JP2000083124A - Electronic mail converting device and internet facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic mail converting device for facilitating a countermeasure to international communication, especially, the different sizes of recording sheets without changing any storage capacity by converting data into image data suited to the sheet size, converting the converted image data into an electronic mail, and transmitting the electronic mail through a network. SOLUTION: A size judging part 131 judges a sheet size to be transmitted based on a destination address inputted from a panel part 127. The size judging part 131 instructs a scanner part 126 to operate optical reduction processing at the time of judging the sheet size is 'small'. A reading part 132 reads an original, and converts the original into bit map data. A switching part 133 operates the switching of whether or not an optical reduction part 134 should be executed. An image compressing part 135 compresses the bit map data into facsimile data such as MR. A format converting part 136 converts the facsimile data into an electronic mail format.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail converting apparatus for converting image data into electronic mail and transmitting / receiving the same via a network, or an Internet facsimile apparatus having a facsimile communication function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A facsimile apparatus for transmitting image information via the Internet by the same operation as a general facsimile has been developed. This type of facsimile is called an Internet facsimile because the Internet is used for all or a part of the communication path.

[0003] The Internet facsimile is equipped with an e-mail conversion device for mutually converting the format of facsimile data and e-mail data for transmission and reception. This operates as follows. The Internet facsimile on the transmitting side converts the facsimile data into an e-mail format and transmits it. The Internet facsimile on the receiving side converts the received e-mail into an image data format, and prints the same as facsimile data received by normal facsimile communication.

[0004]

Generally, communication papers such as facsimile machines use recording papers of different sizes and standards depending on countries. For example, in Europe and the United States, letter size recording paper is common, while in Japan A4 and B
Five-size recording paper is usually used, and a larger-size recording paper such as B4 may be used. For this reason, the performance of the facsimile also varies from country to country. For example, a memory having a larger storage capacity is mounted in Japan than in Europe and the United States. Since Internet facsimile is considered to be used for international communication, it is demanded to eliminate differences between countries or regions.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides an electronic mail conversion apparatus and an Internet facsimile apparatus which can cope with international communications, particularly, different recording paper sizes without changing the storage capacity. The purpose is to:

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention takes the following measures.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail converting apparatus, comprising: a paper size determining section for determining a paper size allowable by a destination terminal from an electronic mail destination; and converting the electronic mail into image data suitable for the determined paper size. A size conversion unit for converting the converted image data into an e-mail, and an e-mail transmission unit for transmitting the e-mail via a network.

With this configuration, the receiving side terminal estimates the allowable paper size from the destination address, converts the image data into the determined paper size, and transmits the converted data. As a result, it is possible to perform processing according to the capabilities of the receiving-side terminal that differs depending on the country, region, or the like, and support international communication.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail conversion device according to the first aspect, the format conversion section divides the image data into predetermined units and converts the image data into an electronic mail.

[0010] With this configuration, since a large amount of image data is divided into predetermined units and converted into electronic mail and transmitted, the amount of data for each electronic mail can be reduced, so that the communication quality is improved. Thus, the capacity of the memory for storing the image data can be reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an Internet facsimile apparatus provided with a facsimile communication unit for transmitting and receiving facsimile data via a telephone line, wherein a paper size allowable from a destination of an electronic mail to a destination terminal is set. A paper size determination unit, a size conversion unit that converts the converted image data into e-mail, and a format conversion unit that converts the converted image data into an e-mail. A configuration including an e-mail transmitting unit for transmitting is adopted.

With this configuration, an Internet facsimile apparatus having a facsimile function is also provided.
The same effect as described above can be obtained.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a system conceptual diagram showing an environment in which an electronic mail conversion device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention operates.

The electronic mail conversion apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment is connected to a facsimile apparatus 2 on the transmitting side via a telephone line L1, and is connected to a public line network (P) via a telephone line L2.
STN) 3. This public network 3
A facsimile machine 4 on the receiving side is connected. This L
The AN 5 includes a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as PC) 6 and a workstation (hereinafter, referred to as WS) 7.
Is connected. The LAN 5 is connected to the Internet 8. Internet 8 has PC6 and WS
7 is connected.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the electronic mail conversion device 1 according to the first embodiment.

The central processing unit (CPU) 11 executes various programs to control each unit of the electronic mail conversion device 1. The ROM 12 stores a program to be executed by the CPU 11. The RAM 13 is used as a data area of the program and as a receiving memory for storing received facsimile data.

The modem unit 14 performs modulation and demodulation in order to communicate with an external facsimile via the telephone lines L1 and L2 according to a facsimile communication procedure. The exchange 15 switches between the telephone lines L1 and L2. The network connection unit 16 is an interface that controls transmission and reception of data with the LAN 5. The bus 17 includes the CPU 11, the ROM 1,
2, a path through which data is transferred between the RAM 13, the modem unit 14, and the network connection unit 16.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the electronic mail conversion device 1 according to the first embodiment.

The telephone number recognition section 31 recognizes a telephone number (facsimile number) sent from the telephone line L1,
It is determined whether the subsequent facsimile data is fetched internally or sent to the telephone line L2. This determination is made based on a correspondence table between telephone numbers and destination e-mail addresses. Specifically, the telephone number sent is R
The determination is made based on whether or not there is a correspondence table between the telephone number and the destination electronic mail address stored in the AM 31. Further, the telephone number recognition unit 31 switches the exchange 15 based on the determination result.

The receiving memory 32 stores the facsimile data when it is determined that the data is to be taken in internally.
This is a partial area of AM13. Here, the facsimile data refers to image data compressed by an image compression method used in normal facsimile communication such as the MH, MR, and MMR methods.

The format converter 33 converts facsimile data into an electronic mail format. More specifically,
The format converter 33 first converts facsimile data into a TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format. Next, the obtained TIFF file is copied to MIME (Mu
ltipurpose Internet Mail Extensions). For example, it is converted into ASCII code by an encoding format such as Base64 and attached to the image part of the mail. The format conversion unit 33 converts the telephone number recognized by the telephone number recognition unit 31 into a destination address, and describes the destination address in the transmission destination field (To :) of the header. In addition, the format conversion unit 33 transmits the source mail address (from :), the title of the message (s
object :) is described in the header section.

The destination management unit 34 manages each document, division unit, and destination address, and registers them in association with a management table 35. In this example, the division unit is one page of the document. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the management table. As shown in FIG. 4, the management table 35 includes
For each e-mail, a management number such as # 1, # 2... # 9, a page number, and a destination e-mail address are recorded in association with each other.

As described above, the destination management unit 34 sets the
In other words, a number is issued for each facsimile data, and a number is issued for each page of the document, in other words, for each division unit of the facsimile data.

The destination management unit 34 is provided with a management table 3
5, the title of the header part of the e-mail (Subj
ect) is assigned a management number and a page number.

The e-mail transmission unit 36 converts the e-mail generated by the format conversion unit 33 into an SMTP (Simple M
The data is transmitted to the LAN 5 via the network connection unit 16 according to a mail transfer protocol such as an ail transfer protocol.

Hereinafter, a process of converting facsimile data into an electronic mail by the electronic mail converting apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing each step of the conversion process by the electronic mail conversion device 1 according to the first embodiment.

In step (hereinafter referred to as ST) 501, the telephone number recognition section 31 recognizes the received telephone number.

Next, in ST502, it is determined whether or not facsimile data is to be fetched based on the recognized telephone number. S when not receiving facsimile data
In T503, the telephone line L1 is connected to the telephone line L2 by the exchange 15, and the process is terminated.

On the other hand, when fetching facsimile data, one page of facsimile data is received in ST504.

In ST505, it is determined whether or not the reception memory 32 has exceeded the memory capacity. If the memory capacity has not been exceeded, the received facsimile data is converted into an e-mail format by the format conversion unit 33 in ST506. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the converted electronic mail. The e-mail 60 includes a header section 61 and a body section 62, and the header section 61 has a title (S
object), a destination address (To), a source address (From), and the like. On the other hand, the body part 62
Contains an ASCII coded TIFF file.

Next, in ST507, the telephone number recognition section 31 converts the telephone number into a destination address.

In ST508, destination management section 34 registers the management number, page number, and destination address in management table 35.

In ST509, format conversion section 33 assigns a management number and a page number to the title (Subject) of the header section. In ST510, the e-mail transmitting unit transmits the generated e-mail.

In ST511, it is determined whether or not there is a next page. If there is, the process returns to ST504, and if not, the process ends. Whether there is a next page depends on IT
MPS (Multi page Signal) defined by UT30
Is determined based on However, the presence / absence determination of the next page is not limited to this, and various methods can be used, such as determining that there is a next page when the next page to be transmitted is transmitted.

On the other hand, if the memory capacity is exceeded in ST505, in ST512, the user is inquired whether to continue the processing. If the user selects continuation, the process proceeds to ST511. On the other hand, if the user has not selected to continue, the process ends.

Next, details of destination management and header editing will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing each step of destination management and header editing processing by the electronic mail conversion device 1 according to the first embodiment.

First, the initial value of the management table 35 is set to the management number # 0. In ST701, it is determined whether or not the facsimile data to be processed is the first page of the document. In the case of the first page of the document, in ST702, the management number is incremented by one. In ST703, the page number is set to “1”.

In ST704, the destination address is registered, and the registration of the electronic mail information on the first page of the document is completed. Next, in ST705, format conversion section 33 edits the header section and gives the title a management number and a page number. In this example, as shown in FIG.
It is in the form of title + "management number" / P "page number" like GE from Internet FAX 1 / P01.

If it is determined in ST701 that the current page is the second page or later, the page number is incremented by one in ST706, and the process proceeds to ST704 to complete the registration of the electronic mail information of the second and subsequent pages of the document. Next, S
In T705, the header is edited, and the title is given a management number and a page number. For example, if the facsimile data is on the second page, the e-mail title is "IMA
GE from Internet FAX1 / P02 ".

As a result, as shown in FIG. 8, a first electronic mail 82 corresponding to the first page original 81 and a second electronic mail 84 corresponding to the second page original 83 are generated. You.

As shown in FIG. 9, the title of the electronic mail with the management number and the page number may be overwritten on the image data.

According to the electronic mail conversion apparatus 1 having the above-described configuration, the facsimile data transmitted by the facsimile apparatus 2 is divided into pages and converted into an electronic mail format. Can be reduced. As a result, the probability of packet loss occurring due to a reduction in the amount of transmission data is reduced. Even if a packet loss occurs, damage can be suppressed to only one page. Thus, transmission quality can be significantly improved.

Further, the electronic mail conversion device 1 divides the facsimile data for each page. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, one page of facsimile data of a plurality of pages of the original is fetched into the reception memory 32, converted into an e-mail format and transmitted, and the fetching, conversion and transmission are performed for the next page. Repeat until.
Thus, the reception memory 32 only needs to have one page, so that the capacity is small. At the same time, the receiving memory of the facsimile machine on the receiving side can be reduced. Thus, the cost of the facsimile machine can be reduced.

Further, since a management table 35 in which the management number and the page number are associated with each other is created and the management number and the page number are given to the electronic mail in pairs, the electronic mail received on the receiving side belongs to the same original. And which page of the document you have. In particular, when a management number and a page number are given to the title (Subject) of the header part of the e-mail as in this example, the identity and page of the original can be grasped only by looking at the title with a mailer or the like on the receiving side. can do.

Further, when the title is overwritten on the image data as shown in FIG. 9, even if the receiving side is an Internet facsimile machine and the received image data is to be printed, the identity of the original and the page can be easily grasped. it can. As described above, according to the first embodiment, document management is facilitated.

In the e-mail converter 1 according to the first embodiment described above, the facsimile data is divided in units of one page, but a plurality of pages may be divided into one unit. At this time, the division unit may be the maximum number of pages that the reception memory 32 can store.

(Embodiment 2) Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 will be described.
The configuration of an Internet facsimile equipped with the same e-mail converter as described above will be described.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of Internet facsimile apparatus 100 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The same components as those shown in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

Internet facsimile machine 100
Is the network adapter unit 1 as the e-mail conversion unit
1 and a facsimile unit 110 for mainly performing facsimile communication.

The network adapter unit 101 includes the CPU 11 and the RO, similarly to the electronic mail converter 1 shown in FIG.
M12, RAM 13, network connection unit 16 and bus 17 are provided. The interface unit 102 is an interface for transmitting and receiving data to and from the facsimile unit 110. The interface unit 102 is, for example, an RS232C interface.

On the other hand, regarding the facsimile unit 110,
The CPU 111 controls various parts of the facsimile unit 110 by executing various programs. ROM 112 is a CPU
111 stores a program to be executed. RAM 113
Is used as a program data area,
It is used as a receiving memory for storing received facsimile data.

The facsimile communication unit 114 transmits and receives data via the public line network 3 in a facsimile procedure. The facsimile communication unit 114 includes a modem that performs modulation and demodulation processing. Further, the facsimile communication unit 114
Performs compression and decompression processing of image data.

The print unit 115 prints data. The scanner unit 116 reads a document. The panel unit 117 includes the Internet facsimile machine 100
Is performed by the user, and various information is displayed to the user. The panel unit 117 includes operation keys such as numeric keys and function keys, and a display unit such as an LCD.

The interface unit 118 is an interface for transmitting and receiving data to and from the interface unit 102 on the network adapter unit 101 side.

The bus 119 includes a CPU 111, a ROM 11
2, a path through which data is transferred among the RAM 113, the facsimile communication unit 114, the printer unit 115, the scanner unit 116, the panel unit 117, and the interface unit 118.

In the Internet facsimile apparatus 100 having the above configuration, the facsimile unit 110 reads the data by the scanner unit 116 and reads the data by the facsimile unit 11.
4 to obtain facsimile data compressed. The facsimile data is received by the network adapter unit 101 via the interface units 102 and 118. In the network adapter unit 101, as in the first embodiment,
The facsimile data is converted into an e-mail for each page, and a management number and a page number are added and transmitted. As a result, the Internet facsimile apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment can achieve an improvement in communication quality, a reduction in the size of a reception memory, and easy document management, as in the first embodiment.

(Embodiment 3) An Internet facsimile apparatus capable of determining the paper size will be described below. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an Internet facsimile apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

The central processing unit (CPU) 121 executes various programs to execute the Internet facsimile apparatus 12.
0 is controlled. The ROM 122 stores a program to be executed by the CPU 121. The RAM 123 is used not only as a data area of the program but also as an image memory for storing facsimile data.

The facsimile communication unit 124 communicates with an external facsimile via the PSTN 3 in accordance with a facsimile communication procedure. The facsimile communication unit 124 includes a modem that performs modulation and demodulation and an image compression unit and an image expansion unit that compresses and expands image data.

The printer section 125 prints data. The scanner unit 126 reads a document. The panel unit 127 includes the Internet facsimile machine 120
Is performed by the user, and various information is displayed to the user. The panel unit 127 includes operation keys such as numeric keys and function keys, and a display unit such as an LCD. Panel section 127 is also an input section for inputting a destination address. For example, when the user presses down the shortcut key, the registered destination address is input to the CPU 121.

The network connection unit 128 is an interface for controlling transmission and reception of data with the LAN 5. The bus 129 includes a CPU 121, a ROM 122, a RAM 12
3. A path through which data is transferred among the facsimile communication unit 124, the printer unit 125, the scanner unit 126, the panel unit 127, and the network connection unit 128.

FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram of the Internet facsimile apparatus 120 according to the third embodiment.

The size determining section 131 determines the size of the sheet to be transmitted based on the destination address input from the panel section 127. More specifically, from the domain name of the destination address, the country where the destination facsimile machine is installed,
A region or the like is determined, and a paper size allowable by a general facsimile machine in the country or the like is determined. For example, if the destination address is a domain name assigned to Japan such as ".co.jp", ".or.jp", ".ne.jp", it is determined that the destination facsimile machine is in Japan I do. A facsimile machine sold in Japan has a large memory capacity and supports a relatively large sheet of paper such as B4. Therefore, it is determined that the allowable paper size is “large”.

On the other hand, if the domain name is ".com", ".uk", ".de" or the like assigned to a European or American country, it is determined that the destination facsimile machine is in a European or American country. Facsimile machines sold in Western countries have small memory capacity,
Only letter size is supported. Therefore, it is estimated that the allowable paper size is “small”.

When the size determination unit 131 determines that the paper size is “small”, it instructs the scanner unit 126 to perform an optical reduction process as described later.

The reading section 132 reads a document and converts it into bitmap data. The switching unit 133 switches whether or not to execute the optical reduction unit 134 in accordance with an instruction from the size determination unit 131.

The image compression section 135 compresses the bitmap data into facsimile data such as MR. The format conversion unit 136 converts facsimile data into an e-mail format as described in the first embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of Internet facsimile apparatus 120 according to the third embodiment.

In ST1301, a destination address is specified by panel section 127.

In ST1302, size determination section 13
1 determines the paper size based on the destination address.
In ST1303, size determination section 131 determines whether or not to perform reduction processing based on the determination result of the paper size. Specifically, when the domain name of the destination address is other than ".jp", the reduction process is performed.

In the case of performing the reduction process, in ST1304, scanner section 126 reduces and reads the document. On the other hand, if the reduction processing is not performed, in ST1305,
The scanner unit 126 reads the original without reducing it.

In ST1306, image compression section 135
Compresses the read image into facsimile data.
In ST1307, format conversion section 1307
Converts facsimile data to email format.
In ST1308, the e-mail transmitting section transmits the e-mail to the destination address.

The facsimile data is stored in the first embodiment.
Similarly to the above, format conversion is performed for each page. The e-mail is managed by a management number and a page number.

According to the Internet facsimile apparatus 120 according to the third embodiment having the above-described configuration, the capability of the receiving-side Internet facsimile apparatus is estimated from the destination address, and data corresponding to the estimated ability is transmitted. This makes it possible to support international communications.

[0076]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By estimating the acceptable paper size of the receiving terminal from the destination address, converting the image data to the determined paper size and transmitting it, it performs processing according to the capabilities of the receiving terminal depending on the country, region, etc., Compatible with international communications.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system conceptual diagram showing an environment in which an e-mail conversion device according to a first embodiment of the present invention operates.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the electronic mail conversion device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the electronic mail conversion device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a management table of the electronic mail conversion device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing each step of conversion processing by the e-mail conversion apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an email converted by the email converter according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing each step of destination management and header editing processing by the e-mail converter according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing a format conversion process in the electronic mail conversion device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a state in which the title of an electronic mail is overwritten on the image data in the electronic mail conversion device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the Internet facsimile apparatus 100 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an Internet facsimile apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram of the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 electronic mail conversion device 2 facsimile device 3 public line network 5 LAN 11 CPU 12 ROM 13 RAM 14 modem unit 15 exchange 16 network connection unit 31 telephone number recognition unit 32 reception memory 33 format conversion unit 34 destination management unit 35 management table 36 electronic Email sending section

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A paper size determination unit for determining a paper size allowable by a destination terminal from an electronic mail destination, a size conversion unit for converting image data suitable for the determined paper size, and the converted image data An e-mail conversion device, comprising: a format conversion unit that converts the e-mail into an e-mail; and an e-mail transmission unit that transmits the e-mail via a network. 2. The electronic mail conversion device according to claim 1, wherein the format conversion unit divides the image data into predetermined units and converts the image data into electronic mail. 3. An Internet facsimile apparatus comprising a facsimile communication unit for transmitting and receiving facsimile data via a telephone line, comprising: a paper size determination unit for determining an allowable paper size of a destination terminal from an electronic mail destination; A size conversion unit that converts the converted image data into image data suitable for the determined paper size, a format conversion unit that converts the converted image data into an e-mail, and an e-mail transmission unit that transmits the e-mail via a network. Internet facsimile machine equipped.