JPS6111502B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a store-and-forward method such as a facsimile store-and-forward method, and more specifically, to a store-and-forward method for storing and forwarding messages composed of a plurality of pages.

In this type of conventional exchange system, when multiple pages are sent consecutively from a sending terminal to the same receiving terminal, they are always exchanged as one message unless specified by the sending terminal. Furthermore, while one message is being sent or received, interruption by other messages is not allowed. Therefore, if a message is received later than a message that the exchange has completed receiving from the originating terminal or line and is waiting to be sent to the destination terminal, or is currently being sent, the exchange can send it to the destination terminal before other messages. Even for an approved message, that is, a priority designated message, it is necessary to wait at least until the transmission of the message in progress is completed. At this time, if the message being sent is long and includes many pages, the waiting time for the priority designation message may be very long depending on the number of pages in the message being sent and the timing of reception of both messages, and the priority designation Disadvantages that make it difficult to achieve the original purpose of
There is.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional system and to make it possible to interrupt another message, such as a priority designation message, with a short waiting time while a message is being transmitted in store-and-forward.

According to the present invention, in a store-and-forward system in which a series of information spanning multiple pages is transmitted as one independent message from a transmitting terminal to an exchange accommodating a terminating terminal, the storage-and-forwarding system accommodating a terminating terminal is , a counter and a counting control device for counting the number of pages in one message transmitted from the sending terminal side to the storage and exchange, and a central processing unit, and the counter counts the number of pages received by the storage and exchange. counting the number and emitting an overflow signal when reaching a predetermined value, the central processing unit converts the information consisting of the already received pages into one divided telegram, and restores the counter to its initial state; Furthermore, by repeating the above operation until the transmission message from the originating terminal side is completed, one message transmitted from the originating terminal side is divided into messages consisting of a plurality of pages, and each message is independently transmitted to the storage and exchange device. writing in a message storage device, storing management information necessary for message delivery in correspondence with each of the divided messages, and further independently storing the priority-designated message when receiving a message with priority designation; 1 from the storage and switching device to the receiving terminal
This is achieved by transmitting each divided message as a plurality of divided messages to the receiving terminal independently based on the management information, and transmitting priority-designated messages by inserting them between the divided messages. be done.

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

The figure is a block diagram of one embodiment of the facsimile storage and forwarding machine of the present invention. The figure shows a facsimile storage and exchange that accommodates facsimile terminals and lines. 5 is a counting device, 6 is a counting control device, 7 is a modem corresponding to a terminal or line, 8-1 to
8-m is the terminal or line, 9 is the receiving terminal 8-m
10 is a main storage device; 11 is a message management information storage area; 1;
2-1 is a queue for non-priority messages corresponding to the terminals or lines 8-1 to 8-m, for example, terminal 8-m, 12-2 is a queue for priority messages corresponding to terminal 8-m, and 13 is a queue for messages corresponding to terminal 8-m. It's a bus.

However, the storage locations of various types of information are not always fixed within the same device.

In the conventional system, for example, in the figure, a message arriving from the line 8-1 is stored as one independent message in the message storage device 3 via the bus 13 from the modem 7-1 and the communication control device 2. After the storage is completed, it is read out from the storage device 3 under the control of the central processing unit 1 and transmitted to the receiving terminal 8-m via the bus 13, the communication control device 2, and the modem 7-m. During transmission, a message that has been given priority for the receiving terminal 8-m from another terminal or line is received by the exchange, has been stored in the message storage device 3, and is sent from the exchange to the terminal 8-m. Even if it becomes possible to transmit, it is not possible to interrupt the transmission of the message currently being sent and interrupt it to transmit the newly received priority designation message.

In the present invention, the telegrams received and stored in the exchange are divided into a predetermined number of telegrams each consisting of, for example, eight screens as described later, and each of these divided telegrams is divided into one screen.
It is sent as individual messages to the receiving terminal in the order of division,
If a priority designated message addressed to the same receiving terminal is received by the exchange, the priority designated message is inserted at the boundary between the divided messages and transmitted to the called terminal.

Next, the operation will be explained with reference to the figure.

For example, as described above, a message transmitted from a transmitting terminal or line 8-1 is received by the communication control device 2 via the modem 7-1, and stored in the area 4 of the message storage device 3 according to a command from the central processing unit 1. be done. When this storage is completed, the central processing unit 1 writes an indication that there is a transmitted message in the queue area for messages that are not prioritized for receiving terminals such as 8-m in the main storage device 10, and -1.

Note that a transmission queue area corresponding to a terminal or line is provided in the main storage device 10, and this area is further divided into an area for priority messages and an area for non-priority messages.
Now, if the above message is to be sent to, for example, terminal 8-m and has not been designated as a priority, then terminal 8-m
〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓
For example, the address of the message management information area 11, which will be described later, of the message is written, and if there is another message subsequently, the address of each message management information is written to form a queue 12-1. Also, the terminal 8
- When there is a priority designation message to be delivered to m, the address of the message management information of this message is written in the area for the priority designation message corresponding to the terminal 8-m in the same way as above, and another priority designation message follows. If this is the case, this display is then written and a queue 12-2 for priority designation messages is created here.

Note that the management information necessary for controlling the delivery of the message is written into the area 11 of the main storage device 10 under the control of the central processing unit 1. This management information will be described in detail later.

In the exchange, the central processing unit 1 inspects the queues 12-1 and 12-2 and detects that there is no message to be transmitted in the queue 12-2, but there is a message to be transmitted in the queue 12-1. Then, based on that information, the receiving terminal is called and the message storage device 3 is
The transmission of the message stored in area 4 of is started. At this time, the central processing unit 1 selects an empty counter, for example, 5-k, from among the counters 5-1 to 5-n in the counting device 5, and counts the number of screens for transmitting the message. Each time one screen of the above telegrams is sent to the receiving terminal 8-m, the central processing unit 1
issues a command to the counting control device 6 to add 1 to the contents of the counter 5-k, and the counting control device 6 receives this command and controls the counter 5-k to add 1.

The counters 5-1 to 5-k to 5-n are each configured as a 3-bit counter, and the contents are initially set to "0", "0", and "0", and "1" and "1".
It is possible to add up to "1", that is, up to 7. Therefore, when eight screens are transmitted from the above message and counted, the counted value overflows and an overflow signal is sent to the counting control device 6.

The counting control device 6 sends the overflowed counter number k and the overflow signal to the central processing unit 1. As a result, the central processing unit 1 issues a command to the counting control device 6 to set the counter 5-k to the initial state, that is, its contents to "0", "0", "0", and the counting control device 6 5-k is reset to the initial state.

In response to the overflow signal, the central processing unit 1 temporarily suspends the transmission of the message, modifies a part of the management information regarding the message in the area 11 of the main storage device 10 as described below, and also Queues 12-1, 12-2 set inside
Check again. If there is no waiting display for the priority designated message in the queue 12-2, the waiting display for the above-mentioned message in the queue 12-1 is detected, and transmission of the above-mentioned message is resumed based on the newly corrected management information.

If there is a waiting display for a priority designation message in the queue 12-2, this is detected, and based on the management information for the priority designation message, the priority designation message stored in the area 9 of the message storage device 3 is displayed. Start sending.

For example, assume that the above non-priority designated message consists of 30 screens. As a result of the above, three areas 4-
It is assumed that 8 screens are stored in areas 1, 4-2, and 4-3, and 6 screens are stored in area 4-4. And first, areas 4-1, 4-2,
The 24 screens accumulated in 4-3 (8 x 3 =) are 3
The transmission will be completed as 6 independent divided telegrams, and the rest will be transmitted as divided telegrams consisting of 6 screens in area 4-4. In this case, the counter 5-k counts 6, and before it overflows, the central processing unit 1 detects the end of transmission based on the information written as one of the management information and sends a transmission end signal. Notification of the end of one message is sent to the terminal 8-m, and the counter 5-k is sent to the counting control device 6.
Issues a command to set to the initial state.

On the other hand, when the message is stored in the message storage device 3, the central processing unit 1 writes management information necessary for delivery regarding the message into the area 11 of the main storage device 10.

The above management information includes the following information.

(1) Originating terminal number (2) Destination terminal number (3) Presence of priority designation (4) Message number compatible with the originating terminal (5) Message number compatible with the destination terminal (6) Number of message screens (7) Number of messages on each screen Information arranging the storage start addresses in order As already mentioned, one message is accumulated in area 4, and when sent, it is divided into messages consisting of the predetermined number (=8) of screens. , this divided message is 〓〓〓〓
Each message is sent as an independent message.
When the message portion consisting of eight screens stored in area 4-1 is completed being sent as the first divided message, the overflow signal causes
The above management information (7) is modified, that is, the area 4-
The accumulation start address of 1 is erased, and the transmission of the next divided message is started from the accumulation start address of the next area 4-2, and the subsequent divided messages are transmitted in the same manner in the order of division.

Now, for example, during the transmission of the divided message stored in area 4-1, a preferentially designated message addressed to terminal 8-m has been accumulated in area 9 of message storage device 3, and this display is lined up in the queue area. When the queue 12-2 is configured, if there is no other priority designation message in the queue 12-2 at this time, the priority designation message is sent immediately after the transmission of the divided message is completed, and after the transmission is completed, the priority designation message is sent to the queue 12. If there is no other priority designated message in -2, the next divided message, that is, the divided message accumulated in area 4-2, is transmitted, and in this way,
The messages stored in -3 and 4-4 are transmitted as divided messages in the order of division.

Therefore, transmission of the priority designation message at the head of the queue is started after waiting for the division message transmission time of a maximum of eight screens.

Note that the present invention includes the counting device in the above embodiments,
Instead of providing a counting control device, it is also possible to realize it by a program.

Further, the application of the present invention is as shown in the above embodiments.
This is possible not only in storage and switching machines that accommodate facsimile terminals, but also in storage and switching machines that accommodate data terminals that transmit or receive information in units of characters.

As described above, according to the present invention, in store-and-forward, when a long message consisting of many pages is being transmitted from an exchange to a receiving terminal, the exchange receives a priority designation message to the receiving terminal and becomes in a state where it can transmit it. In such a case, it is possible to interrupt and transmit the priority designation message even if there is only a short waiting time, which has the effect of achieving the purpose of priority designation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention. 1...Central processing unit, 2...Communication control device, 3
. . . Message storage device, 4 . . . Area for storing messages addressed to the receiving terminal 3-m without priority designation, 5 . , 8-1 to 8-m... terminal or line, 9... area for storing prioritized messages addressed to receiving terminal 8-m, 10... main storage device, 11... message management information storage area , 12-1
. . . Terminals or lines 8-1 to 8-m, for example, a queue for non-priority messages corresponding to terminal 8-m, 12-2 . . . A queue for priority messages corresponding to terminal 8-m, 13 . bus. 〓〓〓〓

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a store-and-forward system that transmits a series of information spanning multiple pages as one independent message from a transmitting terminal to an exchange that accommodates a called terminal, the store-and-forward system that accommodates a called terminal is a counter and a counting control device for counting the number of pages in one message transmitted from the side to the storage and switching device; and a central processing unit, the counter counting the number of pages received by the storage and switching device; When a predetermined value is reached, an overflow signal is issued, and the central processing unit converts the information consisting of the already received pages into one divided message, restores the counter to its initial state, and then sends the message to the sending terminal. By repeating the above operation until the next transmission message is completed, one message transmitted from the sending terminal side is divided into messages consisting of a plurality of pages, and each message is stored independently in the message storage device of the storage/exchange machine. Management information necessary for writing and message delivery is stored in correspondence with each of the divided messages, and further, when a priority-designated message is received, the priority-designated message is stored independently, and from the storage and exchange device. A single message up to the receiving terminal is divided into a plurality of divided messages, and each divided message is independently transmitted to the receiving terminal based on the management information, and a prioritized message is inserted between the divided messages. A store-and-forward method characterized by transmission.