JP4359569B2 - Network communication equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a network communication apparatus having a facsimile function.

Information acquisition of a conventional network communication apparatus is performed via a browser. However, since the HTML file is only displayed on the browser, it cannot be displayed by secondary use of data or a simple method. Therefore, there is a method in which device information can be acquired as an XML file using RSS. Conventionally, there has been a method for setting a communication device from a browser (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2), but there has been no method for providing information using semantic XML as in the present invention described later. The parameter setting of the device (MFP) is performed from a Web browser using the Acacia mechanism. In this case, the parameter setting is HTML and not XML.
JP 2000-92262 A JP 2002-7095 A

  In the above-described method of acquiring device information using an XML file using RSS, when there are a plurality of functions, there is no means for easily knowing the URL of each function, and device information based on a plurality of RSS is once obtained. Could not manage to. In order to solve this problem, it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to collectively manage RSS output URL information in a unified manner so that the RSS reader can be used and managed easily.

Further, as described above, conventionally, the device information by the plurality of RSSs cannot be managed at a time, and there is no means for knowing the representative URL even if they are centrally managed by OPML. To solve this problem, the invention of claim 3 can easily know the URL by placing the location of the OPML file for centrally managing the URL information of RSS output on the top page of the device's Web screen. The purpose is to be able to.
An object of the invention of claim 4 is to make it possible to easily know the URL by placing the location of the OPML file on the first page of each function of the Web screen of the device.
It is an object of the present invention to make it possible to easily acquire the contents by notifying the OPML file for centrally managing the URL information of the RSS output by e-mail. To do.
An object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily acquire contents by notifying an OPML file for collectively managing RSS output URL information by mail. The content of the e-mail notification is intended to allow the file content to be changed by selecting a function.

  A seventh object of the present invention is to allow a user to select a Web page for displaying an OPML icon according to the third and fourth functions by selecting a function.

  The network communication apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention provides facsimile data via the local area network and a first public network connected to the local area network. Transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving data, transmission means for transmitting image information included in the e-mail received via the local area network and / or the first public network via the second public network, and HTTP protocol When accessed from a client application and requested for communication history, job history, and fax received document list information, the information is created and output as a semantic XML document such as RDF or RSS format. It is characterized in that a created output means for outputting the URL of the information in the output as one OPML file.

A network communication device according to a second aspect of the present invention is the network communication device according to the first aspect, wherein the creation output unit provides a URL of the information output in the format for each function category. And output as an OPML file.
A network communication device according to a third aspect of the present invention is the network communication device according to the first aspect, wherein the creation output means publishes various information to a Web browser and outputs the information in the RSS format for each page. , And a function of displaying an OPML link icon in which all URLs are collected on the top page.

A network communication device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the network communication device according to the first aspect, wherein the creation output means publishes various information to a Web browser and outputs the information in an RSS format for each page. And a function of displaying an OPML link icon on the first page of the menu category.
A network communication apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the network communication apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the creation output means has a function of transmitting the OPML file by mail to a predetermined address.

The network communication device according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the network communication device according to the first aspect, wherein the creation output means can change the file content by selecting the function of the content to be transmitted by the mail. It is characterized by.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network communication device according to the third or fourth aspect, wherein the user can select a Web page for displaying an OPML icon by selecting a function.

  According to the invention of claim 1, since the network communication device can acquire information by collecting URL information of RSS files in an XML file, control such as secondary use of the information or easy display with a tool. Will be able to. In addition, a list published by OPML can be read by a news reader by drag and drop.

According to the invention of claim 2, since the network communication apparatus of claim 1 can acquire information by collecting URL information of the RSS file for each function in an XML file, the information can be used secondarily or easily by a tool. It is possible to control such as displaying on the screen.
According to the invention of claim 3, the network communication apparatus of claim 1 can easily use the presence of the URL information of the RSS file by placing a link on the top page of the Web page of the device.

According to the invention of claim 4, the network communication apparatus of claim 1 simply uses the presence of the URL information of the RSS file for each function by placing a link on the first page of each function of the Web page of the device. Will be able to.
According to the invention of claim 5, the network communication apparatus of claim 1 can be easily obtained and used by collectively sending the URL information of the RSS file as an XML file by mail.

According to the invention of claim 6, the network communication apparatus of claim 1 can be easily obtained and used by sending the URL information of the RSS file as an XML file having only a necessary function by mail. Become.
According to the invention of claim 7, the network communication apparatus of claim 1 can be freely selected by the user by selecting the function of the Web page for displaying the OPML icon. In addition, it will be possible to select the functions to be disclosed in detail.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network communication system using a network communication apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention relating to claim 1.
The network communication apparatus FX according to the present embodiment has a function of exchanging data on the local area network LAN and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public line such as the Internet. The image information included in the e-mail received via the area network LAN is transmitted to another communication device connected to the public network PSTN.

  In FIG. 1, a plurality of workstation devices WS1 to WSn, a mail server device SM, and a network communication device FX are connected to the local area network LAN. The local area network LAN is connected to the Internet via the router device RT, and various data can be exchanged with host devices connected to other local area networks connected to the Internet. The mail server device SM provides e-mail collection and distribution services to users who use the workstation devices WS1 to WSn and the network communication device FX.

  The workstation devices WS1 to WSn are application software (such as e-mail access) that exchanges various data via the local area network LAN and application software that processes image information included in e-mails received from the network communication device FX. Various programs (such as viewers) are provided and used by a specific user. There may be one or more specific users.

  The network communication device FX has a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via the Internet and a function of transmitting / receiving e-mail in the local area network LAN. Further, it is connected to the public network PSTN, and has a function of transmitting the image information by the group 3 facsimile transmission procedure using the public network PSTN as a transmission path.

  Data exchange between the above-mentioned terminal devices connected to the local area network LAN is performed by applying a combination of a transmission protocol up to the transport layer called TCP / IP and a higher-layer communication protocol. Is called. For example, in the transmission of electronic mail, a communication protocol called SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) is applied as an upper layer communication protocol. Further, the electronic mail is temporarily stored in the mail server device SM and then distributed. For example, an electronic mail from the network communication device FX to the workstation device WS1 is temporarily stored in the mail server device SM.

  Further, the workstation devices WS1 to WSn and the network communication device FX make an inquiry to the mail server device SM about whether or not an e-mail addressed to the terminal user is received, and the e-mail addressed to the user is sent to the mail server device. When stored in the SM, the mail server device SM receives the electronic mail and notifies the user of the terminal to that effect. For example, when the workstation device WS1 inquires of the mail server device SM whether or not an e-mail addressed to the own terminal user has been received, the mail server device SM stores the e-mail addressed to the own terminal user. This is notified to the workstation device WS1. The workstation device WS1 receives the electronic mail and notifies the user of the reception. The user who has received the notification reads the contents of the electronic mail and confirms the contents. As this communication protocol, POP (Post Office Protocol) or the like can be applied.

  Further, the workstation devices WS1 to WSn can make a request for relay transmission of image information to another communication device connected to the public network PSTN to the network communication device FX. Mail is applied. In this case, since the local area network LAN is connected to the Internet, a user such as another workstation device connected to the Internet also requests the network communication device FX to relay image information. Can do. This electronic mail is in the MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) format. In the image information, information after encoding in the Base64 encoding format is set.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the network communication device FX.
In FIG. 2, the system control unit 1 performs various control processes such as a control process for each part and a facsimile transmission control procedure. The system memory 2 stores a control processing program executed by the system control unit 1 and various data necessary for executing the processing program, and constitutes a work area of the system control unit 1. The parameter memory 3 stores various types of information unique to the network communication device FX. The clock circuit 4 outputs current time information. The scanner 5 reads an original image with a predetermined resolution. The plotter 6 records and outputs an image with a predetermined resolution. The operation display unit 7 includes various operation keys and various displays. The encoding / decoding unit 8 encodes and compresses an image signal and stores a large amount of image information in an encoded and compressed state.

  The image storage device 9 records a large amount of image information in a coded and compressed state. A group 3 facsimile modem (G3 FAX modem) 10 realizes a modem function of group 3 facsimile. The network control device 11 is for connecting the network communication device to a telephone line network (PSTN) and has an automatic outgoing / incoming function. A local area network interface circuit (LAN I / F) 12 connects the network communication device FX to the local area network LAN. The local area network (LAN) transmission control unit 13 performs communication control processing (e-mail transmission / reception processing, etc.) of various predetermined protocols for exchanging various data with other terminal devices via the local area network LAN. Execute.

  These 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 control The 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.

Here, terms used in each embodiment will be described.
HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) is a protocol for realizing so-called World-Wide Web (WWW). Usually, exchange is performed on TCP (port number: 80). The browser designates processing to the server by a command such as GET or POST, and an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) file or an image file is sent from the server as a response. There is a version of HTTP as a protocol, and many browsers still support only up to 1.0 (RFC1945). The latest version is 1.1 (RFC2616). In 1.1, many enhancements have been made to the command, response itself, format, etc. It can be viewed from browser software installed on the workstation device.

  XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a W3C (WWW technology standardization organization) recommendation (Recommendation), which is a simplified version of SGML (ISO / IEC 8879: 1986) and compatible with the Internet. The tag is usable. Another feature is that data and processing (layout (design)) can be described separately. Communication device information such as communication history can be provided in the form of an XML file. An example of XML data is shown in FIG. Further, the semantic XML document in the present embodiment refers to a document such as RDF or RSS format.

Next, what RSS is will be described with reference to the UNIX (registered trademark) USER March 2004 issue.
“RSS is an XML format for describing and distributing the outline of the site. Although it seems that XML is suddenly difficult, it can be thought of as a text file that simply marks up the structure of the document. Data that is applied in various ways, that is, metadata, that is not read directly by a person but interpreted by a program, that is, metadata.A document written according to the RSS format is called an RSS document or RSS feed. The specifications of RSS are standardized by various companies and organizations.If the new arrival information of different sites and the format of the data are unified, the person who creates the program only has to interpret the data according to the rule. In this case, it is common to write in XML recently. As a typical application that uses RSS documents, there are RSS readers that read RSS documents from multiple sites and display new arrival information across the web. If you think it is similar to a web browser that interprets CSS and renders a website, it will be easy to imagine. "

What is RSS?
http://e-words.jp/w/RSS.html
There are several versions of RSS, and there are several types of names.
RDF Site Summary
Rich Site Summary "1.0 series"
Real Simple Syndication "0.9-2.0 series"
RSS-Summary and publication of site information
http://kanzaki.com/docs/sw/rss.html

Atom is
http://www.kanzaki.com/docs/sw/atom.html
The ATOM feed is an improved version of the “RSS feed” that provides site update information in the form of an XML file. The ATOM feed is a further evolution of this RSS feed. ATOM feeds can include richer information in the feed content than RSS feeds. A framework that allows bidirectionality in RSS, which is currently only broadcast.

(1)通信プロトコル
次の二つのいずれかを指定する。ただし、機器の設定状態によっては指定されたプロトコルで通信できない場合がある。なお、詳細はＡｃａｃｉａ機能仕様書を参照のこと。
ｈｔｔｐ ＨＴＴＰ。
ｈｔｔｐｓ ＨＴＴＰＳ ＳＳＬによる経路の暗号化を行う。 The RSS URL is specified as follows (in the case of get).

(1) Communication protocol Specify one of the following two. However, depending on the setting state of the device, communication may not be possible with the specified protocol. For details, see the Acacia functional specifications.
http HTTP.
The path is encrypted by using HTTPS HTTPS SSL.

(2) User profile Specify one of the following two.
Guest guest mode. This is used for settings that do not require personal authentication.
entry Authentication mode. Used for personal authentication settings or when logging in as an administrator.
(3) Language Language used for display. Only selectable languages can be specified. Usually, it depends on the language that can be selected on the main unit operation unit.

(4) Function Path of each function. For example, communication history is webfax, job history is jobhistory, etc.
(5) RSS version Specify the RSS version. Refer to this for the version supported by each function.
rss1.0 RSS 1.0
rss0.91 RSS 0.91
rss2.0 RSS 2.0
atom Atom

FIG. 3 shows the exchange between the network communication apparatus FX (server) and the client software.
On the client side, an RSS aggregator (RSS reader) issues an information acquisition request by HTTP GET (or POST). The network communication apparatus returns an OPML file (XML data) as a response. The RSS aggregator displays the XML data as shown in FIG.

  Here, OPML is an XML format that has become popular as a method for describing a plurality of RSSs collectively. OPML is one of the XML formats whose specifications are defined in opml.org, and is basically a data description language for an outline processor as indicated by Outline Processor Markup Language.

(1)通信プロトコル
(2)ユーザプロファイル
(3)言語
(4)ＯＰＭＬファイル名 The method of specifying the URL of OPML is performed as follows. (For get)

(1) Communication protocol
(2) User profile
(3) Language
(4) OPML file name

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the network communication apparatus.
When a request from the client is received (S1 / YES), the GET argument is analyzed (S2). If the specified URL is an OPML file name (S3 / YES), an OPML file is generated (S4), and a response is returned as XML data (S5). If the specified URL does not exist (S3 / NO), 404NotFound is returned (S6).

FIG. 5 shows an OPML format sample (whole display).
The header part (<head>) includes <title>, <ownername>, and <owneremail>.
In <title>, the name of the communication device (network communication device) is output.
The host name (or IP address) of the communication device is output in <ownername>.
In <owneremail>, the administrator email address of the communication device is output. If not entered, the value is null.

<head>
<title> imagio Neo 9999 </ title>
<ownername> RICOH 0001 </ ownername>
<owneremail> admin@ricoh.co.jp </ owneremail>
</ head>
First, the category title is output in the <body> part. For example, the function name is “Web Image Monitor”. Output URL after the second line. Since this communication apparatus can also be displayed by a Web browser, the communication apparatus outputs two kinds, htmlurl indicating the URL of the HTML and xmlurl output by RSS.

<body>
<outline text = "Web Image Monitor">
<outlinetext = "PCFAX" Job history
htmlurl = "http: //hostname/web/guest/en/webfax/pcfaxJobHistory.cgi" xmlurl = "http: //hostname/web/guest/en/webfax/pcfaxJobHistory.cgi? xml = rss1.0"/>
</ outline>
</ body>

See below for details.
OPML specification
http://www.opml.org/spec
Arbitrary Japanese translation of OPML 1.0 Specification
http://hail2u.net/documents/opml_spec.html

According to the first embodiment described above, since the URL information of the RSS file can be collected by the XML file and information can be acquired, the information can be used for secondary use, or simply displayed with a tool. Etc. can be controlled. A list published by OPML can be read by a news reader by drag and drop.
http://www.gluesoft.co.jp/NewsGlue/OPML.aspx

Next, a second embodiment relating to claim 2 will be described. The basic operation is the same as in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 shows an OPML format sample (by function).
When the functions of the communication device are grouped, they are described by being bundled with <outline> as shown in FIG. In that case, there are a method of dividing such as a copy function, a FAX function, and a printer function, and a method of dividing by a category such as job history and initial setting. Since this communication apparatus can be displayed by a Web browser, it is preferable to match the menu display. In FIG. 6B, the <outlinetext = job-printer> portion in OPML matches the underlined portion of the menu display of the Web Image Monitor shown as a category. This category has the effect of being displayed in the same manner as Web Image Monitor when viewed with an RSS reader.

  When the OPML file is read by the RSS aggregator, “My feeds”, “Available Feeds”, and “Favorites” correspond to categories. This corresponds to “job-printer”, “job-FAX”, and “job-document box” in FIG. The RSS output of each function page specified by <outline text = "PCFAX job history" ...> is displayed in the category (folder) division. FIG. 7 shows a FAX communication history list screen.

According to the second embodiment, the URL information of the RSS file can be collected for each function in the XML file, and the information can be acquired. Therefore, the information can be used secondarily, or can be easily displayed with a tool. Will be able to.
That is, according to the first and second embodiments, the URL information of the RSS output can be collectively managed and can be easily used and managed by the RSS reader.

Next, a third embodiment relating to claim 3 will be described. The basic operation is the same as in the first embodiment. FIG. 8 shows the top screen, and FIG. 9 shows a display example of the RSS aggregator.
For example, when the link information is displayed as a whole in one OPML file, an icon is displayed on the top page of the Web function of the communication apparatus shown in FIG. 8 (for example, an icon “OPML1.1”). If you click this icon on the browser, you can read the contents in XML file format. Further, when the icon is dragged and dropped on the RSS aggregator, it is displayed as shown in FIG. There is no need to register the RSS URL. Also, it has the same effect as a web link collection or bookmark. The link is described in a normal HTML grammar.
<a href="http://hostname/web/guest/en/web.opml"> OPML </a>

  According to the third embodiment, the presence of the URL information of the RSS file can be easily used by placing a link on the top page of the Web page of the device. In other words, the URL can be easily known by placing the location of the OPML file for collectively managing RSS output URL information on the top page of the device's Web screen.

  Next, a fourth embodiment related to claim 4 will be described. The basic operation is the same as in the first embodiment. In the third embodiment, since there is only one OPML, a link is created on the top page. However, in this embodiment, when a file is divided for each function, it is included in the category of the Web screen. Click on the category in the leftmost menu screen to open it. For example, click the “Fax” menu in FIG. 8 to display the “Send History” in the work screen on the right. Put the link of the collected OPML file. This is the icon “OPML1.1” in the title display. The operation when this icon is clicked is the same as in the third embodiment. Further, the same OPML file link may be attached to all pages in the same category.

  According to the fourth embodiment, the presence of the URL information of the RSS file can be easily used for each function by placing a link on the first page of each function of the Web page of the device.

Next, a fifth embodiment relating to claim 5 will be described. FIG. 10 shows a Web screen of the OPML output function.
In the third and fourth embodiments, an OPML file is acquired by HTTP by clicking an icon in the display page of the Web function of the communication device. However, in this embodiment, it is received as an XML file. So that the OPML file can be sent by mail. As shown in FIG. 10, it is possible to give an instruction from the Web browser by pressing the send button for the mail address input as the mail destination.

  According to the fifth embodiment, it is possible to easily obtain and use the RSS file URL information by sending them together as an XML file by e-mail. That is, the contents can be easily acquired by notifying the OPML file for collectively managing the URL information of the RSS output by mail.

Next, a sixth embodiment related to claim 6 will be described.
In the present embodiment, as in the fifth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, it is possible to instruct from the web browser by pressing the send button for the mail address input to the mail destination, and the function to output Can also be selected by a check box. Each of the checked functions is bundled with <outline> as shown in FIG. 6A of the second embodiment and output as an XML file. In such a case, there are a method of dividing such as a copy function, a FAX function, and a printer function, and a method of dividing by a category such as job history and initial setting. In addition, individual pages (RSS URLs) may be included in the category redundantly.

  According to the sixth embodiment, the URL information of the RSS file can be easily acquired and used by sending it as an XML file having only necessary functions. The contents can be easily acquired by notifying the OPML file for centrally managing the URL information of the RSS output by mail. The contents notified by e-mail can be changed by selecting the function.

Next, a seventh embodiment relating to claim 7 will be described.
In the sixth embodiment, the method for selecting a category in the case of mail output has been described. As in the icon display in the third and fourth embodiments, to which Web page category an OPML icon is added (that is, the icon display) Which page of data is to be output) can be determined by the same means as in FIG.

  According to the seventh embodiment, a user can freely select a Web page that displays an OPML icon by selecting a function. That is, the user can select a Web page on which OPML icons are displayed according to the third and fourth embodiments, which can finely select a function to be disclosed, by selecting the function.

It is a block diagram which shows the network system using the network communication apparatus by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the network communication apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence chart which shows the exchange of information with the client and server by embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the network communication apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the OPML format sample (whole display) regarding 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the OPML format sample (by function) regarding 2nd, 6th embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the list screen (FAX communication log | history) regarding 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the top screen regarding 3rd, 4th embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the example of a display (XML display) of the RSS aggregator regarding 1st, 3rd, 4th embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the Web screen of the OPML output function regarding 5th, 6th, 7th embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

LAN local area network WS1 to WSn workstation device SM mail server device FX network communication device RT router device 1 system control unit 2 system memory 3 parameter memory 4 clock circuit 5 scanner 6 plotter 8 encoding and decoding unit 7 operation display unit 9 image Storage device 10 Group 3 facsimile modem 11 Network control device 12 Local area network interface circuit 13 Local area network transmission control unit 14 Internal bus

Claims (7)

Means for sending and receiving data, including e-mail, on a local area network;
Transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving facsimile data via the local area network and a first public network connected to the local area network;
Transmitting means for transmitting image information included in an e-mail received via the local area network and / or the first public network via a second public network;
When accessed from a client application by the HTTP protocol and requested for communication history, job history, and fax received document list information, these information is created and output as a semantic XML document such as RDF, RSS format, etc. A network communication apparatus comprising: creation output means for outputting a URL of the information output in the format as one OPML file.   2. The network communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the creation output unit outputs an OPML file for each function category when a URL of the information output in the format is provided for each function. .   The creation output means has a function of displaying an OPML link icon in which all URLs are collected on the top page when various information is disclosed to a Web browser and output in RSS format for each page. The network communication device according to claim 1, further comprising:   The creation output means has a function of displaying an OPML link icon on the first page of the menu category when various types of information are disclosed to a Web browser and output in the RSS format for each page. The network communication device according to claim 1.   2. The network communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the creation output unit has a function of sending the OPML file by mail to a predetermined address.   2. The network communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the creation output means enables the contents of the e-mail to be changed by selecting a function.   5. The network communication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a user can select a Web page for displaying an OPML icon by selecting a function.

Images