JP2000148610A - Image communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable even in a process system which identifies a file format with a file name (file extension) to perform a proper process to normally restore the file by automatically generating a file name, having an extension corresponding to an image format and sending it in a mail, when an image is transmitted or a received facsimile image is transferred. SOLUTION: When transmitting operation starts, image data are transferred from an image read part 105 to an image memory 104. Then the state of a network specification switch 112 is detected, and when the state is turned on, a file name is generated. Here, the file name is composed of 'image' plus a 3-digit serial number plus '.' plus an extension. Then an image format conversion part 109 converts the image data stored as raw data into MH code. The image data which are thus obtained are attached to an electronic mail in accordance with the MIME standards. Then the file name is added to this electronic mail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile type image communication apparatus used by connecting to a network such as the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A known image communication apparatus has a function of transmitting or receiving image data as an attached file of an electronic mail.

In this case, the transmitting side converts the image data read from the original into an electronic mail format such as M
H (Modified Huffman) encoded image data of one or more pages is converted to TIFF-F format, and BASE64
Is converted to an ASCII character string using the MIME (Mu
ltipurpus Internet Mail Extensions) Described in the message body.

The format of a file can be identified by designating that fact in a MIME header. For example, Content-Type: image
If there is a description of / tiff, it is understood that a file in the TIFF format is attached, and appropriate processing according to the format can be performed.

[0005]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional method, it is not always necessary to add the file name of the attached file to the message.

However, when a file is attached to an e-mail using a personal computer (PC), a file name is almost always added naturally.

[0007] Against this background, some devices or network services that process electronic mail refer to only the file name, especially the extension, in order to identify the file format of the attached file.

Therefore, for such a processing system, the content of the MIME header Cont described in the above conventional example is used.
An image communication apparatus that expresses a file format only by ent-Type has a disadvantage that it does not operate normally.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an image communication system capable of properly performing a transmission operation to a processing system that identifies a file format only by a file name when transmitting image data as an attached file of an electronic mail. It is intended to provide a device.

[0010]

An image communication apparatus according to the present invention is an image communication apparatus for communicating image data, wherein a connection means for connecting the image communication apparatus to an electronic mail server and an image of a document are read. Reading means, file name generating means for generating a file name corresponding to the image data read by the reading means, and message generating means for converting the image data and the file name into an e-mail format and generating a mail message And characterized in that:

With the above-described configuration, in an image communication apparatus that reads an image and transmits the image as it is, a file name having an extension corresponding to the image format is automatically generated and transmitted by being included in a mail message. Even a processing system that identifies a file format by a file extension can operate normally.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment of an image communication apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a CPU 101 controls the entire apparatus, and a ROM 102 stores
Is stored. Also, RAM
103 is for storing program control variables and the like, and the image memory 104 is composed of a DRAM or the like,
This stores image data.

The image reading unit 105 is composed of an image sensor, a document conveying mechanism, and the like, and reads the document optically and converts it into electrical image data. Operation panel 1
06 is a key input unit for the user to perform various operations;
And an external display unit for notifying the user of the display by an LCD, an LED, or the like. The printer 107 records received images and file data on recording paper.

The LAN interface 108 is a LAN
The control for connecting this device to is performed. The image format conversion unit 109 converts various formats of an image.

The electronic mail format conversion unit 110
It converts text data and image data into electronic mail format. Email format analyzer 1
Numeral 11 analyzes the contents of the e-mail message.

A network designation switch 112 is provided on the operation panel 106 and is a key for designating a network. When transmitting to the network A, the designation switch 112 is turned on. The PSTN interface 113 performs control for connecting the apparatus to the PSTN.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a network system including the image communication apparatus of the present embodiment.

The image communication apparatus 201 of this embodiment is a LAN
204.

An electronic mail server 203 provides an electronic mail distribution service to the apparatus 201 and terminals 202 such as a PC (personal computer) and WS (work station) in the same LAN.

The LAN 204 is also connected to the Internet 205 via a router (not shown) or the like.

The network 206 is a network A for providing electronic mail and facsimile mutual communication.
With reference to the extension of the file attached to the e-mail sent from the Internet 205, image restoration processing according to the image format indicated by the extension is performed, and the restored image is converted into a facsimile format. Has a function of transmitting to a facsimile connected to the public network from the public.

[0023] Further, it has a function of converting facsimile data coming from the public network and transmitting it as Internet mail as an attached file of electronic mail.

The network 207 is the Internet 2
The other network B is connected to the network 05.

FIG. 3 shows an image communication apparatus 2 according to this embodiment.
11 is a flowchart showing a transmission process of the first embodiment.

First, a document is set on the image reading unit 105, a transmission destination address of the document is input from the operation panel 106, and when it is detected that a transmission operation start instruction is given by a transmission start button or the like, the image reading unit 105 To transfer the image data to the image memory 104 (S101).

Next, the state of the network designation switch 112 is detected (S102), and if it is ON, a file name is generated (S103).

Here, the file name is “image” + a 3-digit serial number + “.” + Extension. The extension is “tif” in the TIFF format,
In the case of the IF format, it is "gif" or the like. In this case, the file name is "image001.tif".

Thereafter, in step S104, the image data stored as raw data (image data in which one bit corresponds to one pixel) by the image format
Convert to sign.

This MH code is a compression code method used in a facsimile apparatus used in a conventional telephone line, and is a method suitable for compressing binary image data.

Further, when the facsimile data is referred to by a PC or the like, the data is converted into a TIFF format generally used. Scanned images over multiple pages are also one TI
Put it in the FF file.

Of course, other than this, a coding system such as MR, MMR, JBIG or the like used in various image communication devices may be used.

The image data obtained in this way is
Attach to e-mail according to ME standard. Thereafter, a file name is added to the e-mail (S105).

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of the electronic mail.

Image data (image00) obtained by converting the text string 401 into text in the BASE64 format
1. tif). “Co” corresponding to this image data
nent-DispositionDisposition
ion: "file name" filename =
"Image001.tif""is added.

Finally, the e-mail is sent to the e-mail server 2
03 (S106).

As described above, the file name for the read image is automatically generated and added to the e-mail message, so that the image can be normally restored even in the network A where the image data is restored by referring to the file extension. can do. [Second Embodiment] FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a second embodiment of the image communication apparatus according to the present invention.

In the figure, a PSTN interface 513 performs control for connecting this apparatus to the PSTN. In addition, other 501-512 are 101-1 of FIG.
The description is omitted because it is the same as 12.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram showing a network system including the image communication apparatus of the present embodiment.

The image communication device 601 of this embodiment is a LAN
604 and a public network 610. The other parts 602 to 607 are the same as the parts 202 to 207 in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows an image communication apparatus 6 according to this embodiment.
11 is a flowchart showing a transmission process of the first embodiment.

When there is an incoming call from another facsimile apparatus connected to the public network 610 to the public network interface 513, the received data is stored in the image memory 504 (S20).
0, 201).

At this time, it is determined whether or not there is an instruction (generally, a relay instruction) for transmitting the received data via the Internet from the destination facsimile machine, and if there is no instruction, the received image is printed out (S203). ).

If there is an instruction, the state of the network designation switch 512 is detected (S204), and if it is ON, a file name is generated (S205).

Here, the file name is “image” + a 3-digit serial number + “.” + Extension. The extension is “tif” in the TIFF format,
In the case of the IF format, it is "gif" or the like. In this case, the file name is "image001.tif".

Thereafter, in step S206, the image data stored as raw data is converted into an MH code by the image format conversion unit 509.

Further, when the facsimile data is referred to by a PC or the like, the data is converted into a TIFF format generally used. Scanned images over multiple pages are also one TI
Put it in the FF file.

Of course, other coding systems such as MR, MMR and JBIG used in various image communication devices may be used.

The image data obtained in this way is
Attach to e-mail according to ME standard. Thereafter, a file name is added to the e-mail (S207). The content of the e-mail is, for example, the same as that shown in FIG.

Finally, the electronic mail is transferred to the electronic mail server (S208).

As described above, by automatically generating the file name for the received image and adding it to the e-mail message, the image can be normally restored even in the network A where the image data is restored by referring to the file extension. can do.

[0052]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In an image communication device that reads an image and transmits it as it is or transfers a received facsimile image, a file name having an extension corresponding to the image format is automatically generated, and the file name is transmitted by being included in a mail message. Even in a processing system that identifies a file format by a name (file extension) and performs appropriate processing, the file can be normally restored.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment of an image communication apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a network system including the image communication device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a transmission process of the image communication apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of an e-mail in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a second embodiment of the image communication apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram showing a network system including the image communication device of the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a transmission process of the image communication apparatus according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101: CPU, 102: ROM, 103: RAM, 104: Image memory, 105: Image reading unit, 106: Operation panel, 107: Printer, 108: LAN interface, 109: Image format conversion unit, 110: E-mail format conversion 111, an electronic mail format analysis unit, 112, a network designation switch, 113, a PSTN interface.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 1/32 (72) Inventor Toshiaki Saito 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yuji Kurosawa 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Takehiro 3-30-2 Shimomaruko 3-chome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. ) 5B089 GA11 GA15 GA21 HA01 HA06 HA10 JA31 JB03 KA04 KA12 KB06 KC59 KH03 KH04 KH11 KH28 LA01 LA03 LA18 LB08 LB14 5C062 AA02 AA29 AA30 AA35 AB38 AC29 AC30 AC43 AF13 BD00 5C075 AB90 CA14 CA05 H90 GA14B90 CA14 CA05 H90 KK01 KK02 MM07 NN06 NN21 UU16 UU19 UU20

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image communication device for communicating image data, comprising: a connection unit for connecting the image communication device to an electronic mail server; a reading unit for reading an image of a document; and an image data read by the reading unit. An image communication device, comprising: a file name generating unit that generates a file name corresponding to the image data; and a message generating unit that converts the image data and the file name into an e-mail format and generates a mail message. . 2. An image communication apparatus for communicating image data, comprising: an e-mail connection means for connecting the image communication apparatus to an e-mail server; and connecting the image communication apparatus to another image via a predetermined network. Facsimile connecting means for connecting to a communication device, file name generating means for generating a file name corresponding to the image data received from the facsimile connecting means, and converting the image data and file name into an email format, An image communication device, comprising: a message generation unit that generates a mail message. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mail message generated by the message generating unit is transmitted to a network or a terminal device that performs image restoration processing according to a file name of an attached file of the electronic mail. An image communication apparatus, comprising: a designation unit; and an addition unit that generates a file name and adds the file name to a transmission message when transmission to the network or the terminal device is designated by the designation unit. 4. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the file name includes a file extension.