JP2001186361A - Communication equipment, communication system, communication method and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide communication equipment which can surely and efficiently transmit information whose quantity is enormous. SOLUTION: When the data quantity of electronic mail data (electronic mail data including multivalue picture information) transmitted by a transmission means 206 is larger than prescribed (transmission possible upper limit) which is previously set (step S307), multiple picture information of electronic mail data is reduced in number of colors (S309). The data quantity of electronic mail data transmitted by the transmission means 206 is automatically adjusted to data appropriate for transmission.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication apparatus, a communication system, a communication method, and processing steps for use in an apparatus or a system having an electronic mail function capable of exchanging multi-valued image information. In a computer-readable storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in addition to communication devices such as facsimile and telephone which exchange (communicate) information via a telephone line,
Communication devices that exchange (communicate) electronic information such as e-mail via the Internet are becoming common.

For example, focusing on the exchange of electronic mail,
First, not only character information but also information in various data formats such as images, sounds, and computer data can be used as electronic mail. Such an e-mail is sent to the UA (Use) on the communication device on the client side.
rAgent) is created by launching the quantum mail client software.

An electronic mail created by a communication device on the client side (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a “client”) receives an original MAT (Mail Transfer).
Agent).

There are a plurality of electronic mail transfer devices, and each of the electronic mail transfer devices transmits and sends an electronic mail from a client to another electronic mail transfer device as if it were a bucket brigade. A system for storing and exchanging e-mail between such e-mail transfer devices is hereinafter referred to as an “e-mail storage and exchange system”.
Say

Specifically, for example, when the client A sends an e-mail to the client B, the first quantum mail transfer device temporarily stores the e-mail from the client A in an auxiliary storage unit in the own device. Then, it transmits to the second quantum mail transfer device to be transferred next.
Similarly to the first quantum mail transfer device, the second quantum mail transfer device temporarily stores the e-mail from the first quantum mail transfer device in an auxiliary storage unit in the device, and then transfers the electronic mail. The third quantum mail transfer device to be transmitted.

[0007] By storing and exchanging such e-mails between quantum mail transfer devices, the client A
Is stored in the storage unit in the n-th electronic mail device that is the final destination. Alternatively, it is stored in a storage unit in a received e-mail management server device having a mailbox (post office box) for managing e-mails received for each client.

[0008] Therefore, the client B communicates with the U
Upon activation of the e-mail client software designated as A, an e-mail addressed to itself stored in the n-th e-mail device or the received e-mail management server device is received.

As electronic mails handled by the electronic mail storage and switching system described above, character information is mainly used. Therefore, the data amount of the electronic mail handled by the electronic mail storage and switching system is about several kilobytes to several hundred kilobytes.

[0010] On the other hand, against the background of the technology of the above-mentioned electronic mail storage and exchange system, devices constituting the system include:
A communication device of a new genre called an Internet facsimile device (Internet facsimile device) that combines facsimile and electronic mail, and a facsimile server device have appeared.

An Internet FAX apparatus converts image information read from an original into an electronic mail data format, and converts the electronic mail to a destination designated by a user by extending an electronic mail exchange protocol. Has been made to send by.

In the above-described Internet facsimile apparatus, only the transmission standard of the black and white binary image information is specified, but it is technically possible to transmit multi-valued image information. Depending on the resolution, multi-valued image information may have a data amount of several megabytes per document.
Further, even if the resolution is low, if the number of documents is large, the amount of data becomes enormous.

[0013]

However, in the conventional electronic mail storage and switching system as described above, each of the plurality of electronic mail transfer devices can handle one of them.
The setting of the upper limit of the amount of e-mail data per communication is left to the system administrator managing each e-mail transfer device, and there is no standard agreement (usually, the e-mail data per communication The limit is set to a few megabytes.)

In the conventional e-mail storage and exchange system and the e-mail client software used in the system, the amount of e-mail data per communication that each e-mail transfer device (node) can handle is determined. There was no communication protocol for exchanging each other.

Furthermore, the conventional e-mail storage and exchange system can handle the problem because the path of the e-mail on the network is not always constant, that is, the e-mail transfer device that the e-mail passes through changes for each communication. The upper limit of the amount of e-mail data per communication changed for each communication.

Therefore, conventionally, at least the following problems (1) and (2) have occurred.

(1) E-mail cannot be reliably transmitted without user intervention. Since the user cannot recognize the amount of e-mail data that can be sent in advance,
The e-mail must be transmitted without recognizing the data amount. As a result, depending on the route of the e-mail on the network, an error may occur during transmission of the e-mail. Specifically, if an e-mail transfer device that cannot cope with the data amount of the e-mail exists on a route on the network in this communication, a transfer error occurs in the e-mail transfer device.
For this reason, in order to reliably send the e-mail to the other party, intervention and confirmation by the user are required. In addition, all errors relating to insufficient capacity of the storage unit (memory for temporarily storing electronic mail) in the electronic mail transfer device need to be dealt with by the user who is the source of the electronic mail. For example, in an Internet facsimile apparatus, when transmitting information obtained by reading a document as an e-mail, if the user recognizes an error related to insufficient storage space in the e-mail transfer apparatus, Also performs a very troublesome task of re-reading the information on the original at a low resolution or dividing the original into multiple parts and re-reading the information on the original to reduce the amount of e-mail data Needed.

(2) It is easy for the user to overlook the excess data amount of the electronic mail. In the e-mail storage and exchange system,
Since the e-mail transfer device through which the e-mail passes may be different each time, the upper limit of the amount of e-mail data that can be transmitted for each communication changes, so that the user can easily overlook the excess of the e-mail data amount. . For example, when transmitting the same e-mail to a plurality of destinations by an Internet FAX device, an e-mail that could be transmitted to a certain destination cannot always be transmitted to another destination. For this reason, it has been difficult for the user to reliably recognize to which destination the electronic mail could be transmitted and to which destination the electronic mail could not be transmitted due to the exceeding of the data amount.

The conventional problems such as the above (1) and (2) are that, with the advent of the Internet FAX machine, it becomes necessary to handle information having a huge data amount such as image information by e-mail. In some situations, it is very inconvenient.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages, and it is possible to transmit the information reliably and efficiently even if the information to be transmitted has a huge amount of information. It is an object of the present invention to provide a computer-readable storage medium capable of storing a communication device, a communication system, a communication method, and processing steps for performing the same, which can be performed by the computer.

[0021]

For such a purpose,
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication device for transmitting at least multi-valued image information, comprising a transmission control unit for performing a color reduction process on the multi-valued image information based on the information amount of the multi-valued image information and transmitting the color-coded image information. It is characterized by.

According to a second aspect, in the first aspect,
The transmission control means may determine that the information amount of the multi-valued image information is the first.
If the predetermined value is exceeded, the multi-valued image information is subjected to a color reduction process and transmitted.

According to a third aspect, in the first aspect,
The transmission control means stops transmission of the multi-valued image information when the information amount of the multi-valued image information after the color reduction processing falls below a second predetermined value.

According to a fourth aspect, in the first aspect,
The color reduction process includes a process of reducing the gradation of the multi-valued image information.

According to a fifth aspect based on the first aspect,
The color reduction processing includes a data amount reduction processing by at least one of a color space conversion sub-sampling and a change in a quantization level.

According to a sixth aspect, in the first aspect,
The transmission control means transmits the multi-value image information as electronic mail data.

According to a seventh aspect, in the first aspect,
The transmission control means transmits the multi-value image information by a transmission function based on an external instruction among a plurality of transmission functions having different transmission modes.

According to an eighth aspect based on the seventh aspect,
The plurality of transmission functions include at least one of a function of facsimile transmitting the multi-valued image information and a function of transmitting the multi-valued image information as electronic mail data.

According to a ninth aspect, in the first aspect,
The transmission control means converts the multi-valued image information into a transmittable code and transmits the code.

According to a tenth aspect, in the first aspect, a storage means for storing information relating to a transmission result of the multivalued image information after the color reduction processing is provided.

According to an eleventh aspect, in the first aspect, image information acquiring means for acquiring the multi-value image information by reading an original is provided, and multi-value image information acquired by the image information acquiring means. And image processing means for performing the color reduction processing on at least any one of the multivalued image information after the color reduction processing, and multivalued image information obtained by the image information acquisition means for an externally designated destination And transmission means for transmitting at least one of the multi-valued image information processed by the image processing means, wherein the transmission control means comprises a multi-valued image obtained by the image information obtaining means. The multi-valued image information processed by the image processing means is transmitted by the transmitting means based on the information amount of the information or the information amount of the multi-valued image information processed by the image processing means.

A twelfth invention is a communication system in which a plurality of devices are communicably connected, wherein at least one of the plurality of devices is a communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 11. It has the function of an apparatus.

According to a thirteenth aspect, in the twelfth aspect, the plurality of devices include an electronic mail server connected to the same network and a device having a function of transmitting and receiving electronic mail data. .

[0034] A fourteenth invention is a communication method for transmitting at least multi-valued image information as e-mail data, comprising: a reading step of reading an original at an arbitrary resolution and acquiring the multi-valued image information; An accumulation step of accumulating the multi-valued image information obtained by the reading step; an image conversion step of performing a color reduction process on the multi-valued image information accumulated by the accumulation step; and a multi-valued image accumulated by the accumulation step. An image data or an e-mail data conversion step of converting the multi-valued image information after the color reduction processing in the image conversion step into e-mail data, a connection step for connecting to an arbitrary network, and the e-mail data conversion step A destination specification step for specifying a destination of the received e-mail data, and an e-mail data conversion step. A comparison step of comparing the data amount of the e-mail data obtained by the step with a first predetermined value set in advance from outside, and a destination designation step on the network connected by the connection step. To the destination, a transmission step of transmitting the e-mail data obtained in the e-mail data conversion step, based on the comparison result in the comparison step,
A transmission control step of transmitting the electronic mail data of the multivalued image information after the color reduction processing obtained by the electronic mail data conversion step to the destination specified by the destination specifying step by the transmission step. It is characterized by.

In a fifteenth aspect based on the fourteenth aspect, in the transmission control step, the data amount of the e-mail data obtained in the e-mail data conversion step is determined by the comparison result in the comparison step. A step of transmitting the e-mail data of the multivalued image information after the color reduction processing when the predetermined value exceeds 1.

In a sixteenth aspect based on the fourteenth aspect, in the image conversion step, the multivalued image information accumulated in the accumulation step is reduced in color, and the multivalued image information after the color reduction processing is further processed. Reducing the color.

In a seventeenth aspect based on the sixteenth aspect, the image conversion step includes a step of reducing the gradation of the multi-valued image information in a stepwise manner.

In an eighteenth aspect based on the fourteenth aspect, the data amount of the e-mail data obtained in the e-mail data conversion step exceeds the first predetermined value according to the comparison result in the comparing step. In this case, the method further comprises a selecting step for allowing the user to select a transmission function other than the transmission function using the e-mail data.

In a nineteenth aspect based on the eighteenth aspect, the other transmission function includes a facsimile transmission function.

In a twentieth aspect based on the fourteenth aspect, the e-mail data conversion step is performed by multi-valued image information stored in the storage step or a multi-valued image after color reduction processing in the image conversion step. The method includes a step of converting the information into a code that can be transmitted in the transmitting step, and acquiring e-mail data having a data amount based on the first predetermined value.

According to a twenty-first aspect, in the fourteenth aspect, the transmission control step includes: determining a data amount of the e-mail data of the multivalued image information after the color reduction processing obtained in the e-mail data conversion step; The method further includes a step of stopping the transmission in the transmission step when the value falls below a second predetermined value set in advance from outside.

A twenty-second invention is characterized in that, in the fourteenth invention, a notifying step of notifying a user of information on a transmission result in the transmitting step is provided.

According to a twenty-third aspect, a processing step for implementing the function of the communication apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11 or the function of the communication system according to any one of claims 12 to 13 is provided by: It is a storage medium that is readable by a computer.

According to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable storage medium stores the processing steps of the information processing method according to any one of claims 14 to 22.

Specifically, for example, when the present invention is applied to a communication device having a function of transmitting and receiving e-mail data,
(Local Area Network), means for connecting to a computer network such as the Internet, and designation of a destination (transmission destination) of an e-mail server connected to the computer network or another communication device having a function of receiving e-mail data. Means for transmitting e-mail data to the e-mail server or another communication device (transmission means), and a mailbox opened for each user who uses the e-mail data in the e-mail server A means for designating desired e-mail data from among the means, a means for receiving e-mail data from the e-mail server or another communication device by designating the e-mail data, and a multi-value Means for acquiring image information such as image information, and Means for storing image information, means for reducing the color of the multi-valued image information stored by the means and converting the image information into image information such as a black and white image (automatic black and white conversion) (image processing means), and converting the image information into e-mail data Means for converting, and means for comparing the e-mail data obtained by the means with a preset maximum transmittable data size (first predetermined value), and transmitting the e-mail data or the received data to the Before transmitting by the means, if the transmission data is data including multi-valued image information, and the data amount is larger than the transmittable upper limit data size, the multi-valued image information is reduced in color by the image processing means. A means (transmission control means) for converting the image into black-and-white image information or the like and transmitting the information by the transmission means is provided. Accordingly, when the e-mail data to be transmitted is data including multi-valued image information and the amount of data exceeds the upper limit data size that can be transmitted, the multi-valued image information of the e-mail data is automatically Image conversion (automatic black-and-white conversion) is performed, and the e-mail data of the multi-valued image information after the conversion is transmitted. Therefore,
The user can surely transmit the e-mail data to a desired destination without being conscious of the data amount of the e-mail data to be transmitted. That is, the electronic mail data can be reliably transmitted without user intervention.

Further, the multi-valued image information after the color reduction processing by the image processing means is configured to be further subjected to the color reduction processing by the image processing means, and the color reduction processing at this time is performed stepwise in gradation. Is to be reduced. That is, the color reduction processing is configured to be repeatedly executed at another gradation (automatic gradation conversion function). Thereby, it is possible to acquire the multivalued image information after the color reduction processing having the data amount closest to the transmittable upper limit data size. Therefore, the e-mail data can be transmitted more reliably.

Further, when the e-mail data to be transmitted is data including multi-valued image information, and the data amount exceeds the above-mentioned transmittable upper limit data size, or the multi-valued image information after the color reduction processing is further performed. When the result of the color reduction processing exceeds the maximum transmittable data size, the user is allowed to select another transmission function (such as a facsimile transmission function) again. This allows
The user can recognize that the information to be transmitted (multi-valued image information) is not suitable for transmitting the e-mail data, and can select and specify another transmission function that can surely transmit.

When the data amount of the e-mail data of the multi-valued image information after the color reduction processing becomes smaller than the lower limit data size (second predetermined value) that can be transmitted by the user in advance, the e-mail data is received. It is configured to stop sending mail data. As a result, it is possible to prevent an error in the middle of the transmission due to the transmission of the e-mail data in spite of the amount of data that cannot be transmitted.

Further, when the electronic mail data of the multi-valued image information after the color reduction processing is transmitted, the result (information on the transmission result) is added to the electronic mail data to notify the user. To be configured. With this, the user can send and receive the e-mail data,
Information regarding the transmission result of the e-mail data, such as the transmission source, the content of the multi-valued image information, the number of pages, and the data amount, can be reliably grasped.

The color reduction processing includes a color reduction processing by selecting a specific signal component after color space conversion.
Color reduction processing by color information reduction by sub-sampling or (more) color reduction processing by color information reduction by roughening the quantization level can be applied.

[0051]

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

The present invention is applied to, for example, a communication system 100 as shown in FIG. This communication system 100
Is capable of exchanging (communicating) not only character information but also e-mail having a large data amount such as image information. As shown in FIG. 1, a client-side communication device (hereinafter, simply referred to as “client”) 101 , E-mail server 102, D
NS server 103, Internet FAX device 105,
And a remote router 108 are communicably connected to each other via the local area network 104.

The Internet facsimile apparatus 105 has the most characteristic configuration in the present embodiment.
As will be described later in detail, it has an e-mail transmission / reception function together with a facsimile transmission / reception function. At the time of communication by the facsimile communication function, information exchange (facsimile communication) via a public telephone network 106 such as PSTN or ISDN with a facsimile apparatus 107 (a conventional apparatus or the like) at a remote place connectable to the public line network 106. Will do.

The DNS server 103 stores the domain name and the I
It has a function of translating P addresses, and the function of the DNS server 103 allows the client 101 and the e-mail server 1 on the local area network 104
02, DNS server 103, and Internet FAX
The device 105 sends the domain name (aa) of the local area network 104 via the remote router 108.
a. bbb. co. jp) and a different domain name (cc
c. ddd. co. jp), communication with the Internet FAX device 111, the e-mail server 112, and the client 110 that can be connected to the external network 109 such as the Internet / intranet.

Client 101 and Internet F
Each of the AX devices 105 is assigned a mailbox in an auxiliary storage unit (not shown) of the electronic mail server 102. Here, the address of the mailbox of the client 101 is “user1”, and the address of the mailbox of the Internet FAX apparatus 105 is “i”.
mail1 ".

FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration of the Internet FAX apparatus 105 which is the most characteristic of the present embodiment. The Internet facsimile apparatus 105 is the same as FIG.
, An operation unit 217 to which various operation instructions are input from the user, a reading unit 214 to read information on a document set by the user, a printer unit 213 to print out received information and the like, And a control unit 218 for performing communication and the like.

The control unit 218 includes the ROM 202, the CPU 2
03, RAM 204, storage memory 205, LAN interface unit 206, line interface unit 207,
An input / output control unit (hereinafter, referred to as “first input / output control unit”) 208 of the operation unit 217 and an input / output control unit of the image bus 210 (hereinafter, referred to as “second input / output control unit”). )
209, and these components are communicably connected to each other via a system bus 201.

Further, the control unit 218 controls the image processing unit 21
6, an image rotation unit 215, a compression / decompression unit 212, and a pixel density conversion unit 211. These components are connected to the reading unit 214 and the printer unit 21 by the image bus 210.
3 are connected so as to be able to communicate with each other.

The above-described Internet facsimile apparatus 1
At 05, the CPU 203 first controls the operation of the entire device 105.

The ROM 202 includes a boot ROM, and stores a system boot program, processing programs (software) necessary for operation control by the CPU 203, and various data. Using the various kinds of information stored in the ROM 202, the CPU 203 implements the most characteristic configuration and operation in the present embodiment as described later. Note that the storage destination of various processing programs and various data necessary for operation control by the CPU 203 is R
For example, the storage memory 205 may be used instead of the OM 202.

The RAM 204 has a ROM 2
02 (or the storage memory 205), it is used as a system work memory area for reading and executing the corresponding processing program, and also used as an image memory for temporarily storing image information.

The storage memory 205 can store various programs as described above, and can store facsimile code data, electronic mail data, image data, and the like.

A LAN (local area network) interface unit 206 is an interface unit for connecting to a LAN, and is connected to the Internet / LAN by a device such as a remote router 108 connected to the LAN (local area network 104). It is possible to connect to a network such as an intranet (external network 109).

The line interface unit 207 has a PST
N, ISDN, etc.
The communication control program stored in the CPU 202
ISDN interface, modem, NCU (Network Control
Unit, a remote terminal (FAX device 107)
Etc.).

The second input / output control unit 209 connects the system bus 201 to the image bus 210 for transferring image data at high speed, and has a bus bridge for converting the data structure of the system bus 201.

The image bus 210 is a PCI bus or an IE
The reading unit 214 and the printer unit 213, which are based on EE1394 or the like, and are image input / output devices, and the control unit 2
18 is connected to perform synchronous / asynchronous conversion of image data.

The image processing section 2016 performs image processing such as correction, processing, or editing on the input image data. The image rotation unit 215 performs a rotation process on the input image data.

The compression / expansion unit 212 uses the JPEG method when the input image data is multi-valued image data, and uses the JBIG method when the input image data is binary image data.
The compression / decompression processing of the image data is performed by the MMR, the MR, the MH method, or the like. Image density converter 211
Performs processing for converting the resolution of input image data.

The first input / output control unit 208 is an operation unit (UI = User I / O) on which a display unit, a keypad unit and the like are mounted.
The interface 213 is an interface for controlling the operation of the CPU 203 by executing a processing program in the CPU 203. The operation unit 217 is provided with a display unit and a keypad unit (not shown). The operation of displaying information (eg, image data) on the display unit is performed by the first input / output control unit 2.
08. Also, the first input / output control unit 20
Reference numeral 8 also serves to transmit information input from the operation unit 217 by the user to the CPU 203 and the like.

FIG. 3 shows the Internet FA as described above.
In the X device 105, for example, an Internet FAX for reading the image information from a document to which a multi-valued image is output and transmitting the image information as an e-mail to the client 110 connected on the external network 109 9 shows the operation of the device 105.

Step S301: First, the user of the Internet facsimile apparatus 105 sets a manuscript (a manuscript of a multi-valued image) on a manuscript table (not shown) of the apparatus 105, and operates the operation unit 213 using keys. A document reading instruction is given to the device 105. The instruction information from the user at this time is provided to the CPU 203. Thereby, the CPU 203 controls the operation of the entire Internet FAX apparatus 105 according to the instruction information.

Step S302: Internet FAX
In the device 105, the reading unit 214
The information (multi-valued image information) on the document set on the document table of the apparatus 105 is read in accordance with the control from. At this time, if multiple originals are set on the platen,
The reading unit 214 sequentially reads all the image information of the document on the platen one by one. The compression / decompression unit 210 includes the reading unit 21
The multi-valued image information obtained in step 4 is converted into a predetermined encoding method (J
In this case, the multi-valued image information (hereinafter, simply referred to as “image data”) is temporarily stored in the storage memory 205.

Step S303: Next, the user of the Internet facsimile apparatus 105 specifies an electronic mail address of the other party from the address book displayed on the display unit (not shown) of the operation unit 213. Operation unit 213 at this time
The display of the address book on the display unit is performed under the control of the CPU 203, and the designation information of the e-mail address of the destination from the display unit is given to the CPU 203. As a result, the CPU 203 obtains the e-mail address information corresponding to the specified information from the user from the e-mail address information group stored in the RAM 204 or the storage memory 205 in advance.

Here, the image data once stored in the storage memory 205 in step S302 is binary data, and the binary data cannot be directly transmitted as an electronic mail. Processing Steps for Data Conversion (Steps S304 to S304)
S306) is executed.

Step S304: First, the compression / decompression unit 21
2 is to change the encoding method as needed, and
5 is encoded, and header information is added to the head of the encoded image data or the image data itself in the storage memory 205 to create image data of a specific format. . In the present embodiment, a TIFF format is used as an example of the format.

Step S305: Next, the CPU 203
Converts the TIFF image data (binary data) obtained by the compression / decompression unit 212 into, for example, a base
The data is converted into text data by 64 code conversion. still,
The processing program relating to the conversion processing here is stored in the ROM 2
02 or stored in the storage memory 205.

Step S306: Next, the CPU 203
Creates e-mail format data (e-mail data) by adding e-mail header information to the text data acquired in step S305.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the e-mail data created as described above. The e-mail data shown in FIG.
"M", an email data format recommended by F.
multipurposelnetnetMail E
xtensions "). The above text file is "111
According to the "Dary 11" separator line, 3 parts 401-4
03. The first section 401 describes e-mail header information (mail header), and the second section 4
In 02, information of a transmission image and a transmitter is described as transmission information. The third unit 403 includes base6 for converting file format identification information and binary into a character string.
In addition to the description of identification information such as the four-encoding method, a blank line is inserted from the information to convert the image data to be transmitted into binary data converted in a file format of an image, and further converted into a character string by base64. Column data is described.

As shown in the first part 401, at least “From:”, “T”
o: "and" Subject: ".
rom: ”is the user's email address (ima
il1 @ aaa. bbb. co. jp) or the e-mail address (image1) set in the Internet FAX apparatus 105. In “To:”, the electronic mail address (user1@ccc.ddd.co.) Of the destination selected by the user in step S303.
jp) is set. In “Subject:”, “IMAGE-TIFF” indicating that the electronic mail data is an electronic mail including image data (image data) in the TIFF format is set.

Step S307: When the e-mail data as shown in FIG. 4 is completed, the CPU 203
The data amount (size) of the e-mail data is compared with an upper limit set value of the transmittable data amount preset for the Internet FAX apparatus 105 (hereinafter, referred to as a “transmittable upper limit set value”). I do. As a result of this comparison,
If the data amount of the e-mail data exceeds the transmission upper limit set value, the process proceeds to step S308; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S313.

Step S 308: If the result of the comparison in step S 307 is that the data amount of the e-mail data exceeds the upper limit settable for transmission, the CPU 203 determines that the image data of the e-mail data is Is determined. If the result of this comparison is that the image data is multi-valued image data, the flow proceeds to step S309; otherwise, the flow proceeds to step S310.

Step S309: If the image data of the e-mail data is multi-valued image data as a result of the comparison in step S308, the CPU 203
5 is supplied to the image processing unit 216. The image processing unit 216 performs a color reduction process on the image data supplied by the CPU 203. As a result, the image data becomes image data having a smaller number of colors than the original image data, and is stored again in the storage memory 205. Thereafter, the process returns to the above-described step S304, and in the subsequent processing steps, the image data with the reduced number of colors is converted into data of the e-mail format,
Again, the data amount (size) of the e-mail data
Is compared with an upper limit set value of the transmittable data amount (transmittable upper limit set value) preset for the Internet FAX apparatus 105, and as a result of the comparison, the data amount of the e-mail data is transmitted. If the possible upper limit value is exceeded, it is determined whether or not the image data of the e-mail data is multi-valued image data. If the above-described step S309 is repeated, eventually the data is no longer multi-valued image data, so the process proceeds to the next step S310.

Step S310: Step S3 described above
If the data amount of the image data still exceeds the transmittable upper limit value even though the color is reduced to the binary image data as a result of repeating the color reduction process through steps S04 to S309, the CPU 203
Causes the display unit of the operation unit 217 to display a message or the like indicating that the data amount of the e-mail data exceeds the upper limit set value for transmission.

Step S311: Also, the CPU 203
For example, when a fax telephone number is present together with an electronic mail address of a target transmission destination in an electronic mail address information group stored in advance in the RAM 204 or the storage memory 205, a message prompting transmission by fax or the like is generated. It is displayed on the display unit of the operation unit 217. Alternatively, when the difference between the data amount of the e-mail data and the upper limit of the transmittable upper limit value is small, a message or the like urging the user to read again at a lower resolution is displayed on the display unit of the operation unit 217, and the e-mail data If the difference between the data amount and the transmittable upper limit set value is large, a message or the like prompting to reduce the number of pages transmitted at one time is displayed on the display unit of the operation unit 217.

Step S312: Then, the CPU 203
Determines the instruction content from the user with respect to the display content of the display unit of the operation unit 217 in step S310. As a result of this determination, when the user instructs another transmission means such as transmission by facsimile, the CPU 203 performs operation control for transmission by the transmission means (conversion processing to data suitable for other means, The control for the re-reading process and the like is performed (step S320), and the process ends. On the other hand, if the user has not instructed other transmission means such as FAX transmission, for example, if the user has instructed to decrease the resolution or the page, the CPU 203
Discards the image data stored in the storage memory 205 and the e-mail data created in step S305, and ends this processing.

Step S313: Step S3 described above
As a result of the comparison in 07, if the data amount of the e-mail data exceeds the upper limit set value for transmission, the CPU 203
A connection request is issued to the electronic mail server 102 on the external network 109 via the LAN interface unit 206 to perform authentication.

Step S 314: By step S 313, the e-mail server 10 on the external network 109
CPU 2 establishes communication with SMTP
(Simple MailTransfer Prot
ocol), the e-mail data created in step S306 is transmitted to the e-mail server 102.

Step S315: When the transmission of the e-mail data in step S314 is completed, the CPU 203
Is the e-mail server 10 on the external network 109
Releases communication with 2

Step S316: Then, the CPU 203
Stores the transmission date and time, destination, transmission source, part of image data, number of pages, and data amount of the e-mail data in the storage memory 205. By notifying the stored information to the user, the user can confirm the transmitted e-mail data. After that, the process ends.

For example, the Internet facsimile apparatus 1
05 connects to the Internet via a modem connected to the line interface unit 207 and communicates with a device on the Internet, or connects to the Internet via the LAN interface unit 206 by the remote router 108 or the like, and The operation when communicating with the above device and the like are the same as the operation when communicating with the e-mail server 102 on the external network 109 described above.

The client, shown in FIG.
The number of connected devices such as an electronic mail server, a DNS server, and an Internet FAX device is not limited.

Further, in the same manner as the transmission upper limit setting value,
When the lower limit of transmission is set and the color reduction process for the e-mail data is repeatedly executed, if the amount of e-mail data falls below the lower limit of transmission, the e-mail data is sent. May be canceled. Also, returning to the state before performing the color reduction processing,
A color reduction process that does not fall below the lower limit set value may be newly performed. As a result, it is possible to prevent an image having an excessively deteriorated image quality from being sent.

Further, in the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to Internet FAX apparatus 105, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to any apparatus or system having a function of transmitting image information. For example, the present invention can be applied to a personal computer.

Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing program codes of software for realizing the functions of the host and the terminal of the present embodiment to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (or a computer) of the system or the apparatus. Needless to say, the present invention can also be achieved by a CPU or an MPU) reading and executing a program code stored in a storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the present embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for supplying the program code, a ROM, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, or the like can be used. In addition, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the function of the present embodiment is realized,
It goes without saying that the OS or the like running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program code, and the functions of the present embodiment are realized by the processing. . Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written to a memory provided in an extended function board inserted into the computer or an extended function unit connected to the computer,
Based on the instructions of the program code, the CPU of the function expansion board or the function expansion unit may perform part or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the present embodiment. Needless to say.

[0095]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the data amount of the multivalued image information to be transmitted is inappropriate for transmission (data inappropriate for transmission in an e-mail format). And the amount of data suitable for transmission by converting the number of colors of multi-valued image information to be transmitted (color reduction processing) to a black-and-white image, etc., without reducing the image quality as much as possible. Can be transmitted as multi-valued image information having As a result, even if the information to be transmitted has an enormous amount of information, the information can be reliably and efficiently transmitted without user intervention. When the present invention is applied to an apparatus or a system having a function of transmitting image information by e-mail, at least the following effects (1) and (2) can be obtained.

(1) Significant reduction in network load For example, unlike the conventional method, without detecting the upper limit data amount to which e-mail data can be transmitted, e-mail data having a huge data amount exceeding the upper limit data amount is detected. Is transmitted, the load on the network increases, an excessive load is applied to the mail server relaying the network, and transmission becomes impossible depending on the amount of data. Further, in this case, if e-mail data notifying that the e-mail data could not be transmitted is sent to the transmission source, the load on the network is further increased. However, according to the present invention, the data amount of the e-mail data to be transmitted is adjusted beforehand to a data amount that can be surely transmitted before the transmission, so that the reliable transmission of the e-mail data can be realized and the network load is reduced. can do.

(2) Significant reduction in communication cost For example, unlike the conventional method, without detecting the upper limit data amount to which e-mail data can be transmitted, e-mail data having a huge data amount exceeding the upper limit data amount is detected. When sending e-mail, not only is it costly to send meaningless e-mail data that is eventually lost in the middle of transmission, but also e-mail data is received from the mail server that relays it to notify that transmission has become impossible. Cost.
However, according to the present invention, the data amount of the e-mail data to be transmitted is adjusted to be within the data amount that can be surely transmitted before transmission, so that reliable transmission of the e-mail data can be realized, and the communication cost is greatly reduced. Can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a communication system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication device to which the present invention has been applied.

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

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a format of e-mail data generated by the communication device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 communication system 101 client-side communication device 102 e-mail server 103 DNS server 104 local area network 105 Internet FAX device 106 public line network 107 FAX device 108 remote router 109 external network 110 client-side communication device 111 Internet FAX device 112 E-mail server 201 System bus 202 ROM 203 CPU 204 RAM 205 Storage memory 206 LAN interface unit 207 Line interface unit 208 Operation unit input / output control unit 209 Image bus input / output control unit 210 Image bus 211 Pixel density conversion unit 212 Compression / expansion Unit 213 printer unit 214 reading unit 215 image rotation unit 216 image processing unit 217 operation unit 218 control unit

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04N 1/32 H04N 1/40 103C 5K101 F-term (reference) 5C062 AA02 AA13 AA29 AA35 AB43 AC22 AC25 AC27 AC28 5C075 AB90 CE07 5C077 LL20 MP08 PP35 RR06 RR21 5C079 HA02 HA11 HA13 HB11 LA12 LA26 LA27 LA31 LA34 LB11 MA02 NA10 NA13 NA25 NA29 PA01 5K030 HA06 HB04 HC02 HC14 HD03 JT05 5K101 KK01 KK02 NN06 UU19

Claims (24)

[Claims] 1. A communication device for transmitting at least multi-valued image information, comprising: a transmission control unit for performing a color reduction process on the multi-valued image information based on the information amount of the multi-valued image information and transmitting the multi-valued image information. Characteristic communication device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the information amount of the multi-valued image information exceeds a first predetermined value, the transmission control means performs a color reduction process on the multi-valued image information and transmits the multi-valued image information. The communication device according to claim 1. 3. The transmission control means according to claim 2, wherein the transmission of the multi-valued image information is stopped when the information amount of the multi-valued image information after the color reduction processing falls below a second predetermined value. The communication device according to claim 1. 4. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the color reduction processing includes processing for reducing the gradation of the multi-valued image information. 5. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said color reduction processing includes a data amount reduction processing by at least one of color space conversion subsampling and quantization level change. 6. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein said transmission control means transmits said multi-valued image information as electronic mail data. 7. The multi-valued image information is transmitted by a transmission function based on an external instruction among a plurality of transmission functions each having a different transmission form. Communication device. 8. The plurality of transmission functions include at least one of a function of transmitting the multi-value image information by facsimile and a function of transmitting the multi-value image information as electronic mail data. The communication device according to claim 7. 9. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control means converts the multi-valued image information into a code that can be transmitted and transmits the code. 10. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing information relating to a transmission result of the multivalued image information after the color reduction processing. 11. An image information obtaining means for obtaining the multi-value image information by reading an original, a multi-value image information obtained by the image information obtaining means, and a multi-value image information after the color reduction processing. Image processing means for performing the color reduction processing on at least one of the image information; multi-valued image information obtained by the image information obtaining means for an externally designated destination; A transmission unit for transmitting at least one of the multi-value image information, wherein the transmission control unit includes an information amount of the multi-value image information obtained by the image information acquisition unit, or the image processing unit 2. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the multi-valued image information processed by the image processing means is transmitted by the transmission means based on the information amount of the multi-valued image information after the processing. 12. A communication system in which a plurality of devices are communicably connected, wherein at least one of the plurality of devices has a function of the communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 11. A communication system comprising: 13. The communication system according to claim 12, wherein said plurality of devices include an e-mail server connected to the same network and a device having a function of transmitting and receiving e-mail data. 14. A communication method for transmitting at least multi-valued image information as e-mail data, comprising: a reading step of reading a document at an arbitrary resolution and acquiring the multi-valued image information; An accumulation step of accumulating the obtained multi-valued image information; an image conversion step of performing a color reduction process on the multi-valued image information accumulated by the accumulation step; and a multi-valued image information accumulated by the accumulation step; or An e-mail data conversion step of converting the multi-value image information after the color reduction processing in the image conversion step into e-mail data, a connection step of connecting to an arbitrary network, and an e-mail obtained by the e-mail data conversion step A destination specifying step for specifying a destination of the data; and the e-mail data converting step. A comparison step of comparing the data amount of the obtained e-mail data with a first predetermined value set in advance from outside; a transmission designated by the transmission destination designation step on the network connected by the connection step A transmitting step of transmitting the e-mail data obtained by the e-mail data converting step; and a multi-step after the color reduction processing obtained by the e-mail data converting step, based on a comparison result in the comparing step. A transmission control step of transmitting the e-mail data of the value image information to the destination designated by the destination designation step by the transmission step. 15. The transmission control step, if the data amount of the e-mail data obtained in the e-mail data conversion step exceeds the first predetermined value based on the comparison result in the comparison step, The communication method according to claim 14, further comprising a step of transmitting e-mail data of multi-valued image information after the color reduction processing. 16. The image conversion step includes a step of reducing the color of the multi-valued image information accumulated in the accumulation step, and a step of further reducing the color of the multi-valued image information after the color reduction processing. The communication method according to claim 14. 17. The communication method according to claim 16, wherein said image converting step includes a step of decreasing a gradation of said multi-valued image information stepwise. 18. When the data amount of the e-mail data obtained in the e-mail data conversion step exceeds the first predetermined value according to the result of the comparison in the comparison step, a function other than the transmission function using the e-mail data is performed. 15. The communication method according to claim 14, further comprising a selection step of causing the user to select another transmission function. 19. The communication method according to claim 18, wherein said other transmission function includes a facsimile transmission function. 20. The electronic mail data converting step, wherein the multi-valued image information stored in the storing step is
Or convert the multi-valued image information after color reduction processing in the image conversion step into a code that can be transmitted in the transmission step,
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining e-mail data having a data amount based on the first predetermined value.
4. The communication method according to 4. 21. The transmission control step, wherein the data amount of the e-mail data of the multivalued image information after the color reduction processing obtained in the e-mail data conversion step is a second predetermined value set in advance from outside. The communication method according to claim 14, further comprising a step of stopping the transmission in the transmission step when the number of transmissions falls below the threshold. 22. The communication method according to claim 14, further comprising a notification step of notifying a user of information on a transmission result in the transmission step. 23. A computer readable processing step for implementing the function of the communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 11 or the function of the communication system according to any one of claims 12 to 13. A storage medium characterized by being stored in a storage medium. 24. A storage medium, wherein the processing steps of the information processing method according to claim 14 are stored in a computer-readable manner.