JP2001169079A - Communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide communication equipment which can securely manage communication management record by a FAX server connected to LAN. SOLUTION: In a communication system, a facsimile document received by the FAX server 10 connected to LAN 11 through a public line (PSTN 14) is distributed to clients PC12 and 13 connected to LAN 11 and the communication management record is generated. Reception record whose distribution to the clients PC12 and 13 is not completed in the communication management record 30 on reception is not deleted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device such as a facsimile server which can be connected not only to facsimile communication through a public line but also to an in-house network such as a LAN.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a public switched telephone network (PS) is used.
TN), and at the same time, F
In the AX server, in the Salutation protocol, the FA
FAX document received via PSTN based on X number,
Salutation FAX server connected to LAN
It can be distributed individually to the Salutation client PC. Conversely, FAX documents from the Salutation client PC can be sent from the Salutation FAX server to the PSTN.
Can be sent to the destination via.

[0003]

By the way, this LAN
In the case where the communication management record is managed by a facsimile server connected to a network such as the above, it is inconvenient if the communication management record is created like a conventional facsimile machine.

That is, in a conventional facsimile machine,
It stores communication management records related to transmission and reception, always stores the latest predetermined number of records, and sequentially deletes the oldest ones or deletes them after a certain period of time after communication. When creating a communication management record on a connected fax server, the client PC
If there is a delivery to the user or a reception confirmation process, and the oldest one is deleted as in the prior art, there is a disadvantage that communication that has not been distributed or whose reception has not been confirmed is also deleted.

It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a communication device capable of reliably managing a communication management record by a FAX server or the like which can be connected to a LAN.

[0006]

According to one aspect of the present invention, a document received by facsimile via a public line is distributed to a client connected to a LAN and a communication management record is created. A communication device that does not delete a communication management record that has not been delivered to the client among communication management records related to facsimile reception.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication apparatus for distributing a facsimile-received document via a public line to a client connected to a LAN and creating a communication management record thereof. This communication device does not delete the communication management record for which the transmission of the acknowledgment has not been completed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication apparatus for creating a communication management record of a document transmitted by facsimile via a public line, wherein the communication management record of the facsimile transmission, the reception of which has not been received, is not transmitted. This is a communication device that is not erased.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the relationship between a FAX server and a client, which are communication devices of the present invention, will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6 shows a facsimile server 10 as a communication terminal using the salutation protocol and its facsimile server 1
0, the client PCs 12 and 1 connected by the LAN 11
3 is shown.

The FAX server 10 is connected to another G3 FAX 18 or an MFP server (FAX server) via the PSTN 14.
The MFP server 15 is also connected to the client PC 17 via the LAN 16.

FIG. 7 shows the details of the facsimile server 10. The CPU 1 controls the entire apparatus, and stores image data and data registered by the user (such as abbreviated dial numbers) and is necessary for processing programs. RAM 2 used as a temporary storage area, ROM 3 for storing programs and data necessary for controlling the apparatus, scanner 4 for reading and scanning originals and outputting digitized image data, facsimile messages, etc. 5, a printer 7 for printing and outputting, an NCU (line control unit) 6 for connecting and disconnecting an analog public line (PSTN 14), a modem 7 for performing modulation and demodulation by a method such as V34, and an LCD display unit for displaying the state of the device. And operation panel 8 including a key operation unit for giving operation instructions, MH, MR, MMR system, TI
COD that encodes or decodes image data using the FF method
An EC 19 and an interface 19 for connecting to an Ethernet 18 are provided.

The relationship between the protocol and the network that can be used by the FAX server 10 is as follows.

Protocol Network Communication partner G3 PSTN G3 FAX 18 Salutation PSTN MFP server 15 LAN client PCs 12 and 13 Among the functions of the FAX server 10, those related to routing will be described.

(1) Reception from G3 FAX 18 The FAX server 10 has a table in which a subaddress (SUB) and a password (PWD) of the G3 protocol and a destination corresponding to the subaddress and the password are defined. Perform routing based on the table. As the destination, the client addresses of the client PCs 12 and 13 can be specified.

(2) Reception from MFP server 15 In the Salutation protocol, Salutati as the final destination
You can specify on client address. FA
The X server 10 distributes image data to the client PCs 12 and 13 specified by the Salutation protocol.

(3) Reception from Client PCs 12 and 13 The FAX server performs routing based on the destination specified by the client PCs 12 and 13.

When both the telephone number and the Salutation client address are specified as the destination: Specify the Salutation client address as the final destination,
MFP server 1 specified by telephone number via PSTN
5 is transmitted.

When only a telephone number is specified as a destination: image data is transmitted to the G3 FAX 18.

As described above, the facsimile server 10 transmits the facsimile document (image data) from the client PCs 12 and 13 to the MFP server 15 or the G3F via the PSTN 14.
AX18, MFP server 15 or G3 FAX
A FAX document transmitted from the PC 18 is received and distributed to the client PCs 12 and 13.

The facsimile server 10 creates a communication management record at the time of facsimile transmission / reception. At this time, the facsimile server confirms whether there is a receipt confirmation, and if the receipt confirmation is not received or transmitted, it is determined that the receipt confirmation has not been completed. The image data is stored and the transmission / reception record is not erased. When the reception confirmation is received or transmitted, the image data is erased and the reception is confirmed in the communication management record. The management records are deleted after a lapse of a predetermined period or sequentially from the oldest one.

Next, the procedure of FAX transmission / reception will be described with reference to FIG.

In facsimile transmission, the client PC 12 (or 13) performs transmission document creation and preparation 20, and then transmits 21 to the FAX server 10 side, and the FAX server 10 transmits the image data via the PSTN 14 to the destination. To the MFP server 15 and creates a communication management record 22.

At the time of facsimile reception, a communication management record is created from the MFP server 15 of the other party via the PSTN 14 and a communication management record is created 23. In step 1, a reception confirmation is received or image data is received. When the reception is not confirmed (NO), that is, when the image data is received, the reception of the image data is notified to the client PC 12 or 13, and if there is a distribution request from the client PC 12 or 13, the image data is distributed 24.

On the client PC 12 or 13 side, F
Receiving 25 the image data, which is an AX document, and then, if the user downloads and views 26 the FAX document, automatically transmits a receipt confirmation to the FAX server 10 2
7 and the FAX server 10 receives the
A reception confirmation is transmitted to the destination MFP server 15 via N14, a communication management record indicating that the reception confirmation has been transmitted is created, and association 28 with the communication management record that received the image data is performed.

If the receipt confirmation is received from the destination MFP server 15 in the determination of the receipt confirmation in step 1 (YES), the correspondence 29 with the communication management record that transmitted the image data is performed. The correspondence between the communication management record of transmission and the corresponding receipt confirmation is as follows: the transmission side sends a unique number for each communication numbered with the image data, and the reception side returns the unique number as a receipt confirmation It is done by doing.

FIG. 1 shows a facsimile transmission communication management record 30 created based on the flowchart described with reference to FIG.
In the communication management record 30, the communication start time column 31, the communication destination column 32, the communication time column 33, the number of copies column 3
4. A mode column 35 and a reception confirmation column 36 are provided.
The transmission contents are stored in the line 37 of each of the columns 31 to 36. At this time, if the reception confirmation is not received from the communication partner after the transmission in the reception confirmation column 36, it is regarded as incomplete 38,
When the acknowledgment is received from the communication partner (672-8289), it is determined that the acknowledgment has been received 39.

Incomplete 38 not receiving this acknowledgment
In the communication on line 37a, the transmission image data is stored as it is, and the communication partner (ABC COR
When the receipt confirmation is received from P), the data is rewritten as received and the stored transmission image data is deleted. In this case, when the received image data is used again, it may be appropriately stored.

FIG. 2 is a communication management record 4 at the time of facsimile reception created based on the flowchart similarly described with reference to FIG.
0, the communication management record 40 includes a communication start time column 41, a communication destination column 42, a communication time column 43, a number column 44, a mode column 45, and a reception confirmation column 46. The received content is stored in the row 47 of each column 41 to 46. At this time, after the facsimile is received in the reception confirmation column 46,
If no acknowledgment has been received from the client PCs 12 and 13, it is determined to be incomplete 48.

Thereafter, the receipt confirmation is not completed.
When the acknowledgment is received from the client PCs 12 and 13, the acknowledgment is transmitted to the communication partner (ABC CORP) in the line 47a, and the data is rewritten from incomplete 48 to transmitted and erased the received image data. In this case, when the transmission image data is used again, the transmission image data may be appropriately stored.

The transmission management records 30 and 40 shown in FIGS.
In each of the transmission and reception, the columns 31 to 31 of the blank rows 37 and 47
36, 41 to 46, the communication contents are sequentially stored.
When 7, 47 becomes full, the communication contents are deleted from the oldest line, that is, from the upper line,
In steps 6 and 46, the communication contents of incomplete 38 and 48 and their image data are stored without erasing.

A flowchart for erasing the communication management record will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 4 shows a flow of deleting the received communication management record. The received communication management record deletion processing 50 is performed. In step 2, the communication management record that has passed a predetermined time from the communication (reception) start time is deleted. To determine if there is,
If there is (YES), it is determined in step 3 whether distribution has been completed, and if distribution has been completed (YES), step 4
It is determined whether or not the receipt confirmation has been transmitted. If the receipt confirmation has been transmitted (YES), the contents of the communication management record after the elapse of the predetermined time are deleted 52. In this case, if the received image data remains without being deleted, the image is also deleted at the same time. It should be noted that, in the judgment of each step 2 to 4,
In the case of O, the process returns to the received communication management record deletion process 50.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the process of deleting the transmission communication management.
It is determined in step 5 whether there is a communication management record for which a predetermined time has elapsed from the communication (transmission) start time. If there is (YES), in step 6, it is determined whether a reception confirmation has been received. Receipt confirmation received (YE
If S), the content of the communication management record after the elapse of the predetermined time is deleted 56.

[0036]

In summary, according to the present invention, the communication management record of a received document but not delivered to the client is not erased, and the communication management record of which reception confirmation is not transmitted or not received is erased. Never be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a communication management record of transmission based on the communication device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a communication management record of reception based on the communication device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flowchart of the communication device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flowchart for deleting a received communication management record in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flowchart for deleting a communication management record of transmission in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a network of a FAX server and a client PC in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating details of a FAX server according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 FAX server 12, 13 Client PC 30 Communication management record (transmission) 40 Communication management record (reception)

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5C062 AA02 AA14 AA35 AB38 AB42 AC43 AF00 BA00 BC01 5C075 CA14 CF07 CF09 DD03 DD05 FF09 5K030 GA16 HB04 HC01 HD06 JT05 KA01 KA02 KA13 KA19 LA08 LD01 LD13 MB18 5K03 A9001 BB13 DB13

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A communication device for distributing a document received by facsimile via a public line to a client connected to a LAN and creating a communication management record of the document. A communication device, wherein an incomplete communication management record is not deleted. 2. A communication device for distributing a document received by facsimile via a public line to a client connected to a LAN and creating a communication management record of the document. A communication device, wherein a communication management record that has not been completed is not deleted. 3. A communication apparatus for creating a communication management record of a document transmitted by facsimile via a public line, wherein a communication management record for which facsimile transmission has not been received is not erased. A communication device characterized by the above-mentioned.