data in M

FIG. 11 is a timing diagram showing call origination of a conventional broadcast communication device.

[FIG. 12] (a) Conventional view showing management data when notifying the presence / absence of a reception / result report from the request terminal (b) Notifying the presence / absence of a reception / result report by referring to the system setting information of the device Conventional diagram showing management data in case

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 central control unit 101 central processing unit 103 SRAM for storing system table 2 bus for connecting CPU and communication infrastructure 3 G4 communication board 4 digital network for G4 communication 5 G3 communication board 6 general public network

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of communication means for communicating image information by a facsimile procedure, a storage means for storing a telephone number of a counterpart device to communicate and the communication means capable of communicating with the counterpart device as a group, and the storage means. And a control unit for selecting one of the communication units included in the group and instructing the communication of image information to the partner device stored by the broadcast communication device. 2. A plurality of communication means for communicating image information by a facsimile procedure, a storage means for storing a telephone number of a partner device to be communicated with, and a time zone during which a call cannot be made to any of the communication means. A broadcast communication device comprising: a control unit. 3. A plurality of communication means for communicating image information by a facsimile procedure, a storage means for storing a telephone number of a counterpart device to communicate and the communication means capable of communicating with the counterpart device as a group, and the storage means. And a control means for allowing at least one communication means of the group of communication means to make a call at all times and designating a time zone during which the call cannot be made to any other communication means. Communication device. 4. A communication means for communicating image information by a facsimile procedure, a storage means for storing a telephone number of a partner device to communicate with, reception of a broadcast communication request to the partner device, and necessity of a result report. And a control unit that refers to the necessity of the reception / result report stored in the storage unit as management data for the broadcast communication.