JPH10178531A - Communication terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve probability that communication is established in resending by resending through a system that is different from the communication system which did not previously establish communication at the time of resending. SOLUTION: An NCU 4 and a modem 5 are connected to a CPU 1. Although the modem 5 initially decides a communication speed according to V.8 communication procedure, it basically precedes V.34 communication procedure which is full-duplex communication in that case and when it is not available, it uses, e.g. V.17 communication procedure which has a lower capability and is half- duplex communication. The CPU 1 decides whether full-duplex communication according to the V.34 communication procedure is performed or half-duplex communication according to the V.17 communication procedure is performed. The CPU 1 makes the modem 5 preferentially carry out transmission through the full-duplex communication system, and to resend it through the half-duplex communication system when communication is not established due to a communication failure.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication terminal device such as a facsimile device, and more particularly, to a communication terminal device which starts transmission once and stops communication due to a line condition or the like. The present invention relates to a communication terminal device capable of improving a transmission success rate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a communication terminal device such as a facsimile device converts a digital signal into a voice signal at the time of transmission and transmits it to a general public telephone line, and receives a voice signal from the general public telephone line at the time of reception. And a modem for converting the signal into a digital signal. by the way,
In communication using such a modem, unlike communication of a voice signal by ordinary conversation, it is important not only to cut off the line but also to transmit the signal correctly.

On the other hand, the conventional facsimile communication uses a half-duplex system, for example, a modem which conforms to the ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector) recommendation V.17 communication procedure and the like. It is performed according to the procedure specified in Recommendation T.30, which is also a facsimile communication procedure of the G3 standard. However, the maximum transmission speed in accordance with Recommendation V.34 is
An ultra-high-speed 33.6 Kbps communication procedure (hereinafter referred to as V.34 communication procedure) has also been put into practical use, and this V.34 communication procedure enables full-duplex communication. When facsimile communication is performed in the V.34 communication procedure, it is necessary to determine the actual communication speed by performing the pre-procedure in the same recommendation V.8 communication procedure.

[0004]

In the V.34 communication procedure as described above, in other words, when performing full-duplex communication, the band is narrowed because two carriers are used, and the influence of noise is reduced. Therefore, there is a problem that the possibility of occurrence of a communication failure increases depending on the situation of the communication line at that time, and the probability that communication cannot be established increases.

[0005] Under such circumstances, a past communication result is recorded for a specific communication partner, and a communication method which is considered to be surely successful in communication is automatically adopted each time communication is executed. A communication terminal device such as a facsimile device is also known. However, the status of the communication line changes every moment, and communication may fail with past communication results. Conversely, if the past communication results were obtained at a time when the condition of the communication line was particularly bad,
Normally, higher speed communication should be possible, and communication cost is wasted.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and when communication can be performed using a plurality of communication methods in which priorities are determined in advance, communication attempted in accordance with the priority may cause a communication failure. Therefore, when communication is not completed, information on the fact is stored, and when retransmitting, by referring to the stored communication result information, the probability of establishing communication at the time of retransmission is reduced. An object is to provide a communication terminal device that can be improved.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A communication terminal device according to the present invention has a first communication system and a first communication system which has relatively low efficiency as compared with the first communication system but has a low probability of occurrence of a communication failure. 2
A communication means capable of at least two types of communication methods, and a communication means for executing transmission by priority using the first communication method, and a second communication method when communication cannot be established due to a communication failure. And control means for retransmitting in a system.

In such a communication terminal apparatus of the present invention, at the time of retransmission, retransmission is performed in a communication method different from the communication method in which communication could not be previously established, so that the probability of establishing communication is improved.

A communication terminal device according to the present invention includes a communication means capable of performing a full-duplex communication method and a half-duplex communication method; Storage means for storing information relating thereto, and control means for selecting any one of a full-duplex communication method and a half-duplex communication method according to the stored contents of the storage means upon retransmission and causing the communication means to retransmit the data. It is characterized by the following.

[0010] In the communication terminal device of the present invention, transmission is performed by preferentially using more efficient full-duplex communication, and if communication is not probable, the data is stored in the storage means. At the time of retransmission, retransmission is performed in half-duplex communication, and the probability of establishing communication is improved. If the communication partner is busy, retransmission is performed again in full-duplex communication. Thus, a decrease in communication efficiency is avoided.

Further, in the communication terminal device according to the present invention, the storage means stores communication failure information only for communication requiring retransmission, and communication which has been completed normally or communication cannot be established a predetermined number of times. It is characterized in that information on communication failures relating to communication is erased.

In such a communication terminal device of the present invention, since the past communication information only needs to be stored for the communication partner waiting for retransmission, the hardware capacity of the storage means can be reduced.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an embodiment in which a communication terminal device according to the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as the present device) is embodied as a facsimile device.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a CPU (central processing unit) which functions as a control unit of the facsimile apparatus, and a ROM (Read) in which a program for controlling the operation of the entire facsimile apparatus is stored in advance. Only Memor
y) RAM that functions as a storage unit that stores 2 and data necessary for control by the CPU 1, for example, data such as a redial table 31 and a communication management table 32, or data that needs to be temporarily stored during operation. (Random Acc
ess Memory) 3 is connected.

The CPU 1 has an NCU (Network Control Unit).
nit) 4 and modem 5 are connected. NCU 4 is CPU 1
, And controls the connection between the line L and the facsimile machine, and has a function of transmitting a dial pulse corresponding to the telephone number of the communication partner and a function of detecting an incoming call. The line L is connected to a general public telephone line (not shown). The modem 5 modulates and demodulates the transmission / reception data, specifically, modulates the transmission data into an audio signal.
Sends out to line L via NCU 4 and vice versa
The audio signal received via U4 is demodulated into a digital signal. Although there are products with various capabilities as the modem 5, in this example, it is assumed that the modem 5 can perform the V.34 communication procedure.

The CPU 1 is further connected to a reading unit 6, an image memory 7, a codec 8, a recording unit 9, an operation unit 10, a display unit 11, and the like. The reading unit 6 reads a document image using, for example, a CCD image sensor. The image memory 7 stores image data read by the reading unit 6 and image data received from outside via the line L and the modem 5. The codec 8 encodes the image data to be transmitted and decodes the received image data. Recorder 9
Records the received image data or the image data read by the reading unit 6 on recording paper (paper). The operation unit 10 includes ten keys for inputting numbers such as telephone numbers, one-touch keys, abbreviated keys, operation keys for instructing various operations, and the like. The display unit 11 includes a CRT display or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) that displays various information such as a telephone number input by operating the operation unit 10.

Next, with respect to the operation of the facsimile apparatus as the apparatus of the present invention having the above-described configuration, a flowchart of FIG. 4 showing the operation procedure of the CPU 1, a redial table 31 and a communication management table 32 set in the RAM 3 This will be described below with reference to the schematic diagrams of FIGS.

First, the redial table 31 will be described. This redial table 31 is set in an appropriate storage area in the RAM 3, and as shown in FIG.
Telephone number of the communication partner waiting for retransmission (the communication partner who needs retransmission) (can be abbreviated number or one-touch dial)
Is used as a search key, the number of retransmissions executed for each, the last retransmission execution time, and the state of a V.34 startup error flag described later (if set,
1 ", and" 0 "if reset).

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the contents of the communication management table 32. The communication management table 32 is a so-called journal memory. When each communication is performed, the telephone number (abbreviated number or one-touch dial) of the communication partner and the transmission according to the V.34 communication procedure or the transmission according to the V.17 communication procedure are stored. Information indicating whether the operation was performed (T4.1 and T
4.3 is a code indicating that communication was not established,
# Indicates that the paper was passed according to the V.34 communication procedure).

In the facsimile apparatus as the communication terminal apparatus according to the present invention, the modem 5 first determines the communication speed according to the V.8 communication procedure. In this case, the V.34 communication procedure which is full-duplex communication is used. Basically, use a V.17 communication procedure, for example, which is less capable and half-duplex when it is not available. However, although the V.34 communication procedure has a high capability, when the communication state is poor, the probability of occurrence of a communication failure is high. On the other hand, although the V.17 communication procedure has a low capability, the probability of occurrence of a communication failure is low even when the communication state is slightly poor.

Hereinafter, according to the flowchart of FIG.
The control procedure of U1 will be described. The CPU 1 constantly monitors the presence or absence of a call request (step S11). In particular,
A call request is made when a user actually performs communication using a facsimile apparatus which is a communication terminal apparatus of the present invention. If a predetermined time, for example, 3 minutes, has elapsed from the time (previous transmission attempt time) stored for each communication partner registered in redial table 31, a call request to that communication partner is made. .

When a call request is made in this way, the CP
U1 obtains various communication information related to the call request.
(Step S12), the analysis is performed. At this time, if the call request relates to a communication newly set by the user, the CPU 1 obtains various communication information input by the user, analyzes the information, and analyzes the communication information for which the call request has failed in the past. In the case of retransmission, the communication information stored in the redial table 31 is obtained and analyzed.

As a result, if the current call request is not a redial ("NO" in step S13), that is, the telephone number requested to be called is a telephone number newly set by the user and the redial table 31 If it is not stored in the V.34, the CPU 1 gives priority to the V.34 communication procedure.
34. Set the V.8 execution flag ("1") for performing the necessary V.8 communication procedure as a pre-procedure to the communication procedure (step S14).

On the other hand, if it is a redial (step S1
If "YES" in 3), that is, if the telephone number requested to be called has failed in the past and is stored in the redial table 31, the CPU 1 makes a redial for the same communication partner (telephone number) for the fifth time. Whether or not there is any is read out from the redial table 31 first (step S15). As a result, if it is the fifth redial to the same communication partner (step
"YES" in S15), the CPU 1 deletes the record of the redial table 31 relating to the telephone number (step S16), and ends the processing. In this case, the information identifying the communication partner
It is desirable to display on the display unit 11 a message indicating that communication with the user (for example, a telephone number, an abbreviated number, or the like) is impossible.

If it is not the fifth redial to the same communication partner, more specifically, if it is the fourth redial ("NO" in step S15), the CPU 1 sets the telephone number for which the call is requested. Correspondingly, the state of the V.34 startup error flag stored in the redial table 31 is read, and it is determined whether or not the flag is set ("1") ("0") (step S17). Here, if the V.34 startup error flag is set ("
YES ”) means that full-duplex communication was attempted in the last attempted communication but was unsuccessful, in which case half-duplex communication was used in retransmission. 17
Clear the V.8 execution flag to perform the communication procedure ("
0 ”) (step S18) On the other hand, if the V.34 startup error flag is not set (step S17)
“NO” means that the full-duplex communication was successful in the last attempted communication. In this case, the V.8 communication procedure to perform the V.34 communication procedure, which is full-duplex communication, is performed. The execution flag is set ("1") (step S14).

With the above processing, the CPU 1 performs full-duplex communication according to the V.34 communication procedure or half-duplex communication according to the V.17 communication procedure to the communication party requested to make a call. Decide what to do. In short, when the call request is the first time directly requested by the user, the V.34 communication procedure which is full-duplex communication is prioritized, and the redial but the V.34 communication procedure is performed immediately before the transmission attempt. If the full-duplex communication by V.34 did not fail, the V.34 communication procedure has priority, and if redialing and the full-duplex communication by the V.34 communication procedure failed during the immediately preceding transmission attempt, , V.17 communication procedure, which is half-duplex communication, is performed without performing the V.34 communication procedure.

Next, the CPU 1 determines the state of the V.8 execution flag (step S21). If the V.8 execution flag is not set ("0") ("NO" in step S21),
The CPU 1 starts the T.30 procedure, which is a normal facsimile communication procedure, with the V.17 communication procedure, which is half-duplex communication, or a communication procedure with a lower capacity (step S22). If the V.8 execution flag is not set ("0"), it is limited to the case of redial. If the facsimile communication by the half-duplex communication is completed normally ("YES" in step S23), the CPU 1 deletes information stored in the redial table 31 regarding the communication partner (step S24). finish. However, in this case, if there is another call request, it goes without saying that the process returns to step S11 and the above-described processing is performed again.

When the above-described facsimile communication by half-duplex communication is not completed normally ("NO" in step S23)
, CPU 1 is a redial table 3 for the communication partner.
1 is updated (step S25). Specifically, the number of retransmissions corresponding to the telephone number of the communication partner in the redial table 31 is incremented by "1".

On the other hand, if "NO" in the step S21, that is, if the V.8 execution flag is set ("
1 "), the CPU 1 first determines the communication speed by performing the V.8 communication procedure, which is the startup processing of the V.34 communication procedure, in order to perform full-duplex communication according to the V.34 communication procedure (step S31). ).

However, if the V.8 communication procedure, which is the startup processing of the V.34 communication procedure in step S31, is not completed normally ("NO" in step S32), the CPU 1
Sets the V.34 startup error flag ("1")
Then, the communication partner and the communication method are stored in the communication management table 32 in association with each other (step S34), and new registration or update of the redial table 31 is performed (step S35). Specifically, if the communication is a communication newly set by the user, the telephone number, the number of retransmissions (in this case, “0”), the time, and the state of the V.34 startup error flag (“1”) "Or" 0 ") is newly registered in the redial table 31. In the case of redial, the content of the number of retransmissions in the redial table 31 corresponding to the telephone number is incremented by "1", the time is updated, and the state of the V.34 startup error flag (""
1 ”or“ 0 ”).

On the other hand, when the start-up processing of the V.34 communication procedure has been completed normally (“YES” in step S32)
The CPU 1 executes the original facsimile communication in accordance with the V.34 communication procedure which is full-duplex communication (step S41). this
If the facsimile communication by the V.34 communication procedure is completed normally ("YES" in step S42), the CPU 1 stores the communication partner and the communication method in the communication management table 32 in association with each other (step S43). Further, the information stored in the redial table 31 for the communication partner is deleted (step
S44), the process ends. However, in this case, if there is another call request, it goes without saying that the process returns to step S11 and the above-described processing is performed again.

If the facsimile communication by the V.34 communication procedure in step S41 has not been completed normally ("NO" in step S42), the CPU 1 stores the communication partner and the communication system in the communication management table 32 in association with each other. (Step S45),
Further, after performing the processing of the above-described step S35, that is, the processing of newly registering or updating the redial table 31, the processing is terminated. However, in this case, if there is another call request, it goes without saying that the process returns to step S11 and the above-described processing is performed again.

Therefore, in the first communication in which the user has made the direct setting, the V.34 communication procedure which is full-duplex communication is tried with priority, and the facsimile communication is normally completed in full-duplex communication. Ends the processing as it is. However, the capability of the other party's modem obtained from the result of the communication by the V.8 communication procedure, which is the startup processing of the V.34 communication procedure, in other words, from the communication speed determined by the V.8 communication procedure, or from the communication It is determined from the state of the line that full-duplex communication is not possible, and half-duplex communication is performed during redialing. However, the V.8 communication procedure, which is the start-up processing of the V.34 communication procedure, ended normally, but
If the V.34 communication procedure fails, it is basically assumed that full-duplex communication is possible, and full-duplex communication is performed even when redialing.

[0034]

As described in detail above, according to the communication terminal apparatus of the present invention, at the time of retransmission, the communication is retransmitted in a communication method different from the communication method in which communication could not be established last time. The probability of being established is improved.

According to the communication terminal apparatus of the present invention as described above, transmission is performed by preferentially using more efficient full-duplex communication, and if communication is not probable, the data is stored in the storage means. Is done. And when retransmitting, the probability of retransmission being performed by half-duplex communication and communication being established is improved,
When the communication partner is busy, retransmission is performed again by full-duplex communication, and a decrease in communication efficiency is avoided.

Further, according to the communication terminal apparatus of the present invention as described above, since the past communication information need only be stored for the communication partner waiting for retransmission, the hardware capacity of the storage means can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an embodiment when a communication terminal device of the present invention is embodied as a facsimile device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the contents of a redial table of the communication terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing contents of a communication management table of the communication terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the communication terminal device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the communication terminal device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU, 3 RAM, 5 modem, 31 redial table.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04L 5/16 H04L 13/00 311

Claims (3)

[Claims] At least two types of communication systems, a first communication system and a second communication system having a relatively low efficiency but a low probability of occurrence of a communication failure as compared with the first communication system, are provided. Possible communication means, and control means for causing the communication means to perform transmission preferentially in the first communication method, and retransmitting in the second communication method when communication cannot be established due to a communication failure. A communication terminal device comprising: 2. A communication means capable of a full-duplex communication method and a half-duplex communication method, and stores information relating to a communication failure when a transmission failure occurs in the full-duplex communication method by the communication means. Storage means; and control means for selecting either a full-duplex communication method or a half-duplex communication method according to the storage contents of the storage means at the time of retransmission and causing the communication means to retransmit the data. Communication terminal device. 3. The storage means stores the information on the communication failure only for the communication that needs to be retransmitted, and deletes the information on the communication failure on the communication that has been completed normally or the communication for which the communication has not been established a predetermined number of times. 3. The communication terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the communication terminal device is adapted to do so.