JPH08223316A - Communication equipment with transmission confirmation function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce the communication cost by reducing communication traffic of a receiver when a transmission confirmation message is sent. CONSTITUTION: Upon the receipt of information from a transmitter side facsimile equipment 2, the information is confirmed and a transmission confirmation message is generated under the control of a CPU section 13 and a mail state management section 16 manages the message. When the arrival of an incoming call is in existence from the same facsimile equipment 2, the transmission confirmation message managed by the mail state management section 16 is read and sent to the facsimile equipment 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device capable of confirming delivery, and more particularly, to a communication device which automatically sends out a delivery confirmation message indicating whether or not a recipient has confirmed receipt of information such as a document or an image. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a communication device such as an electronic mail or a facsimile, information such as a document or an image is surely received by a receiving device which is a receiving device, and whether or not the receiver confirms the information is transmitted from a transmitting side. As a method of determining, there is a method of automatically transmitting a delivery confirmation message from the receiving side when the recipient confirms the received information, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-185158.

First, when the information such as a document or an image is received, the transmitting device number of the transmitting device is stored on the receiving side. Then, when it becomes necessary to send an instruction delivery confirmation message from the receiving side to the sending device, the sending device number and the message for delivery confirmation are edited, and it is sent to the sending device to indicate that the document or the like has been correctly received. To notify.

[0004]

As described above, in the delivery confirmation method of the conventional communication device, the receiving device surely receives the information such as the document and the image on the receiving side, and the receiver confirms the information and confirms the delivery. Whenever it was necessary to send a message, the delivery confirmation message was instructed to be sent to the partner device, which is the sending device, so that a delivery confirmation message to the same sending device had to be sent frequently, and Since the delivery confirmation message is transmitted from only one side to the partner device which is the transmitting device, there are drawbacks that the communication traffic of the receiving device is increased and the communication cost for transmitting the delivery confirmation message is high.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the communication apparatus of the present invention has means for receiving the number of the transmitting apparatus after receiving an incoming call from the partner transmitting apparatus, and receiving information from the transmitting apparatus. And a means for generating a delivery confirmation message corresponding to the number of the transmitting device by detecting that the reception of the information has been confirmed, a means for storing the generated delivery certainty message, and information And a means for reading the delivery confirmation message from the storage means and transmitting it to the transmitting device when the incoming call is received again from the transmitting device.

Further, according to the present invention, in the communication device for automatically receiving an information by receiving an incoming call from a transmission device connected to a local area communication network (LAN) connected to a plurality of terminals, the transmitting device A means for receiving the terminal number from a terminal transmitting information among a plurality of terminals connected to the transmitting device after receiving an incoming call from the terminal, and detecting whether or not reception of the information from the terminal transmitting the information is confirmed Means and means for generating a delivery confirmation message corresponding to the terminal number by detecting that the reception of the information is confirmed,
It has a means for storing the generated delivery confirmation message and a transmission control means for reading the delivery confirmation message from the storage means and transmitting it to the transmission device by a second incoming call from the transmission device connected to the terminal that transmitted the information. A communication device is obtained.

[0007]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment according to the present invention. The communication device in FIG. 1 is a facsimile system. In FIG. 1, the facsimile device 1 is connected to the telephone line 4, and the facsimile device 2 is connected to the telephone line 5. The exchange 3 connects these telephone lines 4 and 5.

The facsimile apparatus 1 automatically responds to the line interface section 11 for inputting / outputting data to / from the facsimile apparatus 2 on the other side and the facsimile apparatus 2 on the other side, reading a transmission original, printing on recording paper, data compression, and A facsimile function unit 12 having a function that a facsimile device generally has, such as decompression, a protocol control unit 15 that transmits or analyzes information such as device capability and device number, and a partner device number detected by the protocol control unit 15. A mail status management unit 16 that stores whether or not the recipient has confirmed the received information corresponding to the above, and a storage for holding information (hereinafter simply referred to as document image information) such as a document or an image from the partner facsimile machine. It is composed of a unit 14 and a CPU unit 13 that controls these units. Each unit other than the line interface unit 11 is connected to the CPU unit 13 by the bus 17. The above configuration is the same for the facsimile apparatus 2.

Next, the operation of the system of FIG. 1 when the document information is transmitted from the facsimile device 2 to the facsimile device 1 will be described. First, the facsimile machine 1
When an incoming call is received from the facsimile apparatus 2, the protocol control unit 25 of the facsimile apparatus 2 performs a protocol phase for transmitting information such as the apparatus capability and the apparatus number of the facsimile apparatus 2. In this phase, the protocol control unit 15 of the facsimile device 1 analyzes the information such as the partner device number from the received protocol signal and stores it in the mail status management unit 16.

After the completion of the protocol phase, the facsimile function unit 22 of the facsimile apparatus 2 transfers the read and encoded document image information to the line interface unit 21. The document image information is transmitted from the line interface unit 21 to the facsimile apparatus 1 via the telephone lines 4 and 5 and the exchange 3, passes through the line interface unit 11 and the facsimile function unit 12 of the facsimile apparatus 1, and is stored in the storage unit 14 as image data. Memorized in. Storage unit 1
The image data stored in No. 4 is transferred to a recording unit (not shown) and then recorded on recording paper.

The mail status management unit 16 manages that the document information is surely received when the recording unit finishes recording the document information on the recording paper or when the recipient presses the confirmation button. That is, when the CPU unit 13 confirms the received data as shown in FIG. 2 (step 31), the internal timer detects the recording end time of the document information or the time when the confirmation button is pressed, and the time is transmitted to the transmission confirmation message. It is stored in the mail status management unit 16 as. Furthermore, CPU
The unit 13 puts the delivery confirmation message in a transmittable state to the facsimile apparatus 2 that has transmitted the document information, and sets this in the mail status management unit 16 (step 32).

The mail status management unit 16 may store the transmission confirmation message such as the partner device number and the recording end time as character data or as image data. When stored as character data, the CPU unit 13
May be read out and displayed on the display unit 18.
Further, the mail status management unit 16 stores a transmission confirmation message for each partner device number and manages the transmission confirmation message for a plurality of partner devices.

The facsimile machine 1 is a facsimile machine 2
When the delivery confirmation message is ready to be sent to the facsimile device 1, the facsimile device 1 is again sent to the facsimile device 2.
When there is an incoming call from (step 41), as shown in FIG. 3, the protocol control unit 15 of the facsimile device 1 detects whether the partner facsimile device can receive the delivery confirmation message (step 42).

An extended signal (CCITT T.30 NSF signal, which is a facsimile communication procedure) is used to determine whether the partner facsimile machine can receive the delivery confirmation message. When the NSF signal is received, the facsimile device 2 sends an NS
When the S signal is transmitted and the protocol control unit 15 of the facsimile device 1 determines from the NSS signal that the facsimile device 2 can receive the delivery confirmation message,
CCITT T.F., which is a facsimile communication procedure. Change 30 and move to a new protocol for sending and receiving delivery confirmation messages (step 43).

In the new protocol, the protocol analysis unit 15 analyzes the device number of the partner facsimile device (step 4
4), The analysis result is sent to the CPU unit 13. The CPU unit 13 searches the mail status management unit 16 for a transmission confirmation message corresponding to the device number. After confirming the presence or absence of the delivery confirmation message for the partner facsimile machine by this search, the transmission confirmation message is read out and transmitted to the partner facsimile machine 2 under the control of the protocol controller 15 (step 45). After transmitting the transmission confirmation message by the facsimile device 1, the partner facsimile device 2
Facsimile device 1 that sends document information without disconnecting the line
(Step 46).

If it is determined in step 42 that the partner facsimile machine 2 cannot receive the delivery confirmation message, the facsimile machine 1 sends the CCITT T.264. 30
Reception of the document image information is executed according to the facsimile communication protocol defined in (step 47).

In step 45, when the delivery confirmation message is transmitted from the facsimile device 1 to the facsimile device 2, the delivery confirmation message is added to the device number information of the partner device recorded at the time of the first transmission in the storage section 24 of the facsimile device 2. As a result, the facsimile device 2 on the transmitting side can confirm the delivery confirmation message regarding the information transmitted to the facsimile device 1 by confirming the contents of the storage unit 24. That is, the CPU unit 23 reads the storage unit 24 and displays the content of the delivery confirmation message on the display unit 28 or records it on the recording paper.

When the facsimile apparatus 1 receives the document information and steps 46 and 47 are completed, after the end protocol,
Disconnect the line. FIG. 4 is a sequence chart according to the new protocol from steps 42 to 46 in FIG. According to the present embodiment, since the transmission confirmation message is transmitted by the second incoming call from the same device, it is not necessary to make a call to transmit the transmission confirmation message and to transmit it, thus saving communication time.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a facsimile system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the facsimile apparatus 1A has a timer 19, and the rest of the configuration is the same as in FIG. The timer 19 is managed by the CPU unit 13, and starts counting from the time when the transmission confirmation message becomes ready to be transmitted in step 32 of FIG. 2 and sends the document information within a predetermined time (for example, within 6 hours) If there is no incoming call from the device 2, the time is up. As a result, the CPU section 13 controls the facsimile apparatus 2 to automatically call and send a transmission confirmation message. This control is because the sender of the facsimile apparatus 2 is not notified that the transmission has been made to the facsimile apparatus 1 unless there is an incoming call forever. Figure 4 within a predetermined time
When there is an incoming call, the timer 19 is reset without time-up, its operation is stopped, and the facsimile apparatus 1A executes the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an L for performing input / output with a local area communication network (LAN) is performed on a bus 17 of a facsimile apparatus 1B corresponding to the facsimile apparatus 1 of the embodiment of FIG.
An AN interface 61 is provided, and LA is provided on this.
A personal computer 60 is connected via N. The CPU unit 13 also serves as a LAN control. Similarly, the facsimile apparatus 2B is also provided with a LAN interface section 71, to which a personal computer 70 is connected via a LAN. Although only one personal computer is connected to each LAN, a plurality of computers are normally connected.

Here, communication of information between personal computers is carried out via a facsimile machine. When the personal computer 60 receives an incoming call from the personal computer 70 via the facsimile machines 1B and 2B, the facsimile communication protocol is started between the facsimile machines. During the protocol, the device number of the facsimile device 2B and the terminal number of the personal computer 70 to which the information is to be transmitted are notified. The mail status management unit 16 stores the device number (terminal number) of the personal computer 70, the device number of the personal computer 60, and the device number of the facsimile device 2B in the mail status management unit 16. By the subsequent facsimile communication, the information is temporarily stored in the storage unit 14 and sent to the personal computer 60 via the LAN interface 61. The CPU unit 13 is a personal computer 60.
When the recipient confirms that all the received information has been reliably received by a command by a predetermined key input of the personal computer 60 or a recording end signal of the recording section, the mail status management section 16 receives a control signal from the CPU section 13 When the confirmation is detected, the delivery confirmation message such as the receiving terminal number and the reception end time is set to the transmittable state.

When the facsimile device 2B again makes a call to the facsimile device 1B by calling from the LAN or the like, the facsimile device 1B recognizes the device number of the facsimile device 2B in the process of the facsimile protocol. Next, the CPU section 13 of the facsimile apparatus 1B confirms from the mail status management section 16 whether or not the delivery confirmation message corresponding to the facsimile apparatus 2B is stored, and sends the delivery confirmation message to the facsimile apparatus 2B.
As a result, this information is stored in the storage unit 24 of the facsimile device 2B. As a result, by confirming the storage unit 24 from the personal computer 70 which is the transmitting device, it becomes possible to confirm the delivery confirmation message regarding the information transmitted to the personal computer 60.
Each terminal number is unique to each computer. The terminal number is the number of L's connected to the facsimile machine.
It may be the individual number of the AN.

In the embodiment described above, the facsimile machine is connected to the transmission side and the reception side of the communication apparatus, but other information communication apparatus may be used and the invention is not limited to the facsimile apparatus. .

[0025]

As described above, according to the communication device of the present invention, when information such as a document or an image is received,
Even if the delivery confirmation message indicating that the recipient has confirmed the received document is not sent, the delivery confirmation message is automatically stored during the communication if the same transmission device receives an incoming call again by storing it in the storage unit. By manually transmitting to the transmitting device, the operation of transmitting the delivery confirmation message from the receiving device can be omitted, and since the transmission is not required from the receiving device, the communication cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing generation of a delivery confirmation message in a facsimile device of the facsimile communication system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for sending a delivery confirmation message.

4 is a sequence chart showing a new protocol in the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 line interface unit 12 facsimile function unit 13 CPU unit 14 storage unit 15 protocol control unit 16 mail status management unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A communication device for automatically receiving information by receiving an incoming call from a transmitting device, a means for receiving the number of the transmitting device after receiving an incoming call from the transmitting device, and whether reception of the information has been confirmed. A means for detecting whether or not the delivery confirmation message corresponding to the number of the transmitting device is detected by detecting that the reception of the information has been confirmed, a means for storing the delivery certainty message, and the transmission of the information The communication device further comprises means for reading the delivery confirmation message from the storage means and transmitting the message to the transmission device when the incoming call is received again from the transmission device. 2. The communication device further starts counting time when the transmission confirmation message is generated, and if no communication is received from a partner transmission device that has transmitted the information within a predetermined time, the communication device automatically notifies the transmission device. 2. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising means for controlling to make a call to and to transmit the transmission confirmation message. 3. A communication device for automatically receiving information by receiving an incoming call from a transmitting device connected to a local area communication network (LAN) connected to a plurality of terminals, the receiving device receiving the information after receiving the incoming call from the transmitting device. Means for receiving the terminal number from a terminal transmitting the information among a plurality of terminals connected to the transmitting device, and means for detecting whether or not the reception of the information from the terminal transmitting the information has been confirmed , Means for generating a delivery confirmation message corresponding to the terminal number by detecting confirmation of receipt of the information, means for storing the delivery confirmation message, and the terminal that has transmitted the information are connected And a transmission control means for reading the delivery confirmation message from the storage means and transmitting it to the transmission device when the incoming call is received again from the transmission device. Communication apparatus according to claim. 4. The communication device according to claim 3, wherein the delivery confirmation message includes a terminal number of a terminal that has transmitted the information. 5. The communication device according to claim 3, wherein the terminal number is the LAN number. 6. A communication device having a transmission device connected to a local area communication network (LAN) connected to a plurality of terminals, and a reception device for automatically responding to an incoming call from the transmission device to receive information. In, when receiving an incoming call from the transmitting device, means for receiving the terminal number from the transmitting terminal transmitting the information among the plurality of transmitting terminals connected to the transmitting device, and transmitting the information in the receiving device Means for detecting whether or not the reception of the information from the transmitting terminal is confirmed, and means for generating a delivery confirmation message corresponding to the terminal number of the transmitting terminal by detecting confirmation of the reception of the information, Means for storing the delivery confirmation message, and the delivery confirmation message by a second incoming call from the transmitting device connected to the terminal that has transmitted the information. Communication apparatus characterized by having a means for transmitting the read the transmitting apparatus from the storage means.