JP4167110B2 - Image forming apparatus control method and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for controlling an image forming apparatus having a network facsimile communication function for connecting to a network and exchanging image information using electronic mail, and for exchanging image information using an electronic mail connected to the network. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a network facsimile communication function.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, a network facsimile apparatus having a network facsimile communication function for connecting to a network and exchanging image information using electronic mail has been put into practical use (see Patent Document 1). Further, in such a network facsimile apparatus, a technical recommendation regarding an electronic mail communication function for communicating image information using electronic mail is ITU-T recommendation T.264. 37 applies.
[0003]
In such a network facsimile apparatus, when the received electronic mail is for the terminal itself, the contents of the electronic mail are recorded and output.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-094691
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in such a network facsimile apparatus, since the received e-mail is printed out immediately, it is excellent in that the received original is immediately presented to the user. From the viewpoint of confidentiality of communication that can be easily seen by the user, there is a possibility that a disadvantage that it is not preferable occurs.
[0006]
That is, since the e-mail receiving operation is automatically performed at intervals of 5 to 30 minutes, for example, as described above, unless the e-mail destination user can immediately obtain the received document that is recorded and output. Cause troubles.
[0007]
Also, when receiving and receiving e-mails, if all e-mails are received, for example, e-mails for which MDN (described later) reception confirmation is set are received unconditionally, in which case the user is printed. Regardless of whether you actually check the body of the e-mail, you can only receive an acknowledgment when you receive the e-mail. There will be a possibility of inconvenience due to the reception confirmation response.
SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus control method and an image forming apparatus that can appropriately process an e-mail in which MDN reception confirmation is set. Yes.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention relates to a method for controlling an image forming apparatus having a network facsimile communication function for connecting to a network and exchanging image information using electronic mail, and includes header information of electronic mail received from a mail server apparatus by automatic reception Does not acquire the body information of the e-mail, leaves the e-mail in the mail server device, and does not include the e-mail confirmation request information. The e-mail is deleted from the mail server device.
[0009]
Also, an image forming apparatus having a network facsimile communication function for connecting to a network and exchanging image information using e-mail, and receiving the header information of the e-mail received from the mail server apparatus at the time of automatic e-mail reception When the confirmation request information is included, the body information of the e-mail is not acquired and the e-mail is left in the mail server device. On the other hand, when the reception confirmation request information is not included, the e-mail Control means for acquiring text information and deleting the electronic mail from the mail server device is provided.
[0013]
The control means repeatedly receives e-mails at predetermined time intervals.
[0014]
FIG. 1 shows a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0015]
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 and connected to the Internet via a router device RT. . Therefore, the workstation apparatuses WS1 to WSn, the mail server apparatus SM, and the network facsimile apparatus FX can exchange data with other appropriate terminal apparatuses via the Internet.
[0016]
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.
[0017]
The local area network LAN is connected to the Internet via the router device RT, whereby the workstation devices WS1 to WSn, the mail server device SM, and the network facsimile device FX are connected to other local area networks or the like. Various data can be exchanged with a host device or the like connected to the.
[0018]
The workstation devices WS1 to WSn include various programs such as facsimile application software for creating and displaying facsimile image information and various software for exchanging various data via the local area network LAN. Has been introduced and is used by specific users. Here, the specific user may be one or a plurality of users.
[0019]
The network facsimile apparatus FX is connected to an electronic mail processing function for exchanging image information and various reports as electronic mail and an analog public line network PSTN. A transmission function for transmitting image information according to a transmission procedure is provided.
[0020]
FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the network facsimile apparatus FX.
[0021]
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.
[0022]
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.
[0023]
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.
[0024]
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.
[0025]
The network control apparatus 11 is for connecting the network facsimile apparatus FX to the analog public line network PSTN, and has an automatic outgoing / incoming function.
[0026]
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.
[0027]
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.
[0028]
Data exchange between the network control device 11 and the group 3 facsimile modem 10 is performed directly.
[0029]
Here, in the present embodiment, basically, data exchange between terminals connected to the local area network LAN is a transmission protocol up to a transport layer called TCP / IP, and more. This is performed by applying a combination with a higher layer communication protocol (so-called protocol suite). 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.
[0030]
Further, as a protocol applied to each mail terminal device SM for confirmation of receiving or obtaining an e-mail addressed to the user, a so-called POP (Post Office Protocol) can be applied.
[0031]
Further, communication protocols such as TCP / IP, SMTP, POP, and data format and data structure of e-mail are defined by RFC documents issued from IETF. For example, RFC 793 for TCP, RFC 793 for IP, RFC 821 for SMTP, RFC 821, RFC 1521, RFC 1522 for e-mail formats (MIME (Multipurpose)
(Mail Extension) format) and the like.
[0032]
Then, the network facsimile apparatus FX sends the read document image to another group 3 facsimile apparatus via the analog public line network PSTN or via the local area network LAN (or the Internet) to the workstation apparatuses WS1 to WSn. Image information received from other group 3 facsimile apparatuses via the analog public line network PSTN to the user corresponding to the subaddress designated at that time, Transfer using e-mail or transfer of image information received (by e-mail) from the workstation WS of the local area network LAN to the group 3 facsimile apparatus of the designated analog public line network PSTN It has a-bis function, and the like.
[0033]
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.
[0034]
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.
[0035]
An example of an e-mail used when transmitting facsimile image information in this way is shown in FIG. In this case, the facsimile image information is carried by being attached to an electronic mail in the form of an attached file.
[0036]
This e-mail is an e-mail in a multi-part MIME format having a plurality of body parts. The e-mail transmission date (“Date” field), the destination e-mail address (“To” field), and the source e-mail address (“From” "Field)", a text header part for carrying text data, and a binary part part for carrying facsimile image information. In the binary part part, facsimile image information is MIME. MIME encoded data obtained by the conversion is arranged.
[0037]
The facsimile image information carried by e-mail is obtained by compressing the original image data by MH encoding and converting it into the TIFF-F format. Therefore, as MIME encoded data, this TIFF-F data is used. Are converted to MIME.
[0038]
Here, in the TIFF-F format, image data of a plurality of pages can be collected as one file, so that data of one transmission image information file consisting of a plurality of pages can be arranged in one binary part portion. .
[0039]
In this embodiment, the network facsimile apparatus FX inquires of the mail server apparatus SM whether or not an e-mail addressed to itself is received at a predetermined time interval such as an interval of 5 minutes or 30 minutes. While performing an automatic e-mail receiving operation (POP automatic receiving mode), in this automatic e-mail receiving operation, it is possible to set an e-mail automatic acquisition prohibiting mode that prohibits acquisition of a specific e-mail.
[0040]
Whether or not this automatic email acquisition prohibition mode is set is determined by whether or not the automatic acquisition prohibition flag of the automatic email acquisition prohibition setting information shown in FIG. 4A is set. The setting or canceling of the automatic e-mail acquisition prohibition mode can be specified by the user by appropriately operating the operation display unit 7, and the received e-mail includes e-mail automatic acquisition prohibition information. If so, the automatic e-mail acquisition prohibition mode is set.
[0041]
Here, as the automatic e-mail acquisition prohibition setting information, for example, a specific character string or control code arranged in the “Subject” field of the header information, or a boundary character string for dividing the e-mail body into parts. There is a specific character string.
[0042]
The automatic email acquisition prohibition setting information includes an automatic acquisition prohibition information table for designating a destination for which automatic acquisition is prohibited. This automatic acquisition prohibition information table includes, as shown in FIG. 5B, an all e-mail target flag for setting whether or not all e-mails are targeted (all e-mails are set at the time of setting), and Consists of multiple email addresses. In addition, the e-mail address can be the local part of the e-mail address (the part on the left side from the @ mark), the domain part (the part on the right side from the @ mark), or the full part (the local part and the domain part are connected with the @ mark). Can be used. Alternatively, a pattern character string described using a so-called regular expression can be applied.
[0043]
In this embodiment, it is also possible to set prohibition of automatic e-mail acquisition for other network facsimile machines FX. In that case, for example, an operation as shown in FIG. 5 is performed.
[0044]
That is, when the user appropriately operates the operation display unit 7 and inputs an instruction to prohibit automatic e-mail acquisition (process 101), the user is caused to input a destination e-mail address (process 102).
[0045]
Next, an e-mail including pre-set e-mail automatic acquisition prohibition information to be transmitted to the e-mail address input in process 102 is created (process 103), and connected to the mail server device SM ( Process 104) and the e-mail created in process 103 are transmitted (process 105).
[0046]
6, 7 and 8 show an example of processing performed when the network facsimile apparatus FX receives an electronic mail.
[0047]
That is, first, it waits until an automatic reception timing at a predetermined time interval set in advance or a user's reception instruction is input (NO loop of determinations 201 and 202).
[0048]
When the automatic reception timing is reached and the result of determination 201 is YES, it is checked whether the automatic acquisition prohibition flag in the automatic acquisition prohibition information table is set (determination 203), and the result of determination 203 is YES. In some cases, the flag for all emails in the automatic acquisition prohibition information table is set, and it is checked whether all emails are targeted (decision 204). When the result of determination 204 is YES, the electronic mail receiving operation is not performed, and the process returns to determination 201.
[0049]
Further, when the result of determination 204 is NO, it connects to the mail server device SM and inquires in the POP mode whether or not an electronic mail addressed to its own terminal is received (process 205).
[0050]
In response to this inquiry, when the mail server device SM notifies that there is no electronic mail received, when the result of determination 206 is NO, the processing returns to determination 201.
[0051]
If the result of step 206 is YES, the mail server device header information of the electronic mail received from the SM 1 one obtains (step 207), and e-mail addresses that are located in the "From" field of the time Based on the information of the plurality of e-mail addresses registered in the automatic acquisition prohibition information table, it is checked whether or not the e-mail is subject to reception prohibition (decision 208). In addition, in the case of an e-mail for which an MDN (Message Disposition Notification) reception confirmation request is set, the e-mail is also prohibited from being automatically received. When this reception confirmation request is set, since the field “Disposition-Notification-To” is included in the header information, when the field is included, it is determined that reception is prohibited.
[0052]
When the result of determination 209 is YES, the process returns to process 207 without receiving the e-mail and acquires header information of the next e-mail. Therefore, in this case, the electronic mail that is subject to automatic reception prohibition remains in the mail server device SM.
[0053]
When the result of determination 209 is NO, the body information of the electronic mail is acquired from the mail server device SM (process 210). Then, the contents (including header information and text information) of the acquired electronic mail are analyzed to check whether the electronic mail automatic acquisition prohibition information is included in the electronic mail (processing 211, determination 212).
[0054]
When the result of determination 212 is YES, the automatic acquisition prohibition flag of the automatic e-mail acquisition prohibition setting information is set (process 213), and the user is notified that the e-mail automatic acquisition prohibition is set (process 214). In this process 214, the operation display unit 7 displays that the automatic e-mail acquisition prohibition is set, creates a report notifying that the automatic e-mail acquisition prohibition is set, outputs the report, and registers in advance. The user is notified by, for example, sending an e-mail notifying that the automatic e-mail acquisition prohibition has been set to the e-mail address of the administrator user.
[0055]
Next, the contents of the target electronic mail are recorded and output (process 215). When the result of determination 212 is NO, the process proceeds to immediate processing 215 to record and output the contents of the e-mail.
[0056]
Then, it is checked whether or not all e-mail processes have been completed (determination 216). If the result of determination 216 is NO, the process returns to process 207 to obtain header information of the next e-mail. If the result of determination 216 is YES, the operation at this time is terminated.
[0057]
Also, when a reception instruction is input by the user while waiting to receive an e-mail and the result of determination 202 is YES, or the automatic acquisition prohibition flag in the automatic acquisition prohibition information table is not set When the result of determination 203 is NO, the mail server apparatus SM is connected to inquire in the POP mode whether or not an electronic mail addressed to its own terminal is received (process 220).
[0058]
In response to this inquiry, the mail server device SM notifies that there is no electronic mail received, and when the result of the determination 221 is NO, the processing returns to the determination 201.
[0059]
Further, when the result of the determination 221 is YES, all electronic mails received from the mail server device SM are acquired (process 222). At this time, normally, the acquired electronic mail is deleted from the mail server device SM. Then, one acquired e-mail is selected (process 223), the contents (including header information and body information) of the acquired e-mail are analyzed, and the e-mail automatic acquisition prohibition information is included in the e-mail. It is checked whether or not (process 224, decision 225).
[0060]
When the result of determination 225 is YES, the automatic acquisition prohibition flag of the automatic e-mail acquisition prohibition setting information is set (process 226), and the user is notified that the e-mail automatic acquisition prohibition is set in the same manner as in process 214. Notification is made (process 227).
[0061]
Next, the contents of the target electronic mail are recorded and output (process 228). If the result of determination 225 is NO, the process proceeds to immediate processing 228 and the contents of the e-mail are recorded and output.
[0062]
Then, it is checked whether or not all e-mails have been processed (determination 229). If the result of determination 229 is NO, the process returns to process 223, the next e-mail is selected, and the subsequent processes are performed. . When the result of determination 229 is YES, the operation at this time is terminated.
[0063]
In this way, in the present embodiment, the automatic reception of the e-mail is prohibited, and the e-mail is manually received by the user, so that the received document can be seen by other users. Problems can be prevented.
[0064]
In addition, since it is possible to specify an e-mail address that is subject to automatic reception prohibition, it is possible to set so that only e-mail from a specific user is received manually, and the operation of the network facsimile apparatus FX is very flexible. become.
[0065]
In addition, when automatic email reception is prohibited, an email for which an MDN reception confirmation request is set is not received, and an appropriate response is sent to the user who sent the email. Can do.
[0066]
In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to the network facsimile apparatus FX connected to the local area network LAN. For example, the analog public line network PSTN is used to connect to the Internet by dial-up means. The present invention can be similarly applied to a network facsimile apparatus in a connection mode.
[0067]
An example of the system in that case is shown in FIG.
[0068]
In the figure, a network facsimile apparatus FXa is connected to an analog public line network PSTN and connected to the Internet INET by dial-up connection to an Internet service provider ISP. The mail server device MSa connected to the Internet INET has an e-mail account.
[0069]
FIG. 10 shows an example of the configuration of the network facsimile apparatus FXa. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 2 and the corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.
[0070]
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 FXa 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 FXa. The clock circuit 4 outputs current time information.
[0071]
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 FXa. It consists of various operation keys and various displays.
[0072]
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.
[0073]
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.
[0074]
The network control device 11 is for connecting the network facsimile machine FXa to the analog public line network PSTN, and has an automatic outgoing / incoming function.
[0075]
The dial-up communication unit 21 is for connecting the network facsimile apparatus FXa to the Internet service provider ISP, and the e-mail communication control unit 22 performs communication control processing of various predetermined protocol suites for performing e-mail communication. It is for execution.
[0076]
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 dial-up communication unit 21 are connected to the internal bus 14, and data exchange between these elements is mainly performed via the internal bus 14.
[0077]
Data exchange between the network control device 11 and the group 3 facsimile modem 10 is performed directly.
[0078]
In the above-described embodiment, the analog public line network PSTN is used as a communication line. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to a group 4 facsimile apparatus using the digital public line network ISDN as a communication line. .
[0079]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when reception confirmation request information is included in header information of an email received from a mail server device by automatic reception, the body information of the email is not acquired, When the e-mail is left in the mail server device and reception confirmation request information is not included, the e-mail body information is acquired and the e-mail is deleted from the mail server device. It is possible to appropriately process an e-mail for which a confirmation request has been set.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a network facsimile apparatus FX.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an e-mail used when transmitting facsimile image information.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of electronic mail automatic acquisition prohibition setting information and an automatic acquisition prohibition information table.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing when automatic e-mail acquisition prohibition is set for another network facsimile apparatus FX.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of processing performed when the network facsimile apparatus FX receives an electronic mail.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of processing performed when the network facsimile apparatus FX receives an electronic mail (continuation of FIG. 6).
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of processing performed when the network facsimile apparatus FX receives an electronic mail; a flowchart showing an example of processing performed when the network facsimile apparatus FX receives an electronic mail (continuation of FIG. 7). .
FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a network system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a network facsimile apparatus FXa.
[Explanation of symbols]
FX, FXa Network facsimile machine SM, SMa Mail server device

Claims (2)

A method for controlling an image forming apparatus having a network facsimile communication function for connecting to a network and exchanging image information using electronic mail,
When the reception confirmation request information is included in the header information of the email received from the mail server device by automatic reception, without acquiring the body information of the email, leaving the email in the mail server device,
A method for controlling an image forming apparatus, comprising: acquiring e-mail text information and deleting the e-mail from the mail server apparatus when reception confirmation request information is not included. An image forming apparatus having a network facsimile communication function for connecting to a network and exchanging image information using e-mail,
  When reception confirmation request information is included in the header information of the email received from the mail server device during automatic email reception, the email body information is not acquired and the email is sent to the mail server device. An image forming apparatus comprising: control means for acquiring text information of the e-mail and deleting the e-mail from the mail server apparatus when the reception confirmation request information is not included.

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