JPH10327185A - Facsimile type electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily classification of files after transfer and retrieval of them in the case of transferring a facsimile image data file in a way of an electronic mail. SOLUTION: In the case of sending a facsimile electronic mail, a title analysis section 151 of a classification information generating section 15 analyzes a title of a transmission facsimile image data file, extracts a characteristic word string, a mail address analysis section 152 analyzes a sender electronic mail address, and a classification information addition section 153 retrieves a document characteristic information management section 143 by using the address as a key. Thus, a characteristic word string closest to the characteristic word string extracted from the title is selected from a management table of the document characteristic information management section 143 and the selected characteristic word string is added to a header part of a transmission electronic mail as classification information and the result is transmitted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile-type electronic mail apparatus for transmitting, for example, a facsimile image data file using electronic mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an apparatus for transmitting and receiving facsimile image data in an electronic mail format using a computer network such as the Internet is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8-24232.
No. 6 is proposed.

[0003] This facsimile type electronic mail device is generally configured as follows. That is, when transmitting facsimile image data, first, an original to be transmitted is set on the scanner unit, an e-mail address of a transmission destination is input from the panel unit, and the start button is pressed. Then, the transmission original is read and scanned by the scanner unit, and the obtained image data is compressed by the compression / expansion unit and then temporarily stored in an image storage unit such as a hard disk device. The stored compressed image data is converted from binary compressed data to 7-bit character code data in a format conversion unit. The conversion to the e-mail format is performed by using MIME (Multipurpose Internet Connection), which is an extended function for sending images and sounds by e-mail.
t Mail Extensions). And
The compressed image data file converted to the character code data is attached to the mail body of the electronic mail.

[0004] In the header part of the e-mail, the Fro
The source e-mail address follows m: and To:
Is followed by the destination e-mail address, followed by Subject: the title of the e-mail, and Content-type: followed by the data format and character code conversion method. Then, the created e-mail is sent to LAN
Sent from the control unit to the computer network.

On the other hand, when an e-mail arrives via a computer network, the e-mail is temporarily stored in an external storage unit after being received by a LAN control unit. The compressed image data file attached to the mail body of the received e-mail is converted from character code data into binary compressed data by the format reverse conversion unit according to the above-mentioned MIME method, and is further expanded by the compression / expansion unit. To reproduce the original image data. The reproduced image data is temporarily stored in an external storage unit and then displayed on a CRT unit or printed out by a printer unit in response to a user's instruction.

With such an apparatus, since compressed image data of a transmission original can be attached to an electronic mail and transmitted via the Internet, facsimile transmission is performed using a general public network. The communication cost can be reduced as compared with the case.

[0007]

However, such a conventional apparatus has the following problems to be solved. That is, recently, a plurality of computers can be linked to each other via a network, and a user can search for a desired document file from an enormous number of document files by simply inputting a keyword of a required document file. Full-text search technology has been put to practical use. Further, an automatic classification technique for automatically classifying the collected new document files and the like into categories and the like and registering them in the database has been put to practical use. Therefore, it is desired that a facsimile image data file transferred between computers by e-mail can be classified and searched by applying these techniques.

However, the conventional electronic mail apparatus has only a function of converting a facsimile image data file into character code data and simply attaching the character code data to a mail main body and transmitting the data. For this reason, even if the facsimile image data file is received, the receiving side simply stores the file as it is, and the file cannot be easily classified and searched after the storage.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. An object of the present invention is to facilitate the classification and retrieval of a file after the transfer of a facsimile image data file by electronic mail. It is another object of the present invention to provide a facsimile-type electronic mail device.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a facsimile-type electronic mail apparatus according to the present invention comprises a new classification information creating means for creating classification information including at least words characterizing a transmission facsimile image data file. In addition to the above, the transmission image data file converted for the e-mail is attached to the mail body of the e-mail, and the classification information created by the classification information creating means is attached to the header of the e-mail. An electronic mail is sent to a destination and sent to a network.

With this configuration, the classification information characterizing the image data file attached to the mail body is attached to the header of the electronic mail and transferred. Therefore, on the receiving side, it is possible to classify the transferred document file from the classification information attached to the header part of the e-mail and register it in the database,
Further, even after registration, the document file can be easily searched only by inputting a keyword. That is, it is possible to provide a facsimile-type electronic mail device suitable for a filing system or a full-text data system.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile-type electronic mail apparatus according to the present invention.

The facsimile-type electronic mail device according to the present embodiment has a CPU 1 that controls the overall operation of the device,
A ROM 2 in which a control program used by the CPU 1 is stored in advance, a RAM 3 for temporarily storing various data necessary for the operation of the apparatus, a scanner section 4 for reading and scanning a transmission original and outputting image data, A compression / expansion unit 5 for compressing image data and expanding received compressed image data; an external storage unit 6 for storing the compressed image data using, for example, a hard disk device; address information and titles of a source and a destination; And the like, a CRT section 8 for displaying input information of the panel section 7 and received data, a printer section 9 for printing out received image data and the like, and a computer network such as the Internet. Network card or LAN interface that communicates with the A communication unit 10 comprising a modem for performing a format conversion unit 11 for converting the compressed image data stored in the external storage unit 6 at the time of e-mail transmission into a format for e-mail, the LAN control unit 1
And an e-mail transmission / reception unit 13 for transmitting / receiving an e-mail via the Internet.

Further, the facsimile-type electronic mail device of the present embodiment includes an effective word management unit 13, a classification information storage unit 14, and a classification information creation unit 15 as a configuration according to the present invention, in addition to the above-described respective configurations. I have.

The effective word management section 13 has an effective word management table. This effective word management table contains effective words that are effective words that represent the characteristics of the document, synonyms that have similar meanings to the effective words, and those words that are classified according to technical fields and products. Are stored in association with each other. FIG. 3 shows an example.

When a document file created or collected by a user is input, the classification information storage unit 14 analyzes the document file to extract valid words and stores the extracted valid words as classification information. Then, the document analysis unit 141
And a document feature information creation unit 142 and a document feature information management unit 143. The document analysis unit 141 cuts out the input document file for each word. The document feature information creation unit 142 extracts, from the words cut out by the document analysis unit 141, those registered in the effective word management table as effective words, and for each extracted effective word, the number of appearances Is counted. Then, an effective word whose number of appearances exceeds a predetermined number is selected from all the effective words that have appeared, and this effective word and the number of appearances are used as document feature information representing the features of the document file.

The document feature information management unit 143 has a document classification information management table, and the document feature information creation unit 142
Is stored in association with information representing the user of the document file. FIG. 7 shows the structure of the above-mentioned document classification information management table. This document classification information management table includes a user address table C1.
, A classification list C2, and a document list C3. The user address table C1 stores an e-mail address representing the user of the received document, the name of the user, and a pointer for linking the user to the classification list C2. The classification lists C2 and C2 include a classification name, an effective word string, a pointer for linking the document list C3 to the classification list C2, and a pointer for linking to another classification list C2 corresponding to the same user. The pointer is stored. The document list C3 includes a document name,
An effective word string and a pointer for linking the document list C3 to another document list C3 included in the same classification are stored.

When sending a facsimile image data file by e-mail, the classification information creating section 15 creates classification information including characteristic words characterizing the transmission image file, and attaches this classification information to the header of the e-mail. It includes a title analysis unit 151, a mail address analysis unit 152, and a classification information attachment unit 153. The title analysis unit 151 cuts out the title of the transmission image data file for each word, and extracts, from the cut out words, those registered in the effective word management table as effective words. The email address analysis unit 152
The sender address is extracted from the header part of the transmission e-mail, and the sender is determined based on the sender address. The classification information attachment unit 153 is provided with the mail address analysis unit 15
2. The document characteristic information management table is searched using the sender analyzed in step 2 as a key, and the one closest to the valid word extracted by the title analysis unit 151 is selected from the document characteristic information stored in this table. Then, the selected document characteristic information is attached as classification information to the transmission electronic mail.

Next, the operation of the apparatus configured as described above will be described. First, the accumulation of the classification information is performed as follows. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure and processing contents. That is, for example, a user creates a document file on another computer terminal and transfers it to the facsimile type e-mail device of the present embodiment via a network, or the user creates a necessary document file via a network. It is assumed that the file is downloaded to the facsimile type electronic mail device of the present embodiment. Then, the apparatus according to the present embodiment receives the document file via the communication unit 10 and stores it in the external storage unit 6 in step 2a.

When the apparatus receives the document file, the apparatus reads the received document file from the external storage unit 6 in step 2b and guides it to the document analysis unit 141, where the words of the received document file are cut out. For example, if the received document file has the contents shown in FIG. 4, words are cut out as indicated by underlines in the figure. Next, the apparatus proceeds to step 2c, in which the document feature information creating unit 142 determines whether each of the extracted words is registered as a valid word in the valid word management table shown in FIG. If so, the number of appearances is counted for each word, including its synonyms. FIG. 5 shows an example.

When the determination as to whether or not all the extracted words are valid words and the counting of the number of appearances are completed, valid words whose number of appearances exceeds a predetermined value are extracted together with the number of appearances. Next, the apparatus proceeds to step 2d, and in the document characteristic information management unit 143, stores the extracted effective word and the number of appearances thereof in the document classification information management table in association with user information as document characteristic information.

For example, the source address of the received document file is “suzuki@xx.yy.jp”,
Assuming that the extracted valid words are “e-mail”, “facsimile”, and “image” as shown in FIG.
uzuki @ xx. yy. jp "and the user name" su
zuki "is stored, and a classification name" computer "and an effective word string are stored in the classification list C2 linked to this user. The document list C3 linked to the classification list C2 stores a received document name and a valid word string. At this time, as the valid word string, the number of appearances is added to each of the valid words “e-mail”, “facsimile”, and “image” extracted as shown in FIG. The part is stored.

Similarly, every time a document file created or collected by a user is received or input, at least one valid word characterizing the document file is extracted. Processing for storing the information in the classification information management table is performed.

Next, transmission of a facsimile electronic mail is performed as follows. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure and processing contents. Here, a case will be described as an example where the sender “suzuki” transmits an image document file of the e-mail title “Material transmission of facsimile-type e-mail device” to “yamamoto”.

That is, the user sets a document to be transmitted on the scanner unit 4, operates the panel unit 7 in this state to input an e-mail address of a transmission destination, and then presses a start button. Then, in step 8a, the transmission original is read and scanned by the scanner unit 4, and the obtained image data is compressed by the compression / decompression unit 5 and then temporarily stored in the external storage unit 6.

Then, when all the compressed image data of the transmission original is accumulated, the apparatus subsequently proceeds to step 8d,
The format conversion unit 11 reads out the compressed image data stored in the external storage unit 6 and converts it into a MIME (Mult
Format conversion into character code data for e-mail according to the ipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) method. Then, the format-converted facsimile image data file is attached to the mail body E2 of the transmission e-mail, for example, as shown in FIG.

Next, the apparatus proceeds to step 8c, in which the classification information creating section 15 creates document classification information characterizing the transmission facsimile image data file. That is, first, the title analysis unit 151 cuts out the title attached to the header part of the transmission e-mail for each word, and extracts the effective words stored in advance in the effective word management unit 13 from the extracted words. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, words forming the title "Material transmission of facsimile type e-mail device" are cut out, and "facsimile"
And extract "email". Also, the valid word management unit 13
To find a classification name “computer” corresponding to the extracted effective word.

Subsequently, the apparatus proceeds to step 8d, where the mail address analysis unit 152 determines the sender from the source electronic mail address attached to the header part (E1 in FIG. 10) of the electronic mail. For example, since the source electronic mail address is “suzuki@xx.yy.jp”, the sender determines that the address is “suzuki”.

Next, the apparatus proceeds to step 8e, in which the classification information attaching section 153 searches the document classification information management table shown in FIG. 7 using the above-mentioned source electronic mail address as a key, and determines whether the transmission facsimile image data file is valid. Select the valid word sequence closest to the word. For example, since the source e-mail address is “suzuki@xx.yy.jp”, the user address table C1 indicates “suzuki@xx.yy.jp”.
ki ", and the classification lists C2 and C2 are searched through the pointer. Here, since the classification of the valid word extracted from the title earlier is “computer”, the classification list C2 storing the classification name “computer” is searched.

Then, from the classification list C2 of "computer", a document list C3,
C3 is searched, and the effective word "facsimile" of the transmission facsimile image data file previously extracted from the title is selected from the effective word strings stored in the document lists C3 and C3 classified as "computer". And the valid word string closest to "email".

As a selection method, for example, an effective word string extracted from the title and an effective word string of each of the document lists C3 and C3 are respectively represented by document feature vectors. A method of selecting an effective word string of a document list having the smallest vector difference is used. The feature vector is represented by defining the effective word as a component of the vector and the number of appearances as the size of the component. For example, in the case of the effective word string shown in FIG. 6, an e-mail, a facsimile, and an image are used as vector components, and are represented by a feature vector having a size of “3”, “2”, and “1”.

Assuming that the feature vector of the effective word string D1 extracted from the title is V1, and the feature vector of the effective word string Di in the document list is Vi, the difference is dif = 1−V1 · Vi / | V1 | * | Vi. |. The classification information creation unit 153 calculates the effective word string extracted from the title and all the document lists C
The effective word strings of the document lists C3 and C3 having the smallest difference as a result of this calculation are selected.

Then, the classification information creating unit 153 attaches the effective word string of the selected document list to the header E1 of the transmission e-mail as the classification information B, for example, as shown in FIG. Here, a case is shown in which the valid word string shown in FIG.

Thus, an e-mail with the classification information indicating the characteristics of the transmission facsimile image data file is created, and the e-mail is transmitted from the communication section 10 to the Internet, for example, by the e-mail transmission / reception section 12.

As described above, in this embodiment, every time a document file created or collected by a user is input in a normal state, the document file is analyzed by the document analysis unit 141 of the classification information storage unit 14 and the characteristic word is input. The document feature information creation unit 142 creates document feature information representing the features of the input document file, and stores this in the document feature information management unit 143. Then, when transmitting the facsimile-type e-mail, the facsimile image data file that has been format-converted for the e-mail is attached to the main body E2 of the e-mail. At the same time, the title of the transmission facsimile image data file is analyzed by the title analysis unit 151 of the classification information creation unit 15 to extract a characteristic word string, and the email address analysis unit 152 analyzes the source email address. By using the address as a key to search the document characteristic information management unit 143 by the classification information attachment unit 153, a characteristic word string closest to the characteristic word string extracted from the title is selected from the document classification information management table. The selected characteristic word string is attached as document classification information to the header E1 of the transmission e-mail and transmitted.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the classification information B characterizing the facsimile image data file attached to the mail body E2 is attached to the header E1 of the e-mail and transferred. Therefore, on the receiving side, the document file transferred from the classification information B attached to the header E1 of the e-mail can be classified and registered in the database, and the characteristic word can be input as a keyword even after the registration. The user can easily search for the document file. That is,
A facsimile-type electronic mail suitable for filing systems and full-text data systems can be transferred.

The user selects the characteristic information closest to the transmission facsimile image data file from the document characteristic information created and stored based on the document file used by the user in the past, and uses the selected characteristic information as the classification information. Since it is attached to an e-mail and sent, it is possible to notify the receiving side including valid words that are difficult to express only with the title character string, and this allows the receiving side to perform a full-text search filing system Can be easily handled.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the facsimile image data file is attached to the e-mail and is transferred, for example, via the Internet. Therefore, compared with the case of transmitting the facsimile image data via a public network, for example, Needless to say, the cost can be significantly reduced.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. The configuration of the classification information storage unit and its processing procedure and processing contents, the configuration of the classification information creation unit and its processing procedure and processing contents, document classification The information configuration, device configuration, network type, and the like can be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0040]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a classification information creating means for creating classification information including at least a word characterizing a transmission facsimile image data file is newly provided. Attach the transmission image data file that has been format-converted for e-mail, and attach the classification information created by the classification information creating means to the header of this e-mail,
This e-mail is sent to the network to the destination.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a facsimile-type electronic mail apparatus that can easily perform classification and search of a file after the transfer of a facsimile image data file by electronic mail. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile-type electronic mail device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a classification information accumulation processing procedure and the contents of the processing in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an effective management table.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining an example of a document file analysis process.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of valid words as a result of analyzing a document file and the number of appearances thereof.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of an effective word string.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a document classification information management table.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a classification information creation processing procedure and processing contents in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining an e-mail title character string analysis process.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of attaching classification information to an electronic mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... CPU 2 ... ROM 3 ... RAM 4 ... Scanner part 5 ... Compression / decompression part 6 ... External storage part 7 ... Panel part 8 ... CRT part 9 ... Printer part 10 ... Communication part 11 ... Format conversion part 12 ... E-mail transmission / reception Unit 13 Effective word management unit 14 Classification information storage unit 141 Document analysis unit 142 Document feature information creation unit 143 Document feature information management unit 15 Classification information creation unit 151 Title analysis unit 152 Mail address analysis unit 153 … Classification information attachment

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04N 1/32

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A format conversion unit for converting a transmission image data file obtained by reading and scanning a transmission original into a format that can be transmitted by e-mail, and classifying information including at least a word characterizing the transmission image data file. A classification information creating unit for creating, and an electronic mail in which the transmission image data file format-converted by the format conversion unit is attached to a mail body unit, and the classification information created by the classification information creation unit is attached to a header unit. A facsimile-type e-mail apparatus, comprising: e-mail transmission means for transmitting e-mail to a network. 2. The classification information creating means extracts a word effective in classifying the file from a document file handled in the past, and extracts the word together with information indicating the frequency of occurrence of the word and a sender of the document file. Classification information storage means for storing the transmission image data file in association with the sender address of the transmission image data file from the transmission source address attached to the header of the e-mail; and the transmission image data Title analysis means for analyzing the title of the file and extracting words characterizing the transmission image data file; and classification information closest to the extracted words, among the classification information stored in the classification information storage means. Selecting means for selecting from among the classification information stored in association with the sender specified by the sender specifying means. Said electronic mail transmitting means, facsimile type electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attaching the classification information selected by the selection unit in the header portion of the outgoing e-mail.