JPS62221258A - Confidential communication system for facsimile store and forward switching system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To furnish a service of confidential communication even without providing an adaptor at each facsimile terminal by providing a character pattern generating means and a picture data encoding means a picture and decoding dots means to a facsimile terminal control unit. CONSTITUTION:A standard facsimile terminal equipment 1 is connected to the facsimile terminal control unit FTC 6 via a telephone exchange network 5. The equipment 1 is a G3FAX. The FTC 6 comprises the character pattern generating means, the facsimile picture data encoding means, and the facsimile picture data decoding means, and communicates with the network 5 through a telephone interface, with the equipment 1 through a recommendation T.30, and with a store and forward switching network 2 through a recommendation X.25. A facsimile terminal equipment 1' is directly connected with an adaptor 4. As a result, when connecting a standard facsimile terminal equipment with the store and forward switching network via the telephone exchange network, the confidential communication service can be furnished.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a secure communication method for a facsimile store-and-forward system, and particularly to a standard facsimile terminal connected to a store-and-forward network via a telephone switching network (for example, a standard G ■Confidential communication method to a facsimile terminal (prior art) Generally, in order to provide a confidential facsimile service, ■an incoming call notification function that allows the sender to notify the receiver that a confidential message has arrived; ■the receiver (2) A function on the sending side to match the terminal ID number from the receiving side with the receiving terminal ID number intended by the sending side.

Conventionally, systems shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 have been known as confidential services for facsimile communication using a store-and-forward network. FIG. 7 shows a system in which a dedicated facsimile terminal 3 equipped with the above-mentioned functions to (2) is connected to the store-and-forward network 2 to provide a confidential service, and cannot be applied when a standard facsimile terminal is connected to the store-and-forward network. FIG. 8 shows a case where a standard facsimile terminal 1 is used, and an adapter 4 having the above-mentioned functions (1) to (2) is connected to the standard facsimile terminal 1 to provide a confidential service.

Note that a system for connecting a facsimile terminal to a store-and-forward network via a telephone switching network is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-1111.
Although disclosed in Publication No. 54, confidential services are not taken into account.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Standard facsimile terminals are manufactured by the International Telegraph and Telephone Advisory Committee (
As recommended by the CCITT (hereinafter abbreviated as CCITT), there are the following three groups.

(1) Recommendations T, 2; Group 1 (GIFA
X) (2) Recommendation T, 3; Group 2 that transmits the same in about 3 minutes
(G2FAX) (3) Recommendation T, 4; Group 3, same as above, transmitted in about 1 minute
(G3FAX) Additionally, Recommendation T.30 has been issued as a transmission procedure when accommodating the above-mentioned facsimile terminal in a telephone switching network.

In the standard mode of 2N, T, and 30, it is not possible to have the confidential message notification information required for the confidential service in the transmission procedure information, so the standard facsimile terminal is stored via the telephone switching network. When connecting to a switching network, since the facsimile terminal itself does not have a function to notify the arrival of a confidential message, confidential service cannot be achieved with N.

When using a standard facsimile terminal, as shown in FIG. 9, the adapter 4 explained in FIG.
and connects it to the store-and-forward network 2 via the telephone switching network 5.
It is conceivable to realize a confidential service by connecting to the telephone exchange network 5, but in this case, an adapter 4 would be required for each facsimile terminal accommodated in the telephone switching network 5, making the system expensive.

It is an object of the present invention to operate even when a standard facsimile terminal is connected to a store-and-forward network via a telephone switched network.

To make it possible to provide a confidential service without installing an adapter for each facsimile terminal.

[Means for solving problems]

The above object is to provide a facsimile terminal control device that is installed between a telephone switching network and a store-and-forward network and controls a facsimile terminal via the telephone switching network, a single character pattern generating means, a facsimile image data encoding means, and a facsimile image data decoding means. This is achieved by providing a means for converting.

[For production]

As mentioned above, confidential facsimile services generally include: - A function to notify the sender of the receipt of a confidential message.

■Receiving terminal ID number entry and notification function on the receiving side; ■Receiving terminal ID number verification function on the transmitting side.

The present invention provides confidential services using standard facsimile terminals by providing functions (1) and (2) of the above functions to a facsimile terminal control device (hereinafter referred to as FTC) installed between a telephone switching network and a store-and-forwarding network. This is to realize the following. Note that the function (2) can be easily achieved using the functions of ordinary controlware.

When the FTC detects an incoming confidential message to a facsimile terminal connected from the store-and-forward network to the telephone switching network, the FTC creates a message to the recipient as image information using a character pattern generating means, and converts it into a facsimile image data encoding means. The message is encoded and sent to the facsimile terminal, making the recipient aware that a confidential message has been received (■ function)
, the recipient who recognizes the receipt of the confidential message sends an OMR (OPTI
CAL MARK READER) Send the paper using a facsimile terminal. The FTC decodes the received encoded facsimile image data using the image data decoding means, recognizes that the confidential message can be received and the receiving terminal ID number information, and sends a confidential reception possible response to the storage and exchange network (see function).

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a system implementing the confidential communication method of the present invention. An m-semi-facsimile terminal 1 is connected to an FTC 6 through a telephone switching network 5. In FIG.

In the second S, the facsimile terminal 1 is G3FAX.

The F'rc 6 has a character pattern generating means (character generator), a facsimile image data encoding means, and a facsimile image data decoding means, the telephone switching network 5 is a telephone interface, and the facsimile terminal 1 is connected to recommendation T,
At 30, communications are made with the store-and-forward network 2 using recommendation X, 25.

Note that the facsimile terminal 1' is directly connected to the adapter 4.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the FTC 6. central processing unit (CP)
U) 7 performs 1 communication control and image data processing control. A memory device (MEM) 8 is used for bumping image data. The facsimile image data encoding device 9 encodes the data of the character generator 11 for facsimile data. The facsimile image data decoding device 10 includes:
The data from the facsimile terminal 1 is decoded and the result is notified to the CPU 7. The character generator 11 creates message information in a predetermined format in response to commands from the CPU 7. This is created line by line based on the raw information image (dot pattern). The network control device 12 has network control functions such as dialing and incoming call detection.

13 is a modem (MODEM). The modem interface 14 converts data from the modem 13 into serial/parallel data, and the single-line control device 15, which serializes parallel data and transmits it to the modem 13, has a communication control procedure function of Recommendation x, 25. 16 is a common bus. C.P.
All commands from U7 are sent through this common bus 16.

Furthermore, the CPU 7 transfers all data between blocks via the common bus 16.

Next, the operations shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be explained with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of processing in the case of a confidential message.

First, the operator of the facsimile terminal 1' sends the confidential document 17 to the specific person of the facsimile terminal 1. The confidential manuscript data 18 is temporarily stored in the storage and exchange network 2. The store and forward network 2 transmits the confidential call notification command 19 to the FTC 6 as an HDLC frame. command 1
The format and information of 9 is as shown in FIG.

After FTC6 recognizes the confidential call using command 19,
A confidential call notification message 21 is created using the character generator 11, encoded by the encoding device 9, stored once in the memory device 8, and then transferred from the modem interface 14 to the modem 13 as the confidential call notification message 20.
→It is sent to the facsimile terminal 1 via the route of the network control device 12.

Before forwarding this message 20, the telephone connection procedure,
Although facsimile connection procedures (7, 30) are required, since these are well known, their explanation will be omitted here. An example of the format of the 6pA telegram incoming notification message 21 is shown in FIG. No. 0001 indicates the recipient's terminal ID number.

The recipient of the facsimile terminal 1 who recognizes that a confidential message has been received from the confidential message incoming notification message 21 enters his/her terminal ID on the OMR form 22 shown in FIG.
Fill in the number input field of the number corresponding to the number and enter OMR.
Data 23 is transmitted from facsimile terminal 1 to FTC:6. The FTC 6 sends the OMR data 23 of the OMR form 22 to the network control device! 12→modem 13→modem interface 14 to the memory device [8], then the decoding device 1
0 to recognize the OMR paper identification mark, and the receiving terminal ID number is the receiving terminal ID in the confidential call notification command.
When the number matches, a confidential reception possible response 24 is returned from the line control device 15 to the store and forward network 2. If the data received from facsimile terminal 1 is not OMR data 23, memory device i! The encoded raw data stored in 8 is packetized and transmitted from the line control device 15 to the store-and-switch network 2 as an ordinary message. The storage and exchange network 2, which has received the confidential reception permission response 24, transmits the confidential manuscript data 18 for the first time to the facsimile terminal 1 via the FTC 6 → telephone switching network 5, and the recipient receives the received confidential manuscript 25.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, even in a system in which standard facsimile terminals are accommodated in a store-and-forward network via a telephone network, confidential services can be provided without installing an adapter for each facsimile terminal. This makes it possible to expand the system without compromising its serviceability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a detailed diagram of the facsimile terminal control device in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the confidential service according to Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a confidential incoming call. Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example format of a notification command, Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example format of a confidential message notification message, Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example format for OMR river paper, and Figures 7 to 9 are conventional systems. FIG. 1.1'...Standard facsimile terminal, 2...Storage and forwarding network, 4...Adapter. 5... Telephone switching network, 6... Facsimile terminal control device, 7... Central processing unit, 8... Memory device. 9... Encoding device, 10... Decoding device. 11... Character generator, 12... Network control device, 13... Modem, 14...
...Modem interface, 15...Line control device, 16...Common bus. L=-J

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a facsimile storage and forwarding system comprising a facsimile terminal control device installed between a telephone switching network and a store and forwarding network for controlling facsimile terminals connected to the telephone switching network via the telephone switching network, the facsimile A terminal control device is provided with a character pattern generating means, an image data encoding means, and an image data decoding means, and a first facsimile terminal connected to the storage and forwarding network side and a first facsimile terminal connected to the telephone switching network side are provided. When a confidential message is sent to the facsimile terminal No. 2, the facsimile terminal control device creates an incoming notification message for the confidential message using the character pattern generating means, encodes it using the image data encoding means, and sends it to the telephone switching network side. The response image data from the second facsimile terminal is decoded by the image data decoding means, a confirmation check is performed on the receiving facsimile terminal, and based on the result, the second facsimile terminal A confidential communication method for a facsimile storage and forwarding system characterized by transmitting a confidential message to a facsimile terminal.