JP2004048451A - Image transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an easily handleable image transmitter for transmitting an image prepared by a scanner device by attaching it to an electronic mail, capable of automatically selecting information such as the sender, title, and text of the electronic mail received from a host device by the scanner device based on the contents of the electronic mail. <P>SOLUTION: This image transmitter 101 is connected through a network 103 to a plurality of terminal equipments 102, and provided with a transmitting means for transmitting an image to the other connected terminal equipment by attaching it to the electronic mail. Also, this image transmitter 101 is provided with a storage means 106 for storing an image, an electronic mail receiving means 111 for receiving the electronic mail from the terminal equipment, an electronic mail analyzing means 113 for analyzing the data of the received electronic mail, and an electronic mail preparing means 115 for preparing an electronic mail attached with the image extracted from the storage means 106. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image transmission device having an e-mail function.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, networking and Internet of office equipment including information processing apparatuses such as PCs are rapidly progressing, and scanners and facsimile products using the network and the Internet are being developed.
As a conventional technology related to a scanner device using the Internet, for example, a technology called Scan to Email is known.
According to this conventional technique, a scanner device connected to the Internet (network) converts scanned image data to create an attached file for e-mail, and sends the attached e-mail to a destination on the Internet. (Host device).
[0003]
Also, in the field of FAX, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-151887, an Internet FAX apparatus that transmits an image scanned by the FAX apparatus to an address (a host apparatus or a FAX apparatus) on the Internet. What is called is known.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The configuration of the above-described conventional Scan to Email will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows a display example of an e-mail sent by Scan to Email according to the conventional technique. A display screen displays a sender address 2, a destination address 4, a title 6, a text 8, and an attached file name 9.
The destination address 4 can be set by inputting with the scanner device or selecting from the address book. As the sender address 2, an e-mail address unique to the scanner device is displayed. In the illustrated example, since the sender address 2 is “scanner @ xx, yy.zz”, the recipient does not know who the sender is.
In addition, since a fixed form stored in the apparatus is automatically given to the title 6, the text 8, and the attached file name 9, information about the attached file cannot be transmitted to the recipient.
[0005]
In other words, this device is a simple device that only specifies the destination of the e-mail. The title and body of the e-mail are automatically given the fixed form stored in the device, and the sender, title, and body Etc. cannot be created and assigned by the user. That is, there is a problem that the image sender cannot transmit detailed information to the image receiver.
On the other hand, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, even when the image receiver side receives an e-mail attached with the image file, the sender's address is an e-mail address unique to the scanner device, and furthermore, the attached file There is a problem that the receiver is inconvenient because there is no information.
[0006]
Further, Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-151887 discloses a configuration that can be identified by giving a title selected from fixed titles to a mail.
[0007]
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems of the related art, and to automatically select an image created by a scanner attached to an e-mail based on the contents of an e-mail received from a host device by the scanner, An object of the present invention is to provide an image transmission device that is easier to use.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The image transmission device of the present invention is connected to a plurality of terminal devices via a network, and includes a transmission unit that transmits an image to another connected terminal device by attaching an image to an electronic mail. A storage unit for storing an image; an electronic mail receiving unit for receiving an electronic mail from the terminal device; an electronic mail analyzing unit for analyzing data of the electronic mail received by the electronic mail receiving unit; And e-mail creating means for creating an e-mail with an image attached from the storage means based on the contents analyzed by the means.
With this configuration, when distributing image data read by the network scanner device by e-mail, instead of inputting e-mail such as destination, subject, and body on the network scanner device side, an instruction by e-mail from the host side is provided. Can be performed.
As a result, the instruction operation by the user is simplified, operability is improved, and operation errors can be reduced.
[0009]
The image transmitting apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that the image transmitting apparatus further includes a notifying unit for notifying the sender when there is no image specified based on the analysis result of the e-mail analyzing unit in the storage unit.
With this configuration, when the image specified by the e-mail from the host does not exist, by notifying the fact, it is possible for the user to cope with retransmission processing and the like.
[0010]
The image transmitting apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that the image transmitting apparatus further comprises means for inputting and providing identification information (ID) to be given to the image when storing the image in the storage means.
With this configuration, by assigning an ID corresponding to the image data, it is possible to select an image based on the ID, thereby improving the operability by the user, shortening the operation time and reducing the number of operation errors. Becomes possible.
[0011]
The identification information input means of the image forming apparatus of the present invention has a password information providing means for inputting and providing password information (such as a password).
With this configuration, it is possible to prevent the image stored in the storage unit from being used by another person. Thereby, confidentiality can be improved.
[0012]
The e-mail creating means of the image transmitting apparatus according to the present invention, wherein the e-mail analyzing means analyzes the e-mail received from the terminal device by the e-mail receiving means, and automatically sets the obtained sender address of the e-mail. Configuration.
With this configuration, when the host computer that has received the e-mail sent from the network scanner device replies the received e-mail, it directly replies not to the network scanner device but to the sender of the terminal that has specified the image attachment. It is possible to do.
[0013]
The e-mail creating means of the image transmitting apparatus of the present invention includes a selecting means for selecting whether to delete or save the image attached to the e-mail from the image storage means after transmitting the e-mail. I do.
With this configuration, if the same image that has been transmitted once is to be transmitted to another destination, the destination e-mail is transmitted, and then the image is retained in the network scanner device without being deleted. It is possible to transmit to.
[0014]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of an image transmission device (hereinafter, referred to as a network scanner device) according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a network including a network scanner device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 101 is a network scanner device, 102 is a personal computer, 103 is a network, 104 is a control unit, 105 is a scanner unit, 106 is an image memory unit, 107 is an operation / display unit, 108 is an image data management unit, and 109 is A LAN interface unit, 110 is a password collating unit, 111 is an email receiving unit, 113 is an email data analyzing unit, 114 is an email creating unit, and 115 is an email sending unit.
[0015]
The network scanner device 101 is connected to a network 103 together with a plurality of personal computers 102. The terminal device (personal computer) 102 connected to the network 103 is assigned a unique e-mail address, and is configured to be able to send and receive e-mail between the personal computers 102. That is, the personal computer 102 has a function as a host machine described later in the embodiment of the present invention and a function to transmit and receive e-mail as a terminal device, and the network scanner device 101 or another personal computer connected to the network 103. An e-mail can be transmitted to and received from the e-mail 102. If an attached file is attached to the received e-mail, the attached image data can be displayed on a display or output by a printer.
[0016]
The network scanner device 101 includes a control unit 104 that controls the entire apparatus, a scanner unit 105 that optically reads an image of a document, and an image memory (storage) unit 106 that accumulates and stores image data captured by the scanner unit 105. And an operation / display unit 107 for displaying on an operation panel (not shown) of the scanner device. When an ID or password is set for image data read from the scanner unit 105 in the operation / display unit 107, An image data management unit 108 for registering a password; a LAN interface unit 109 for connecting the network scanner device 101 to the network 103; a password collation unit 110 for comparing and collating the password set in the received e-mail; PC 1 via An e-mail receiving unit 111 that receives an e-mail from the second e-mail, an e-mail management unit 112 that manages the received e-mail, an e-mail data analysis unit 113 that analyzes the text of the received e-mail, and an e-mail data analysis An e-mail creation unit 114 that creates an e-mail based on the analysis by the unit 113 and an e-mail transmission unit 115 that sends the e-mail to the personal computer 102 and the like via the LAN interface unit 109 are provided.
[0017]
Further, the network scanner apparatus 101 has a unit for inputting and setting an ID and a password to be given when storing an image in the operation / display unit 107, and according to a user operation on an operation panel of the scanner apparatus, Processing such as execution of scanning and input and setting of an ID and a password to be added to the scanned image are performed.
[0018]
When an ID and a password are added to the scanned image read by the scanner unit 105 by operating the operation / display unit 107, the ID and the password are registered in the image data management unit 108, and the scanned image is The image is stored in the image memory unit 106. At this time, information as to which area of the image memory unit 106 is stored is also registered in the image data management unit 108. With this configuration, the corresponding scanned image can be called from the image memory unit 106 by the ID later.
The e-mail data analysis unit 113 cuts out (analyzes) information (sender, destination, title, text, password, ID) described in the text of the received e-mail.
[0019]
The e-mail creation unit 114 creates an e-mail based on the analysis by the e-mail data analysis unit 113 and makes an inquiry about an image to be attached to the image data management unit 108 based on the ID. Upon receiving the inquiry, the image data management unit 108 selects the image data corresponding to the ID from the image data stored in the image memory unit 106, and passes the selected image data to the e-mail creation unit 114. Upon receiving the image data, the e-mail creating unit 114 creates an image file as an e-mail attachment file, and attaches the image file to the e-mail created earlier. Further, as a result of the analysis by the above-described e-mail data analysis unit 113, if a predetermined word or phrase is not found in the mail text, the image data management unit 108 can delete the attached image data from the image memory unit 106. .
[0020]
When the e-mail creating unit 114 inquires the image data managing unit 108 based on the ID, if a password has been set for the image data, the password matching unit 110 checks the password against the password described in the received mail body. I do.
The e-mail transmission unit 115 transmits an e-mail to the personal computer 102 or the like via the LAN interface unit 109.
[0021]
FIG. 2 shows a method in which the e-mail creation unit 114 of the scanner device 101 creates an e-mail actually transmitted from the scanner device 101 based on the description of the e-mail sent from the host machine (terminal) to the network scanner device 101. FIG.
[0022]
FIG. 2A shows an example of an e-mail transmitted from the host machine to the network scanner apparatus 101 and received by the e-mail receiving unit 111. This e-mail includes a destination 30, a title 50, a text 70, an ID (A-5), and a password (A-6) as shown in the illustrated example.
The body 70 includes a destination (A-1), a title (A-2), a body (A-3), an attached file name (A-4), an ID (A-5), and a password according to a prescribed format. Information such as (A-6) is described.
The title (A-2) is a predetermined word or phrase for instructing the network scanner apparatus 101 to automatically attach a scanner image to the e-mail, for example, the content that is to be the title after "automatic attachment:". In the illustrated example, "map of business trip destination" is described continuously.
[0023]
Further, the phrase "image retention: yes" is described as to whether or not the network scanner device 101 should retain the scanner image even after the scanner image is attached to an e-mail and transmitted from the network scanner device 101 (A-7). ).
The e-mail creation unit 114 of the scanner device 101 creates an e-mail based on the contents of the e-mail from the host machine having the above-described configuration, and transmits the e-mail from the e-mail transmission unit 115.
[0024]
FIG. 2B shows an example of an e-mail created and transmitted by the e-mail creation unit 114.
The e-mail is created by setting information of the received e-mail from the host machine in the e-mail content by the e-mail creating unit 114 as described below.
(1) Sender address (B-1): (FIG. 2, sender address of received e-mail)
(2) Address (B-2): ((A-1) of the main text 70)
(3) Title (B-3): ((A-2) of the main text 70)
(4) Text (B-4): ((A-3) of Text 70)
(5) Attached file (B-5): ((A-4) of the main text 70)
[0025]
The title (B-3) of the e-mail to be transmitted is set to the remaining content of the received title 50 from which the above-mentioned predetermined phrase "automatic attachment:" has been deleted.
Furthermore, even after the scanner image is attached to the electronic mail from the network scanner device 101 and transmitted, the word (A-7) for keeping the scanner image in the network scanner device 101 is deleted from the text.
[0026]
Next, control of the network scanner device will be described.
FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are flowcharts illustrating the operation of Scan to Email using the network scanner according to the embodiment of the present invention.
That is, an ID and a password are set for a document image scanned by a user in advance, and the document image data read by the network scanner apparatus 101 and the e-mail describing information such as the text and destination of the e-mail are transmitted to a personal computer. The data is transmitted from the host machine such as 102 to the network scanner 101. The received network scanner apparatus 101 automatically creates an e-mail as shown in FIG. 2B based on the information of the received e-mail, makes the document image data an attached file, and attaches and sends the attached file. It is.
[0027]
<Figure 3: Operation of reading original image to network scanner>
The user causes the network scanner device 101 to read a document image (for example, a map) as image data (step 101).
At this time, in order to set an ID and a password for the read image data, the user inputs and sets the ID and the password from the operation / display unit 107 (step 102). The image data management unit 108 stores the read image data (for example, a map) in the image memory unit 106 (Step 103).
Further, the image data management unit 108 records the area information of the image memory unit 106 storing the above-described image data and a database for managing the ID and password of the image data (step 104).
[0028]
<FIG. 4: Transmission instruction method from user PC 102>
The network scanner apparatus 101 detects that an e-mail (the contents of the e-mail are created based on FIG. 2 described above) transmitted from the personal computer PC 102 by the user via the network 103 reaches the LAN interface unit 109. Wait (step 105).
An e-mail transmitted by the user from the personal computer PC 102 reaches the LAN interface unit 109 via the e-mail receiving unit 111, and when the e-mail is received by the unit 109, the e-mail data analysis unit 113 analyzes the received e-mail. .
[0029]
In the analysis by the electronic mail data analysis unit 113, first, it is checked whether or not the title includes a predetermined phrase instructing execution of the automatic image attachment process (step 116).
If it is determined in step 116 that the predetermined phrase is not included in the title of the received e-mail, the received e-mail is stored in the e-mail management unit 112 (step 117).
In the process of step 117, since there is a possibility that the sender forgets to input, an inquiry mail may be returned.
If a predetermined word (automatic attachment) is found in the title of the received e-mail in the check in step 116, the information described in the text of the received e-mail (the sender 10, destination 30, title 50, The body 70, ID (A-5), and password (A-6)) are cut out and the cut out data is analyzed (step 106).
[0030]
At the time of analysis in step 106, it is checked in step 107 whether the description content conforms to a prescribed format. If the format does not match, the e-mail is transmitted to the sender via the e-mail transmission unit 115 and the LAN interface unit 109 with the contents of the e-mail being inappropriate (step 113), and the e-mail is deleted. (Step 114), the processing so far ends.
[0031]
If it is determined in step 107 that the received e-mail conforms to the prescribed format, the image data management unit 108 transmits the e-mail from the database that manages the image data that matches the ID cut out from the e-mail received by the e-mail analysis unit 113. Search for. If a matching ID is not found, the e-mail is transmitted to the sender via the e-mail transmission unit 115 and the LAN interface unit 109 (step 113). Then, the e-mail is deleted (step 114), and the processing up to this point is terminated.
[0032]
In step 108, as a result of searching the database managed by the image data management unit 108, if image data with a matching ID is found, it is checked whether a password is set for the image (step 109).
If a password has been set in step 109, the password matching unit 110 compares the password described in the received e-mail with the password retrieved from the database (step 110).
[0033]
If the passwords do not match as a result of the password comparison in step 110, the e-mail is transmitted to the sender via the e-mail transmission unit 115 and the LAN interface unit 109, with the contents of the e-mail being improperly described ( Step 113). Then, the e-mail is deleted (step 114), and the processing up to this point is terminated.
If the password has not been set in the check in step 109, or if the password matches as a result of the password verification in step 110, the e-mail creating unit 114 stores the image data matching the ID found in step 108 in the image memory. The file is read from the unit 106 and is created as an attached file for e-mail as an image file in a certain format (for example, TIFF format, GIF format, PDF format, bitmap, etc.). An e-mail is created based on the information extracted by the data analysis unit 113, and the above-mentioned image file is attached (step 111).
The e-mail transmission unit 115 transmits the e-mail via the LAN interface 109 (Step 112).
[0034]
In step 118, the result of the analysis of the received e-mail is checked for an instruction to store the target image data even after sending the e-mail, and if there is no instruction, the target image data is deleted from the image memory unit 106. (Step 119).
If there is an instruction to store the target image data in step 118, the process ends without deleting the image data.
[0035]
According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, when distributing image data captured by the network scanner device 101 by e-mail from the scanner device 101, it is necessary to attach the image data previously captured by the scanner to the e-mail. Based on the contents of the e-mail sent from the host to the scanner 101, the scanner automatically selects the image data and creates the e-mail based on the contents of the e-mail. Operability can be improved and operation errors can be reduced.
[0036]
According to the embodiment of the present invention, a configuration in which the format of an e-mail sent from the host side to the scanner is checked for improperness, and when the format of the e-mail is improper, the sender is notified that the format is inappropriate. Therefore, the sender can immediately know the transfer error of the e-mail, and can immediately perform the resend processing in the appropriate format.
[0037]
In addition, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the ID is specified in the body of the e-mail, so that when a different image is attached to a plurality of destinations and transmitted, the ID is used based on the ID. Since the scanner automatically selects an image, the operability is improved, and the work time can be shortened and work errors can be reduced.
Also, since the user can set a password, the registered image is not used by another person, and the confidentiality can be improved.
[0038]
Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, for example, a method of first sending an e-mail to the scanner device and then manually selecting the e-mail by the operation of the scanner device and attaching the scanned image can be used together. In this case, when there is a predetermined notation in the e-mail, the method of attaching the image can be switched, and the user can select a method that is easy to work.
[0039]
Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the host receiving the e-mail sent from the scanner device replies to the received e-mail, the host, not the scanner device, sends a message to the original sender who specified the attachment of the image. You can reply.
[0040]
According to the embodiment of the present invention, when the same image that has been transmitted once is desired to be transmitted to another destination, after the previous e-mail is transmitted, the image can be held in the scanner without being deleted. Since it is possible to perform the reading operation of the scanner only once, labor saving can be achieved. In addition, since it is possible to specify that the image is deleted at the last transmission, it is possible to prevent the image from being viewed by another person, thereby improving the operability and maintaining the confidentiality.
[0041]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the present invention provides an image transmission device that is easier to use by automatically selecting an image created by a scanner device attached to an email based on the content of the email received from the host device by the scanner device. Can be provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network configuration including a network scanner device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an e-mail transmitted from a host machine to a network scanner device, and a display example of an e-mail transmitted by a scanner based on the e-mail.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of Scan to Email using the network scanner according to the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of Scan to Email using the network scanner device according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a conventional diagram.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 sender 30 destination 50 title 70 text 101 network scanner 102 terminal device (personal computer)
103 network 104 control unit 105 scanner unit 106 image memory unit 107 operation / display unit 108 image data management unit 109 LAN interface unit 110 password collation unit 111 e-mail reception unit 112 e-mail management unit 113 e-mail data analysis unit 114 e-mail creation Section 115 e-mail transmission section

Claims (6)

An image transmitting device connected to a plurality of terminal devices via a network and including a transmitting unit that transmits an image to the terminal device by attaching the image to an electronic mail,
Storage means for storing an image;
E-mail receiving means for receiving an e-mail from the terminal device,
E-mail analyzing means for analyzing data of the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving means,
An image transmission device, comprising: an e-mail creating unit that creates an e-mail attached with an image extracted from the storage unit based on the content analyzed by the e-mail analyzing unit. The image transmitting apparatus further includes a notifying unit that notifies the sender of the e-mail that there is no image when the image specified based on the analysis result of the e-mail analyzing unit does not exist in the storage unit. The image transmission device according to claim 1, wherein: 2. The image transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image transmitting apparatus includes an identification information providing unit that gives the image when the image is stored in the storage unit. 2. The image transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification information providing unit includes a password information providing unit that provides password information. The e-mail creating means automatically sets an address of a sender of the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving means analyzed by the e-mail analyzing means with respect to the e-mail received from the terminal device. Item 2. The image transmitting device according to Item 1. 2. The electronic mail creating means according to claim 1, further comprising a selecting means for selecting whether to delete or save the image attached to the electronic mail from the image storing means after transmitting the electronic mail. Image transmission device.

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