JPH07312655A - Method and equipment for communication - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decide time and time length for transferring information and the number of optimum lines required for transmission by selecting the time length up to the end of communication according to the intention of an operator while previously grasping the capacity of information to be transmitted. CONSTITUTION:A user is provided with the transfer information name of input information, destination and transmission destination information name corresponding to instruction inputs and calculates a communication distance by retrieving and analyzing the table of communication distances previously stored in a recording part 200 from the line numbers of the opposite side and present user terminals under the control of a control part 202. Next, the unit time of one line is calculated from the time of a clock 203 in the case of previously inputting and indicating the communication distance. Afterwards, a transmission amount per unit tariff is calculated from the table of transmission speed per unit time stored in the storage part 200 for each of menu designation information corresponding to each channel in order to calculate the transmission amount for each line from the unit time, and an output menu picture is prepared. Then, the number of channels to be secured is calculated for enabling economic and high-speed communication and corresponding to the capacity of desired information to be transmitted, the time length required for exchanging the information can be recognized in advance.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication method and apparatus for bundling a plurality of communication lines and utilizing the same information for high-speed communication, in which data stored in a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer) or a workstation is remote. The present invention relates to input / output information for controlling a communication time required for exchanging data with a local communication device and a communication method and device characterized by the control.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 8 (a) and 8 (b) show a conventional IS.
It is a diagram of information transfer using a DN (Integrated Services Digital Network) line, and when transferring information from the user equipment A to the user equipment B using these lines, a unit for each number of outgoing lines 1B and 2B A table showing the amount of information that can be transmitted over time is shown in FIG. a, b, p, and q are channel numbers. Conventionally, regardless of the amount of information to be transmitted in advance,
When the number of outgoing lines is specified as 1B or 2B and the communication with the preset number of lines can be secured, the communication is started and continued until the end of the communication. It was not possible to decide the communication time required to transfer the data to be transferred in advance by the intention of the operator who wants to transfer the data until the end of communication (Reference: Minoru Akiyama, ISDN.
Picture and handbook, Chapter 7, Section 7.2, published by Ohmsha). In addition, the communication charge is charged by the unit time that the communication time is set, and even if the communication is completed within the unit time, the charge for the unit time is made, and it is not possible to use the communication time effectively and perform economical communication. Was not considered. In addition, there was no communication device that could tell this before the start of communication.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve these drawbacks of the prior art, the present invention grasps the amount of information to be transmitted in advance and allows the operator to select the time until the end of communication. An object of the present invention is to provide a communication method and apparatus having means for determining the time and time for information transfer and the optimum number of lines required for transmission.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a communication method in which a plurality of communication lines are bundled to perform high-speed communication, and a charge and required time are calculated from the amount of information to be transmitted and displayed, It is characterized in that desired communication conditions can be set by a user's selection instruction.

Further, in the present invention, in the above communication method, a side desiring to transmit data calculates a charge and a required time based on a required time for data transfer, a communication charge and a transfer data amount, and automatically sets optimum communication conditions. Is characterized by.

Further, the communication apparatus of the present invention determines the number of lines to be secured depending on the capacity of information to be transmitted and the time at which transfer is desired to be completed, and the side to which data is transmitted depends on the communication volume per unit time and the total transfer data capacity. It is characterized by having a means for determining the number of lines to be secured, and having a function of notifying a required communication fee and a required time before starting communication of these information transfers.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when a plurality of lines are bundled and used, the communication time and the communication fee are taken into consideration in consideration of the number of lines to be bundled by designating the number of outgoing lines, the unit of billing and the time used for communication. Provides the means to select the most suitable one, determines the number of lines to be used from both aspects of being economical and high speed by the amount of transmission per unit time, and the time and fee required for exchanging information depending on the amount of information to be transferred We will provide the technology to know in advance and the technology to decide the time to complete the transfer of information by the operator's will.

That is, it is possible to know the information transfer time and the usage charge for each number of lines to be used from the information amount of the information to be transmitted at the transmitting side before the start of communication, and to determine the number of lines that can transfer information economically and at high speed. User can select. The time required to transfer information can be known in advance according to the volume of information to be transferred, and the time to complete the transfer of information is determined by the operator's will. It also provides a means for the user to select and specify the most economical and high-speed information transfer line number and usage charge before communication.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to ISDN. Reference numeral 200 is a storage unit for storing unit time and communication distance, and 201 is for inputting an amount of information to be transferred and a desired transfer required time. An instruction unit for displaying a menu and instructing selective input, a control unit 202 for receiving the instruction input, calculating it as the number of b channels, and calculating a required time and a usage charge according to the amount of information input by the instruction unit 201. 203
Is a clock for reading the time of use and the time of use, 204 is the number of lines determined by the control unit 202, is connected to the user device on the other side, and when communication is established, the ISDN interface unit 208 is notified and a communication line is secured. Communication control unit, 20
Reference numeral 5 is a peripheral device interface for connecting to a personal computer or a workstation, for example, a magnetic disk device or a personal computer workstation, and 206 is an error control or retransmitting process for parallel input data, and a serial signal is transmitted. Data interface part to convert,
207 is a multi-channel communication interface unit that distributes data signals to the number of secured lines at the time of transmission, and makes data signals from a plurality of channels into one serial data at the time of reception, 208 is an ISDN interface unit that connects to an ISDN network, and 209 is ISDN network, 210 is ISDN on the receiving side
The interface unit, 211 is the communication control unit on the receiving side, 21
Reference numeral 2 is a receiving side control unit, 213 is a receiving side multi-channel communication interface unit, 214 is a receiving side user device data interface unit, and 215 is a receiving side user device side device interface.

Next, these operations will be described with reference to the embodiment of FIG. 2 and the flow charts of FIGS. Reference numeral 201 denotes an instruction unit of the user device on the calling side. The instruction unit displays the input menu screen of FIG. 2A or the output menu screen of FIG. 2B, and selects and specifies the menu displayed on the screen. By doing so, input instructions can be given.

First, in step S602 of FIG. 3, the input menu screen is displayed on the instruction unit 201, and the transfer information destination 302, transfer information name 303, destination information name 304, and transfer information amount 305 are displayed.
Is obtained by the user's input (S602, S60 in FIG. 3)
3, S604, S605).

At this time, the information amount may be obtained from the management information recorded in the peripheral device in which the information to be transferred is stored. The transfer information name 303, the destination 302, and the destination information name 304 of the input information input by the instruction are the control unit 20.
2 retrieves and interprets the communication distance table of FIG. 7 stored in advance in the storage unit 200 from the line numbers of the partner user device and the own user device to obtain the communication distance (401 in FIG. 5) (FIG. 3).
S611).

Next, the unit time (403 in FIG. 5) of one line is obtained from the communication distance and the time (402 in FIG. 5) of the clock 203 when the input instruction is given earlier (S612 in FIG. 3). Next, from the table 501 of transmission rates per unit time of FIG. 6 stored in the storage unit 200 in order to obtain the transmission amount per line from the unit time, the transmission amount 502 per unit charge is set to the channel number 503 for each channel. Specified menu corresponding to 5
The output menu screen 320 of FIG. 2B is created by obtaining each of the 04 menu designation information.

Transfer information amount 30 obtained from the instruction unit 201
The following values are calculated from 5 (S614 in FIG. 4). Number of lines × 64 kbit = transfer capacity Transfer information amount ÷ transfer capacity = transfer required time Transfer to required decimal point rounded up = transfer required time'transfer required time '/ unit time = channel unit charge Channel unit charge moved to the decimal point = channel unit Fee'Charge per channel '× number of channels = Fee At this time, the transmission rate of the line is calculated at 64 kbit / sec, but efficiency is less than 100% due to error control, retransmission control, other performance of each part, processing time, etc. Although it is necessary to consider the above, the operation will be described here as 100% efficiency for explanation.

The calculated usage charge 308 and transfer time 309 for each number of lines are edited and displayed on the output menu screen 320 until the end of all channels (S615 and S61 in FIG. 4).
6).

Next, waiting for an input from the input instructing section 201 displayed on the output menu screen 320, the presence / absence of the input is determined by the menu designation of 310 (S61 of FIG. 4).
7, S618).

Input analysis is performed as soon as there is an input (S619 in FIG. 4), and the number of input channels is set (S6 in FIG. 4).
20), the communication control unit 204 instructs the ISDN interface unit 208 to make a call (S621 in FIG. 4), and repeats the call until the number of communication channels is secured (S622 in FIG. 4).
S623).

After confirming that the number of communication channels has been secured, the communication control unit 204 notifies the control unit 202 that the communication line is secured, and the control unit 202 controls the multi-channel communication interface unit 207 and the data interface unit 206. Be prepared to accept information. Data interface unit 20
6 reads information from the peripheral device via the device interface 205, and the obtained information is sent to the IS via the multi-channel communication interface unit 207 via the data interface unit 206 and the ISDN interface unit 208.
It is sent to the DN network 209. In the user equipment on the receiving side, the information of the user equipment on the transmitting side is received, and a magnetic disk, which is a peripheral device, or a peripheral device via the ISDN interface unit 210, the multi-channel communication interface unit 213, the data interface unit 214, and the device interface unit 215. Received data is stored in a storage unit such as a personal computer.

The number of communication lines most desired by the user, the time required for information transfer, and the degree of urgency can be selected by arbitrary input means of the usage charge and required time. Further, the operator does not instruct the selection from the output menu, but the control unit 202 compares the usage charges in the order of the largest number of lines and compares the charges to the one line, and the line charge is the same as or more than one line. If the number is automatically selected, the economical and relatively high-speed number of communication lines can be automatically selected.

As described above, a unit for inputting the amount of information to be transmitted in advance and its urgency, and a unit time for charging and a transmission for each unit time when a large number of lines are bundled and used from the stored information By the means for obtaining the amount and the number of lines, the number of secured channels can be calculated so that the communication can be performed economically and at high speed, and the time required for the transfer of information can be known in advance depending on the capacity of the information to be transferred. Further, the time to complete the transfer of information is determined by the operator's will, and by providing a means for selecting an economical and high-speed usage method, it is possible to effectively use the communication line and shorten the communication time.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the amount of information to be transmitted is grasped in advance, and the time until the end of the communication can be selected by the operator's intention. It is possible to provide a communication method and apparatus having means for determining an optimum number of lines required for time and transmission.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a structural explanatory view showing an example of an input menu screen and an output menu screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a part of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a part of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a structural explanatory view showing an example of a unit time table stored in a storage unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a structural explanatory view showing an example of a table of transmission rates stored in a storage unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a structural explanatory view showing an example of a communication distance table stored in a storage unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a conventional communication method.

[Explanation of symbols]

200 ... Storage unit, 201 ... Instructing unit, 202 ... Control unit, 2
03 ... Clock, 204 ... Communication control section, 205 ... Equipment interface, 206 ... Data interface section, 207 ...
Multi-channel communication interface unit, 208 ... ISDN
Interface unit, 209 ... ISDN network, 210 ... ISDN interface unit on receiving side, 211 ... Communication control unit on receiving side, 212 ... Control unit on receiving side, 213 ... Multi-channel communication interface unit on receiving side, 214 ... Receiving side user Device data interface unit 215 ... Device interface unit on the user device side of the receiving side.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A communication method in which a plurality of communication lines are bundled to perform high-speed communication, a charge and a required time are calculated from the amount of information to be transmitted and displayed, and desired communication conditions can be set by a user's selection instruction. Communication method to do. 2. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein a side desiring to transmit data calculates a charge and a required time based on a required time for data transfer, a communication charge and a transfer data amount, and automatically sets an optimum communication condition. A communication method characterized by the above. 3. A means for determining the number of lines to be secured according to the capacity of information to be transmitted and the time when transfer is desired to be completed,
The side that wants to send data is equipped with means for determining the number of lines to be secured based on the amount of communication per unit time and the total transfer data capacity, and has the function of notifying the required communication fee and the required time before starting the communication of these information transfers. A communication device characterized by.