JP2000341432A - Composite communication equipment, reception indicating method, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable confirmation of reception of facsimile messages, messages left in an automatic answering telephone set, and E mail with a single device. SOLUTION: Composite communication equipment is provided with an automatic answering telephone set function block 205, which receives the messages left, a facsimile function block 206 which receives facsimile messages, and an E-mail receiving function block 207 as well as reception lamps 104-106, which respectively indicate the receiving functions. When one of the receiving function makes reception or confirms receipt of a message, the equipment causes the corresponding one from among the lamps 104-106 to make indication of reception by turning on the lamp.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a composite communication device, a reception display method, and a storage medium, and more particularly, to at least one first reception function of a method of directly receiving a transmitted signal, and a method of receiving a transmitted signal. A composite communication device having a second reception function of a method in which an external server receives and stores a signal and reads the signal from the external server, a reception display method applied to the composite communication device, and the reception display The present invention relates to a storage medium storing a program for executing the method.

[0002] The above-mentioned composite communication apparatus is, for example, a composite communication apparatus having an e-mail receiving function in addition to a facsimile function and an answering machine function.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent development of the information-oriented society, information terminals are becoming widespread in each home. This information terminal includes an answering machine, a facsimile machine (hereinafter, referred to as “FAX”), and a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as “PC”). In addition, the speed of connection to a line, which is an information transmission medium, has been dramatically improved, and information transmission has been rapidly performed in each home.

[0004] One of the information transmitting means is electronic mail (hereinafter referred to as "E-mail"). Traditionally, this email was primarily used to communicate information between companies, but recently,
With the spread of PCs at home, they have been used as personal information transmission means. When using e-mail in a normal home, a line interface such as a PC and a modem, and mail software running on the PC are required, and a contract is made with a provider having a mail server for sending and receiving e-mail. It is necessary to send and receive mail to and from the mail server of the provider via the line.

Recently, a line for transmitting information has been developed at a higher speed, and the line for transmitting information is ISDN (Integr.
Digital networks called ated Services Digital Network) are exploding.

[0006] Further, the spread of FAX, which has become easy as personal information equipment, has greatly increased.

[0007] Furthermore, since FAX is an extension of telephone, recent FAX for personal use is mainly a multifunction machine combined with telephone function (especially answering machine function).

Under these circumstances, an answering machine,
FIG. 5 shows a conventional configuration example in the case of using FAX and E-mail.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 500 denotes an ISDN line; and 501, a terminal adapter (hereinafter, abbreviated as "TA"). The TA 501 has an interface function between a digital line and an analog device and a digital interface function between a digital line and a PC. TA
A fax 503 with an answering machine function is connected to the analog port 502 of the 501, and a PC 505 is connected to the digital port 504 of the TA 501. Normally, a fax machine with answering machine 503 has an answering machine reception lamp 506 for notifying reception of an answering machine message and an F for notifying reception of a fax machine.
An AX reception lamp 507 is provided, and the user can determine whether or not a fax or answering machine has been received by looking at such an lamp. Based on this determination, for example, if FAX recording output is instructed, the content of the received FAX is output, and if the answering machine reproduction is instructed, the answering machine message is played.

[0010]

However, in order to confirm the reception of the e-mail, start up the PC, dial the provider, connect the line, activate the mail software, and confirm the reception of the e-mail. This operation is complicated, and the operation is difficult for users who are not familiar with PCs, especially for elderly people and women.

[0011] Some recent TAs automatically notify the reception of an e-mail. This is, for example, that the TA periodically connects the line with the provider, confirms the reception of the e-mail with the mail server of the provider, and when there is a received mail, the mail notification lamp on the TA is turned on. is there. If such a TA is used, the user does not have to go through a complicated procedure such as starting up a PC, and the E
E-mail reception can be easily confirmed. However, in order to view the received mail, it is necessary to start up the PC, activate the mail software, and read the mail from the mail server of the provider.

Further, in this method, it is necessary to confirm the reception of the e-mail up to the TA. That is, for example, when it is attempted to confirm reception of a facsimile, answering machine, and e-mail when returning from an outing place, it is necessary to check with a TA which is a device different from the FAX 503 with an answering machine. Although the TA and the FAX 503 with answering machine are connected by a line, they are not always located at positions close to each other. Had to go to the TA in the city.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and it is possible to confirm reception of a facsimile, answering machine, and e-mail by a single device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a composite communication device, a reception display method, and a storage medium that allow the user to easily view the information.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided at least one first receiving function of a system for directly receiving a transmitted signal and a transmitting function. And a second receiving function of a method of receiving and storing the received signal from an external server and reading the signal from the external server, and performing a display corresponding to each of the plurality of receiving functions. A display unit, and a display instruction for causing the display unit to perform a display corresponding to a reception function related to the reception when one of the plurality of reception functions performs reception or confirms that the reception has been performed. Means.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, at least one first receiving function of a method of directly receiving a transmitted signal, and an external server receiving and storing the transmitted signal, A second display function for reading the signal from the external server, and a reception display method applied to a multi-function communication device having display means for performing display corresponding to the plurality of reception functions, A monitoring step of monitoring a plurality of reception functions; and when one of the plurality of reception functions has performed reception or when it has been confirmed that the reception has been performed, the display means is made to correspond to a reception function relating to the reception. And a display instruction step for performing the display.

Further, according to the twenty-first aspect,
At least one first receiving function of a method of directly receiving a transmitted signal, and a second receiving function of a method of receiving and storing a transmitted signal by an external server and reading the signal from the external server And a computer-readable storage medium storing, as a program, a reception display method applied to a compound communication device having a display unit for performing display corresponding to each of the plurality of reception functions. The method includes the steps of: monitoring the plurality of receiving functions; and, when one of the plurality of receiving functions performs reception or confirms that there has been reception, the display means includes a reception related to the reception. And a display instruction step for performing a display corresponding to the function.

[0017]

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

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is an external view showing a configuration of a composite communication apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a communication device;
Is a handset, 102 is a display for displaying the status of the apparatus and a telephone number, etc., 103 is an operation section for inputting a telephone number and various settings, 104 is an answering message receiving lamp for notifying of an answering machine message reception, and 105 is a fax reception. Is a facsimile reception lamp for notifying E-mail, and 106 is an e-mail reception lamp for notifying e-mail reception.

By turning on these lamps, the user is notified of the receipt of an answering machine message, a fax, and an e-mail.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of such a composite communication device.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 200 denotes a CPU for controlling the apparatus, and 201 denotes a memory for storing a program and further for storing a received FAX signal and an answering machine message.

Reference numeral 204 denotes a line interface for inputting / outputting a line (hereinafter, referred to as a "line I / F"). For example, when the line is an ISDN, the line interface comprises an ISDN control IC and a DSU (Digital Service Unit) for terminating the network. .
Reference numeral 205 denotes an answering machine function block including a voice IC such as a voice codec for recording / reproducing a voice message, and reference numeral 206 denotes an F including a modem (modem).
An AX function block 207 is an e-mail reception function block for performing an e-mail reception confirmation operation. 211
Is a bus connecting each device / block. In addition,
The CPU 200 includes an absence message receiving lamp 104,
The fax reception lamp 105 and the e-mail reception lamp 106 are connected.

Next, the operation of the composite communication device will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the composite communication device.

First, it is checked whether there is an incoming call from the line (S1). If there is an incoming call, it is checked whether or not the mode of the apparatus is in an answering machine mode (automatic mode) (S2). If it is not the mode, that is, if it is in the manual reception mode, it will continue to ring
If the handset 101 is raised (S3), the line I /
Connect the line via F204 and enter the call state (S
4).

If it is determined in step S2 that the telephone answering mode has been set, a line is connected through the line I / F 204 (S5), and the audio IC of the telephone answering function block 205 stores the line in the memory 201, for example. The response message is reproduced (S6), and it is determined whether or not the other party is a facsimile by a received signal (for example, a tone signal) (S6).
7) If the other party is determined to be a facsimile, a facsimile reception is performed using a modem or the like of the facsimile function block 206 (S8). The received fax signal is stored in the memory 201 without being directly output to paper. After the fax reception is completed, the fax reception lamp 105 is turned on (S9), and the call is disconnected (S16).

If it is determined in step S7 that the call is a telephone call,
The voice message of the other party is recorded in the memory 201 by using the voice IC of the voice mail function block 205 (S1).
0) After the recording is completed, the answering message receiving lamp 104 is turned on (S11), and the call is disconnected (S16).

If it is determined in step S1 that there is no incoming call, it is determined using a timer (not shown) or the like whether a predetermined time for periodically confirming (inquiring) the reception of the e-mail has elapsed (step S1). S12) If the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process ends without doing anything. If the predetermined time has elapsed, the calling / connection to the provider is performed using the dialer or the like of the E-mail receiving function block 207 (S12). S13),
The mail reception of the provider is confirmed with the mail server of the provider (S14). This confirmation is made by POP (Post Office Prot.
ocol), and in most cases this is done in software. If it is confirmed that the e-mail has been received, the e-mail reception lamp 106 is turned on (S15), and the call with the provider is disconnected (S16).

As described above, the answering machine message reception, the FA
Since the corresponding lamp is turned on when one of X reception and E-mail reception occurs, the reception confirmation can be instantaneously determined only by this apparatus.

In the first embodiment, the receiving lamp is provided for each receiving object. Instead of this, a multicolor light emitting lamp is prepared, and the emitting color is changed for each receiving object. The reception target may be displayed as characters or images on the display 102.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment will be described.

The configuration of the second embodiment is basically the same as the configuration of the first embodiment. Therefore, in the description of the second embodiment, the configuration of the first embodiment will be used, Only the components will be described.

In the second embodiment, an e-mail reception and an e-mail display / print function are added to the first embodiment. More specifically, in addition to the POP protocol used for confirming mail reception, the present composite communication apparatus uses SMTP (Simp).
le Mail Transfer Protocol), and is configured to receive the mail itself received by the mail server of the provider by the multifunctional communication apparatus. Further, it has an output means for displaying or printing the received mail data and a display / print instructing means (push button or the like), and when the display / print is instructed by the display / print instructing means, the received mail is sent to the output means. Displayed or printed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the multifunction communication device according to the second embodiment. The same steps as those in the flowchart in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same step numbers, and description thereof will be omitted.

In the second embodiment, step S20 is newly provided between step S14 and step S15.

In this step S20, after the reception of the mail is confirmed by the POP, the transmission of the received mail is requested to the mail server using the mail transmission / reception protocol such as the SMTP, and the mail body is received and stored in the memory 201. I do.

Further, in the second embodiment, when the user confirms the incoming mail and instructs the display / print instruction means to display / print the incoming mail, the incoming mail is displayed or printed on the output means. To read emails.

Since the actual mail data cannot be directly displayed / printed as it is, a mail data conversion process is required. For example, image data attached to an email can be in various data formats (for example,
TIFF, JPEG, etc.), and to display / print it, it is necessary to convert it to, for example, raster data. The present composite communication device supports this and converts or converts the mail data before displaying or printing the mail.

The display / print instructing means is constituted by, for example, a push button. Instead of this, a button with a lamp is provided, which is used as a mail receiving lamp and the display / print instructing means. It would be a very easy to understand man-machine interface.

As described above, in the second embodiment, the mail can be directly viewed only with the present composite communication apparatus, and a PC or the like is not used, so that any complicated operation conventionally required is not required.

Note that the present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices, or to an apparatus including a single device.

A storage medium storing program codes of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or the apparatus stores the storage medium in the storage medium. It goes without saying that the present invention is also achieved by reading and executing the program code thus set.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that the present invention includes a case where a part or all of the actual processing is performed and the function of each embodiment described above is realized by the processing.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It is needless to say that the present invention includes a case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments. .

[0048]

As described in detail above, claims 1 and 1
According to the first or twenty-first aspect of the present invention, at least one first receiving function in which the composite communication device directly receives the transmitted signal, and the external server receives and stores the transmitted signal. A second reception function of reading the signal from the external server; and display means for performing display corresponding to each of the plurality of reception functions. Then, when one of the plurality of reception functions performs reception or confirms that the reception has been performed, the display unit causes the display unit to perform display corresponding to the reception function related to the reception. The first receiving function is, for example, a facsimile receiving function or an answering machine message receiving function.
Is an e-mail receiving function.

Thus, the reception of the fax, the answering machine reception, and the reception of the e-mail can be confirmed by one composite communication device. That is, there is no need for the user to move for confirmation, and confirmation can be performed instantaneously, and after confirmation, display / printout of a received facsimile, voice output of an absence message, etc. can be performed accurately and promptly.

According to the invention described in claims 6, 7, 16, 17 or 26, 27, the composite communication apparatus is periodically connected to the external server, and the external server receives the self-addressed data. Ask if there are any. Then, when it is confirmed that there is a reception addressed to itself, it reads the received data from an external server, converts the data format, and outputs it to a display device or a printing device.

Thus, the received e-mail can be easily viewed without using a personal computer. That is, it is possible to receive an e-mail without any complicated operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view illustrating a configuration of a composite communication device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the composite communication device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of the composite communication device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of the composite communication device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional complex communication device that uses an answering machine, a facsimile, and an e-mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Communication device 101 Handset 102 Display (display means) 103 Operation unit 104 Answering message reception lamp (display means) 105 FAX reception lamp (display means) 106 E-mail reception lamp (display means) 200 CPU (display instruction means) 201 Memory 204 Line interface 205 Answering machine function block (first reception function) 206 FAX function block (first reception function) 207 E-mail reception function block (second reception function) 211 bus

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Michihiro Izumi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Canon Inc. (reference) 5B089 GA11 GA26 GA35 GB04 HA01 JA05 JA31 KA02 KB04 KC30 LA11 LB00 LB14 5C062 AA02 AA12 AA13 AA34 AB20 AB22 AB23 AC04 AC05 AC35 AC41 AC45 5K039 BB00 CC00 JJ08 5K101 KK01 KK02 KK06 NN17 RR13

Claims (27)

[Claims] 1. A method of directly receiving a transmitted signal,
A compound communication device having at least one first reception function and a second reception function of a method in which an external server receives and stores a transmitted signal and reads the signal from the external server, A display unit that performs a display corresponding to each of the plurality of reception functions; and when one of the plurality of reception functions has performed reception or when it has been confirmed that the reception has been performed, the display unit relates to the reception. A composite communication device comprising: display instruction means for performing a display corresponding to a reception function. 2. The composite communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first receiving function is at least a facsimile receiving function. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first receiving function is at least an answering machine message receiving function.
Or the composite communication device according to claim 2. 4. The composite communication device according to claim 1, wherein the second receiving function is an e-mail receiving function. 5. The display instructing means, when at least one of the first receiving functions performs reception, or when the second receiving function inquires the external server, and the reception to the external server is not performed. 5. The composite communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when confirming that there is, the display unit performs a display corresponding to a reception function related to the reception. 6. The second receiving function includes: a connection unit that periodically connects the multifunction device to the external server; and a reception confirmation unit that inquires of the external server whether there is a reception addressed to itself. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
The composite communication device according to claim 5. 7. The second receiving function includes: when the reception confirmation unit confirms that there is a reception addressed to itself, a reading unit that reads the received data from the external server; 7. The composite communication according to claim 6, further comprising: a conversion unit configured to convert a format of the read data; and an output unit configured to output the received data converted by the conversion unit to a display device or a printing device. apparatus. 8. The composite communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said display means comprises a plurality of display lamps respectively corresponding to said plurality of reception functions. . 9. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit includes a display lamp that emits light of a plurality of colors respectively corresponding to the plurality of reception functions. 2. The composite communication device according to claim 1. 10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is a unit that displays characters or images, and the unit displays characters or images corresponding to the plurality of reception functions. The composite communication device according to any one of the above. 11. A method of directly receiving a transmitted signal, wherein at least one first receiving function and a method of receiving and storing the transmitted signal by an external server and reading the signal from the external server. A reception display method applied to a multifunction communication device having a second reception function and having a display unit for performing display corresponding to each of the plurality of reception functions; and a monitoring step of monitoring the plurality of reception functions. A display instructing step of causing the display means to perform display corresponding to the reception function related to the reception when one of the plurality of reception functions has performed reception or when it has been confirmed that the reception has been performed. A reception display method, comprising: 12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the first receiving function is at least a facsimile receiving function.
Received display method described. 13. The reception display method according to claim 11, wherein the first reception function is at least an answering machine message reception function. 14. The electronic mail receiving function according to claim 11, wherein the second receiving function is an electronic mail receiving function.
3. The reception display method according to any one of 3. 15. The display instruction step is performed when at least one of the first reception functions performs reception, or when the second reception function inquires of the external server, and the reception to the external server is not performed. When confirming that
The reception display method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the display unit performs a display corresponding to a reception function related to the reception. 16. The second receiving function includes: a connecting step of periodically connecting the multifunction communication device to the external server; and a receiving confirmation step of inquiring of the external server whether or not there is a reception addressed to itself. The reception display method according to any one of claims 11 to 15, comprising: 17. The second reception function, wherein, when it is confirmed in the reception confirmation step that a reception addressed to itself is received, a reading step of reading the received data from the external server; and a reading step. 17. The receiving method according to claim 16, further comprising: a converting step of converting a format of the data read by the converting step; and an outputting step of outputting the received data converted by the converting step to a display device or a printing device. Display method. 18. The reception display method according to claim 11, wherein said display means comprises a plurality of display lamps respectively corresponding to said plurality of reception functions. . 19. The display device according to claim 11, wherein said display means comprises a display lamp which emits a plurality of colors of light respectively corresponding to said plurality of reception functions. Reception display method described in. 20. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said display means is means for displaying characters or images, and said means displays characters or images corresponding to said plurality of reception functions. The reception display method according to any of the above. 21. At least one first receiving function of a method of directly receiving a transmitted signal, and a method of receiving and storing a transmitted signal by an external server and reading the signal from the external server. A computer-readable storage medium having a second reception function and a program storing a reception display method applied to a compound communication device having a display unit for performing display corresponding to each of the plurality of reception functions. In the reception display method, a monitoring step of monitoring the plurality of reception functions, and when one of the plurality of reception functions has performed reception or when it has been confirmed that reception has been performed, A display instruction step of performing a display corresponding to a reception function related to the reception. 22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the first receiving function is at least a facsimile receiving function.
The storage medium according to the above. 23. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein said first receiving function is at least an answering machine message receiving function. 24. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein said second receiving function is an electronic mail receiving function.
3. The storage medium according to any one of 3. 25. The display instruction step, when at least one of the first reception functions has performed reception, or the second reception function inquires of the external server, and the reception to the external server is not performed. When confirming that
The storage medium according to any one of claims 21 to 24, wherein the display unit performs a display corresponding to a reception function related to the reception. 26. The second reception function, comprising: a connection step of periodically connecting the multifunction device to the external server; and a reception confirmation step of inquiring of the external server whether or not there is a reception addressed to itself. The storage medium according to any one of claims 21 to 25, comprising: 27. The second receiving function, comprising: a reading step of reading the received data from the external server when it is confirmed in the reception confirming step that there is a reception addressed to the self; 27. The storage according to claim 26, further comprising: a conversion step of converting the format of the data read by the conversion step; and an output step of outputting the reception data converted by the conversion step to a display device or a printing device. Medium.