JP2002359645A - Facsimile server - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily sort received image data in a document management system. SOLUTION: The facsimile server receives an Internet facsimile document and a G3 facsimile document or the like and reads image data by means of a scanner, converts the document or the data into a file attached to electronic mail and transmits the resulting electronic mail to a destination. The facsimile server decides a transfer destination according to prescribed transfer conditions and attaches a keyword to the electronic mail when transmitting the electronic mail. A receiver side uses the attached keywords to efficiently apply document management.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile server, and more particularly to a process for transferring received facsimile data and a read original.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A facsimile server having an Internet facsimile function serves as an interface between a normal facsimile such as a G3 facsimile and a network such as the Internet or a LAN, and also serves as a network scanner in a LAN or the like. The facsimile data such as G3 received from the public telephone network and the image data read by the scanner are converted into an attached file of an e-mail and transmitted to the network, and sorted by a client or a user by a document management system or the like. However, on the receiving side, even if facsimile data or image data is received as an attached file, it is difficult to sort them, and efficient document management cannot be performed.

[0003]

A basic object of the present invention is to incorporate a predetermined keyword for each transfer destination into an e-mail to be transferred and to use the keyword on the receiving side to facilitate document management. ~ 3). An additional object of the present invention is to provide a means for inputting a keyword to a keyword table to further facilitate document management on the receiving side.

[0004]

According to the present invention, a facsimile server which transfers received facsimile data or image data read by a scanner as electronic mail via a network is added to a transfer destination and an electronic mail for each transfer condition. A keyword storing means for providing a table in which keywords are stored, reading out keywords corresponding to transfer conditions from the keyword table, adding the keywords to an e-mail to be transferred, and transferring the keywords to a corresponding transfer destination; (Claim 1).

[0005] Preferably, the keyword adding means adds a keyword to a header or a body of the electronic mail (claim 2). Preferably, a keyword input means for inputting a keyword to be added to the electronic mail into the keyword table is provided.

[0006]

According to the present invention, received facsimile data or image data read by a scanner is converted into an attached file of an e-mail, and the converted data is sent to the Internet or LA.
When sending to a network such as N, a transfer destination and a keyword which are set in advance for each transfer condition are referred to, and a transfer destination corresponding to the transfer condition and a keyword to be added to the electronic mail are obtained from the keyword table. . Then, the corresponding keyword is added to the e-mail to be transferred, and transferred to a predetermined transfer destination. In the document management system that receives the e-mail, it becomes possible to sort the transferred facsimile data using keywords such as the sender, date and time of reception, and the content of the attached file of the e-mail. Processing in the system is facilitated (claim 1). As the transfer conditions, for example, a mail address of the sender, a TSI (source number), and the like are used, and a transfer destination and a keyword are defined in advance for each transfer condition.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided means for adding a keyword to the header or body of the electronic mail (claim 2). The location where the keyword is added is set not in the attached file but in the header or the body, and is determined in the keyword table for each transfer condition so that the mail client can easily manage the document.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the user can input an appropriate keyword into the keyword table, the receiving side can more easily perform document management such as sorting of image data.

[0009]

An embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. A facsimile server 2 transmits and receives a conventional facsimile such as a G3 facsimile via a public telephone network (PSTN), and transmits and receives an Internet facsimile via the LAN 4 and the mail server 6. Here, the public telephone network includes a facsimile network such as an F-net. Reference numeral 7 denotes an individual mail client, and reference numeral 8 denotes a document management system, which may be provided with a dedicated server, or may be provided as document management software on a personal computer or the like of an administrator of the LAN 4. The facsimile server 2 creates an e-mail with the received facsimile data such as G3 as an attached file, and transmits it via the mail server 6 to the document management system 8 of the LAN 4 or a destination on the Internet. When the facsimile server 2 is used as a network scanner, an e-mail having an image file created by reading a document as an attached file is created, and the e-mail is similarly sent via the mail server 6 to the LAN.
4 to the document management system 8, the mail client 7, and the destination on the Internet.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the facsimile server 2; 20 is a main control unit; 22 is a network control unit;
Is a modem, and the network controller 22 uses a public telephone network (PST).
N), and the modem 24 communicates with the modem 24 for facsimile transmission / reception. 26 is an image memory,
Stores image data compressed for facsimile communication,
Is a RAM for storing uncompressed image data and the like. 3
Reference numeral 0 denotes a ROM storing a control program and the like. Reference numeral 32 denotes a display unit having a display such as an LCD. Reference numeral 34 denotes an operation unit, which includes, for example, a touch panel provided on the LCD display, input keys such as numeric keys, and the like.

Reference numeral 35 denotes a keyword input unit for inputting a keyword to the keyword table 52, and for inputting and selecting a keyword to be added to the From, the subject, and the body of the e-mail header. From the keyword input unit 35, any character string can be input as a keyword within a range that can be input.
Set the type of keywords that occur in and the necessity of addition,
In addition, it accepts input and setting of free keywords. Further, a keyword can be input and set in the keyword table 52 so as to store and add a keyword corresponding to each transfer condition generated by the keyword adding unit 50. For example, when an instruction from the boss is sent by facsimile with a specific source number, keywords such as [instructions from ...], [important], and [urgent] are added to the source number. Can be set. A scanner 36 scans a document image and reads image data. A recording unit 38 prints the received image or the image read by the scanner 36.

Reference numeral 42 denotes a LAN interface.
4 is connected. LAN interface 42
Mail server and mail client via LAN4,
Connected to a document management system or the like. As described above, the facsimile server 2 also functions as a network scanner or a network printer. The keyword adding unit 50 selects a keyword from the keyword table 52 for each transfer condition and adds the keyword to the electronic mail. The transfer destination is also stored in the keyword table 52 for each transfer condition, and depending on the transfer destination, the keyword stores, for example, the facsimile number of the transmission source, the content of the data, and the like, and is used when managing the document at the transfer destination. The keyword may be selected from the keyword table 52 or input from the keyword input unit 35.

FIG. 3 shows the keyword table 52.
Reference numeral 54 denotes a transfer condition storage unit, which is a mail address of a transmission source of the Internet facsimile and a TS of the facsimile data.
I (source number) and the like are stored. When facsimile data or the like that matches the transfer conditions is received, the facsimile data or the like is transferred to a transfer destination that is determined in advance by a transfer condition for each transmission source. At the time of this transfer, a keyword is added to facilitate document management of e-mail and facsimile data on the receiving side. The transfer destination and the keyword to be added are determined in advance by the user for each transfer condition, and are stored in the keyword table 52 together with the place where the keyword is added to the electronic mail. Reference numeral 56 denotes a transfer destination storage unit for each transfer condition, and 58 denotes a keyword addition location storage unit that defines a keyword addition location.
Numeral 0 is a keyword data storage unit storing a keyword to be added.

The keyword table 52 will be further described. For example, the From of the header portion of the received Internet facsimile is {james} abc. com}, {patent application document} is added as a keyword to the subject of the e-mail header, and this e-mail is
ffice1 @ xyz. com. For the facsimile data received by the facsimile server from a G3 facsimile or the like, if the TSI (source number) is {06-612-345}, 06-612-345 is used as a keyword in the From of the e-mail to be transferred. To indicate the sender to the receiver. TSI ゛ 06-
If the sub-address {ID1} is added to 612-345}, even if the source numbers are the same, the table 52
This has priority over references to. For example, in the above TSI {06-612-345}, the sub-address ID1 AB
If C @ is added, the destination is officeex @ x
yz. com, and the document number is added to the text as a keyword.

The source of the keyword table 52 is {leader} abc. In the case of com @, it is assumed that the sender is an important mail that needs to be broadcast at once, and the keyword "broadcast" is added to the subject, and the subject is transferred to a plurality of clients (office1 to z@xyz.com). Note that officeex @ xyz. As shown in the example of transfer to "com", the facsimile server may manage the document number for each distribution condition, and add a serial number (document number) as a keyword to data from the same transmission source.
The document number here is, for example, a number indicating the number of data received from the same source. In the facsimile server, an arbitrary keyword can be added from the keyword input unit 35 for each distribution condition.
That is, in the keyword table 52, information on the procedure of the e-mail or facsimile communication such as the sender number, the F code, and the reception date and time may be registered as the keyword as it is. Considering the convenience described above, an arbitrary keyword convenient for document management may be added.

In the embodiment, the transfer condition is set as the transmission source, and the transmission source and the transfer destination are associated with each other. However, for the transfer condition, for example, a password embedded in the header of Internet facsimile data is used. The personal identification number of the time may be used. Also, the keyword addition location can be arbitrarily determined, such as attaching each part of the header portion, the text, and an attached file together with the manuscript in the e-mail. The keyword addition location can be arbitrarily input from the keyword input unit 35 or the personal computer of the client each time.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which a keyword is added to a received mail and transferred. The facsimile server 2 receives the document, and the sender address of From in the header portion is james @ abc. com. Referring to the keyword table 52, the transfer destination when the transmission source matches the transfer condition is office1 @ xyz. co
In m, the transfer destination extracted from the keyword table 52 is written in To of the header of the e-mail to be transferred. The keyword “patent application document” is added to the subject, and office1 @ xyz. com. Here, another keyword can be added, or a keyword other than the subject can be added to, for example, the text. On the receiving side, as the document management of the patent application documents, jam
Documents from es can be classified and managed by reference numbers and the like.

The operation of the embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When a mail is received via the Internet or the like, a facsimile such as G3 is received from a public telephone line network or the like (step 1), or when the original is directly read by a scanner of the facsimile server (step 2), the facsimile server sends the e-mail Convert to an attached file and create an email header and body. At this time, reference is made to a keyword table in which the transmission source is the transfer condition (step 3). If the transfer condition is met, a transfer destination and a keyword corresponding to the condition are obtained from the keyword table (step 4). Then, as a keyword adding means, a keyword adding place is also obtained from the keyword table, and the keyword is embedded therein (step 5). Thereafter, the data is transmitted to a document management system or the like via the mail server (step 6). When a facsimile server is used as a scanner to read and transmit a document, the facsimile server itself is a transmission source and transmits image data to a predetermined document management system or the like stored in a keyword table as in the past.

If the transfer condition is not stored in the keyword table, a junk mail list or the like is referred to (step 7), and if it is junk mail, a reply is sent to the sender (step 8). If it is necessary to input / change the keyword in the table 52 (step 9), the contents of the table 52 are changed (step 10).

An arbitrary keyword can be input from the keyword input section 35, and the keyword can be added at an arbitrary location such as a header or a body. For this reason, it is possible to assign keywords in accordance with the document management method in the document management system.

Conventionally, even if a facsimile server receives data from an Internet facsimile or G3 facsimile and transfers it to a document management server, document management here is not easy. According to the embodiment, a transfer destination is determined for each source in facsimile data and the like, and a keyword is added at the time of transfer. Therefore, the document management server on the receiving side can easily perform the document management using the keyword and the information of the transmission source.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a connection between a facsimile server, a mail server, and a client according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a facsimile server according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a table in which transfer conditions and keywords are defined in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing addition of a keyword to a received mail in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of adding a keyword in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Facsimile server 4 LAN 6 Mail server 8 Document management system 20 Main control unit 22 Network control unit 24 Modem 26 Image memory 28 RAM 30 ROM 32 Display unit 34 Operation unit 35 Keyword input unit 36 Scanner 38 Recording unit 42 LAN interface 43 Main bus 50 Keyword Addition Unit 52 Keyword Table 54 Transfer Condition Storage Unit 56 Destination Storage Unit 58 Keyword Addition Location Storage Unit 60 Keyword Data Storage Unit

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Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile server in which received facsimile data or image data read by a scanner is transferred as an e-mail via a network, wherein a transfer destination and a keyword to be added to the e-mail are stored for each transfer condition. A keyword adding means for reading a keyword corresponding to a transfer condition from the keyword table, adding the keyword to an e-mail to be transferred, and transferring the keyword to a corresponding transfer destination. , Facsimile server. 2. The facsimile server according to claim 1, wherein said keyword adding means adds a keyword to a header or a body of said electronic mail. 3. The facsimile server according to claim 1, further comprising keyword input means for inputting a keyword to be added to said electronic mail to said keyword table.