JPS59152758A - Message communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To change partial display content between terminals by setting >=1 transmission/receiving area to a screen buffer of a terminal device, setting control information representing a transmitted address and a destination to each area and controlling communication between the terminal devices. CONSTITUTION:The terminal device 2 is connected to the terminal controller 1, and the controllers 1 are connected by a communication line. Each terminal controller 1 has a specific address X and each terminal device 2 has a specific address Y. Each terminal device 2 has a screen buffer for a CRT display device and a memory area of each screen buffer is divided into plural numbers. A destination address is set to the head of the divided memory in case of a transmission message area corresponding to each area and a transmitted address is set in case of a receiving message area. The controller 1 controls the transmission/ receiving between the terminal device 2 and the communication line 3 based on the set address in the unit of message areas.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a system for communicating messages between terminal devices in a system in which terminal control devices connected to terminal devices are interconnected by communication lines.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, in terminal systems that perform message communication between terminal devices solely under the control of a terminal control device without the intervention of a host system, messages are sent and received in units of display data for one screen of the terminal device. Moreover, the system only allowed message communication between two terminal devices at the same time. Therefore, even when one terminal device partially changes the display content of another terminal device, message communication must be performed between the terminal devices for the entire display data for one screen after the change, which reduces communication efficiency. There was a problem with it being bad.

Furthermore, when sending a message with the same content to two or more terminal devices, it is necessary to repeat the sending operation one by one, resulting in the problem of poor algae production.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a message communication system between terminal devices that solves the above-mentioned problems.

[Summary of the invention]

According to the present invention, one or more receiving message areas and/or sending message areas are set on the screen of the terminal device (sofa), and control information for specifying the sender or destination is set in each message area. , Based on this control information, the terminal control device controls message communication between terminal devices in message area units.

Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a terminal system according to the present invention, where 1 is a terminal control device, 2 is a terminal device, and 3 is a communication line. Each terminal control device 1 has a unique address X as shown in the figure,
Further, the terminal device 2 connected to each terminal control device also has an address Y as illustrated. To designate a specific terminal device 2, a terminal address XY is used, which is a combination of the address Y of the terminal device 2 and the terminal control device area address X to which it is connected.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the terminal device 2. As shown in FIG.

10 is a CRT display device, 11 is a CRT display device 1
This is a screen buffer that stores code and data displayed on the 00 screen. The code data in this screen buffer 11 is read out at high speed under the control of the display control circuit 12.
The signal is converted into a turn signal (video signal) by the pattern generation circuit 13 and sent to the CRT display device 10 for display. The display control circuit 12 also includes a screen buffer 11
The display method (blink, color, etc.) of the CRT display device 10 is also controlled according to the control code (or some bits of the character code) read from the CRT display device 10.

14 is an interface circuit that interfaces between the keyboard 15 and the control unit 16; 17 is the terminal control device 1;
An interface between the controller 16 and the controller 16 is a circuit.

The control unit 16 controls data transfer between the screen buffer 11 and the terminal control device 1, controls writing of input data from the keyboard 15 to the screen buffer 11, and the like.

Since the general operation of the terminal device 2 is similar to that of a conventional video terminal device, the details thereof will be omitted, and the setting of the message area and control information will be explained with reference to FIG. 3.

In FIG. 3, the symbol "+" indicates the memory space of the screen buffer 11. Now, assume that areas A and B are respectively set as message areas for transmission, and areas C and D are respectively set as message areas for reception. In this case, a delimiter ":" indicating the delimitation of the sending message area is input from the keyboard 15, and the control unit 16 writes the positions of the first characters in areas A and B, respectively. The character input position at this time is controlled by the control unit 16 in accordance with the operation of the keyboard 15, similar to conventional video terminal devices. Areas A and B are now set as message areas for transmission. Similarly, areas C and D are set as receiving message areas by writing a delimiter ";" indicating the division of the receiving message area at the first character position of areas C and I).

To set the control information, use the same keyboard operation to enter the destination address after the delimiter ":" in message areas A and H for sending, and the source address after the delimiter ";" in message areas C and D for reception. Write. This completes the control information setting. The destination address is the terminal address XY of the destination of the data in the message areas A and H for transmission.

The source address is the terminal address XY of the source of the data that can be received in the receiving message areas C and D. Here, in this embodiment, the character "*" which means the address of any terminal control device 1 or terminal device is used, and the destination/source address can be set to specify a plurality of terminal addresses. For example, in Figure 3, sending message area B
The destination address of is set as r3*J (X23.Y2*), which specifies any terminal device connected to the terminal control device with address X=3.

Also, the sender address of message area D for receiving is “*
*", which specifies any terminal device connected to any terminal control device, that is, all terminal devices.

Note that the data to be transmitted is input into the transmission message buffer by keyboard operation, but in this embodiment, one space character is input after the destination address, followed by the transmission data.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of the terminal control device.

31 is a transmitting/receiving circuit for transmitting and receiving messages to and from the communication line 3, and 32 is a transmitting/receiving buffer for temporarily storing transmitted and received messages. 33 is a message editing circuit;
Divide the received message stored in the sending/receiving buffer 32 into an address part and a message part, send each part to an address processing circuit and then a message processing circuit A, and create a sending message from the data given from the message processing circuit 35 and the address processing circuit 34. Perform processing, etc. 36
is a memory control circuit that controls reading and writing of the terminal Baranoa 37, searches the message area, etc. A is a terminal selection circuit that selects a terminal device, and 39 is a transmission request reception circuit that can receive a transmission request from a terminal device.

Next, message transmission and reception operations will be explained with reference to the respective figures.

First, the transmission operation will be explained. When the send key on the keyboard 15 of the terminal device 2 is pressed, the control unit 16
A transmission request is sent from the interface circuit 17. The terminal control device 1 sends a transmission request input from the connected terminal device 2 to the transmission request reception circuit 3 via the terminal selection circuit A.
Import into 9. When the transmission request acceptance circuit 39 accepts the transmission request, the terminal selection circuit connects a communication link with the terminal device 2 issuing the transmission request and instructs the transfer of the screen buffer. Upon receiving this instruction, the terminal device 20 control unit 16 sequentially reads out the contents of the screen buffer 11 and transfers the contents to the terminal control device 1 via the interface circuit 17.
Send to. In the terminal control device 1, the contents of the screen buffer 9 sent from the terminal device 2 are stored in the memory control circuit 3.
The data is stored in the terminal baranoa 37 under the control of 6.

When the entire contents of the screen buffer 11 of the terminal device 2 are transferred to the terminal buffer 37 in this way, the memory control circuit 36 searches the terminal buffer 37 to see if there is a message area for transmission in the transferred screen buffer. judge. This is done by examining the delimiter ";".

If there is no message area for transmission, the transmission request is an error, so the memory control circuit 36 instructs the terminal selection circuit 1-1 to report an error to the terminal device 2 and to disconnect the communication link.

If a message area for transmission exists, the memory control circuit reads the contents of the message area for transmission and inputs it to the message processing circuit A. The message processing circuit 35 sends the destination address part of the contents of the input message area for transmission to the address processing circuit A, and sends the remaining part (message part excluding delimiters) to the message editing circuit 33. Address processing circuit If the input destination address is one terminal address ), convert it to multiple applicable terminal addresses, and then
Send the message to the editing circuit.

The message editing circuit and the message processing circuit 33 also input the message data and the address processing circuit. A terminal address (consisting of the address Y of the transmitting terminal device) is added to create a transmission message in the format shown in FIG. Upon receiving the transmission instruction, the transmission/reception circuit 31 transmits the transmission message in the transmission/reception buffer 32 to the communication line 3.

If two or more message areas for transmission exist in the double-sided buffer stored in the terminal buffer 37, similar transmission processing is performed for each message area in turn.

Next, the message receiving operation will be explained.

The transmitting/receiving circuit 31 of the terminal control device 1 monitors the contents of the address part of the message received through the communication line 3, and stores the entire received message whose destination address XY matches its own address X in the transmitting/receiving buffer 32. After that, a reception signal is sent to the message editing circuit 33. When the message editing circuit receives a reception signal, it sends the address part of the received message in the transmission/reception buffer 32 to the address processing circuit 341. The address processing circuitry determines the terminal device 2 having the address Y of the input destination address XY, and instructs the terminal selection circuit to connect with that terminal device,
It also instructs the memory control circuit 36 to transfer the screen buffer.

The terminal selection circuit A connects a communication link with the specified terminal device 2, instructs the terminal device to transfer the screen buffer 11, and then passes control to the memory control circuit. Terminal device 2
Upon receiving an instruction from the terminal control device 1 , the control unit 16 sequentially reads out the contents of the screen buffer 11 and sends them to the terminal control device 1 through the interface circuit 17 . The terminal control device 1 stores the contents of the screen buffer sent from the terminal device 2 in the terminal buffer 37 under the control of the memory control circuit 36.

When the transfer of the screen and screen buffers is completed, the memory control circuit 3
6 searches the terminal buffer 37 for a receiving message area. If a receiving message area exists, the memory control circuit 36 transfers the sender address set in each receiving message area to the message processing circuit 3.
5 to the address processing circuit 34. The address processing circuit compares the sender address set in each receiving message area with the sender address in the received message, and determines one matching receiving message area.

As mentioned above, the format for specifying the sender address set in the receiving message area is r'XYJ, rX*j.
, r*Yj, r*-*:J (X, Y are specific 1
There are four types of terminal control device addresses and terminal device addresses), and the priority order according to this order (rXYJ
is the highest ranking, and ``**'' is the lowest ranking).

The above comparison of the source addresses is performed in order according to this priority order, and the receiving message area is selected based on the setting of the highest ranked source address that can be matched.

When the address processing circuit determines one reception message area with a matching source address, it instructs the memory control circuit 36 to identify the reception message area and outputs a signal to the message editing circuit and message processing circuit. The message editing circuit 33 is a sending/receiving buffer 32
The message section of the received message is then extracted and sent to a message processing circuit, which then sends the message to a memory control circuit. This received message data is stored in the previously designated reception message area in the terminal buffer 37 (screen buffer) under the control of the memory control circuit 36. When this storage is completed, the memory control circuit 36 controls the corresponding terminal device 20 by the terminal selection circuit A, instructs data transfer, and sequentially reads out all contents of the terminal buffer 27 (screen buffer).
Send it to the terminal device 2.

The control unit 16 of the terminal fR2 stores data input from the terminal control device 1 in the screen buffer 11. This completes the message communication regarding the specific receiving message area (corresponding area on the screen) of the screen buffer 11 of the terminal device 2.

Note that if the receiving message area does not exist, or even if it does exist, the sender address and the sender address in the received message do not match, the terminal control device 1 sends an error message to the sender of the received message. send and abort processing of received messages.

Next, message communication between terminal devices connected to the same terminal control device will be explained.

In this case, when the terminal control device receives a transmission request from the terminal device, it creates a transmission message through the processing described above and temporarily stores it in the transmission/reception buffer 32. However, since the terminal control device address X of the destination address in the transmitted message matches the address of its own device, the transmitting/receiving circuit 31 does not perform the transmitting operation and immediately sends the received signal to the message editing circuit 33. That is, the transmission/reception buffer 32
Messages sent within are handled in the same way as messages received from the communication line 3, and the processing described above is executed.

Furthermore, if a message to be sent to a terminal device connected to the same terminal control device and a terminal device connected to another terminal control device is stored in the sending/receiving buffer 32, the sending/receiving circuit 31 sends the message to the communication line 3. After completing the transmission operation, or during the transmission operation, the received signal is sent to the message editing circuit 33.

As is clear from the above description, the following effects can be obtained according to this embodiment.

(1) Message communication can be performed in message area units instead of the entire screen buffer, improving communication efficiency.

<n> Since multiple destinations or senders can be specified for each message area, message communication can be performed simultaneously between multiple sets of terminal devices with a single operation, improving communication efficiency and operability.

Since the sender of messages to be received is specified for each GiD receiving message area, unnecessary message reception can be eliminated on the receiving side, and the effects of erroneous operations on the sending side can be avoided.

It should be noted here that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be implemented in appropriately modified forms. For example, in the embodiment described above, the terminal control device was configured to transfer the screen buffer of the terminal device to an internal terminal buffer, search the message area for transmission or reception, and read and write data on the terminal buffer. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which these operations are performed directly on the screen buffer of the terminal device. Further, although special characters such as ``tree'' are used to set multiple destination addresses and source addresses, it is also possible to set the destination addresses and source addresses directly using the respective destination or source terminal addresses.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, effects such as message communication between terminal devices can be carried out more efficiently than conventional message communication systems, and operability can also be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of a terminal system according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal device, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of message area and control information settings, and Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal control device. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the format of a message. 1... terminal control device, 2... terminal device, 3...
・Communication (W line, u...screen buffer, 15...keyboard, 16...control unit, 31...transmission/reception circuit,
32... Transmission/reception buffer, 33... Message editing circuit, 34... Address processing circuit, A... Message processing circuit, 36... Memory control circuit, 37.
...terminal buffer. Representative Patent Attorney Makoto Suzuki

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a system in which terminal control devices connected to one or more terminal devices each having a screen buffer are interconnected by a communication line, the screen buffer has one or more message areas for sending and/or message areas for receiving. Each terminal device is provided with a means for setting a message area, a means for setting a destination address in each message area for sending, and a source address in each message area for receiving, as control information. By providing each terminal control device with a means for controlling the sending and receiving of messages between the device and the communication line in message area units according to the above control information, it is possible to perform message communication between terminal devices in message area units. Characteristic message communication method. (2) Each terminal control device is provided with means for creating a transmission message by adding a sender address to the contents of the transmission message area of the connected terminal device that issued the transmission request, and for transmitting the transmission message to the communication line. means for receiving a message including a destination address specifying a connected terminal device from a communication line; 2. The message communication system according to claim 1, further comprising means for transferring the content of the received message to a receiving message area in which a sender address that matches the sender address is set. (3) Each terminal control device is characterized in that when the destination address of an internally created outgoing message specifies the connected terminal device of the own device, the outgoing message is processed in the same way as a message received from a communication line. Claim 2
Message communication method described in section. (4) The message communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a destination address and/or a source address specifying a plurality of terminal devices can be set.