JP3674482B2 - Data distribution method and data distribution system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to storage and exchange of various data and distribution services, and in particular, in a store-and-forward type data distribution system in which facsimile, image, voice, and other data are transmitted to a terminal via a center device, the data Relates to a processing method in the case where the message cannot be transmitted to the terminal.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a store-and-forward system for transmitting data to various input / output terminals via a center device, for example, there is a facsimile storage exchange system comprising a facsimile storage exchange device and a facsimile terminal.
[0003]
The process in which the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus cancels the re-transmission to the destination facsimile terminal when the original cannot be transmitted even if data transmission to the destination facsimile terminal is attempted is referred to as non-delivery message processing. In general non-delivery message processing, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 53-31904, an allowable number of retransmissions is set in advance, and transmission may be repeated at regular time intervals up to the allowable number of times. If it is not successful, it will be judged as non-delivery, and after sending a failure to send to the destination facsimile terminal as a non-delivery notice to the outgoing facsimile terminal, the requested original from the outgoing facsimile terminal will be deleted and the broadcast communication will be terminated. It is.
[0004]
As a process after the non-delivery judgment, there is a process described in JP-A-8-237409. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-237409, the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus transmits a non-delivery notice indicating the number of a document that could not be transmitted, the date of reception, the telephone number of the partner facsimile terminal, and the like to the transmitting facsimile terminal. Upon receiving the non-delivery notification, when retransmitting to the facsimile storage and exchange device, the original is read again by entering the original number indicated in the non-delivery notification together with a command to request retransmission of the original. You can retransmit without
[0005]
The above is for sending a non-delivery notice to the transmitting facsimile terminal, but the techniques described in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-116422 and Japanese Patent Application No. 11-317763 as sending the non-delivery notice to the receiving facsimile terminal. There is. These send a non-delivery notice as an e-mail to the e-mail terminal on the destination side.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above conventional technique, the non-delivery notice to the destination side is sent by e-mail to an e-mail terminal different from the destination facsimile terminal. For this reason, the destination address of the non-delivery notification mail is registered in advance in the facsimile storage and exchange device in correspondence with the facsimile terminal, or the transmission of the non-delivery data and the non-delivery notification forwarding address is started. It was necessary to specify at the time. In addition, since non-delivery notifications are sent by e-mail, whether the non-delivery notification e-mail has arrived on the destination side in front of a mail terminal other than the facsimile terminal in order to confirm the presence of non-delivery notification e-mails I had to check.
[0007]
Furthermore, even if it is known that there has been communication that has not been delivered by receiving the non-delivery notification email, only the sender can perform the retransmission operation. I couldn't do it. Also, when there are a number of destinations that have not been delivered even when performing a retransmission operation on the transmission side, these destinations must be individually specified and retransmitted individually, It was very time consuming.
[0008]
Normally, the facsimile communication is undelivered when the facsimile terminal is temporarily unable to receive due to a paper out or power-off. Most of the originals that have not arrived at this time are facsimile terminals registered in the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus, so most of the originals are received via the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus. It is possible to store and save.
[0009]
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems based on the above, and an object thereof is a non-delivery data processing method and data distribution capable of performing non-delivery data re-transmission operation from the destination side. To provide a system.
[0010]
In addition, the purpose is that non-delivery data that can be re-sent to the data that has been undelivered promptly by the operation on the destination side when the terminal on the destination side is restored and ready to receive data To provide a processing method and a data distribution system.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, according to the present invention, when a terminal device connected to a center device sends data to another terminal device, the terminal device that transmits data accumulates transmission data in the center device. When transmission data stored in at least one destination terminal device is transmitted and transmission data from the center device to the destination terminal is undelivered, the center device transmits a non-delivery notification to the transmission terminal and stores and stores the transmission data. After the destination terminal is restored, a non-delivery message list is transmitted to the destination terminal in response to a request from the destination terminal side.
[0012]
In addition, when the destination terminal that received the non-delivery message list requests retransmission of data that has not reached the center device, the center device retransmits the data that has not reached the destination terminal. Is.
[0013]
Further, when the center device retransmits the data that has not been delivered to the destination terminal, the center device notifies the transmitting terminal that the non-delivery data has been retransmitted.
[0014]
More specifically, the center device stores a storage unit that stores data requested to be transmitted from a terminal that transmits data, and a plurality of destination terminals based on the content of the request from the transmitting terminal device or preset conditions. A control unit that performs transmission control of data to the device, and non-delivery information management means for accumulating and managing various information such as request information, non-delivery information, and attached item information of data that could not be transmitted to the destination terminal device And notifying means for notifying the destination terminal device of various information of the data that could not be transmitted (no attached item file). Further, there is provided means for taking out the data that could not be transmitted from the storage unit and transmitting it when there is a request for retransmission of the data (item file) that could not be transmitted.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the following embodiments, a case where the present invention is realized by a facsimile storage and exchange system will be described as an example. In this case, the transmission terminal device and the destination terminal device described above correspond to a facsimile device, the center device corresponds to a facsimile storage and exchange device, and the attached item of a message corresponds to a facsimile original image.
[0016]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the flow of non-delivery processing in the system configuration and broadcast communication of the present invention in this embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an image of storing non-delivery information and creating a non-delivery message list in the non-delivery information management unit.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data flow when a non-delivery message list is extracted by an operation from the destination facsimile apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the flow of data from the destination facsimile apparatus performing a non-delivery message retransmission request operation until the non-delivery message is retransmitted to the destination facsimile apparatus.
FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an operation at the time of non-delivery.
FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an operation after the destination facsimile terminal is restored.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 1, the system of the present invention in this embodiment is composed of a facsimile storage and exchange apparatus and a plurality of facsimile apparatuses.
In FIG. 1, a facsimile machine 1 is a transmission facsimile machine that requests a broadcast storage service from a facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 12. The facsimile machine 2 is one of a plurality of broadcast document transmission destinations designated by the facsimile machine 1. In FIG. 1, one outgoing facsimile apparatus and one destination facsimile apparatus are shown, and the other outgoing facsimile apparatuses and destination facsimile apparatuses are not shown. Note that a plurality of reception units 3 and output units 5 of the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 12 are provided corresponding to a plurality of facsimile apparatuses, respectively, but are not shown in FIG.
[0018]
Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0019]
First, when the facsimile storage exchange apparatus 12 is called from the originating facsimile apparatus 1 (500, 501), the reception unit 3 of the facsimile storage exchange apparatus 12 receives this call and starts reception (502). The calling facsimile apparatus 1 designates the service contents and the destination requested to the facsimile storage / exchange apparatus 12 by a PB signal, an OCR sheet, an OMR sheet, or the like (503, 504). In the case of specifying a service using a PB signal, the caller first inputs a broadcast service code using the PB signal, and then inputs a destination number for the broadcast communication. The destination number designates the telephone number of the facsimile machine as the destination, the logical terminal number (ID number) assigned to each facsimile machine, or the group number of the broadcast group in which a plurality of destinations are registered in advance.
[0020]
When an OCR sheet is used, information such as letters and numbers written on the sheet is optically read on the sending facsimile apparatus 1 side, converted into facsimile image information, and sent to the facsimile storage / exchange apparatus 12 for facsimile storage. On the exchange device 12 side, the image information is converted into acceptance information such as letters and numbers.
[0021]
Similarly, the OMR sheet converts the optically read sheet into facsimile image information and sends the facsimile image information to the facsimile storage / exchange device 12, and the facsimile storage / exchange device 12 obtains reception information from the marking position written on the sheet.
[0022]
After receiving the service content, optional service, and destination input by the PB signal, OCR, OMR sheet, etc., the receiving unit 3 checks the normality of these information (505). If the service is designated by the PB signal in the normal case, the calling facsimile apparatus 1 is notified by guidance (506), and image information reception of the broadcast manuscript is started. When the service is designated by OCR or OMR sheet, it is output as facsimile image information to the calling facsimile apparatus 1 and notified.
[0023]
After receiving the notification of normal acceptance, the sending facsimile apparatus 1 starts a facsimile procedure by an operation of the sender, and starts sending image information of a broadcast document to the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 12 (507, 508). .
[0024]
The image information received by the receiving unit 3 is encoded in the storage format of the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 12 (509) and stored in the facsimile image storage unit 4 (510). In addition, the reception unit 3 normally stores the received broadcast document in the facsimile image storage unit 4, and then transfers the reception information such as the service and the destination that have been decoded earlier to the control unit 10 (511).
[0025]
The control unit 10 controls each unit based on the contents of the designated service (512). Also, information such as the telephone number of the destination is stored in the main storage unit 11 to manage the destination (513). Then, based on the destination management information developed in the main storage unit 11, the output unit 5 is activated so as to start control of message transmission to each destination facsimile apparatus (514).
[0026]
As described above, the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 11 has a plurality of lines and can control simultaneous communication of a plurality of lines. Accordingly, although not shown in the drawings, the receiving unit 3 and the output unit 5 are provided for each line accommodated in the facsimile storage and switching apparatus, and a plurality of transmission facsimile apparatuses 1 and a plurality of destination facsimile apparatuses 2 are provided. Simultaneous communication is possible.
[0027]
Based on the destination management information developed in the main storage unit 11, the control unit 10 activates the plurality of output units 5 so as to start message transmission control with each destination.
[0028]
The output unit 5 performs connection control to the destination facsimile apparatus 2 in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 10, and the output unit 5 starts broadcast document transmission processing to the destination (515 to 518).
[0029]
The output unit 5 off-hooks the line connected to the exchange, sends the connection number (telephone number) to the destination facsimile machine, and tries to send the broadcast document. At this time, various transmission failure factors may occur, such as the other party busy, no party answer, no answer to the facsimile procedure (incoming call to the voice terminal), communication quality NG after the facsimile procedure (519) . If the transmission to the destination facsimile apparatus fails due to such factors (520), the output unit 5 stops the broadcast document transmission process, notifies the control unit 10 of the communication result to the destination facsimile apparatus, Prepare for the next transmission process (521).
[0030]
Based on the notification from the output unit 5, the control unit 10 controls to write the communication result for the destination facsimile apparatus and the number of retransmissions in the transmission result storage unit 6 (522). Although not shown in FIG. 5, after performing a time activation procedure for re-transmission to the destination facsimile apparatus, the output unit 5 is activated to control transmission of a message to the next broadcast destination.
[0031]
Thereafter, similarly, the message transmission control to a plurality of broadcast destinations proceeds simultaneously by the operation of the control unit 10. For a destination that has been successfully transmitted, the control unit 10 writes the result and the determined time in the transmission result storage unit 6. For destinations that failed to be transmitted, retransmission is repeated up to the number allowed by the system, but destinations that still cannot be transmitted are not reached, and the control unit 10 writes the result and the determined time in the transmission result storage unit 6. After the transmission results (success or non-delivery) of all the destinations are confirmed, the control unit 10 creates the non-delivery notification and starts the non-delivery notification reply control with respect to the outgoing facsimile apparatus 1 and the notification. The table output unit 8 is activated (523).
[0032]
Non-delivery notification means that only when there is a non-delivery destination in broadcast communication, the broadcast manuscript sending process has been completed, and at that time, the address that could not be transmitted even if the specified number of transmissions were repeated (non-delivery destination ) Is a facsimile image notification text that is generated and transmitted by the facsimile storage and exchange device 12 to the outgoing facsimile device 1 in order to notify that there has been.
[0033]
The editing unit 9 reads out the transmission result list of the transmitted destination from the transmission result storage unit 6, and edits the non-delivery notification as character information (524).
[0034]
The notification table output unit 8 calls the calling facsimile apparatus 1 and, after responding to the other party, converts the non-delivery notice edited by the editing unit 9 into facsimile image information (525) and sends it back to the calling facsimile apparatus 1 (526).
[0035]
The sender knows the end of the broadcast communication process by the non-delivery notice returned to the origination facsimile apparatus 1 and confirms the content of the non-delivery notice. In particular, the address where the manuscript could not be sent (the non-delivery address) You can know about the information. The sender can request the facsimile storage and exchange device to resend the non-delivery address while confirming the non-delivery notice, but it must specify each non-delivery address individually, In many cases, re-transmission is not performed because it is necessary to deal with the operation on the caller side, such as having to re-transmit from the transmitting facsimile machine 1.
[0036]
In the present invention, it is possible to perform a non-delivery message retransmission operation from the destination side, not from the sender side.
[0037]
Assume that the destination facsimile machine is subsequently restored for the undelivered destination. For example, a destination facsimile machine that is turned off on a fixed holiday on the day of non-delivery can be transmitted after power recovery the next day. The destination facsimile machine that has been stopped due to running out of paper or malfunction can be recovered by replenishing paper or repairing the equipment.
[0038]
After the restoration, in the present invention, the destination facsimile apparatus can confirm the presence / absence of a non-delivery message addressed to the facsimile storage / exchange apparatus. An embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0039]
After returning a non-delivery notice to the calling facsimile apparatus 1, the notification table output unit 8 notifies the control unit 10 of this (527). Here, in this invention, the control part 10 does not erase | eliminate the message | telegram requested | required by the sender | caller, but stores it in the non-delivery information management part 7 as shown in FIG. 2 (528-530). FIG. 2 schematically shows how non-delivery information is managed for each logical terminal number (ID number) uniquely assigned to the facsimile machine. The stored message is assumed to be a virtual envelope in a chain manner. It is recorded. In the envelope, all information related to the message such as the sender, destination, and disk storage position in the facsimile image storage unit 4 of the corresponding image is stored, and non-delivery message management and retrieval for each facsimile terminal is facilitated. . By adding a non-delivery message envelope to the end of the non-delivery envelope chain of the facsimile terminal each time a message is undeliverable, non-delivery information can be managed in time series.
[0040]
Now, a facsimile apparatus that has recovered from a state where it can be undeliverable can inquire of the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus about a message addressed to itself that has failed to reach between the failure and the recovery. The operation will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 6, contrary to FIG. 5, the outgoing facsimile machine 1 is shown on the right and the destination facsimile machine 2 is shown on the left.
[0041]
After the failure is restored (600), when the destination facsimile apparatus 2 calls the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 12 (601, 602), the call is received by the reception unit 3 and reception is started (603). The destination facsimile apparatus 2 designates its own logical terminal number (ID number) and the service for retrieving the non-delivery message list addressed to the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 12 by a PB signal, an OCR sheet, an OMR sheet, or the like (604, 605). ).
[0042]
After receiving the logical terminal number and service content input by the PB signal, OCR, OMR sheet, etc., the accepting unit 3 checks the normality of these information (606). If it is normal, if the service is specified by the PB signal, the destination facsimile apparatus 2 is notified by guidance (607), and the controller 10 is requested to create a non-delivery message list (608).
[0043]
After receiving the notification of normal acceptance, the destination facsimile apparatus 2 starts the facsimile procedure when the operator performs a receiving operation, and starts receiving the undelivered message list of the broadcast document to the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 12. (609).
[0044]
The control unit 10 searches the non-delivery message chain in the non-delivery information management unit 7 from the received logical terminal number of the destination facsimile apparatus 2 (610), and requests the editing unit 9 to create a non-delivery message list ( 611).
[0045]
As shown in FIG. 2, the editing unit 9 extracts information from the destination non-delivery message chain and creates a notification table (612). The edited non-delivery message list is converted into facsimile image information by the notification table output unit (613), and a part of the document taken out from the facsimile image storage unit 4 is serialized and transmitted to the destination facsimile apparatus 2. (614).
[0046]
A part of the first page of the undelivered manuscript is attached to the non-delivery message list so that the contents of the manuscript can be known. Each non-delivery message is given a message sequence number by the facsimile storage and exchange device, and the administrator of the destination facsimile machine 2 that has received the non-delivery message list displays all non-delivery messages addressed to himself or a necessary message. You can pick out only. In FIG. 4, a method for extracting a non-delivery message according to the present invention will be described.
[0047]
In FIG. 4, when the destination facsimile apparatus 2 calls the facsimile storage / exchange apparatus 12 (615, 616), the call is received by the reception unit 3 and reception is started (617). The destination facsimile apparatus 2 sends its own logical terminal number (ID number), personal identification number, service code for retrieving undelivered messages addressed to itself, and the message sequence number of the message to be retrieved to the facsimile storage / exchange apparatus 12 as a PB signal or OCR sheet, Or it designates with an OMR sheet | seat etc. (618,619). Message sequence numbers can be viewed while looking at the non-delivery message list, and when there is no message sequence number designation, all non-delivery messages addressed to you can be retrieved.
[0048]
After receiving the logical terminal number and the service content input by the PB signal, OCR, OMR sheet, etc., the receiving unit 3 checks the normality of these information (620). When the service is designated by the PB signal in the normal case, the fact is notified to the calling facsimile apparatus 1 by guidance (621), and the non-delivery message transmission is requested to the control unit 10 (622).
[0049]
In the destination facsimile apparatus 2, after receiving the notification of normal acceptance, the operator performs a receiving operation (623). In response to this, the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 12 on the transmission side starts a facsimile procedure and transmits a non-delivery message to the destination facsimile apparatus as follows.
[0050]
The control unit 10 searches the destination non-delivery message chain from the received logical terminal number of the destination facsimile apparatus 2 (624), and requests the output unit 5 to transmit the non-delivery message (625).
[0051]
In accordance with the instruction from the control unit 10, the output unit 5 takes out the undelivered telegram document from the facsimile image storage unit 4 (626, 627), decodes it to a facsimile signal (628), and transmits it to the destination facsimile machine 2 (629). After the normal transmission is completed, the output unit 5 notifies the control unit 10 to that effect.
[0052]
In response to the notification from the output unit 5, the control unit 10 writes the communication result for the destination facsimile apparatus in the transmission result storage unit 6. This operation is the same as 521 and 522 in the sequence of FIG.
[0053]
Further, the control unit updates the chain of the non-delivery information management unit 7 of the destination facsimile apparatus, and then starts creating and transmitting a non-delivery retransmission notification to the sender of the message.
The control unit 10 activates the editing unit 9 and the notification table output unit 8 so as to start the non-delivery retransmission notification transmission control for the originating facsimile apparatus 1 together with the creation of the non-delivery retransmission notification (630).
[0054]
In the present invention, the non-delivery re-transmission notification is made by the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus 12 in order to notify the transmission source that a re-transmission request has been made from a destination that has once been non-delivery and that normal transmission has been completed. This is a facsimile image notification text generated and transmitted to the apparatus 1.
[0055]
The editing unit 9 reads the transmission result of the retransmitted destination from the transmission result storage unit 6, and edits the non-delivery retransmission notification as character information (631).
[0056]
The notification table output unit 8 calls the transmission facsimile apparatus 1 (632), and after responding to the other party (633), converts the non-delivery retransmission notification edited by the editing unit 9 into facsimile image information and sends it back to the transmission facsimile apparatus 1 ( 634).
[0057]
The sender can know the information on retransmission to the destination by the non-delivery retransmission notification transmitted to the transmission facsimile apparatus 1. In the present invention, in this way, the caller can retransmit the undelivered message to the destination without bothering his / her hand.
[0058]
In the above embodiment, after the destination terminal has been restored, the non-delivery message list is obtained once, and the necessary message is specified and retransmitted from the list. However, the non-delivery message is not directly delivered without outputting the list. A message may be transmitted.
[0059]
According to the above embodiment, in the case of performing broadcast communication via a facsimile storage and exchange device or the like, regarding a message that has been undelivered, non-delivery information and non-delivery message are extracted from the destination facsimile device. Can do. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the facsimile apparatus from being lost due to a busy state or failure, or from running out of paper, and the convenience of the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus can be improved.
[0060]
Further, according to the present invention, since the process of retransmitting a destination that has not been delivered can be performed by the operation on the destination side even from the sender side of the document, the trouble of the sender can be reduced and the usability is improved. There are effects such as improvement.
[0061]
The embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a facsimile storage and exchange apparatus has been described above. In addition to the above, the present invention can be applied to a system that provides a data distribution service to a terminal device in a center device having a storage exchange function and a broadcast function. Even when the present invention is applied to an apparatus or system other than the facsimile storage and exchange apparatus, an effect equivalent to the effect of the above embodiment can be expected.
[0062]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, non-delivery data can be retransmitted from the receiving side.
[0063]
In addition, when the receiving terminal recovers and returns to a state where data can be received, it is possible to promptly retransmit the data that has not been delivered by the operation on the receiving side.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of the present invention in this embodiment and a flow of non-delivery processing in broadcast communication.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an image of storing non-delivery information and creating a non-delivery message list in the non-delivery information management unit.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data flow when a non-delivery message list is extracted by an operation from a destination facsimile apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data flow from when a non-delivery message retransmission request operation is performed from the destination facsimile apparatus to when the non-delivery message is retransmitted to the destination facsimile apparatus;
FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an operation at the time of non-delivery.
FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an operation after the destination facsimile terminal is restored.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Transmission facsimile apparatus, 2 ... Destination facsimile apparatus, 3 ... Reception part, 4 ... Facsimile image storage part, 5 ... Output part, 6 ... Transmission result storage part, 7 ... Non-delivery information management part, 8 ... Notification table output part , 9 ... editing unit, 10 ... control unit, 11 ... main storage unit, 12 ... facsimile storage and exchange apparatus.

Claims (4)

Is composed of a plurality of terminals connected to the center device and the center device, the center device to accumulate the data transmission request from the terminal, Oite the data distribution method of transmitting data mentioned above stored in at least one of the destination terminal ,
When the destination terminal cannot receive the data, the center device notifies the transmission request terminal that the transmission to the destination terminal has failed, and manages and stores the data for each destination terminal. and, it said enables data received in response to a query from the destination terminal, and transmits the undelivered message list, the destination terminal, a retransmission of unsent data based on the content of the undeliverable message list If requested, the data distribution method, characterized by retransmitting the unsent data before Symbol request to the destination terminal. The center device, said when untransmitted data retransmission to the destination terminal, claim 1 data distribution method, wherein the notifying that to the terminal that the transmission request retransmitted data. And a plurality of terminals connected to the center device and the center device, the center device to accumulate the data transmission request from the terminal, Oite the data distribution system that transmits the accumulated data to at least one of the destination terminal,
The center device stores the data requested to be transmitted from the terminal, and when the destination terminal cannot receive the data, the transmission to the destination terminal fails to reach the transmission request terminal. In response to an inquiry from the destination terminal that has received data , an information management unit that manages and stores the data for each destination terminal, and transmits a non-delivery message list of unsent data , the destination terminal, wherein when requesting retransmission of unsent data based on the contents of the undelivered message list, and a control section for controlling to retransmit the unsent data before Symbol request to the destination terminal data distribution system characterized by comprising. The center device, the non when the transmission data re-transmitted to the destination terminal, claim 3 data distribution system, wherein the notifying that to the terminal in which the pre-Symbol transmission request to resend the data .

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