JPH0752890B2 - Network system - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network system, and more particularly to a network system suitable for reducing the frequency of use of a line and improving its use efficiency. .

(Prior Art) A network system using a digital line or an analog line is used for data communication of a telephone device, a facsimile device, various computer devices and the like (hereinafter referred to as a terminal device).

This network system is installed at each data communication base.
An electronic exchange to which a terminal device is connected is arranged, and each electronic exchange is connected by a line.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The above-described conventional technique has the following problems.

That is, when performing data communication, if the partner terminal device is performing data communication with another terminal device, it is necessary to wait for data transmission until the data communication is completed. In this case, the terminal device of the other party is called many times by dialing, and the frequency of use of the line increases,
Communication takes longer. In addition, the operator of the terminal device takes a long time to engage with the terminal device.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems.

(Means and Actions for Solving the Problem) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a storage unit at each location where the electronic exchange is arranged, and outputs data output from the terminal device on the transmission side, The terminal device is temporarily stored in the storage means of the base having the electronic exchange, and after the storage is completed, the data is transferred to the base to which the other terminal device is connected, and the storage means of the base is stored. It is characterized in that the other terminal device is automatically called and the data is transferred.

As a result, data transfer can be performed via the line even when the partner terminal device is communicating with another terminal device.

Another feature is that each base is provided with at least means for detecting a failure of one of the electronic exchange and the line and a failure display means.

As a result, the failure display is collectively displayed at each base.

Further, another feature is that each base is provided with means for transferring the failure information to another base when at least one of the electronic exchange and the line is detected to have failed.

As a result, it becomes possible for each base to monitor the failure status of other bases, and the communication data stored in the storage means arranged at the bases can be used for the line connection in accordance with the failure / fault of the other bases. It is possible to control whether or not transmission is performed via the.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention. The alphabetic characters (A,
B) is a code indicating that the device is arranged or connected at each base (base A, base B, ...).

In the figure, electronic exchanges 2A and 2B are arranged at each base of data communication. In this figure, only two electronic exchanges are shown for the sake of clarity, but it goes without saying that three or more electronic exchanges may be arranged.

The electronic exchanges 2A and 2B are connected to each other by a line 100 via the multiplexers 1A and 1B, respectively. The line 100 may be a digital line, a digital high speed line, or an analog line.

Of course, when only the line is laid in advance, the placement of each electronic exchange is determined according to the placement state of each terminal device.

As the multiplexers 1A and 1B, for example, DATAX multimedia multiplexer (trade name) manufactured by NEC Corporation can be used.

Connected to the electronic exchanges 2A and 2B are gateway processors 3A and 3B to which storage devices 4A and 4B are connected, respectively. The gateway processors 3A and 3B are computer devices that control the network system.

Further, the electronic exchange 2A, 2B, the terminal device 6A for the extension,
Terminal devices 5A and 5B for public communication lines are connected via 6B and relay stations 99A and 99B. The terminal devices 5A, 5B and the terminal devices 6A, 6B are connected to the respective electronic exchanges 2A, 2B one by one, but a plurality of terminals may be connected.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electronic exchange and its peripheral equipment at any one of the locations. In FIG. 3, the second
The same reference numerals as those in the drawings represent the same or equivalent parts.

In FIG. 3, the electronic exchange 2 to which the multiplexing device 1 and the various terminal devices 5 and 6 are connected is connected to the gateway processor 3 via the facsimile control device 7 and the interface device 8.

The facsimile control device 7 operates when a facsimile device is connected as a terminal device, and performs facsimile control (for example, G3 standard facsimile control such as modulation / demodulation of image information data, line density conversion, image information width conversion, etc.). And code image conversion.

Further, the interface device 8 is the electronic exchange 2
And communication control between the gateway processor 3.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention, showing the configuration at any one base. Also the first
In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 3 represent the same or equivalent parts.

In FIG. 1, a data communication discriminating means 11 is connected to the electronic exchange 2 to which the multiplexing device 1 and various terminal devices 5 and 6 are connected. The data communication determination means 11 determines whether or not the data transmitted from the other bases (bases other than the base) or the terminal devices 5 and 6 connected to the electronic exchange 2 desire real-time communication ( For example, it is determined whether or not the communication is a telephone call. When the data communication determination means 11 transfers the received data to the transmission / reception determination means 12 when the communication is not a request for real-time communication (for example, data communication by a facsimile machine), and wants for real-time communication. Connects a predetermined terminal device to the line without transferring the data to the transmission / reception determination means 12.

Of course, when the terminal device on the transmission side needs to send and receive a predetermined protocol as in the case of a facsimile machine, the data communication discrimination means 11 sends and receives the protocol. The configuration for transmitting and receiving this protocol can be easily assumed by those skilled in the art, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

Further, when the transmitted data is modulated, the data communication determination means 11 demodulates the data as needed.

If the communication is other than a call, the communication data is output from the telephone number data (extension telephone number or public line telephone number) and the image information read by the facsimile device or the computer device. Data such as letters and numbers (hereinafter referred to as image information data)
Consists of

The transmission / reception discriminating means 12 determines whether the data transferred via the data communication discriminating means 11 is sent from another site,
Alternatively, it is identified whether the data is sent from the terminal device 5 or 6 connected to the electronic exchange 2, and then the transferred data is sent to the data discriminating means 13. For this identification, for example, when data is transmitted from the data transmission means 18 to be described later to a gateway processor at another site, data indicating that fact may be added to the data. That is, by determining the presence or absence of the added data, it is possible to determine whether the data transferred via the data communication determining means 11 is sent from another site.

The data discriminating means 13 decomposes the transferred data into data such as telephone number data and image information. The telephone number data obtained by the decomposition is transferred to the telephone number storage means 14,
Remembered. Further, the data such as the image information obtained by the decomposition is transferred to and stored in the data storage means 15. In addition,
When the data is transferred from the terminal device at the site, the data storage means 15 stores the image information and the like data until the terminal device outputs all the image information and the like data.

The telephone number storage means 14 and the data storage means 15 are connected to the storage device 4 (the third storage device) connected to the gateway processor 3.
It is a storage area in the figure).

The data storage unit 15 transfers the image information data to the data transmission unit 18 after all the image information data is stored in the data storage unit 15.

The telephone number storage means 14 is connected to the automatic calling means 16 and the gateway processor designating means 17.

The automatic call means 16, the transmission and reception determination means 12,
It operates when it is determined that the communication data has been transferred from another site, and after all the data such as image information is stored in the data storage means 15, it is registered in the telephone number storage means 14. An automatic call is made based on the telephone number data.

In the gateway processor designating means 17, the transmission / reception determining means 12 determines that the communication data is the electronic exchange 2
When it is determined that the data is sent from the terminal device 5 or 6 connected to, the data specifying the electronic exchange or gateway processor connected to the terminal device to which the image information data should be transmitted, and Telephone number storage means 14
The telephone number data registered therein is sent to the data transmitting means 18.

When the transmission / reception determination means 12 determines that the communication data has been transferred from another base, the data transmission means 18 automatically transmits data by the automatic transmission means 16 to transmit data 18 After being connected to the terminal device of the other party, the data such as image information transferred from the data storage means 15 is sent to the electronic exchange 2.

In this case, conversion (eg, linear density conversion, reduction conversion of image information data width, etc.) according to the capability of the terminal device on the other end is performed and modulated if necessary.

Further, when it is determined that the communication data is transmitted from the terminal devices 5 and 6 connected to the electronic exchange 2, the data transmitting means 18 should transmit the image information data. Data for designating an electronic exchange or a gateway processor connected to the terminal device, telephone number data, and data such as image information transferred from the data storage means 15 are sent to the electronic exchange 2. As a result, each of the above-mentioned data is transferred to the electronic exchange of the partner site.

The operation of the first embodiment of the present invention will be further described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 shows a terminal device 5A or a terminal device 6A connected to the electronic exchange 2A located at the A site, and a terminal device 5B or a terminal device 6B connected to the electronic exchange 2B located at the B site.
It is a functional block diagram of the 1st example of the present invention in the case of transmitting data, such as image information. 4, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 represent the same or equivalent parts.

In FIG. 4, for example, when image information data is output from the terminal device 5A and the communication is performed, the image information data is output from the terminal device 5A.
First, a signal to that effect is output to the electronic exchange 2A.

When the data communication discriminating means 11A discriminates the signal, after that, all the data output from the terminal device 5A is transferred to the transmission / reception discriminating means 12A.

The transmission / reception determination means 12A determines, by the signal output from the terminal device 5A, indicating that the image information communication is to be performed, that the communication is output from the terminal device 5A rather than being sent from another site. Then, the following control is performed.

The data discriminating means 13A separates the telephone number data and the image information data from all the data output from the terminal device 5A (that is, the telephone number data and the image information data), and stores the telephone number data in the telephone number. The means 14A and data such as image information are stored in the data storage means 15A. When there are a plurality of originals to be transmitted from the terminal device 5A, the image information of all the originals is stored in the data storage means 15.

The gateway processor designating means 17A uses the telephone number data stored in the telephone number storage means 14A to connect the gateway processor (gateway processor 3B) or the electronic exchange (electronic exchange 2B) to which the terminal device to which the image information data is to be transmitted is connected. ) Is created, and the data and the telephone number data are transmitted by the data transmitting means 18A.
Send to.

The data transmitting means 18A includes the data sent from the gateway processor designating means 17A and the data storing means 1
Data such as image information stored in 5A is sent to the electronic exchange 2A. As a result, the telephone number data and the image information data output from the terminal device 5A are transferred to the electronic exchange 2B via the electronic exchange 2A, the multiplexing device 1A, and the multiplexing device 1B.

The data transferred to the electronic exchange 2B is taken into the data communication determination means 11B.

The data communication determination means 11B determines from the data designating the gateway processor 3B or the electronic exchange 2B that the transmitted data is image information communication. Then, the transmission data is transferred to the transmission / reception discriminating means 12B via the data communication discriminating means 11B.

The transmission / reception determination means 12B is the gateway processor 3B.
Alternatively, the data transmitted from the data designating the electronic exchange 2B is not the one output from the terminal device 5B or the terminal device 6B connected to the electronic exchange 2B but is transferred from another base (base A). It is determined to be a thing, and the following control is performed.

The data discriminating means 13B separates the telephone number data and the image information data from all the transmitted data, and stores the telephone number data in the telephone number storage means 14B and the image information data in the data storage means 15B. Let

The automatic calling means 16B makes an automatic call using the telephone number data stored in the telephone number storage means 14B.

If the data transmission means 18B is connected to the terminal device 5B or the terminal device 6B to be transmitted by the data transmission means 18B by the automatic call, the data transmission means 18B transfers the image information data stored in the data storage means 15B to the electronic exchange. It is sent to the terminal device 5B or the terminal device 6B via 2B.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of one arbitrary site according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 5, first, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the communication is real-time communication. If it is real-time communication, the line is connected to the partner terminal device in step S2. In step S3, it is determined whether or not the communication is finished, and if it is finished, step
The line is disconnected in S4. And then
The process ends.

If it is determined in step S1 that the communication is not real-time communication, in step S5 it is determined whether the transferred data is the data output from the terminal device of the base or the data output from the gateway processor of another base. Is determined.

If the data is output from the gateway processor at another site, telephone number data is stored in step S6, and image information data is stored in step S7. In step S8, an automatic call is made to the partner terminal device using the telephone number data, and after the partner terminal device and the gateway processor are connected, in step S9 image information data is sent to the partner terminal device. Send. Then, the process ends.

In step S8, if the gateway processor and the other party's terminal device cannot be connected by one call, automatic call is made a plurality of times at predetermined intervals.

If the connection with the other terminal device cannot be established even if the call is made a plurality of times, without performing the process of step S9,
This is notified to the gateway processor and the transmission side terminal device at the transmission side base.

If it is determined in step S5 that the transferred data is the data output from the terminal device of the base, the telephone number data is stored in step S10,
Further, data such as image information is stored in step S11. In step S12, the telephone number data and image information data are transmitted to the electronic exchange to which the terminal device on the other end is connected.

As is clear from the above description, in the first embodiment, all the data to be communicated is stored in the storage device at the location to which the transmitting terminal device is connected, except that communication by telephone call is performed. , All the data to be communicated from the storage device to the storage device at the site to which the other terminal device is connected, store the data, and send the data to the other terminal device based on the data stored in the storage device. Communicate.

Therefore, when data communication is performed from the transmitting terminal device, even if the other terminal device is performing data communication with another terminal device, the communication from the transmitting terminal device through the line is only required once. As a result, the frequency of use of the line is reduced.

By the way, when a failure occurs in the multiplexing device 1, the electronic exchange 2, the gateway processor 3, the storage device 4, the facsimile control device 7, the interface device 8 or the line or the like arranged at each base, the failure is found. However, unless repaired, the signal indicating that the other terminal device cannot be connected will be transferred to the transmitting terminal device, even though the other terminal device is not communicating, and the unnecessary data communication will Will be done through. This increases the frequency of use of the line.

An embodiment for solving this drawback is shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an arbitrary one site of the second embodiment of the present invention, which is similar to FIG. In FIG. 6, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 represent the same or equivalent portions, and thus the description thereof will be omitted.

As is clear from the comparison between FIG. 6 and FIG.
This embodiment is the electronic exchange 2 shown in the first embodiment.
The failure detection means 21 is connected to the
The display means 22 is connected to.

Each of the multiplexer 1 and the electronic exchange 2 has a self-diagnosis function, a line diagnosis function, etc., and outputs various diagnostic signals. The failure detecting means 21 is the multiplexing device 1 at the site.
Also, various diagnostic signals output from the electronic exchange 2 are monitored, and when a diagnostic signal is detected, a failure / fault display signal (message data) corresponding to the diagnostic signal is output to the display means 22. The function of the failure detection means 21 is, for example, a table (not shown) in the failure detection means 21 in which various diagnostic signals output from the multiplexer 1 and the electronic exchange 2 and message data corresponding to the diagnostic signals are stored in advance. ), The message data corresponding to the diagnostic signal is output to the display means 22 when the diagnostic signal is detected.

With such a configuration, failures of the electronic exchange 2, the multiplexer 1, and the line (the line 100 and the line between the electronic exchanges and the terminal devices) at the base are collectively collected by the gateway processor at the base. It will be displayed as such, and it is possible to easily monitor the failure / fault of the base. As a result, the network system fails
Even if a failure occurs, it can be restored in a short time.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of a modification of the second embodiment of the present invention, which is similar to FIG. In FIG.
6 that are the same as those in FIG. 6 represent the same or equivalent parts.

As is clear from the comparison between FIG. 7 and FIG. 6, this modification is the one shown in FIG. 6 to which message data sending means 23 is added. The message data sending means 23 sends the message data output from the failure detecting means 21 to a gateway processor arranged at a base other than the base. The message data sending means 23 modulates the message data as needed.

With such a configuration, the message data corresponding to the failure of the electronic exchange 2, the multiplexing device 1, the line, etc. at the base is sent to the gateway processor at the other base and displayed.

As a result, in the case of sending data from any one gateway processor to the other gateway processor, each gateway processor, depending on the failure, failure, etc. of the site where the other gateway processor is arranged,
The data transfer can be controlled.

In other words, each gateway processor can determine whether or not to send data, depending on the failure / fault of other bases, and thus, in any case,
Data can be transferred between the gateway processors by using the line once.

In the case of the configuration shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, it goes without saying that the message data output from the failure detecting means 21 may be further sent to each terminal device.

As described above, since the gateway processor 3 is a computer device, control other than the control described above, for example, data processing according to data output from each terminal device, may be performed, if necessary. It is natural. That is, it can be used as a host computer of a terminal device connected to each site.

In addition, the format of the network is a mesh type, a tree type, etc.
Of course, any format is acceptable.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the following effects are achieved.

(1) In the network system according to claim 1, since the terminal device on the transmitting side can perform data communication even when the terminal device on the other side is communicating with another terminal device, The frequency of use is reduced, and the utilization rate can be improved.

In addition, the time for the operator of the terminal device to engage with the terminal device is reduced.

(2) In the network system according to the second aspect of the invention, since the failure status of the electronic exchange and / or the line of the site is collectively displayed on the gateway processor of each site, monitoring of the network system is performed. Can be done easily. As a result, even if a failure occurs in the network system, the network system can be quickly repaired and the line utilization rate can be further improved.

(3) In the network system according to the third aspect of the invention, the gateway processor of each base can monitor the failure of the other base, so that the gateway processor responds to the failure state of the other base. It is possible to decide whether or not to transfer the data via the line. Therefore, in any case, the data transfer between the gateway processors can be performed only once by using the line, and the line utilization rate can be maximized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an arbitrary one site according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electronic exchange and its peripheral equipment at any one of the locations. FIG. 4 shows a terminal device 5A or a terminal device 6A connected to the electronic exchange 2A located at the A site, and a terminal device 5B or a terminal device 6B connected to the electronic exchange 2B located at the B site.
It is a functional block diagram of the 1st example of the present invention in the case of transmitting data, such as image information. FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of one arbitrary site according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an arbitrary one site according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an arbitrary one site of the modification of the second embodiment of the present invention. 1,1A, 1B …… Multiplexing device, 2,2A, 2B …… Electronic exchange, 3,3
A, 3B ... Gateway processor, 4,4A, 4B ... Storage device, 5,5A, 5B, 6,6A, 6B ... Terminal device, 11,11A, 11B ... Data communication discrimination means, 12,12A, 12B …… Transmission / reception discrimination means, 1
3,13A, 13B ... Data discrimination means, 14,14A, 14B ... Telephone number storage means, 15,15A, 15B ... Data storage means, 16,16B ...
... Automatic calling means, 17,17A ... Gateway processor designation means, 18,18A, 18B ... Data transmission means, 21 ... Fault detection means, 22 ... Display means, 23 ... Message data transmission means, 99, 99A, 99B …… Relay station, 100 …… Line

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A network system in which a plurality of electronic exchanges are connected by lines, a data processing terminal device connected to each electronic exchange, a gateway processor connected to each electronic exchange, and a gateway processor And a data communication determination unit that determines whether or not the communication is real-time communication, and a storage unit that is connected and has areas for storing data such as telephone number data and image information. Means for connecting the line to the partner terminal device when the data communication determination means determines that the data is transferred, and the transferred data when the data communication determination means determines that the communication is not real time communication. It was output from another gateway processor A transmission / reception discriminating means for discriminating whether or not, a data discriminating means for decomposing the transferred data into data such as telephone number data and image information and transferring the respective data to the storage means, and the transferred data for other gateways. When the data is output from the processor, automatic calling means for automatically calling the other terminal device based on the telephone number data stored in the storage means, and the transferred data from another gateway processor. When it is output, while the data such as the image information stored in the storage means is sent to the other terminal device, when the transferred data is not output from another gateway processor, The telephone number data and image information data stored in the storage means are output to the gateway processor to which the terminal device on the other side is connected. A network system comprising a data transmission means. 2. The gateway processor detects a failure of an electronic exchange and a line connected to the gateway processor, and outputs a message data corresponding to the failure, and a failure detection means for outputting the message data. 3. The network system according to claim 2, further comprising display means for displaying the message data. 3. The gateway processor according to claim 2, further comprising message data sending means for sending the message data output by the failure detecting means to another gateway processor. Network system.