JP2003259070A - Internet facsimile machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] In an Internet facsimile machine,
The quality of communication is improved by appropriately setting the number of calls according to the state of the network load. SOLUTION: The image data is connected to the Internet 50, and the image data is RT by packet communication via the Internet 50.
The RTI facsimile machine 100, which transmits to the I-facsimile apparatus 200 by real-time facsimile communication, stores the number of line breaks that occur when performing real-time facsimile communication, and uses the stored number of line breaks to perform recurrence in real-time facsimile communication. Means is provided for setting the number of calls made when performing a call operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an Internet-compatible network facsimile apparatus which is connected to the Internet and transmits / receives image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Facsimile devices are widely used as familiar OA devices because they can easily send and receive image data such as characters and figures. In recent years, the Internet and LAN (local area network)
2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of Internet, network facsimile machines compatible with the Internet (referred to as Internet facsimile machines) have become popular, and image data of a document read by a scanner can be transmitted and received using a mechanism of electronic mail (also called e-mail). Internet facsimile machines have become popular. However, this type of internet facsimile machine has a problem that it is difficult to perform communication utilizing the respective functions because the communication capacity between the facsimile machines cannot be confirmed immediately.
A network facsimile machine that realizes facsimile communication in real time by packet communication via the Internet (real-time internetwork facsimile machine, hereinafter referred to as "RTI facsimile machine")
Was proposed. Regarding the conventional RTI facsimile apparatus, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-197279 discloses
An RTI facsimile apparatus has been disclosed in which the number of redundant packets to be added can be set so that highly reliable communication can be performed.

[0003]

However, the conventional RTI
The facsimile machine has the following problems. In other words, in a network such as the Internet, when a large number of connected computers and terminal devices perform data communication, and data collisions frequently occur (this state of the network is referred to as "high network load"). )) In ITU-T Recommendation T. 38
There was a problem that the various timers for time-out defined in Section 3 above time out. For this problem, it is possible to update the timer value of the timer according to the network load status (data collision occurrence status). If the timer value of the timer is updated, there will be no timeout and appropriate communication will be possible, but if the network load is high, the number of line disconnections will exceed the number of calls, and communication may not end normally. . The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and in an Internet facsimile apparatus, it is possible to appropriately set the number of calls to be made in accordance with the network load situation and improve communication quality. To aim.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an internet facsimile apparatus having means for connecting to a network and real-time facsimile communication means for transmitting and receiving image data by packet communication via the internet. A storage unit that stores the number of line disconnections that occur when the real-time facsimile communication is performed by the real-time facsimile communication unit, a unit that stores the number of line disconnections in the unit, and the line that is stored in the storage unit. An internet facsimile apparatus provided with means for setting the number of calls when the real-time facsimile communication means performs a recalling operation by using the number of disconnections. This Internet facsimile machine is a ping command issuing means for issuing a ping command, and a p command transmitted in response to the ping command issued by the means.
It is advisable to provide a comparison means for comparing the ing response time with the threshold time set to a constant value, and a call number adjustment means for adjusting the number of calls according to the comparison result by the means.

Further, an operation input means for setting a threshold time is provided, and the comparison means is configured to compare the ping response time with the corrected threshold time corrected by the operation input means, and the comparison means is provided. It is preferable that the call number adjustment means is configured to adjust the number of calls according to a comparison result. Further, a table storage unit that associates the packet delay time with the number of calls,
It is preferable that the number of times of calling is adjusted by using the number of times of calling corresponding to the packet delay time set in the search key in the table storage means. Further, a time zone response time storage means for storing the time zone area and the ping response time area in association with each other,
The ping command issuing means adds a ping response time obtained by issuing a ping command at regular time intervals for a fixed time to obtain an average value of the ping response time, and the obtained average value is used for the corresponding time zone described above. Means for storing in the time zone area, and the comparing means is configured to compare the average value of the ping response time corresponding to the time zone set in the search key with the threshold time or the modified threshold time. Preferably.

Further, the present invention provides a ping command issuing means for issuing a ping command in an internet facsimile apparatus having means for connecting to a network and real-time facsimile communication means for transmitting and receiving image data by UDP packet communication via the internet. Comparing means for comparing a ping response time transmitted in response to the ping command issued by the means with a threshold time set with a constant value,
There is also provided an internet facsimile apparatus provided with means for adjusting the number of redundant packets transmitted by the UDP packet communication according to the comparison result by the means.

This Internet facsimile machine is
Response time storage means for each time zone that stores a time zone area and a ping response time area in association with each other, and a ping response time obtained by the ping command issuing means issuing a ping command at regular time intervals during a certain time period. And a means for storing the average value of the ping response times by adding, and storing the obtained average value in the time zone area of the corresponding time zone, wherein the comparing means is the time zone set in the search key. Is preferably configured to compare the average value of the ping response time corresponding to the above with the threshold time. Further, there are provided means for selecting a time zone in which the ping response time stored in the time zone response time storage means is minimum, and means for causing the real-time facsimile communication means to wait until the time zone selected by the means is reached. It is good to provide.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 2 and 3 are system configuration diagrams of a real-time type Internet facsimile system (hereinafter referred to as "RTI facsimile system") configured by the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. The RTI facsimile system is
ITU-T Recommendation T. T.38 according to T.38. It is configured to send and receive facsimile image data by packet communication using the No. 38 communication procedure, and the system configuration shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is conceivable. The present invention can be applied to any of the systems shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The RTI facsimile system shown in FIG. 2 is a so-called gateway type, which is an analog public network (P
G3 equipped with a real-time Internet facsimile function (hereinafter referred to as “RTI facsimile function”) via the Internet 50 and STN networks 31 and 31.
Facsimile device 30 and G equipped with the same function
The three facsimile machines 40 are configured to communicate with each other. This system is a G3 facsimile machine 30.
And the G3 facsimile device 40 are connected to the analog public network (P
STN network) 31, 31, via gateway device 32,
42, and its gateway devices 32, 42
Is connected to the Internet 50. Then, the G3 facsimile device 30 and the gateway device 3
2 and communication between the G3 facsimile apparatus 40 and the gateway apparatus 42, ITU-T Recommendation T.264. 30 according to T.30. 30 communication procedure is applied, and gateway device 32
For communication between the gateway device 42 and the gateway device 42, ITU-T recommendation T.264. T.38 according to T.38. 38 communication procedures apply. A gatekeeper device 51 is connected to the Internet 50.

The RTI facsimile system shown in FIG. The RTI facsimile apparatus 100 mainly having a communication function according to the No. 38 communication procedure and the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 are configured to directly (directly) communicate via only the Internet 50. For communication between the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and the RTI facsimile apparatus 200, the T. No. 38 communication procedure is applied, and each of them and the gatekeeper device 51 are ITU-T recommendation H.264. H.323 standard. The H.323 communication procedure is applied, and address conversion, network control, call control, and the like are performed.

As an internal configuration of the Internet facsimile machine which realizes the communication function shown in FIG. 3, the configuration shown in FIG. 4 can be considered. FIG. 4 shows an RTI facsimile machine 1.
10 is a block diagram showing the main internal configuration of 00. FIG. As shown in the figure, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 includes a CPU 10
1, a ROM 102, a RAM 103, an image storage memory 104, a LAN controller 105 and a transformer 106, a modem 107 and an NCU 108, a DCR 109, a scanner 110, and a plotter 11.
1 and operation panel (also called operation panel) 1
And a transformer 106 and an NCU 10
Each component except 8 is connected to each other by the system bus 113.

The CPU 101 controls the RTI facsimile apparatus 1 according to a program stored in the ROM 102.
00 is a unit that integrally controls the operation of the entire 00 and operates as various means characterizing the present invention. ROM1
02 is a control program executed by the CPU 101, a communication control procedure, a network control procedure, an H.264 standard. H.323 communication procedure, T.T. 38 is a read-only storage means for storing facsimile data transfer procedures according to the No. 38 communication procedure and permanent data. RAM103 is RTI
The storage unit temporarily stores data required for controlling the facsimile apparatus 100 and stores data for performing protocol processing at the time of network control. The image storage memory 104 is a storage unit used to store files when sending and receiving electronic mail and facsimile data.

The LAN controller 105 is a network control means composed of an LSI or the like for decoding data received from the network, encoding data to be transmitted to the network, buffering transmission frames and reception frames. The transformer 106 is a transformer for transmitting and receiving data from the network. The modem 107 modulates the binary coded image data so that it can be transmitted to the public line network (PSTN network) and restores the code of the modulated image data from the destination facsimile machine to the original binary code. For demodulation. The NCU 108 uses a public line network (PSTN network) to send a DTMF (dual tone) of a destination facsimile machine.
It is a detector for detecting and analyzing a multiplex frequency signal.

The DCR 109 compresses and encodes the binary image data read by the scanner 110, and enables the plotter 111 to print the compressed code transmitted from the destination facsimile machine. An encoder / decoder for decoding a value image. The scanner 110 is an image information reading unit that reads data required for a facsimile transmission operation and image information of a document to be transmitted. Plotter 111
Is a writing unit for printing the received or accumulated facsimile data and the like on paper and outputting the same. Operation panel 112
Is composed of various operation keys necessary for the user to input information and the like for causing the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 to perform transmission / reception operations, and a display device such as a liquid crystal display for displaying an operation state and the like. It is an operation input unit that inputs each data by operating the operation keys. In addition,
Information such as the number of callings to be described later is assumed to be stored in the above-mentioned storage means, for example, the RAM 103.

Next, the operation contents of the Internet facsimile machine according to the present invention will be described assuming a system configuration as shown in FIG. FIG. 1 shows the RT described above.
4 is a diagram showing the system configuration of the RTI facsimile system shown in FIG. 3, which is composed of an I facsimile apparatus 100 and an RTI facsimile apparatus 200 having the same configuration. 1 shows the RTI facsimile machines 100 and 200 and the Internet 50,
Illustration of other configurations is omitted. In the explanation below,
It is assumed that the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 operates as the transmitting side and the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 operates as the receiving side. The RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 are connected to each other by TCP (Transmission).
on Control Protocol: Transmission Control Protocol (UDP) or UDP (User Datagram)
Facsimile data is transmitted / received to / from each other by packet communication according to Protocol.

In the case of TCP, communication is exchanged 2
The two devices (terminal A and terminal B) are performing packet communication as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of packet communication by TCP and the packet format. In FIG. 5, packets a1 and a from terminal A are
2, a2 are sequentially transmitted, and when the packet a1 is transmitted, the terminal B which has received it transmits the confirmation response packet b1. However, when the packet a2 is transmitted from the terminal A, the acknowledgment packet b1 is not transmitted from the terminal B and a timeout occurs, so that the packet a2 is continuously transmitted. Further, in the case of TCP, a delay occurs in waiting for an acknowledgment packet on the terminal A side, but the packet order and its contents are guaranteed. The packet format in this case is T.264. 30 data (DIS
/ DCS and other HDLC information and image data) P1 and T.
A header P3 is added to the beginning of the data part including the 30 identifier (T.30 signal identifier) P2.

In the case of the UDP, the terminal A and the terminal B, which exchange communication, perform packet communication as shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of packet communication by UDP and the packet format. U
When using DP, the reliability is low because it is connectionless. Therefore, the packet format by UDP is
T. 30 data P1 and T. A sequence number P4 is added to the 30 identifier P2 for order alignment, and a previously transmitted packet (redundant packet) P5 is added for error recovery at the time of packet loss to form a data part,
The header P3 is added to the beginning of the data part. Thus, the reliability of connectionless UDP communication is improved.

In FIG. 6, packet A0 is transmitted from terminal A to terminal B, packet a2 transmitted before packet a2,
packet a10 to which a1 is added, and packet a in which packets a1 and a2 previously transmitted to packet a3 are added
11 and the packet a transmitted before the packet a4
The packet a12 to which the packets a2 and a3 are added and the packet a13 to which the packets a3 and a4 previously transmitted to the packet a5 are added are sequentially transmitted. At this time, assuming that the packet a12 has disappeared, the error recovery packet (packet a4) added to the packet a13 is used to perform error recovery. The RTI facsimile machine 100 performs real-time facsimile communication operation.
When transmitting image data from the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 to the RTI facsimile apparatus 200, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 perform communication as shown in FIG. FIG. 7 shows an RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and R.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of first communication by TCP packets with the TI facsimile device 200.

In the RTI facsimile apparatus 100,
When the user operates the operation panel 112 to instruct reading of a document, the scanner 110 reads an image of the document and outputs image data. In addition, the RTI facsimile machine 10
Information (destination information) that specifies the transmission destination of 0, for example, IP
When the address is input, transmission of the obtained image data by the RTI facsimile function is instructed. Then LA
The N controller 105 and the transformer 106 operate as a real-time facsimile communication means, and execute the first real-time facsimile communication a for transmitting the image data by packet communication. When transmission is performed by the RTI facsimile function, a large number of computers, terminal devices, and the like (not shown) connected to the Internet 50 perform a large amount of data communication, data collision frequently occurs, and the transmitted data is broken, resulting in a high network load. It may have become. In the RTI facsimile apparatus 100, when the line disconnection occurs several times in the real-time facsimile communication and the CPU 101 catches the line disconnection multiple times,
The CPU 101 executes the operation b in which the number of line disconnections at that time is stored in the RAM 103, and then the second communication preparation c
To execute. It is assumed that a predetermined default value (default number of calls) is set as the number of calls in the first communication.

Here, the number of calling times in facsimile communication by the RTI function will be described. In the RTI facsimile apparatus 100, when the network load is high, a packet may be lost and a time-out may occur, and the line may be disconnected and the image data may not be transmitted to the transmission destination and may be undelivered. The recalling operation is performed as the recovery operation, and the number of times of recalling at this time is the number of times of calling. Then, when the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 next performs a real-time facsimile communication operation and transmits image data, the CPU 101 sets the number of call disconnections stored in the RAM 103 in order to set the number of outgoing calls using the previous communication history. The number of calls is read out and the call number setting d is executed according to the equation 1. Formula 1 Number of calls = Number of line disconnections + n (n is the default number of calls)

Based on the number of callings thus obtained,
The RTI facsimile apparatus 100 executes the second real-time facsimile communication operation e with respect to the RTI facsimile apparatus 200. At this time, when the network load is high again and a line disconnection occurs, the CPU 101 executes the operation f for storing the number of line disconnections at that time in the RAM 103, and then sets the number of call originations in the same manner as described above, The third real-time facsimile communication operation is executed based on the number of times. Thereafter, similarly, the next call number is set from the previous communication history, and the real-time facsimile communication operation is executed based on the set call number. As described above, in the RTI facsimile apparatus 100, when the network load is high and the line is disconnected, the previous communication history is referred to, and the real-time facsimile communication operation is performed based on the number of outgoing calls set by using the number of times of the previous line disconnection. Run. Therefore, the real-time facsimile communication operation reflects the immediately preceding network load situation, and the number of outgoing calls is set according to the load situation, so that the communication quality such as connectivity can be improved.

Next, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and R
Second communication by TCP packets with the TI facsimile device 200 will be described. In the second communication, as described above, before executing the real-time facsimile communication operation, the default call count n is adjusted according to the network load condition at the time of communication. As shown in FIG. 8, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 executes the preparation g for the real-time facsimile communication operation, and then issues the ping command h using the IP address or host name of the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 that is the transmission destination. Execute and investigate the network load situation. That is, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 executes the reception i of the packet delay time (hereinafter referred to as “ping response time”) transmitted by the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 in response to the ping command, and the network load status is calculated from the ping response time by the CPU 101. Judge by.

As described above, when the network load is high, data collisions occur frequently, so the ping command transmission is repeated many times, the response from the receiver becomes slow, the packet delay time becomes long, and the ping response time increases. Becomes longer. Conversely, if the network load is low, p
The ing response time becomes short. From this, it can be considered that the network load status can be determined from the ping response time while being simple. Then, the number-of-calls adjustment process j is executed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 12 to adjust the default number of calls n. Note that step is abbreviated as S in FIG.

When the call number adjustment process j is started, the process proceeds to step 1, and the CPU 101 compares the ping response time with a predetermined value (hereinafter referred to as "threshold time") and compares them. If it is less than the threshold time, it is determined that the network load is low and the process proceeds to step 2. If it is greater than the threshold time, the network load is high and the process proceeds to step 3. C
When the PU 101 proceeds to step 2, it executes a process of reducing the default call count n by a fixed number, and when it advances to step 3, it executes a process of increasing the default call count n by a fixed number, and then performs a call count adjustment process. end j. When this adjusting process j is completed, the processes after the real-time facsimile communication a are executed as shown in FIG. 7 by using the default number of outgoing calls n adjusted by the adjusting process j.

When the real-time facsimile communication is executed as in the first communication, the number of calls is set by referring to the previous communication history, so the number of calls is the network load condition when the communication is actually executed. May not be set according to. However, when the above-mentioned call number adjustment processing j is executed, the ping command is issued before the communication is started, and the call number is adjusted after comparing the ping response time and the threshold time. It is set according to the current network load situation, and it is possible to further improve communication quality such as connectivity. Next, TC between the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and the RTI facsimile apparatus 200
The third communication using P packets will be described. In the third communication, as described above, the threshold time used when performing the call number adjustment processing can be changed.

As shown in FIG. 9, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 executes preparation for real-time facsimile communication operation g, issuance of a ping command h, and reception of a ping response time, and subsequently the number of callings according to the flowchart shown in FIG. The adjustment process k is executed to adjust the number of outgoing calls.
Note that in FIG. 13 also, the step is abbreviated as S. When the call number adjustment process k starts, the process proceeds to step 4, where CP
U101 compares both by judging whether the ping response time is less than or equal to the time (correction threshold time) set by operating the operation panel 112, and if it is less than or equal to the correction threshold time, the process proceeds to step 2 and the correction threshold time. If it is larger than, go to step 3. The processing in steps 2 and 3 is the same as above. Thereafter, the real-time facsimile communication is executed similarly to the second communication. In the second communication, since the threshold time is a constant value, the number of outgoing calls that does not always match the user's network environment may not be set, which causes the number of line disconnections to exceed the number of outgoing calls, thus ensuring normal communication. It may not end. However, if the third communication is used, the user can set the threshold time, so that it is possible to set the number of outgoing calls in conformity with the user's network environment and further improve communication quality such as connectivity. It is possible to improve.

Next, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and R
Fourth communication by TCP packets with the TI facsimile device 200 will be described. In the fourth communication, FIG.
The calling number setting process is performed by referring to the table A shown in FIG. The table A has a packet delay time area A1 and a call count area A2, and stores the packet delay time and the call count in association with each other.
It is provided in. Then, as shown in FIG. 10, preparation for real-time facsimile communication operation g, issuance h of a ping command, and reception i of a ping response time are sequentially executed. Next, the packet delay time acquired by the ping command is set in the search key, the table A is searched, and the corresponding call count corresponding to the search key is acquired from the call count area A2 to determine the call count. Run l. After that, the determined corresponding call number is used as the default call number n, and the real-time facsimile communication a and subsequent steps are executed like the second communication. In the third communication described above, the user has to bother to set the threshold time in order to adapt the number of calls to the network environment, but in the fourth communication the number of calls is determined by the packet delay time acquired by the ping command. Since the setting is made dynamically, it becomes possible for the user to set the number of outgoing calls that suits the network environment without the user having to bother to set the threshold time.

Next, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and R
The fifth communication using the TCP packet with the TI facsimile device 200 will be described. In the fifth communication, FIG.
The table B shown in (1) is created, the ping response time is acquired at regular intervals, and the network load status is investigated by time zone. Table B is ping with time zone B1
A response time area B2 is provided, and the response time of each time zone can be stored by dividing the time from midnight to 24:00 at regular intervals, and is provided in the RAM 103.
In the fifth communication, the RTI facsimile machine 100
In the RAM 103, the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 as the destination is registered (stored) as a transmission destination by one-touch dialing or speed dialing.

Then, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100
Indicates that the CPU 101 has a RAM 103 as shown in FIG.
Access and access the RTI fax machine 2 registered by one-touch dial or speed dial.
A ping command issuance m for issuing a ping command to the destination of 00 at regular time intervals is executed to investigate the network load status at regular time intervals. That is, R
The TI facsimile device 100 executes reception i of the ping response time transmitted from the RTI facsimile device 200 at regular intervals. Then, the response time obtained by executing the reception i is accumulated (added) for a certain period of time, the average value of the ping response time is calculated from the accumulated value for each time zone, and the obtained average value is calculated as the time. Calculation processing of response time for each time zone stored in the corresponding time zone of band area B1
To execute.

After that, when the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 executes the real-time facsimile communication operation with respect to the RTI facsimile apparatus 200, after executing the preparation g for the real-time facsimile communication operation, the table B is searched without issuing the ping command. Then, the average value of the ping response times corresponding to the time zone set in the search key is obtained, the average value is compared with the threshold value or the modified threshold value, and the number of callings is set (p). Executes the same processing as the second to fourth communications. 2nd
As in the fourth communication, if a ping command is issued before the start of communication and the number of calls is determined from the ping response time, overhead occurs in the preprocessing of communication.
If the response time is set without issuing the ping command as in the fifth communication, the overhead of issuing the ping command before the start of communication is eliminated and the communication performance can be improved.

Next, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and R
The sixth communication by the UDP packet with the TI facsimile device 200 will be described. In the sixth communication, the UDP packet communication is executed by adjusting the number of redundant packets according to the network load condition. As shown in FIG.
The facsimile apparatus 100 is the RTI facsimile apparatus 2
The ping command issuance h is executed using the IP address of 00, the reception i of the ping response time transmitted from the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 is executed, and the CPU 101 determines the network load status from the ping response time. Then, the redundant packet number adjustment processing q is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 19 to adjust the redundant packet number. In addition, also in FIG. 19, step is abbreviated as S.
When the redundant packet number adjustment processing q starts, the CPU 1
01 executes step 1, determines whether or not the ping response time is less than a certain threshold time by comparing both, and if it is less than the threshold time, proceeds to step 5 to reduce the number of redundant packets shown in FIG. If it is longer than the threshold time, the process proceeds to step 6 to increase the number of redundant packets.
After executing step 5 or step 6, the process ends. When this adjustment processing q ends, packet communication r with the adjusted number of redundant packets added is executed.

When performing real-time facsimile communication or UDP packet communication, redundant packet control is performed to improve reliability. At that time, if the network load is low, redundant packets are unnecessarily added to lower the communication speed, and if the network load is high, more packets than the number of redundant packets may be lost and an error may occur. RTI facsimile apparatus 100 according to the present invention
According to the above, since the control for adjusting the number of redundant packets to be added according to the network load situation is executed, unnecessary redundant packets are not added and communication quality such as communication speed and connectivity is improved. It will be possible. Next, the seventh communication by the UDP packet between the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 will be described.
In the seventh communication, the redundant packet number adjustment processing is performed with reference to the table B shown in FIG. In the seventh communication, the RAM 103 of the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 stores an R
The TI facsimile device 200 is registered (stored) as a transmission destination by one-touch dialing or speed dialing.
Has been done.

Then, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100
17, the CPU 101 causes the RAM 103 to
To issue the ping command issuance m at regular time intervals and execute the reception i of the ping response time transmitted each time. Then, the response times obtained by executing the reception i are accumulated (added) for a certain time, and the average value of the ping response times is calculated from the accumulated values for each time zone,
A time zone response time calculation process o for storing the obtained average value in the corresponding time zone of the time zone area B1 is executed. Then, when the transmission operation s is started and the real-time facsimile communication operation is executed, the table B is searched without issuing the ping command, and the average of the ping response times corresponding to the time zone set in the search key is averaged. After obtaining the value, the redundant packet number adjusting process t is executed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. This redundant packet number adjustment processing t is the redundant packet number adjustment processing q described above.
Compared with, the step 7 is the same except that step 7 is different. In step 7, the same process as step 1 is executed except that the average value of the ping response time obtained from Table B and the threshold time are compared. After that, the packet communication r with the adjusted number of redundant packets added is executed.

As in the sixth communication, the pin is set before the communication is started.
If the g command is issued and the number of calls is set from its response time, the preprocessing of communication will incur overhead, but as in the seventh communication, the number of calls is set without issuing the ping command. If you do, pi before communication starts
The overhead of issuing the ng command is eliminated and the communication performance can be improved. next,
Eighth communication by UDP packets between the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 and the RTI facsimile apparatus 200 will be described. In the eighth communication, a time zone with a low network load is selected to execute the real-time facsimile communication operation.

As in the seventh communication, p is set at regular intervals.
An ing command issuance m is executed, a ping response time reception i, a time zone response time calculation process o are executed, and a real-time facsimile communication operation u by memory transmission is executed. Then, the CPU 101 refers to the table B to execute the time zone selection v for selecting the time zone with the smallest network load (the time zone with the minimum ping response time). Then, the RTI facsimile apparatus 100 selects the time zone v
The real-time facsimile communication operation is made to stand by until the time zone selected in step 1, and the adjusted number of redundant packets is added at that time zone to execute the packet communication r. In the seventh communication, an appropriate number of redundant packets corresponding to the packet delay time at the time of executing communication is added for memory transmission, but if the network load at that time is high, communication speed, connection The communication quality such as the quality is deteriorated. On the other hand, if the memory transmission is performed to the destination registered in the one-touch dial, the speed dial, etc. as in the eighth communication, the packet communication can be performed in the time zone with the smallest packet delay. It is possible to further improve the communication quality.

[0036]

As described above, according to the Internet facsimile apparatus of the present invention, the number of outgoing calls is set according to the network load condition, so that the communication quality such as connectivity can be improved. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an RTI facsimile system including two RTI facsimile apparatuses according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of a real-time type internet facsimile system configured by the internet facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a real-time type internet facsimile system different from that of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main internal configuration of an RTI facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing contents of packet communication by TCP and a packet format.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing contents of packet communication by UDP and a packet format.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of first communication by TCP packets of two RTI facsimile apparatuses according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of second communication using TCP packets of two RTI facsimile apparatuses according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of third communication using TCP packets of two RTI facsimile apparatuses according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of fourth communication by TCP packets of two RTI facsimile apparatuses according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of fifth communication by TCP packets of two RTI facsimile apparatuses according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a call origination number adjustment process of the second communication using a TCP packet.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a call origination number adjustment process of third communication using a TCP packet.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating the contents of a table that stores the packet delay time and the number of calls that are used in the fourth communication using TCP packets in association with each other.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating the contents of a table that stores a time zone area used in fifth communication using a TCP packet and a ping response time area in association with each other.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of sixth communication by UDP packets of two RTI facsimile apparatuses according to the present invention.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of seventh communication by UDP packets of two RTI facsimile apparatuses according to the present invention.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of eighth communication by UDP packets of two RTI facsimile machines according to the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the procedure of redundant packet number adjustment processing of the sixth communication using UDP packets.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the procedure of redundant packet number adjustment processing of the seventh communication using UDP packets.

[Explanation of symbols]

30,40: G3 facsimile machine 31: Analog public network (PSTN network) 32, 42: Gateway device 50: Internet 51: Gatekeeper device 100, 200: RTI facsimile machine 101: CPU 102: ROM 103: RAM 104: Image storage memory 105: LAN controller 106: Transformer 107: Modem 108: NCU 109: DCR 110: Scanner 111: Plotter 113: System Bus 112: Operation panel

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An internet facsimile apparatus having means for connecting to a network and real-time facsimile communication means for transmitting and receiving image data by packet communication via the internet, wherein real-time facsimile communication is performed by the real-time facsimile communication means. Storage means for storing the number of line disconnections that occur, means for storing the number of line disconnections in the means, and the real-time facsimile communication means using the line disconnection number stored in the storage means And a means for setting the number of outgoing calls when performing the Internet facsimile machine. 2. The internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a ping command issuing means for issuing a ping command, and a ping response time and a constant value transmitted in response to the ping command issued by the means are set. An internet facsimile apparatus, comprising: a comparison means for comparing the threshold time and a number-of-calls adjustment means for adjusting the number of calls according to a comparison result by the means. 3. The internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising operation input means for setting the threshold time, wherein the comparison means compares the ping response time with a corrected threshold time corrected by the operation input means. The Internet facsimile machine is characterized in that the calling number adjusting means is configured to adjust the calling number according to a comparison result of the comparing means. 4. The internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the table storage means that associates the packet delay time with the number of times of calling is included in the packet delay time set in the search key. An internet facsimile apparatus, characterized in that the number of times of calling is adjusted by using the number of times of corresponding calls of the corresponding table storage means. 5. The internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a time zone response time storage unit stores the time zone area and the ping response time area in association with each other, and the ping command issuance. Means ping at regular intervals
And a means for adding the ping response times obtained by issuing the command for a fixed time to obtain an average value of the ping response times, and storing the obtained average value in the time zone area of the corresponding time zone. An internet facsimile apparatus characterized in that the comparison means is configured to compare an average value of ping response times corresponding to a time zone set in a search key with the threshold time or the modified threshold time. . 6. An internet facsimile apparatus having means for connecting to a network and real-time facsimile communication means for transmitting and receiving image data by UDP packet communication via the internet, and a ping command issuing means for issuing a ping command, and the means. Comparing means for comparing a ping response time transmitted in response to the issued ping command and a threshold time set with a constant value, and a redundancy transmitted by the UDP packet communication according to a comparison result by the means. An Internet facsimile machine provided with means for adjusting the number of packets. 7. The internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the response time storage means for each time zone stores the time zone area and the ping response time area in association with each other, and the ping command issuing means pings at regular time intervals.
And a means for adding the ping response times obtained by issuing the command for a fixed time to obtain an average value of the ping response times, and storing the obtained average value in the time zone area of the corresponding time zone. The internet facsimile apparatus, wherein the comparison means is configured to compare an average value of ping response times corresponding to a time zone set in a search key with the threshold time. 8. The internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the pin stored in said time zone response time storage means.
g. An internet facsimile apparatus comprising means for selecting a time zone in which the response time is the minimum and means for holding the real-time facsimile communication means until the time zone selected by the means is reached.