JPH0787201A - Method for informing available/unavailable state of facsimile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a method for informing the available/unavailable state of a facsimile terminal capable of confirming the available/unavailable state of the facsimile terminals installed at various places from a remote place by using an extension telephone set. CONSTITUTION:It is judged whether or not a targeted facsimile terminal 11 is in 'busy' by retrieving line memory 4 based on an extension number following a specific number corresponding to the delivery of a specific number dial from a telephone terminal 15, and when it is 'busy', a voice message representing the fact that the terminal 11 is in use is informed from a voice message recorder 5 to the telephone terminal 15 via a speech path switch 2, and when it is not 'busy', a call is issued to the facsimile terminal 11, and the occurrence of a fault is informed when no response is obtained, and the use of the terminal is permitted when the response is obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile terminal availability status notification method for notifying the availability status of a facsimile terminal accommodated in an electronic private branch exchange.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a facsimile terminal is housed in an electronic private branch exchange and facsimile communication is carried out by using the extension exchange, a user has to decide whether or not the facsimile terminal on the transmitting side or the receiving side can be used. There was no way to check prior to facsimile communication.

[0003]

Therefore, in such a conventional electronic private branch exchange, whether or not the accommodated facsimile terminal is in use depends on whether or not the facsimile terminal used by the user from his / her desk for transmission. Go to the installation location and visually check whether the sending facsimile terminal is in use. If this sending facsimile terminal is idle, send it to the receiving facsimile terminal and then open the receiving facsimile terminal. It is impossible to determine whether the transmission is possible unless the user actually goes to the transmission side facsimile terminal to perform the transmission such that the transmission is possible in the state.

In addition, when the administrator who manages the facsimile terminal confirms the operation status of the facsimile terminal, it is necessary to visit the installation location of the facsimile terminal installed in each place and confirm the operation status. There is a problem that it takes time and labor as the maintenance and management work.

The present invention is intended to solve such a problem, and a method of notifying the availability of a facsimile terminal, which can confirm the availability of a facsimile terminal installed in each place from a remote place by using an extension telephone. Is intended to provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve such an object, a method for notifying the availability status of a facsimile terminal according to the present invention comprises a detecting means for detecting the availability status of an arbitrary facsimile terminal as a private branch exchange. A voice message recording means for transmitting any one of a plurality of voice messages indicating the availability of the facsimile terminal to any telephone terminal accommodated in the private branch exchange, and a predetermined dial number transmitted from the telephone terminal According to the detection means, the availability state of the facsimile terminal corresponding to the extension number included in the dialed number is detected, and the voice message according to the detection result is sent to the telephone terminal by the voice message recording means. It is a thing.

The private branch exchange has a line memory for storing monitoring information indicating the usage status of each facsimile terminal, and the detecting means refers to the line memory on the basis of the extension number so that the facsimile terminal is in use. If it is not in use, a call is made based on the extension number, and if the facsimile terminal responds within a predetermined time from this call, it is judged that the facsimile terminal is available. However, if the facsimile terminal does not respond within a predetermined time after the call is made, it is determined that a failure has occurred in the facsimile terminal.

[0008]

Therefore, according to the predetermined dial number transmitted from the telephone terminal accommodated in the private branch exchange, the detecting means detects the availability state of the facsimile terminal corresponding to the extension number included in the dial number. A voice message according to the above is sent from the voice message recording means to the telephone terminal.

Further, the detecting means refers to the line memory on the basis of this extension number to judge whether the facsimile terminal is in use or not. If not, the facsimile is based on this extension number. When the terminal is called and the facsimile terminal responds within a predetermined time from this calling, it is determined that the facsimile terminal is available, and when the facsimile terminal does not respond within a predetermined time after calling, the facsimile terminal It is determined that there is a failure in the.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic private branch exchange which is an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a private branch exchange, and 11, 1
Reference numeral 2 is a facsimile terminal accommodated in the extension of the private branch exchange 1, and 15 is a telephone terminal accommodated in the extension of the private branch exchange 1.

Further, the private branch exchange 1 is connected to each extension by a call path switch 2 for switching and connecting a plurality of call paths, a control section 3 for controlling the call path switch 2 based on various information, and a control section 3 connected to each extension line. The line memory 4 in which the monitoring information indicating the usage states of the telephone terminals 15 and the facsimile terminals 11 and 12 that are being stored is constantly updated, and the voice that sends a predetermined message to the communication path switch 2 according to an instruction from the control unit 3 It is composed of a message recording device 5.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a facsimile terminal usability status notification process in the control unit 3.

The user selects the facsimile terminals 11 and 1
When confirming the availability status of No. 2, first, from the telephone terminal 15 installed in the user's seat, the special number assigned in advance for checking the availability status of the facsimile terminal is followed by the facsimile terminal 11 used as the sender side. Dial the extension number. When it is desired to check the availability of the facsimile terminal 12 used as the receiving facsimile terminal, the extension number is dialed continuously.

The control unit 3 receives and analyzes the dial number sent from the telephone terminal 15, and if this dial number includes a special number indicating a request for confirming the availability of a facsimile terminal, the control unit 3 is shown in FIG. The facsimile terminal availability status notification processing shown is executed.

First, the control unit 3 recognizes the dial following the special number among the dials received from the telephone terminal 15, that is, the extension number of the facsimile terminal 11 as the extension number of the facsimile terminal to be confirmed, and based on this extension number. The line memory 4 is searched for and the monitoring information of the extension (subscriber line) corresponding to this extension number is read (step 2).
1).

Here, the content of the read monitoring information is judged (step 22), and if it indicates "busy", that is, the terminal is in use (step 22: YES), "busy" status notification processing (step 31) As a control of the call path switch 2, the telephone terminal 15 and the voice message recording device 5 are connected, and the voice message recording device 5 is connected.
To send a voice message indicating that the facsimile terminal 11 is in use, and the process for this extension number is terminated.

If the monitoring information of the facsimile terminal 11 read from the line memory 4 is not "busy" (step 22: NO), an extension call is made to the facsimile terminal 11 based on the extension number ( At step 23), it is judged by timer processing whether or not to answer within a predetermined time from the start of calling (step 24).

If the facsimile terminal 11 does not respond within a predetermined time and the time is up (step 2)
4: YES), it is determined that some trouble has occurred in the facsimile terminal 11, and the "alarm" status notification processing (step 32) is performed, as described above, from the voice message recording device 5 to the telephone terminal 15 by facsimile. Terminal 1
A voice message indicating that a failure has occurred is sent to No. 1 and the processing for this extension number is terminated.

If the facsimile terminal 11 responds within a predetermined time from the start of calling (step 24: N
O), it is determined that the facsimile terminal 11 is in an available state, and the "empty" state notification process (step 33) is performed by the voice message recording device 5 to the telephone terminal 15 in the same manner as described above. Is sent out, that is, a voice message indicating that it is available is sent, the call to the facsimile terminal 11 is disconnected, and the processing for this extension number is ended.

Next, the control unit 3 determines whether or not the other extension number is included in the dial number previously received from the telephone terminal 15. In this case, the extension number of the calling facsimile terminal 11 is followed by the extension number. Receiving side facsimile terminal 1
Since the extension number 2 is transmitted, the facsimile terminal availability status notification process shown in FIG. If no extension telephone number is included, the notification process for the facsimile terminal availability confirmation request from the telephone terminal 15 is terminated.

As a result, the user confirms, by the voice message from the voice message recording device 5, the telephone terminal 15 as to whether or not each facsimile terminal corresponding to the extension number transmitted subsequently to the special number is available. When both the receiving side facsimile terminals 11 and 12 are in the "vacant" state, the transmitting side facsimile terminal 11 performs the facsimile transmission.

Further, the facsimile terminal 1 which has carried out the confirmation
When any one of 1 and 12 is in the "alarm" state, the user takes appropriate action such as notifying the administrator of that. Furthermore, the administrator who manages the facsimile terminals 11 and 12 uses the notification of the availability status of the facsimile terminals,
It is possible to confirm from a remote place whether or not each facsimile terminal has a failure such as a failure or a paper shortage, and it is possible to take prompt action.

In the above description, the case where both the facsimile terminals 11 and 12 on the transmitting side and the receiving side are accommodated in the extension line has been described, but even when the receiving side is connected via the public network. It is possible to confirm the availability status of the sending facsimile terminal 11.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, in response to a facsimile terminal availability confirmation request from a telephone terminal, the status of the target facsimile terminal is responded to by a line memory storing monitoring information of each terminal and a response to a call. After the judgment, the voice message recording device is connected to notify each state by a voice message.

Therefore, in the method for notifying the availability status of the facsimile terminal, the availability status of the facsimile terminals installed at various places can be confirmed from a distant place by using the extension telephone, and even if the usage status is unusable, the user can Has an extraordinary effect of eliminating unnecessary work of going to the installation site or carrying out facsimile transmission, reducing management work by an administrator, and being able to promptly deal with a failure that has occurred.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic private branch exchange according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a facsimile terminal availability status notification process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Private branch exchange 2 Call path switch 3 Control unit 4 Line memory 5 Voice message recording device 11, 12 Facsimile terminal 15 Telephone terminal

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile terminal availability status notifying method for notifying the availability status of a facsimile terminal housed in a private branch exchange, wherein the private branch exchange comprises a detecting means for detecting the availability status of the facsimile terminal. A voice message recording means for transmitting any one of a plurality of voice messages indicating the availability of the facsimile terminal to any telephone terminal accommodated in the private branch exchange, and the voice message recording means is transmitted from the telephone terminal. According to a predetermined dial number, the detecting means detects the availability of the facsimile terminal corresponding to the extension number included in the dial number, and the voice message recording means outputs the voice message according to the detection result to the telephone. Facsimile terminal availability status characterized by sending to a terminal Notification method. 2. The facsimile terminal availability status notification method according to claim 1, wherein the private branch exchange has a line memory for storing monitoring information indicating a usage status of each of the facsimile terminals, and the detection means has the extension. By referring to the line memory based on the number, it is determined whether or not the facsimile terminal is in use, and when not in use, a call is made based on the extension number,
If the facsimile terminal responds within a predetermined time from this call, it is determined that the facsimile terminal is available, and if the facsimile terminal does not respond within a predetermined time after the call, the facsimile terminal A method for notifying the availability of a facsimile terminal, characterized in that it is determined that a terminal has a failure.