JPH07264378A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a facsimile equipment capable of recognizing the communication capability of an opposite party and surely performing communication corresponding to the communication capability. CONSTITUTION:In a transfer ability information storage part 14, transfer ability information indicating transfer ability from a transmission destination for a communication start request issued from a present equipment so as to perform first communication to the transmission destination (for instance, the transfer capability of a facsimile function corresponding to the respective communication protocols of G3 or G4 facsimile and a telephone function) is stored. At the time of second and succeeding communication to the same transmission destination, the pertinent transfer ability information is read from the transfer capability information storage part 14 by a process control part 15. The read transfer ability information is displayed through a U/I control part 13 on a display part 16.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine capable of communicating by telephone, G3 or G4 facsimile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a plurality of types of terminals such as a telephone, a modem and a fax machine are connected to one telephone subscriber line, the respective terminals are switched according to the type of communication to perform communication. I am trying. Here, on the receiving side, it is necessary to identify the signal from the transmitting side in order to switch each terminal on the receiving side according to the contents of communication from the transmitting side.

An example of a device for identifying the type of signal is a signal type identifying device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-131766. In the device of this publication,
It identifies whether the communication is a telephone call or various other tone signals or modulated signals.

Therefore, on the receiving side, the terminal on the receiving side is switched based on the output result of the signal type identifying device, whereby automatic connection with the transmitting side communication end of the same type becomes possible. Further, even when the calling party makes a telephone call without knowing that the receiving terminal is the fax terminal, it is possible for the receiving party to notify the calling party of a message that the call is a wrong call.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, the message from the receiving side to the calling side is notified to the calling side, but the content of the message is only "the wrong phone number". It is the information to inform only ", and the detailed information such as whether the receiving side terminal is capable of G3 type facsimile (FAX) connection, G4 type FAX connection or telephone connection is available. Didn't notify.
Therefore, the caller may make a phone call to the same destination (the receiving side) without knowing the fax terminal and repeat the same wrong call.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of recognizing the communication capability of a communication partner and surely performing communication according to the communication capability.

[0007]

The present invention has at least a telephone function (121 in FIG. 1) and a facsimile function (1212 in FIG. 1) corresponding to a plurality of types of communication protocols.
And a receiving side terminal having a facsimile function corresponding to at least one of the plurality of types of communication protocols among the plurality of communication functions. The information from the receiving side terminal returned in response to the communication start request issued from the own device to perform the first communication with the terminal, and indicates all the communication functions of the receiving side terminal At the time of the second and subsequent communication with the storage means (14 in FIG. 1) for storing the transfer capability information, the transfer stress information about the reception side terminal is read out from the storage means and output. Output processing means (13, 15, 16 in FIG. 1).

[0008]

According to the present invention, in order to perform the first communication with the receiving side terminal (destination), the transfer capability information (for example, from the destination) returned in response to the communication start request issued from the own device (for example, The transfer capability information indicating that (G3 facsimile and G4 facsimile communication is possible) is stored in the storage means, and the output processing means stores it during the second and subsequent communications to the destination. The transfer capability information is read from the means and output.

Here, the caller side terminal has each transfer capability of telephone, G3 facsimile and G4 facsimile, the receiver side terminal has each transfer capability of G3 facsimile and G4 facsimile, and in the caller side terminal, It is assumed that the receiving terminal has the transfer capability of G3 facsimile and recognizes the facsimile number.

Under such a premise, the originating terminal is
When a G3 facsimile communication start request is issued to the receiving terminal for the first communication, the receiving terminal transfers to the effect that the receiving terminal has its own transfer capacity of G3 and G4 facsimile. Return the capability information to the calling terminal. In the caller terminal, the returned transfer capability information is stored in the storage means, and the transfer capability information is displayed on the display means such as a display. That is, the calling terminal can recognize that the receiving terminal has each transfer capability of G3 and G4 facsimiles during the first communication, and thus,
In the second and subsequent communication, G4 facsimile can be used for communication. Also, since the calling terminal has its own telephone, the receiving terminal does not have a telephone function, so it can be recognized that the calling cannot be made to the receiving terminal. .

Therefore, according to the present invention, in the facsimile device on the transmission side, the communication capability of the destination is recognized and the desired communication capability is appropriately selected during the second and subsequent communications to the same destination. can do.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a facsimile communication control unit 1
Is a line control unit 11 that performs network control, a communication control unit 12 that performs protocol control according to communication attributes, a U / I control unit 13 that is an interface that exchanges data with the user side, and a transfer that will be described later. A transfer capability information storage unit 14 that stores a capability information data management table, and a process control unit 1 that controls each of the communication control units according to instructions from the U / I control unit 13
5 and a display unit 16 for displaying the stored contents of the transfer capability information storage unit 14.

The line control unit 111 is a public telephone network (PST).
N) is connected to the subscriber line 2 and the line control unit 112
Is an integrated digital service network (ISDN) subscriber line 3
It is connected to the. The TEL communication control unit 121 performs signal sequence control (protocol control) in the telephone, and
The G3 communication control unit 122 controls the G3 (group 3) facsimile protocol, and the G4 communication control unit 123 controls the G3 facsimile.
4 (Group 4) Facsimile protocol control.

FIG. 2 shows a telephone, a G3 facsimile (hereinafter,
G3 FAX and G4 facsimile (hereinafter G4)
The format of the transfer capability information data indicating which of the communication functions (called FAX) it has is shown. This data format is used when the transmitting side and the receiving side declare the communication capability of their own terminals to the other side.

In FIG. 2, the data is bits 0 to 0.
It consists of 16 bits of bit 15, and 16 functions can be set (declared). Each bit indicates "with function" when ON, "without function" when OFF. There is. By the way, in FIG. 2, the presence or absence of the telephone function is set in bit 0, the presence or absence of the G3 FAX function is set in bit 1, and the presence or absence of the G4 FAX function is set in bit 2. Bits 4 to 15 are reserved.

Here, when the self device is the transmitting terminal, the transfer capability information data from the receiving side is the line control unit 111 or the line control unit 112 and the process control unit 1.
5, the data is stored in the transfer capability information data management table of the transfer capability information storage unit 14. An example of this stored state is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, the transfer capability information data management table is a field 31 in which the information of the destination telephone number is registered,
It is composed of a field 32 in which information on the transfer capability of the receiving side (destination side) is registered. The destination telephone number information data can be known at the time of calling to the destination, whereas the destination side transfer capability information can be known only when there is a response from the destination. The storage format of the transfer capability information may be the format shown in FIG. 2 or may be processed into a format unique to its own device. That is, any format may be used as long as the transfer capability of the transmission partner can be understood.

Although not shown in FIG. 3, the transfer capability information storage unit 14 stores transfer capability information of its own terminal device in addition to the transfer capability information data management table. Therefore, when there is an inquiry (communication start request) from another receiving side terminal, the transfer capability information data is notified to the receiving side terminal.

By the way, the notification procedure (sequence) of the transfer capability information data is G3 FAX or G4 FAX.
The notification procedure for each mode will be described below.

In the case of the G3 FAX mode, the transfer capability information data is notified in the sequence as shown in FIG.
That is, the receiving side receives C when the calling side calls
The DE (callee identification signal) and the transfer capability information data are set in DIS (digital identification signal) or NFS (non-standard function identification signal) and transmitted to the calling side. Specifically, CCITT T.M. H in the frame format of T.30 (Recommendation T.30 of the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee)
Transfer capability information data as shown in FIG. 2 is set as DIS or NSF in the 16-bit facsimile control field (FCF) in the DLC information field,
Sent to the originating side.

Then, the transmitting side receiving such a signal transmits DSC (digital command signal) or NSS (non-standard function setting signal) to the receiving side.

On the other hand, in the case of the G4 FAX mode, the receiving side is the CSS from the transmitting side as in the sequence shown in FIG.
When the (session start signal) is received, the transfer capability information data is set to RSSP (session start affirmation) and transmitted to the calling side. Specifically, CCITT T.M. 6
2 (Recommendation T.62) frame format (session-level frame format for G4 facsimile), the RSSP is set in the CI / RI field.
2 is set, the transfer capability information data as shown in FIG. 2 is set in the PI in the PGI (parameter group identifier) / PI (parameter identifier: non-standard function) field, and is transmitted to the caller. It

Next, the facsimile communication processing operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a network system configured to have a facsimile machine on the transmitting side and a facsimile machine on the receiving side using the facsimile machine shown in FIG. Here, as a prerequisite, the calling side is a telephone and G3 FAX.
And G4FAX transfer capability, while the receiving side is G
It is assumed to have the transfer capability of 3 FAX and G4 FAX. Further, the facsimile machine on the transmitting side and the facsimile machine on the receiving side have the same configuration as that of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. However, in order to distinguish the constituent elements on the transmitting side and the receiving side, the transmitting side uses the reference numerals shown in FIG. A is added, while B is added to the code shown in FIG. 1 on the receiving side.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the facsimile communication processing operation on the transmitting side, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the facsimile communication processing operation on the receiving side.

First, as shown in FIG. 7, on the calling side, when the user requests the U / I controller 13A to send a facsimile and sets the destination telephone number (step 101), U / I The I control unit 13A notifies the process control unit 15A of the process activation request for facsimile communication (calling) and the destination telephone number (step 102).

In the process control unit 15A, it is determined whether or not the notified telephone number is registered in the transfer capability information storage unit 14A (that is, for the destination of the notified notified destination telephone number, the first time). (Step 103), and in the case of the first communication, the notified destination telephone number is the destination telephone number of the transfer capability information data management table in the transfer capability information storage unit 14A. Register in the field (step 104).

When the process control unit 15A completes the registration of the destination telephone number in the transfer capability information storage unit 14A,
A facsimile communication request is made to the communication control unit 12A (step 105).

In the communication control unit 12A, it is determined whether the G3 FAX is activated or the G4 FAX is activated, and the communication control unit based on the determination result performs the protocol control.
Is activated (step 106).

In the case of G3FAX, the line controller 11A gives a call notification to the network as shown in the sequence of FIG. 4, while in the case of G4FAX, as shown in the sequence of FIG. The CSS (session start command) is notified (step 107).

The call or CSS command transmitted from the calling party in this manner is PSST2 or ISD.
It is input to the receiving side via N3.

Then, on the receiving side in the standby state, as shown in FIG. 8, when the line control unit 11B receives the call or CSS command (step 2).
01), the line control unit 11B notifies the process control unit 15B that the facsimile has arrived and the received command. Of these, the fact that the facsimile has arrived is notified from the process control unit 15B to the user side via the U / I control unit 13B.

On the other hand, the process control unit 15B, on the basis of the notified command, receives the terminal resources (G3, G4, TE) inside the receiving side that are suitable for the communication requesting terminal from the transmitting side.
L) is secured (step 202), and then the transfer capability information data of the own terminal is read from the transfer capability information storage unit 14B (step 203). After that, the communication control unit 12B is notified of the read transfer capability information data and the facsimile communication request (step 204).

In the communication control unit 12B, G3 FAX or G4
It is determined whether it is FAX, the protocol control is performed by the communication control unit based on the determination result, and the line control unit is activated (step 205).

The line controller 11B notifies the transfer capability information data according to G3 FAX or G4 FAX (step 206).

That is, in the case of G3 FAX, as shown in the sequence of FIG. 4, NSF (digital identification signal), CSI (callee terminal identification signal), DIS for the network.
Send (non-standard function identification signal). At that time, the transfer capability information data is set in the FIF in the DIS (non-standard function identification signal) and notified to the calling side. Here, under the above-mentioned preconditions, the receiving side uses G3 FAX and G4 as described above.
Since the transfer capability information data has the FAX transfer capability, "ON" is set only for bit 1 and bit 2 in the format shown in FIG. 2 and "OF" is set for the other bits.
The content is set to "F".

On the other hand, in the case of G4 FAX, as shown in the sequence of FIG. 5, RSSP (acknowledge session start)
Send a response command. There is no RSSP at that time
The self-terminal side classification information data is set in I (parameter identifier: non-standard function) and notified to the calling side. In this case, under the above preconditions, the transfer capability information data is the same as the contents in the case of G3 FAX.

The transfer capability information data thus output is input to the caller side via the PSTN 2 or ISDN 3.

Here, a description will be given again with reference to FIG.
On the calling side, as shown in FIG. 7, the line control unit 11A receives the above-mentioned commands including the transfer capability information data (step 108). Those commands are notified to the process control unit 15A via the line control unit 11A and the communication control unit 12A. That is, at this time, the process control unit 15A knows the transfer capability information data on the called side.

Then, in the process control unit 15A, the transfer capability information data on the called side has already been transferred to the transfer capability information storage unit 1.
4A is registered (that is, whether or not it is a response to the first communication) (step 10).
9). It should be noted that the determination in this step, at the time of transmission, recognizes whether or not the communication to the receiving side is the first communication, so by holding the result, the determination can be made based on the result.

If the transfer capability information data is not registered at step 109, the transfer capability information data is transferred to the transfer capability information storage unit 14.
It is registered in the transfer capability information field of the transfer capability information management table of A (step 110). With this, the telephone number information of the transmission destination and the transfer capability information data are stored in association with each other. That is, under the above-mentioned precondition, the telephone number of the transmission destination and the transfer capability information of G3 FAX and G4 FAX (for example, information of G3 mode and G4 mode) are stored in association with each other.

On the other hand, if the registration has been completed in step 109, the registration process is not performed.

Of course, all the received transfer capability information data (data after the second communication) may be registered. As a result, even when the destination telephone number is the same and the transfer capability is changed, it is possible to select the communication function according to the transfer capability of the receiving side.

Then, also in the second communication with the same transmission destination, the same processing as steps 101 to 103 is performed. At this time, in step 103,
By referring to the transfer capability information storage unit 14A, the process control unit 15A determines that the destination telephone number of the receiving side has already been registered, reads the corresponding transfer capability information data (step 111), U / I control unit 13
Give it to A. This transfer capability information data is displayed on the display unit 16A. Here, under the above-mentioned precondition, information such as G3 mode and G4 mode is displayed on the display unit 16A.

Therefore, the operator on the transmitting side can recognize from the displayed contents that the receiving side terminal has the transfer capability of the G3 and G4 facsimiles.
At the time of the first communication, even if the other party (reception side terminal) does not know that the transfer capability of G4 FAX exists, at the time of the second and subsequent communication, the G
4 FAX can be specified. Further, since the receiving side terminal does not have a telephone function, the calling side can recognize that the receiving side terminal cannot make a telephone call.

As described above, the user can know the transfer capability of the transmission destination, and thus selects the connection request (step 113). This selection content is input to the process control unit 15A via the U / I control unit 12A. From this point onward, FIG.
The processing after step 105 is performed.

As described above, according to this embodiment, during the first G3 or G4 facsimile communication, the transfer capability information data from the receiving side terminal is received and stored, and the second transfer capability information data is stored.
At the time of the second facsimile communication, the stored transfer capability information data is displayed, so that the operator can recognize all the transfer capabilities of the destination and appropriately select from those transfer capabilities. . That is, in the case of performing facsimile transmission, if it is premised that the G4 communication is possible on the calling side, the calling party does not need to indicate the communication partner in advance, and G4 based on the transfer capability information data.
It is possible to identify whether FAX communication is possible or not, and it is possible to perform efficient connection selection.

Further, as described above, since the operator can recognize all the transfer capabilities of the destination, it is possible to prevent the receiving side terminal from making a telephone call without knowing the fax terminal.

[0051]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, in order to perform the first communication with the receiving side, the receiving side returned to the pair in response to the communication start request issued from the own device. The transfer capability information indicating all transfer capabilities of the receiving side (for example, a transfer function of a telephone function and a facsimile function corresponding to a plurality of types of communication protocols) stored in the storage means. Since the output processing means reads out each transfer capability information from the storage means and outputs it at the time of the second and subsequent communication to the receiving side, the same facsimile machine on the transmitting side is provided. At the time of the second and subsequent communications to the destination, all transfer capabilities of the destination can be recognized,
Moreover, it becomes possible to select a desired transfer capability from those transfer capabilities.

From the above, it is possible to prevent the receiving terminal from making a telephone call without knowing the fax terminal. Moreover, when performing facsimile transmission,
When it is premised that G4 communication is possible on the calling side, the caller does not need to indicate in advance with the other party of communication, and it is possible to identify whether G4 FAX communication is possible or not based on the transfer capability information data. Since connection can be selected, workability during communication can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a format of transfer capability information data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a transfer capability information data management table.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing a method of notifying transfer capability information data in the case of G3 facsimile.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing a method of notifying transfer capability information data in the case of G4 facsimile.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a network system in which the facsimile device shown in FIG. 1 is provided on a transmitting side and a receiving side.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a facsimile communication processing operation on the calling side.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a facsimile communication processing operation on the receiving side.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Facsimile communication control unit, 2 ... PSTN, 3 ... IS
DN, 11 ... Line control unit, 12 ... Communication control unit, 13 ... U
/ I control unit, 14 ... Transfer capability information storage unit, 15 ... Process control unit, 16 ... Display unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile function having at least a telephone function and a facsimile function corresponding to each of a plurality of types of communication protocols, and a facsimile function corresponding to at least one of the plurality of types of communication protocols among the plurality of communication functions. In a facsimile device that communicates with a receiving-side terminal having a terminal, the receiving-side terminal from the receiving-side terminal returned in response to a communication start request issued from the self-device to perform the first communication with the receiving-side terminal. Storage means for storing transfer capability information which is information and which indicates all communication functions of the receiving side terminal, and for the receiving side terminal during the second and subsequent communications with the receiving side terminal. And an output processing unit for reading out the transfer stress information from the storage unit and outputting the read transfer stress information.