JPH11155057A - Communication terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively utilize a line so as to shorten the time which is required for relaying processing by transmitting received pictures by means of prescribed quantity to a relay destination through the use of a dead communication channel except the one in reception whenever the reception of the picture being data to be relay-transmitted is ended by means of prescribed quantity. SOLUTION: When the main control part 1 of a facsimile equipment as a communication terminal equipment detects the picture being data to be transmitted to the relay destination by a prescribed quantity, that is, for the portion of one page, for example, the communication possible communication channel except the one in reception is detected, and picture transmission to the relay destination is started by the communication channel. Besides, when information of a communication function which is provided in a relay destination equipment is included in relay destination information which is transmitted together with a procedure signal, for example, from the request source of relay transmission, the main control part 1 detects the communication function information so as to transmit data by a transmission system corresponding to the relay destination communication function.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an ISDN (Integrated
The present invention relates to a communication terminal device connected to a digital communication line such as Services Digital Network and having a G3 and G4 facsimile communication function and a relay function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, communication terminal apparatuses capable of G4 facsimile communication for transmitting and receiving data in a digital form by connecting to ISDN are becoming widespread. Such a communication terminal device generally has a G3 facsimile communication function and a telephone function in addition to the G4 facsimile communication function.

[0003] The ISDN user / network interface is based on ITU.
The (International Telecommunication Union) -T Recommendation I.410 series standardizes the basic interface and primary rate interface. For example, a basic interface assuming general usage such as performing facsimile communication and data communication while making a telephone call has two B channels (channel speed: 64 kb) for communication of various user information signals.
ps) and one D channel (16 kbps) for transmitting a circuit switching control signal by ISDN are time-division multiplexed on the same interface.

For facsimile communication, the ITU defines standard procedures and functions (standard procedures and standard functions), and sets non-standard functions (non-standard functions) within a range that does not interfere with the standards. It is also permitted to use it by performing non-standard procedures.

A relay function, which is one of the non-standard functions of facsimile communication, transmits a message from a transmission device to a relay device, and then designates the relay device as a transmission device by using a telephone number, abbreviated number, and the like included in the message. This is a function for automatically transferring image data to another facsimile machine to be operated. In the relay function, for example, a plurality of facsimile apparatuses provided in each branch are grouped and registered in a relay apparatus provided in a base controlling an overseas branch, and these telephone numbers are registered. Can perform broadcast communication.

[0006] Connected to a digital line such as ISDN,
When a relay is instructed to a facsimile machine with a relay function, the originating equipment specifies the telephone number, abbreviated number, group number, etc. of the relay destination according to the network protocol standard defined by ISO (International Organization for Standardization). OSI (Open Systems Int
erconnection) Session start command (CSS) of layer 5 corresponding to the session layer of the reference model
It can be set as user data or as user / user information in a layer 3 call setup (SETUP) message corresponding to the network layer of the OSI reference model.

[0007]

In a conventional facsimile apparatus having the above-described relay function, a call is transmitted to a relay destination after all image data transmitted from a request source has been stored in an image memory. Since the image data stored in the memory is transmitted to the relay destination, it takes a long time to relay the image, especially when the image includes a plurality of pages.

Further, the relay destination information transmitted from the request source does not include information on the communication function of the relay destination device, and the communication function of the relay destination is not known. One of the communication functions, for example, specifying the G4 communication, calls the relay destination, and must confirm the communication function of the relay destination device. In other words, if the call is specified for the time being and the call is disconnected with the cause indicating that the terminal attributes do not match or there is no route to the other party as a result of the call being made, it can be confirmed that the relay destination device does not have this communication function. . In this case, since the repeater must specify another communication function and re-call the relay destination, it takes a long time to relay.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and every time an image as data to be relayed and transmitted is received for a predetermined amount, for example, one page,
By transmitting an image of a predetermined amount, for example, an image of one page, which has been received, to a relay destination on a vacant communication channel other than the communication channel being received to a relay destination, the line is effectively used for relay processing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication terminal device such as a facsimile device that reduces the time required.

[0010]

A communication terminal device according to the first invention is connected to a communication line having a plurality of communication channels,
In an apparatus having a relay function, a detecting unit for receiving a predetermined amount of data to be transmitted to a relay destination, a detecting unit for determining whether transmission of the data on another communication channel except for a receiving channel is possible, and Means for starting transmission of the data to a relay destination through another communication channel capable of transmission during reception of the data.

In the first invention, when it is detected that a predetermined amount of data as an image to be transmitted to the relay destination, for example, one page has been received, a communication channel other than the receiving channel and which can communicate is detected. The transmission of the image to the relay destination is started on the communication channel. As a result, the line is effectively used, and the time required for the relay processing is reduced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect, the communication terminal device has a plurality of communication functions corresponding to a plurality of transmission schemes, and is included in relay destination information for specifying a relay destination of the data. Means for detecting information on the communication function of the relay destination, and means for transmitting the data to the relay destination in a transmission method according to the communication function.

In the second invention, when the relay destination information transmitted from the relay transmission request source together with the procedure signal, for example, includes the information of the communication function of the relay destination device, The information is detected, and data is transmitted by a transmission method according to the communication function of the relay destination. This eliminates the need to check the communication function of the relay destination device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal device comprising:
In addition to the invention, there is provided a means for transmitting untransmitted data to a relay destination to the relay destination via a plurality of communication channels capable of transmitting when the data reception is completed.

In the third invention, when the data reception is completed, the data not yet transmitted to the relay destination is transmitted to the relay destination through a plurality of transmission-capable communication channels including the channel whose reception has been completed. As a result, the line is effectively used, and the time required for relay processing such as relay broadcast transmission in which a large number of relay destinations are specified is reduced.

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus as a communication terminal apparatus according to the present invention.
The main control unit 1 not only controls each part of the hardware of the apparatus through a bus, but also converts the image data of the original into MH, MR, MM based on software stored in a ROM (not shown).
Executes software such as communication procedures including encoding / decoding for encoding / decoding by an encoding method such as R.

In this embodiment, upon detecting that a predetermined amount of image data to be transmitted to the relay destination, for example, one page, has been received, the main control unit 1 selects a communication channel other than the receiving channel. Is detected, and transmission of an image to the relay destination is started on this communication channel. When the relay destination information transmitted from the relay transmission request source, for example, together with the procedure signal includes information on the communication function of the relay destination device, the main control unit 1 performs The information is detected, and data is transmitted by a transmission method according to the communication function of the relay destination. Further, when the data reception is completed, the main control unit 1 transmits the data that has not been transmitted to the relay destination to the relay destination through a plurality of transmittable communication channels including the channel for which the reception has been completed.

An electrophotographic printer 2 records image data of a document received from another facsimile machine. The scanner 3 reads an original with a CCD or the like, and outputs image data of a black and white binary original.

The operation unit 4 includes various function keys, such as a ten-key, a one-touch key, and a program one-touch key, necessary for operating the apparatus. The operation unit 4
A display such as a liquid crystal display (abbreviated as LCD) is provided to display the operation state of the apparatus, image data of a document, and the like.

The RAM 5 is composed of an SRAM, a flash memory, or the like, and stores temporary data generated when executing software. In this example, an area for storing relay destination information such as a telephone number, an abbreviated number, a group number, and function information of a relay destination detected by the main control unit 1 from the procedure signal, and a relay destination corresponding to the abbreviated number and the group number A table in which telephone numbers are registered is provided. The image memory 6 is composed of a DRAM or the like, and stores image data of a document or the like.

The LAP (Link Access Procedure) -B 11 controls the balanced link access procedure for the B channel and performs actual data communication on the two channels B1 and B2. LAP-D 12
Controls the link access procedure for the D channel
To transmit a circuit switching control signal. PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) codec 13
Performs mutual conversion between analog audio signals and digital data.

The modem 7 is a modem for performing facsimile communication of image data of a document read by the scanner 3. The switching unit 8 provided between the modem 7 and the PCM codec 13 is composed of, for example, a relay switch, and connects the modem 7 to a telephone 9 and a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone).
Network: public network) and PCM codec 13.

Next, the operation of the communication terminal device according to the present invention when receiving a call will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. When an incoming call is accepted, it is detected whether or not a relay is instructed in the procedure signal (step S1). If the relay is not instructed by the procedure signal, the image received by the G4 communication is stored in the image memory 6 and recorded by the printer 2 (step S11). If relay is instructed in the procedure signal, the relay destination telephone number (or abbreviated number, group number) included in the procedure signal is detected and stored in the RAM 5 (step S2).

One page of the image from the request source is received and stored in the image memory 6 (step S3), and it is checked whether or not the image to be relayed has the next page (step S3).
S4). If there is a next page, it is determined whether or not the G3 communication unit for performing G3 facsimile communication using the modem 7, the PCM codec 13 and another B channel is in use (step S).
Five).

There is a next page in the image to be relayed, G3
If the communication unit is in use (YES in step S5), the next 1
The image for the page is received and stored in the image memory 6 (step S3). On the other hand, if the next page exists in the image to be relayed and the G3 communication unit is empty (NO in step S5),
A call is made to the relay destination with reference to the RAM 5 to start communication processing (step S6).

The details of the processing in step S6 will be described with reference to FIG. The telephone number of the relay destination is read from the RAM 5 (step S61), and a call is made to the relay destination (step S62). G3
The communication unit modulates one page of the image in the image memory 6 into audio data using the modem 7, converts the audio data into digital data that can be transmitted by ISDN using the PCM codec 13, To send to the relay destination (Step S6
3).

It is checked whether or not the image of the next page has been stored in the image memory 6 (step S64). If the next page has been stored, the process returns to step S63, and G3
The communication unit transmits the image in the image memory 6 for one page. If no image of the next page is stored in the image memory 6, the process returns to the main routine shown in FIG.

At this time, if the relay destination is single,
Each time an image stored in the image memory 6 is transmitted, the data stored in the image memory 6 may be deleted and the image memory 6 may be left open for reception. Also, the call of the relay destination designating the G3 communication may be performed on the PSTN.

As described above, when the reception of all pages of the image to be relayed and transmitted is completed (NO in step S4), the line that has been receiving by G4 communication is disconnected (step S7).
It is determined whether the communication processing to the relay destination has been started (step S8). If the processing has been started and the image transmission to any of the relay destinations has been started, the G4 communication is possible. It is checked whether or not there is another relay destination (step S9). If there is another relay destination, G4 communication is designated and a call is made to that relay destination, communication processing is started, and the image memory 6 is stored. The stored image is transmitted to the relay destination (step S10).

On the other hand, if the G3 communication unit is not empty by the time the reception of the image to be relayed is completed and the communication processing to the relay destination has not been started (NO in step S8), the G4 communication is designated. A call is made to the relay destination, communication processing is started, and the image stored in the image memory 6 is transmitted to the relay destination (step S10).

[0031]

When the communication terminal apparatus of the first invention detects that a predetermined amount of image as data to be transmitted to the relay destination, for example, one page has been received, the communication terminal apparatus other than the channel currently being received receives
Since the communication channel capable of communication is detected and the transmission of the image to the relay destination is started on this communication channel, an excellent effect that the line is used effectively and the time required for the relay processing is reduced is achieved.

The communication terminal device according to the second aspect of the present invention is arranged such that, when the relay destination information transmitted from the relay transmission request source, for example, together with the procedure signal, includes information on the communication function of the relay destination device, Since the information of this communication function is detected and the data is transmitted by the transmission method according to the communication function of the relay destination,
There is an excellent effect that there is no need to check the communication function of the relay destination device.

[0033] The communication terminal device of the third invention, when the data reception is completed, transmits the data not yet transmitted to the relay destination to the relay destination through a plurality of transmittable communication channels including the channel for which the reception has been completed. Since transmission, the line is used effectively,
There is an excellent effect that the time required for relay processing such as relay broadcast transmission in which a large number of relay destinations are designated is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an operation of the communication terminal device according to the present invention when receiving a call;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an operation at the time of receiving a call of the communication terminal device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main control unit 5 RAM 6 Image memory 7 Modem 11 LAP-B 12 LAP-D 13 PCM codec

Claims (3)

[Claims] An apparatus connected to a communication line having a plurality of communication channels and provided with a relay function excludes a detecting means for detecting that a predetermined amount of data to be transmitted to a relay destination has been received, and a receiving channel for the data. Means for detecting whether transmission on another communication channel is possible, and means for starting transmission of the data to a relay destination on another communication channel capable of transmission during reception of the data. Communication terminal device. 2. A means having a plurality of communication functions corresponding to a plurality of transmission schemes, and detecting information on a communication function of a relay destination included in relay destination information for specifying a relay destination of the data, 2. The communication terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising: means for transmitting the data to a relay destination by a transmission method according to the communication function. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for transmitting untransmitted data to the relay destination to the relay destination via a plurality of communication channels capable of transmitting when reception of the data is completed. Communication terminal device.