PURPOSE: To smooth the advancement of a television conference by transferring data to the opposite side of the conference by automatic connection prior to the start of the conference.

CONSTITUTION: When an automatic connection transfer mode for a system control part 15 is selected through an operation part 10, a specific sub-address for forced termination is added and the opposite side is called. When the sub- address is detected on the terminating side, a picture file receiving state is set up and both terminals are mutually connected. On the receiving side, transferred data are stored and managed in a storing/reproducing part 11. Thereby even if a called party is absent, data can be distributed to the called side prior to the start of a conference and the conference can be advanced while collating the data, so that the conference can be smoothly advanced.