JP3296053B2 - Communication control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication control device for performing communication processing based on a command from a host device, and more particularly to a communication control device such as a facsimile adapter accommodating a plurality of communication lines.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, EIA (ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES
ASSOCIATION = Electronic Industries
Association) / TIA (TELECOMMUNICATIONS IND)
USTRIES ASSOCIATION = Defined in Telecommunications Industries Association -578 (ANSI (American Standards Association), EIA / TIA-5
78-1990, APPROVED (Aprobed):
In some cases, data is transmitted and received in accordance with facsimile communication performed on October 22, 1990).
In the case of a communication control device connected to a single line, upon receiving a call from the line, the communication control device simply notifies the host that the call has been received. The host that has received this notification issues a communication start command to start communication. For example, the above E
According to IA / TIA-578, a "RING" message from the communication control device is notified to the host, and the host responding to the message issues an "ATA" command to respond to the call. I have.

To apply this to a communication control device connected to a plurality of communication lines, an identifier may be assigned to each line, and the same operation as described above may be performed.

In this case, the host needs a plurality of communication control processes for performing communication control and a process for controlling these processes.
It must have a function of associating the line notified from the communication control device with one of the plurality of communication control processes.

When the communication control device detects an incoming call from a line, a line identifier (line I
Notify the host that the call has been received together with D) (this notification may be performed simultaneously on a plurality of lines). Then, on the host side, in response to the incoming call instruction from the communication control device, the communication control process determined by the supervising process issues a communication start command, and identifies the line to which the communication control process is directed. (That is, the notified line ID). As a result, the communication control device can transmit and receive data through the line indicated by the line ID.

[0006] Even in a communication control device connected to a plurality of communication lines, if there is only one actual communication processing unit, the processing is performed on a first-come-first-served basis as described in JP-A-5-160979. For calls that occur later, the facsimile control unit compares the identification information at the time of the incoming call with the identification information of the priority of the call registered in the system in advance. Accordingly, it is determined whether the generated call is to be ignored or the call that is already in communication is disconnected and processed preferentially. Also, as a method for efficiently processing a plurality of actual calls The one disclosed in JP-B-61-11503 is known. In this publication, a plurality of lines are monitored by scanning each line for a processing request, and a line control unit that controls a high-speed line performs processing with priority. , To improve processing efficiency.

[0007]

Recently, with the spread of personal computers and the like, a host (personal computer) has developed a large number of software programs for controlling the communication control device. However, most communication control software that operates on the host side is designed to control a single line, and in order to use this effectively, a communication control device that can handle multiple lines in a simpler way Is desired.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned conventional communication method in which the host receiving the notification of the incoming call and the line ID from the communication control device issues a communication start command to which the line ID is added, At the time of a call, by giving the function of automatic line selection to the communication control device, the host can use the function of the communication control device without being conscious of which line is being used.

However, at the time of the incoming call, the host side
It is necessary to have line information for each line ID, and to constantly monitor which line ID is being processed or which line ID is being processed. It is also necessary to associate a line ID with a communication control process. However, in the related art, in order to support a plurality of lines, the above-described control process is added, and the line I
A function for associating D with the communication control process and a function for monitoring have to be provided.

Even if existing communication control software designed to control a single line is used,
It is not possible to use the software as it is, and it is necessary to add the above-mentioned association function and monitoring function to the software. For this reason, when a plurality of lines are supported, the host-side software needs the above-mentioned association function and monitoring function. Had to be changed, which resulted in a major change.

Therefore, the present invention can utilize the existing communication processing function of the host device, and can support a plurality of lines without being conscious of the incoming call of the plurality of lines on the host device side. It is an object to provide a control device.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided a communication control apparatus (2 in FIG. 1) for accommodating a plurality of communication lines (L1 to Lm in FIG. 1) and performing communication processing based on a command from a host device. , A plurality of communication processing means (2 in FIG. 1) provided corresponding to the plurality of communication lines and executing communication processing.
1-1 to 21-m), a counting means (22 in FIG. 1) for counting the number of incoming calls from the plurality of communication lines, and information on a current count value counted by the counting means. When notified to the host device and receives a communication start instruction from the host device that has received the notification, the count value of the counting device is subtracted, and the communication processing device corresponding to the call actually occurring is activated. Control means (24 in FIG. 1).

[0013]

In the present invention, the control means notifies the host device of information on the current count value, which is counted by the counting means and indicates the number of incoming calls from a plurality of communication lines, and transmits the content of the notification. When receiving the received communication start instruction from the host device, the count value of the counting means is decremented, and the communication processing means corresponding to the actually generated call is activated. The host device can issue the next communication start instruction to the communication control device as long as the current count value is not “0”. Then, in the communication control device, similarly to the above, the count value of the counting means is subtracted, and the communication processing means corresponding to the actually generated call is activated.

As described above, since the communication control unit allocates the communication processing means to the communication start instruction, the host device does not participate in the incoming calls of a plurality of communication lines, and furthermore, responds to the communication start instruction. Then, the communication processing means corresponding to the actually generated call is activated, and the communication processing means executes the communication processing.

When the host device has a plurality of communication control processes for executing the communication control process, the communication control device performs a process of subtracting the count value in response to a communication start instruction from one communication control process. Until the communication is completed, by not accepting a communication start instruction from another communication control process, similarly, the host device side does not have to be aware of a plurality of lines, and has no control process. The communication control process that has sent the communication start instruction and the communication processing means corresponding to the call that is actually occurring are connected. Then, communication processing is executed by the communication processing means.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of FIGS.

The first embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a computer system having a communication control device according to the present invention.
In FIG. 1, a host device 1 and a communication control device 2 are connected via one physical interface 3.

The host device 1 has n communication control processes P1, P2 to Pn having a communication control processing function (which is realized as communication control software) supporting only one communication line, and these communication processes. Control unit 1 such as a central processing unit that executes a control process in a multitask environment
It has 0.

On the other hand, the communication control device 2 includes m line control units 21-1, 21-2 to 21-m connected to the m line communication lines L1, L2 to Lm, respectively. Incoming call counter 22 for counting the number of incoming calls from the communication line
And an interface unit (hereinafter, referred to as an I / F unit) 23 that controls an interface with the host device 1 and a device control unit 24 that controls the entire communication control device. In each line control unit, the communication processing process enclosed by a dotted line does not always exist in the line control unit but is generated and transferred by the device control unit 24 (the details will be described later). .

The interface 3 is a logical channel having a total value "n + 1" obtained by adding n logical channels ch1, ch2 to chn corresponding to each communication control process in the host device 1 and the common control channel ch. Is divided into Of course, these logical channels can be replaced by physically independent interfaces.

Here, the constituent features of the invention of claim 1 and FIG.
The correspondence relationship with the components shown in FIG. The plurality of communication control processes described above are communication control processes P1 to P1.
Pn, the above-described host device corresponds to the host device 1, the plurality of communication lines correspond to the communication lines L1 to Lm, the communication control device corresponds to the communication control device 2, and the plurality of communication lines The communication processing means of the line control unit 21-1 ~
21-m, the above-mentioned counting means is the number of incoming calls counter 2
2, the above-described control means corresponds to the device control unit 24.

Next, the processing at the time of receiving a call in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of each communication control process on the host device 1 side, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing operation on the communication control device side.

Each communication control process on the host device 1
According to the processing procedure shown in FIG. 2, the communication control device 2 is accessed using the common control channel and the logical channel. Here, the process of the communication control process P1 will be described, but other processes perform the same process.

In FIG. 2, the communication control process P1 is
The counter value in the incoming call counter 22 is accessed through the common control channel ch and the I / F unit 23 (step 201), and whether the access to the incoming call counter 22 is locked or not is determined. Is determined (step 202). Here, the locked state means that another communication control process has already been executed by the incoming call counter 22.
Means that you are accessing.

Therefore, if the access to the incoming call counter 22 is locked in step 202, an error code indicating that access is prohibited is returned from the incoming call counter 22. P1
Waits for a predetermined time (step 203), and then returns to step 201. After waiting for a predetermined time, an access similar to the above is retried.

On the other hand, if the access is not locked in step 202, the count value (ie, the number of incoming calls) in the number-of-incoming-calls counter unit 22 can be known. = 0 ”is determined (step 204).

Here, when the count value = 0, it means that there is no incoming call. Therefore, the process returns to the step 203. On the other hand, when the count value is less than 0, the incoming call is processed. Issues a communication start command (step 20).
5). This communication start command is input to the communication control device 2 not through the common control channel ch but through a logical channel corresponding to the process, in this case, the logical channel ch1, in order to specify a process for processing the subsequent communication.

Thereafter, the communication control process P1
The communication process corresponding to the incoming call is performed in the same manner as in the case of only one line (step 206).

Next, the incoming call processing on the communication control device side will be described. Here, it is assumed that there is access from the communication control process P1.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the communication control device 2, the device control unit 24 determines whether or not the access number counter unit 22 has been accessed when "counter value ≠ 0" (step S1). 301), if not accessed,
Alternatively, if the access is made when “count value = 0”, the process returns to step 301, and this processing is repeated until “count value ≠ 0” is accessed. Locks access to the incoming call counter 22 (step 302). This is to prevent another communication control process of the host device 1 from reading the same number of incoming calls and issuing a plurality of communication start commands for the same call.

In step 301, it is determined whether or not the access to the incoming call counter 22 has been performed, for example, by a flag (for example, " By setting 1 ″), it can be easily implemented.

By the way, the device control unit 24, which locks the access to the incoming call counter unit 22 in the locked state, sends a communication start command from the accessed communication control process (the communication control process P1 in this example) of the host device 2. It is determined whether or not it has been received (step 303). The communication command issued from the communication control process is input to the device control unit 24 through the logical channel (the logical channel ch1 in this example) corresponding to the process and the I / F unit 24.

If it is determined in step 303 that the communication control command has not been received, the communication control command waits until it is received. Is subtracted (step 304), and the access to the incoming call counter 22 is unlocked (step 305).

Thereafter, the logical channel (the logical channel ch1 in this example) that has received the communication start command is associated with an actually generated call (for example, a call to the communication line L1), and a process for communication processing is performed. (Communication processing process) is generated (step 306). This communication process is passed to a line control unit (line control 21-1 in this example),
It is executed here. In other words, the communication process passed at this time is a communication process surrounded by a dotted line of the line control 21-1.

The execution of the processing of step 306 means that the processing of step 205 of the processing procedure shown in FIG. 2 is executed, and then the processing of step 206 is executed. I have.

The communication processing by the communication control process in step 206 and the communication processing by the communication process generated in step 306 will be described with reference to FIG. 4 taking the case where the communication control device 2 is a facsimile adapter as an example. explain. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating a communication processing procedure for transmitting and receiving data between the host device 1, the communication control device 2, and the transmission partner. When the communication control device 2 is a facsimile device adapter, the configuration of the adapter is the same as that of the communication control device 2. Here, CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone Advisory Committee)
Recommendation T. A process when communication is performed according to the communication procedure defined in 30 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the communication control device 2 receives an incoming call from a communication line (for example, a public line) (S
1) The count value of the incoming call counter 22 is incremented by "+1" as described above, and the host device 1 accesses the count value as described above,
By issuing the communication start command (S2), as described above, the communication control process of the host device 1 (for example, the communication control process P1) and the communication processing process of the communication control device 2 (for example, the communication processing process 21-1) Are associated with each other.

In such a state, the communication control device 2
Is a CSI signal (called terminal identification signal) representing its own telephone number notification and DIS representing its capability declaration
The signals (digital identification signals) are sequentially transmitted to the transmission partner (S3 to S4). The transmitting party receiving these signals indicates a TSI signal (transmitting terminal identification signal) indicating its own telephone number notification, a DCS signal (digital command signal) indicating a negotiation result notification, and a modem training check request. The transmitted TCF signals (training check) are sequentially transmitted to the communication control device 2 (S5 to S7). Then, the communication control device 2 transmits the partner information and the communication condition to the host device 1 (S8),
A CFR signal (reception preparation confirmation signal) representing a response signal to the TCF signal (indicating that the training check result was good) is transmitted to the transmission partner (S9), and thereafter, image information from the transmission partner is received. Then, the data is transferred to the host device 1 (S11). In the communication control device 2 receiving this image information, E indicating the end of the image information
When an OP signal (procedure end signal) is received (S12), an MCF signal (message confirmation signal) indicating an acknowledgment of the EOP signal (a message that the message has been completely received).
Is transmitted to the transmission partner (S13). When a DCN signal (disconnection command signal) is received from the transmission partner that has received the MCF signal (S14), a line disconnection notification is transmitted to the host device 1 (S15).

Thus, data transmission / reception between the host device 1, the communication control device 2, and the transmission partner has been completed.

The sequence shown in FIG. 4 is for the communication processing by issuing a communication start command from one communication control process. In this embodiment,
On the host device 1 side, a plurality of communication control processes can be executed in a multitask environment, so that each communication process by the plurality of communication control processes is also performed.
Data transmission and reception are performed according to the sequence shown in FIG.

In the above description, a method of associating a communication control process in the host device 1 with a communication processing process in the communication control device 2, that is, a method of associating a logical channel with an actually generated call. Since the method of association has not been described, the method of association will be described below.

The first method is to associate the incoming call sequence with the order in which the communication start command is issued. However, in the case of the first method, it is not possible to cope with a case where a priority is given to a call from a specific line or a specific partner.

In order to cope with such a problem, as a second method, the communication control device 2 is provided with a priority determination table for determining the priority of a call, and a communication issued from the host device 1. A method of associating a call having the highest priority among the currently received calls with the start command is used. As a result, it is possible to realize a function when a call from a specific line or a specific partner is to be prioritized.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the above-mentioned priority judgment table. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the priority determination table 500 includes a “line #” field in which communication lines L1, L2,..., Lm are registered, and a subscriber on the transmission partner side corresponding to each line. It is composed of a field of “subscriber subscriber number” in which the number is registered, and a field of “priority” in which the priority is registered corresponding to each subscriber number. Here, "1",
It is assumed that the smaller the number, such as “2” and “3”, the higher the priority.

Next, the process of associating a logical channel with an actually occurring call using such a priority judgment table will be described.

Now, consider a case where there are incoming calls from the communication lines L1 and L2, and these calls are from a G3 standard facsimile machine. At this time, T. The subscriber number of the transmission destination can be known from the TSI signal defined in 30. Here, the subscriber number corresponding to the communication line L1 is “xxx-xxxx”, and the subscriber number corresponding to the communication line L2 is “aaa”.
-Aaaa ".

On the other hand, in the priority determination table 500, the priority of the subscriber number "xxx-xxxx" registered corresponding to the communication line L1 is "1".
On the other hand, it is assumed that the subscriber number “aaa-aaaa” is not registered in the communication line L2. This "aa
"other" for the subscriber number "a-aaaaa"
Is used.

Therefore, when there is an incoming call from the communication lines L 1 and L 2, the device control unit 24 switches the communication line L 1 having a higher priority to the communication start instruction command issued from the host device 1. Will be attached.

In this case, the communication control device 2 does not go off-hook (responds to an incoming call) after receiving the communication start command from the host device 1, but at the time of an incoming call, the communication control device 2 alone uses the TCF signal. When the communication start command is received, the transmission from the transmission of the CRF signal is continued (that is, in step S9 in FIG. 4).
The following steps must be performed).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, an arbitrary communication control process of the host device 1 is executed when “the number of incoming calls ≠ 0”
When a communication start command is issued based on the result of accessing the incoming call counter 22 which is not
In step 4, the count value of the incoming call counter unit 22 is decremented by "1", the line count is associated with the line control unit corresponding to the actually generated call, and a communication processing process is further generated to perform the line control. Since the communication is performed with the transmission destination that issued the call by passing the call to the communication unit, the host device does not need to be involved in any incoming call from a plurality of communication lines. Moreover, under the control of the communication control device, an arbitrary communication control process is associated with a communication processing process corresponding to a call that is actually occurring.
Communication processing can be executed by the communication processing process.

As described above, even in the case of the communication processing in response to the issuance of one communication start instruction command, in the host device, as long as the current count value is not "0", the other communication control processes also perform the communication start instruction. Can be issued to the communication control device. Note that the communication control device 2 does not accept a communication start command from another communication control process until the count value subtraction processing ends in response to a communication start command from one communication control process. It is possible to prevent a plurality of communication start commands from being issued in response to the same call. This means that a communication start command can be issued for each of a plurality of incoming communication lines so that one communication start command is issued for one communication line. I have.

Therefore, the host device can operate the communication control program (software) without being aware of the plurality of incoming communication lines.
That is, on the host device side, a plurality of lines can be easily supported by executing a plurality of communication control processes that support only one port in a multitask environment.

In the first embodiment described above, a description has been given of the case where a plurality of communication control processes (that is, multi-processes) are provided on the host device 1 side. The present invention is also applicable when only one process (ie, a single process) is provided on the side. This will be described below in the second and third embodiments.

First, a second embodiment will be described.

In the second embodiment, the host device 1
Is one process (that is, one communication control process)
That is, communication control is performed by executing a single process.

In this case, as long as the count value obtained by accessing the incoming call counter unit 22 is not "0", the host device 1 transmits the next communication start instruction after one communication control process is completed. It can be issued to the control device 2. Naturally, it is assumed that the access to the incoming call counter unit 22 is not locked. This is because communication control processing (single process) is performed on the host device 1 side.
Means that a plurality of lines can be supported.

On the other hand, the communication control device 2 which has received the communication start instruction performs the processing as described in the first embodiment. That is, the device control unit 24 executes a process of subtracting the counter value, a process of generating a communication process, and a process of delivering the communication process to the line control unit. As a result, a line control unit (that is, a communication processing process) corresponding to the called communication line is assigned to the communication start instruction. Subsequent processing is the same as in the first embodiment.

Next, a third embodiment will be described.

The third embodiment is a modification of the second embodiment. That is, when executing the sequential processing of the single process, the host device 1 leaves some of the time-consuming processing (eg, image information transfer) of the communication control processing to another device (eg, a coprocessor). ing. As a result, the sequential processing is rapidly performed, and the parallel processing is substantially performed. However, the original processor (CPU) has a general function.

As described above, in any of the second and third embodiments, the host device can use the communication control software corresponding to one line, and furthermore, without being conscious of a plurality of lines. , Can support multiple lines.

According to the first to third embodiments, when fine control such as priority control for each communication line is required, the line control device refers to the priority determination table. Then, priority control can be performed by selecting a communication line having a high priority, so that the host device hardly needs to be aware of such priority control.

[0063]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the number of incoming calls from a plurality of communication lines is counted by the counting means, and further, the number of calls received by the counting means is counted by the control means. When the communication start instruction is received from the host device that has received the notification content, the count value of the counting means is reduced, and the communication value corresponding to the call that is actually occurring is received. Since the processing means is activated, the host device does not need to be involved in incoming calls of a plurality of communication lines, and is actually generated in response to a communication start instruction by the control of the communication control device. The communication processing means corresponding to the call is activated,
Thereafter, communication processing can be executed by the communication processing means.

Therefore, there is an advantage that a communication control device that supports a plurality of lines can be provided by utilizing the existing communication processing function for a single line on the host device side.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a computer system having a communication control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of each communication control process on the host device side.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing operation on the communication control device side.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing a communication processing procedure for transmitting and receiving data between a host device, a communication control device, and a transmission partner.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a priority determination table for determining the priority of a call.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Host apparatus, 2 ... Communication control apparatus, 3 ... Interface, 10 ... Control part, P1, P2, Pn ... Communication control process, ch ... Common control channel, ch1, ch2, chn
... Logical channels, 21-1, 21-2, 21-m ... Line control unit, 22 ... Number of incoming calls counter unit, 23 ... I / F unit, 24 ...
Device control unit, L1, L2, Lm: communication line, 500: priority determination table.

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04L 29/04 G06F 13/00 353 H04L 29/08

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A communication control device which accommodates a plurality of communication lines and performs a communication process based on a command from a host device, wherein a plurality of communication devices are provided corresponding to the plurality of communication lines and execute a communication process. Processing means, counting means for counting the number of incoming calls from the plurality of communication lines, information of the current count value by the counting means is notified to the host device, and the host device receiving the notification informs the host device of the information. A communication control device comprising: a control unit that, upon receiving a communication start instruction, subtracts the count value of the counting unit and activates a communication processing unit corresponding to a call that is actually occurring.