JP3983249B2 - Network facsimile apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a network facsimile apparatus that creates a result of transmission processing as transmission history information after transmission processing of predetermined image information, and a control method thereof.

  2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a network facsimile apparatus is connected to a local area network to which one or more workstation apparatuses are connected, and exchanges facsimile data with a facsimile apparatus via a public network using a predetermined facsimile transmission procedure. It is practically used.

Using such a network facsimile communication system is very convenient because image information can be transmitted from a plurality of workstation devices connected to a local area network to a facsimile device connected to a public network. .
JP-A-6-350763

  However, in such a network facsimile apparatus, the transmission history, transmission image information, and the like can be referred from a workstation device connected to the local area network. There was a problem that information was used by others and the confidentiality of communication was not maintained.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a network facsimile apparatus and a control method thereof that can improve the confidentiality of transmission history information.

The present invention is a network facsimile apparatus that communicates with a workstation apparatus, and when image information is transmitted, an input means for inputting an arbitrary password, a password input by the input means, and history information relating to the transmission. Registration means for registering in association; designation means for specifying a password from the workstation device after transmitting image information; and all history information registered in association with the password designated by the designation means. Transmission means for transmitting to the workstation device and displaying a list is provided. In addition, after the transmission unit transmits the history information, the transmission unit further includes a retransmission processing unit configured to retransmit the image information to a new destination based on the input instruction information.

Also, a method for controlling a network facsimile apparatus that communicates with a workstation apparatus, in transmitting image information, an input step for inputting an arbitrary password, a password input in the input step, and history information regarding the transmission, A registration step for registering in association with each other, a designation step for designating a password from the workstation device after transmitting image information, and all history information registered in association with the designated password for the designation step Is transmitted to the workstation device to display a list. In addition, after the history information is transmitted, a retransmission processing step is further provided for performing retransmission processing of the image information to a new destination based on the input instruction information.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, other than the appropriate user cannot confirm the transmission history information unless the user knows the appropriate identification information. As a result, the confidentiality of the transmission history information is improved. obtain.

In addition, since the image information is retransmitted to a new destination based on the input instruction information after the transmission history information is output, there is also an effect that the retransmission process can be easily performed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In the figure, a plurality of workstation devices WS1 to WSn, a mail server device SM, and a network facsimile device FX are connected to the local area network LAN.

  Here, the mail server device SM is a known e-mail collection and distribution service for users using the workstation devices WS1 to WSn connected to the local area network LAN and the network network facsimile device FX. Is to provide.

  In addition, the workstation devices WS1 to WSn execute group 3 facsimile transmission procedure processing, and various types of facsimile application software (facsimile communication means) that creates and displays facsimile image information, and a local area network LAN. Various programs such as various software for exchanging data are introduced and used by a specific user. Here, the specific user may be one or a plurality of users.

  The network facsimile apparatus FX has a server function for providing a facsimile modem function and the like to the workstation apparatuses WS1 to WSn connected to the local area network LAN, and an electronic mail process for exchanging image information as an electronic mail. And a transmission function that connects to a public network (PSTN) and performs image information transmission according to a group 3 facsimile transmission procedure using the public network as a transmission path.

  FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the network facsimile apparatus FX.

  In the figure, a system control unit 1 performs various control processes such as a control process of each part of the network facsimile apparatus FX and a facsimile transmission control procedure process. The system memory 2 is executed by the system control unit 1. The control processing program and various data necessary for executing the processing program are stored, and the work area of the system control unit 1 is configured. The parameter memory 3 is unique to the network facsimile apparatus FX. The clock circuit 4 outputs current time information.

  The scanner 5 is for reading a document image at a predetermined resolution, the plotter 6 is for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution, and the operation display unit 7 operates the network facsimile apparatus FX. It consists of various operation keys and various displays.

  The encoding / decoding unit 8 encodes and compresses the image signal, and also decodes the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal. The image storage device 9 performs encoding and compression. This is for storing a large number of image information in the selected state.

  The group 3 facsimile modem 10 is for realizing the modem function of the group 3 facsimile, and is a low-speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging transmission procedure signals, and mainly for exchanging image information. A high-speed modem function (V.17 modem, V.34 modem, V.29 modem, V.27ter modem, etc.) is provided.

  The network control device 11 is for connecting the facsimile apparatus to a public network (PSTN), and has an automatic outgoing / incoming function.

  The local area network interface circuit 12 is for connecting the network facsimile apparatus FX to the local area network LAN, and the local area network transmission control unit 13 is connected to other data terminal apparatuses via the local area network LAN. It is for executing communication control processing of various predetermined protocol suites for exchanging various data between them.

  The system control unit 1, system memory 2, parameter memory 3, clock circuit 4, scanner 5, plotter 6, operation display unit 7, encoding / decoding unit 8, image storage device 9, group 3 facsimile modem 10, network The control device 11 and the local area network transmission control unit 13 are connected to an internal bus 14, and data exchange between these elements is mainly performed via the internal bus 14.

  Data exchange between the network control device 11 and the group 3 facsimile modem 10 is performed directly.

  In the present embodiment, basically, data exchange between terminals connected to the local area network LAN is performed by a transmission protocol up to a transport layer called TCP / IP and a higher level than that. A combination with a layer communication protocol (so-called protocol suite) is applied. For example, in the exchange of e-mail data, a communication protocol called SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is applied as an upper layer communication protocol.

  Further, as a protocol applied to each mail server SM for the reception confirmation or transmission request of the electronic mail addressed to the user, a so-called POP (Post Office Protocol) or the like can be applied.

  In addition, communication protocols such as TCP / IP, SMTP, and POP, and the data format and data structure of e-mails are issued by organizations that compile technical contents related to the Internet called IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). RFC (Request For Comments) document. For example, RFC is defined as RFC793, IP is defined as RFC793, SMTP is defined as RFC821, and e-mail formats are defined in RFC822, RFC1521, and RFC1522 (MIME (Multipurpose Mail Extension) format).

  Then, the network facsimile apparatus FX sends the read document image to another group 3 facsimile apparatus via the public network PSTN or the users of the workstation apparatuses WS1 to WSn via the local area network LAN (or the Internet). The image information received from the other group 3 facsimile apparatus via the public network PSTN to the user corresponding to the sub-address designated at that time, using e-mail, or A transfer service function for transferring image information received from the workstation WS of the local area network LAN to the group 3 facsimile apparatus of the public network PSTN corresponding to the designated speed dial is provided.

  In addition, for the e-mail received to the terminal itself, the image information arranged in the text information is taken out and recorded and output.

  Here, the facsimile image information is binary data, and the e-mail cannot include binary data directly. Therefore, a predetermined conversion method (for example, Base64 encoding method) is applied to read the readable information (7-bit information). The character code is included in the email. Such a format of e-mail text information is called MIME format.

  Further, in this embodiment, when the operation display unit 7 is operated by the user and image information transmission is instructed, the transmission original set at that time is read by the scanner 5, and the image data obtained thereby is encoded and decoded. The encoding unit 8 performs encoding and compression, stores the image information obtained thereby in the image storage device 9, calls the designated destination, and transmits the stored transmission image information.

  Then, history information as shown in FIG. 3A is created for the image information transmission. Further, in order to manage the stored image information, the storage management information as shown in FIG.

  The history information includes a transmission history password, a transmission date and time, a transmission mode at the time of transmission, a destination number indicating a telephone number of the destination, and a transmission operation of the transmission history that is referred to when the history information is extracted from the workstation device WS (WS1 to WSn) It consists of a transmission result representing the result and a transmission image information file number representing the file number of the image information to be transmitted.

  The storage management information stores the file number for identifying each stored image information, the image mode (resolution, encoding method, etc.) of the stored image information, and the corresponding stored image information in the image storage device 9. It consists of image mapping information for storing the current mode.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when the user performs an image information transmission operation using the network facsimile apparatus FX.

  When the transmission original is set on the scanner 5 by the user (processing 101), the network facsimile apparatus FX requests the user to input a destination and causes the user to operate the operation display unit 7 to input the destination (processing 102). Then, the user is requested to input a transmission history password, and the user is caused to appropriately operate the operation display unit 7 to input the transmission history password (processing 103).

  Then, the network facsimile apparatus FX reads the transmission original set at that time with the scanner 5, and the image data obtained thereby is encoded and compressed by the encoding / decoding unit 8, and the image information obtained thereby is converted into an image. The information is stored in the storage device 9, and a call is made to the designated destination, and the stored transmission image information is transmitted (process 104). Note that when storing image information, the above-described storage management information is created and stored.

  When the image information transmission operation is thus completed, the network facsimile apparatus FX creates and stores history information as described above regarding the transmission operation at that time (process 105).

  On the other hand, when referring to the transmission history of the network facsimile apparatus FX, the workstation apparatus WS executes a process as shown in FIG.

  First, when the history viewer is activated by the user (process 201), the user is requested to input a password for transmission history, the user is prompted to input a password for transmission history (process 202), and then the network facsimile A history information acquisition request is issued to the apparatus FX in a state where the transmission history password input in the process 202 is designated (process 203).

  As a result, the network facsimile apparatus FX searches the history information set in the transmission history password with the same value as the transmission history password specified from the workstation apparatus WS, and obtains one or more of the obtained history information. The history information is transmitted from the network facsimile apparatus FX to the workstation apparatus WS that has requested acquisition of the history information. In this case, data is exchanged between the workstation WS and the network facsimile machine FX according to an appropriate point-to-point transmission protocol.

  Therefore, the workstation WS receives one or more pieces of history information from the network facsimile machine FX (process 204), displays a list of the contents of the received one or more pieces of history information (step 205), and notifies the user. On the other hand, a history of transmission operations performed by the user is displayed.

  In this way, in this embodiment, when the image information is transmitted, the password for transmission history is input and the password for transmission history is registered in the history information, while the user of the workstation device WS requests to refer to the transmission history. In this case, since the transmission history password is input and only the history information in which the same transmission history password is registered is extracted from the network facsimile apparatus FX, the user can record the history information related to his / her transmission operation. The history information regarding the transmission operations of other users is not seen, and thus the confidentiality of communication is maintained.

  In the embodiment described above, a password is set in the history information of the transmission operation so that other users cannot refer to the history information. However, this password can also be set in the transmission image information.

  In that case, as shown in FIG. 6, the storage management information is the content obtained by adding the transmission image information password to the content of FIG.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of processing performed by the network facsimile apparatus FX when the user performs an image information transmission operation using the network facsimile apparatus FX.

  When the transmission original is set on the scanner 5 by the user (processing 301), the network facsimile apparatus FX requests the user to input a destination and causes the user to operate the operation display unit 7 to input the destination (processing 302). Next, the input of the transmission image information password is requested, and the user is caused to appropriately operate the operation display unit 7 to input the transmission image information password (processing 303).

  Then, the network facsimile apparatus FX reads the transmission original set at that time with the scanner 5, and the image data obtained thereby is encoded and compressed by the encoding / decoding unit 8, and the image information obtained thereby is converted into an image. Store in the storage device 9 (process 304). Then, with respect to the image information stored at that time, the storage management information with the transmission image information password as described above is created and stored (process 305).

  In this way, when the transmission image information is accumulated, a call is made to the designated destination, and the accumulated transmission image information is transmitted (process 306).

  On the other hand, when referring to the transmission image information of the network facsimile apparatus FX, the workstation apparatus WS executes a process as shown in FIG.

  First, when the history viewer is activated by the user (process 401), the user is requested to input a password for transmission image information, and the user is prompted to input a password for transmission image information (process 402). A transmission image information acquisition request is issued to the network facsimile apparatus FX in a state where the transmission image information password input in processing 402 is designated (processing 403).

  As a result, the network facsimile apparatus FX searches the storage management information set in the transmission image information password with the same value as the transmission image information password specified from the workstation apparatus WS, and the obtained 1 The image information corresponding to each of the two or more pieces of storage management information is transmitted from the network facsimile apparatus FX to the workstation apparatus WS that is the request for obtaining the transmission image information. In this case, data is exchanged between the workstation WS and the network facsimile machine FX according to an appropriate point-to-point transmission protocol.

  Therefore, the workstation WS receives one or more pieces of transmission image information from the network facsimile machine FX (process 404), displays the contents of the received one or more pieces of transmission image information (process 405), and the user. In response, the transmission image information of the transmission operation performed by the user is displayed.

  In this way, in this embodiment, the transmission image information password is input at the time of image information transmission, and the transmission image information password is registered in the storage management information, while the user of the workstation device WS sets the transmission image information. When a reference request is made, a transmission image information password is input, and only transmission image information corresponding to the storage management information in which the same transmission image information password is registered is extracted from the network facsimile apparatus FX. Therefore, the user can see only the transmission image information related to his / her transmission operation, and thus the confidentiality of communication is maintained.

  Now, the user of the workstation device WS can designate that the transmission image information that has already been stored in the network facsimile device FX is distributed to another destination by starting the facsimile viewer software.

  Even in this case, it is not preferable to be able to refer to the transmission image information related to the transmission operation of other users from the viewpoint of confidentiality of communication and the trouble in selecting necessary transmission image information. .

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, a transmission destination information password is set in the history information instead of the transmission history password in FIG. 3A, and the same user refers to the history information to store the stored transmission image information. The above-mentioned inconvenience can be solved.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when the user performs an image information transmission operation using the network facsimile apparatus FX.

  When the transmission original is set on the scanner 5 by the user (process 501), the network facsimile apparatus FX requests the user to input a destination and causes the user to operate the operation display unit 7 to input the destination (process 502). Next, the user is requested to input the transmission destination information password, and the user is caused to appropriately operate the operation display unit 7 to input the transmission destination information password (processing 303).

  Then, the network facsimile apparatus FX reads the transmission original set at that time with the scanner 5, and the image data obtained thereby is encoded and compressed by the encoding / decoding unit 8, and the image information obtained thereby is converted into an image. Store in the storage device 9 (process 304). In this case, storage management information similar to that shown in FIG. 3B is created and stored.

  In this way, when the transmission image information has been stored, a call is made to the designated destination, and the stored transmission image information is transmitted (process 505). Then, with respect to the transmission operation at that time, history information information to which the above-described transmission destination information password is added is created and stored (processing 506).

  On the other hand, in the workstation device WS, when distribution is performed with reference to the transmission image information of the network facsimile device FX, processing as shown in FIG. 11 is executed.

  First, when the facsimile viewer is activated by the user (process 601), the user is requested to input a password for transmission destination information, and the user is prompted to input a password for transmission destination information (process 602). A history information acquisition request is issued to the network facsimile apparatus FX in a state where the transmission destination information password input in process 602 is designated (process 603).

  As a result, the network facsimile apparatus FX searches the history information in which the same value as the transmission destination information password specified from the workstation apparatus WS is set in the transmission destination information password, and obtains one of the obtained history information. The history information described above is transmitted from the network facsimile apparatus FX to the work station apparatus WS that has requested acquisition of the transmission image information. In this case, data is exchanged between the workstation WS and the network facsimile machine FX according to an appropriate point-to-point transmission protocol.

  Therefore, the workstation WS receives one or more transmission history information from the network facsimile apparatus FX (process 604), displays a list of the contents of the received one or more transmission history information (process 605), and The user is inquired whether or not to change the destination, and a destination change operation process (step 606) is executed to change the destination for each transmission history information.

  As a result, when the user changes the destination for one or more pieces of transmission history information (the result of determination 607 is YES), each transmission history information whose destination has been changed is stored in the transmission history information. A transmission request is issued to the network facsimile apparatus FX in a state in which the transmitted image information file number and the changed contents of the destination are designated (process 608).

  As a result, the network facsimile apparatus FX performs a transmission operation for transmitting the stored image information of the transmission image information file number notified from the workstation apparatus WS to the designated transmission destination.

  In this way, in this embodiment, when the image information is transmitted, the transmission destination information password is input and the transmission destination information password is registered in the history information. On the other hand, when the user of the workstation device WS makes a distribution request, Allows the user to input the transmission destination information password, retrieves only the history information in which the same transmission destination information password is registered from the network facsimile apparatus FX, and changes the destination. Only the transmission image information related to the transmission operation can be distributed to other destinations, so that the confidentiality of communication is maintained.

1 is a block diagram showing a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which showed the structural example of the network facsimile apparatus FX. Schematic which showed an example of log | history information and accumulation | storage management information. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when the user performs image information transmission operation. The flowchart which showed an example of the process in case the workstation apparatus WS refers the transmission log | history of the network facsimile apparatus FX. Schematic which showed the other example of accumulation | storage management information. 10 is a flowchart showing another example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when the user performs image information transmission operation. The flowchart which showed an example of the process in case the workstation apparatus WS refers the transmission image information of the network facsimile apparatus FX. Schematic which showed the other example of log | history information. 12 is a flowchart showing still another example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when the user performs image information transmission operation. The flowchart which showed an example of the process in the case of making the workstation apparatus WS deliver with reference to the transmission image information of the network facsimile apparatus FX.

Explanation of symbols

FX network facsimile machine WS, WS1-WSn workstation equipment

Claims (4)

A network facsimile machine that communicates with a workstation device,
  Input means for entering an arbitrary password when sending image information;
  Registration means for registering the password input by the input means and the history information about the transmission in association with each other;
  Designating means for designating a password from the workstation device after transmitting image information;
  Sending means for sending all history information registered in association with the designated password by the designation means to the workstation device and displaying the list;
A network facsimile apparatus comprising: 2. The transmission processing unit according to claim 1, further comprising a retransmission processing unit configured to retransmit the image information to a new destination based on the input instruction information after the transmission unit transmits the history information. Network facsimile machine. A method for controlling a network facsimile apparatus that communicates with a workstation apparatus, comprising:
  An input step for entering an arbitrary password when sending image information;
  A registration step of registering the password input in the input step and the history information about the transmission in association with each other;
  A designation step in which a password is designated from the workstation device after transmitting image information;
  A transmitting step of transmitting all history information registered in association with the specified password in the specifying step to the workstation device to display a list;
A method for controlling a network facsimile machine, comprising: 4. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a retransmission processing step of performing retransmission processing of the image information to a new destination on the basis of input instruction information after transmitting the history information. Control method.