JP2001326783A - Color facsimile machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a color facsimile machine capable of quickly performing discrimination and processing of a printed electronic mail. SOLUTION: The color facsimile machine 1 is provided with a storage device 8 and a color picture printer 6, and a first table 51 where individual mail addresses and individual print colors corresponding to these mail addresses are registered is stored in the storage device 8. When an electronic mail is received, the first table 51 is retrieved on the basis of the mail address of the transmission source to determine a print color corresponding to the mail address of the reception mail, and the electronic mail is printed in the determined color by the color picture printer 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color facsimile apparatus having an electronic mail transmission / reception function, and more particularly, to a printing method for printing a received mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Facsimile machines have become more colorized and can be connected to communication lines such as the Internet.
Internet facsimile machines (IFAX) capable of transmitting and receiving electronic mails are becoming widespread.

In a conventional Internet facsimile apparatus, it is necessary to read information from a text in order to determine the name of the sender, the name of the sender, the importance or the urgency of the received mail. As a result, when the number of received emails increases, it takes a lot of time to judge the content,
There is a problem of inefficiency. In connection with such a problem, there have been disclosed several methods of notifying a recipient of the content, importance, or urgency of a mail without reading the text.

[0004] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-244970 discloses that when a sender of a mail sends a mail,
A method is disclosed in which outgoing conditions such as urgency, immediate reply, and circulation are entered, and the receiving side reads out and displays the outgoing conditions from the received mail. Thus, the receiver can quickly grasp the necessary items related to the mail based on the transmission conditions displayed without reading the mail body.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 5-336160 discloses a method in which a mail sender enters an attribute value such as the urgency of a mail when the mail is transmitted, and the urgency or the like is displayed in color or a numerical value on a transmission display unit on the receiving side. Is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 5-235997 discloses a method in which a facsimile apparatus can be selected as an output method according to a mail sender's will. Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.
JP-A-286988 assigns priorities to arriving e-mails based on predetermined information such as a sender and an affiliation name of a sender, and changes a reporting means using a screen or a voice according to the priorities. A method is disclosed.

[0007]

However, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-244970, the contents can be grasped from the transmission conditions without reading the mail text, but the transmission conditions must be read. In addition, since it is necessary to add a special function for inputting and displaying transmission conditions to both the transmitting and receiving terminal devices, it cannot be used in a terminal device not equipped with such a function. Further, in the case of output by an output device such as a printer, only the text of the mail is printed, so it takes a long time to determine the printed mail, which is inefficient.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-336160, it is easy to determine the destination mail having a high degree of urgency, but a special function for inputting and displaying the degree of urgency on both the transmitting and receiving terminals. Need to be added. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-235997, a sender of a mail can select a facsimile machine as an output method so that the recipient does not forget to take out the mail. Special information needs to be inserted.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-286988, the means of reporting can be changed using a screen or voice according to the priority set by the user, and the destination of a destination having a high degree of importance and urgency can be changed. E-mail can be easily identified, but it is not printed and output.

[0010] An object of the present invention is to process a received and printed e-mail without adding a special function and without inserting special information on the originating side, when the originator's name and originator's affiliation are processed. An object of the present invention is to provide a color facsimile apparatus capable of quickly determining the name, importance, urgency, and the like.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a color facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving electronic mail and facsimile and capable of color printing, in which a plurality of mail addresses and color information corresponding to each mail address are stored. A color facsimile apparatus, comprising: a device for printing a received mail from a mail address in which the color information is registered in a color corresponding to the mail address.

According to the present invention, printing is performed by changing the color in accordance with the mail address of the sender, so the sender name and sender affiliation can be determined by the printed color without reading the contents of the text. It is possible to quickly determine a mail or the like from a sender having a high name, importance, or urgency. Also,
By setting the printing color, it is possible to determine the degree of importance and the degree of urgency at a glance.

Therefore, it is only necessary to register a color using a color printing device provided in advance without adding a special function to both the transmitting and receiving terminal devices. Also, there is no need for the mail sender to insert special information into the mail.

The present invention is characterized in that it has a function of classifying mail addresses stored in the storage device into a predetermined group and registering color information in group units.

According to the present invention, mail addresses can be classified and registered into groups such as company relations, friend relations or relatives relations, and color information can be added on a group basis. It is possible to quickly determine which group the mail is from.

According to the present invention, among the mail addresses stored in the storage device, non-printable information can be registered at a specific mail address, and a received mail transmitted from the mail address in which the non-printable information is registered can be registered. Is not performed.

According to the present invention, when print disable information is registered in a specific mail address among the mail addresses stored in the storage device, automatic printing of an e-mail sent from the specific mail address is not performed. . Therefore, for example, by registering the non-printable information in advance to a transmission address that can be determined to have a low degree of importance or urgency, useless printing can be omitted and mail processing can be easily performed.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A color facsimile apparatus 1 of the present invention is capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile images to and from other facsimile apparatuses directly via a public telephone network or the Internet, and is also capable of transmitting and receiving e-mail. It is. Further, in transmission and reception of facsimile images, it is possible to handle color images.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a color facsimile apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the color facsimile machine 1 is abbreviated as C-IFAX1. C
IFAX 1 is a network control device 2, a modem 3, a control device 4, a color image storage device 5, a color image printing device 6, a color image reading device 7, a storage device 8, an operation button 9, a dial button 10, a handset 11, And display device 12
Including. Further, as an interface, the parallel interface 13 and a LAN (Local Area Network) are used.
k) an interface 14. Hereinafter, the parallel interface 13 will be referred to as a parallel I / F 13, LA
The N interface 14 is abbreviated as LAN I / F 14.

The network control device 2 monitors the status of the public network 20 and switches the public network 20 between the modem 3 and the handset 11. The modem 3 modulates the digital signal of the image and the e-mail into an analog signal suitable for transmission via the public line network 20,
An analog signal received via the demodulator 0 is demodulated as a digital signal.

The control unit 4, together with the program stored in the storage unit 8, inputs information from the operation buttons 9 and the dial buttons 10 and information indicating the status from each unit constituting the C-IFAX 1. , The operation of the entire C-IFAX 1 is determined based on signal information from the telephone line network 20,
Control is performed such that an instruction is given to the entire apparatus and a display instruction is issued to the display device 12. The control device 4 also performs compression processing for reducing the transmission time of the image information and expansion processing for returning the compressed image information to the original pixel string information. In the compression and decompression of this image information, in the case of a monochromatic image, a one-dimensional encoding MH (Modifide Huffuman) method, a two-dimensional encoding method MR (Modifide Read) method, or the like is used. , JPEG (Joint Photograph
ic CodingExperts Group). Further, the control device 4 uses a color image expressed by R (Red), G (Green), and B (Blue), which are three primary colors of the additional colors used at the time of image reading, and three primary colors of reduced colors used for printing. Some C
(Cyan), M (Magenta), Y (Yellow) color image and color space coordinates L used during transmission and reception
^It has a function of mutually converting color images represented by ^* , a ^* , and b ^* . The operation buttons 9 and the dial buttons 10 are units for the user of the C-IFAX 1 to perform operations for inputting information and instructions. Display device 12
Is a unit for the C-IFAX 1 to display information to the user and provide guidance on usage. In this part, a simple facsimile apparatus has several lines of LCD (Liquid
(CrystalDisplay) When a display device is used, but it is necessary to display advanced information, a color L having a large display area is used.
Use a CD device.

The color image storage device 5 stores received images and images read by the color image reading device 7,
It is possible to provide advanced functions such as image transfer, broadcast, alternate reception when paper runs out, and memory transmission.

The color image printing device 6 is a printing device capable of performing color printing, such as a color ink jet printer, a color electrostatic printer, or a color thermal transfer printer, and prints an image in color.

As a method for printing the color image, a silver halide film of a photograph, a sublimation type thermal transfer method,
There are a method in which three primary colors of each pixel have multi-step gradations, and a method in which each color can express only two gradations with or without dots as in a normal ink jet method. In the latter method, a pseudo halftone expression such as a dither method or an error diffusion method is used when expressing an intermediate color. If the number of dots of the printer is larger than the received image, after receiving the image, the image is first interpolated to each dot position of the printer according to the resolution of the printer by interpolation for each of the three primary colors (C, M, and C). Y)
Is determined, and then the presence or absence of each dot is determined by the pseudo-halftone technique for each primary color at the resolution of the printer, and printing is performed.

The color image reading device 7 is a method of sequentially lighting and reading every one read line such as a three-color light source, for example, an LED or a fluorescent lamp, in order to read a color image. Color CCD (Char
A method of reading using a photoelectric conversion sensor such as a Ge Coupled Device is used.

FIG. 2 shows a plurality of connection forms of C-IFAX. The C-IFAXs 40, 45, and 46 are facsimile apparatuses having the same configuration as the C-IFAX 1 of the present embodiment. Also, as shown in FIG. 1, C-IFAX1 is
It has three types of interfaces. The interface includes a network control device 2 connected to the public line network 20,
Parallel I / connected to personal computer 21
F13 and LAN I / F connected to LAN 22
14, and the C-IFAXs 1, 40, 45, and 46 are connected using these interfaces. Also,
The C-IFAX 1 can transmit and receive images and e-mails using any of the above three types of interfaces. The C-IFAX 1 shown in FIG. 2 is connected to a provider 30 via a public line network 20. This connection includes
The network control device 2 shown in FIG. 1 is used as an interface. This connection method is generally used when an individual connects to the Internet 32. A user of the C-IFAX 1 contracts with a provider 30, which is an Internet connection provider, connects by dial-up via the public line network 20, and transmits and receives images and e-mails via the Internet.

The C-IFAX 40 shown in FIG.
2 are connected. For this connection, the LAN I / F 13 shown in FIG. 1 is used as an interface. LAN
22 is connected to client computers 42 and 43, a server computer 41, and the like. Also, LA
N22 is also connected to the Internet. Such a connection method is often used in a corporate office environment.
The server computer 41 stores the image and e-mail transmitted from the C-IFAX 40 or the C-IFAX 4
The image and the e-mail sent to 0 are temporarily stored.

The C-IFAX 45 is directly connected to the server computer 41 via a cable. The interface in this case uses the parallel I / F 13 shown in FIG. 1, but it is not always necessary to connect using the parallel I / F 13, and an interface capable of transmitting data in both directions can be used.

The C-IFAX 46 is connected to a telephone network or
It is connected to a server computer via a public network such as an SDN network. For this connection, C-IFAX1
The network control device 2 shown in FIG. Further, the C-IFAX 46 needs to have an ability to understand a protocol that can communicate with the server computer 41 through the public line network and to create a signal.

The C-IFAX of this embodiment is
It is not necessary to provide all of the three types of interfaces described above. Basically, if the connection can be made to the public line network 20 or the ISDN line network, it can be connected to the Internet by at least a dial-up connection.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a first table 51 stored in the storage device 8 of the C-IFAX 1 shown in FIG.
In the first table 51, individual print colors are registered for individual senders.

More specifically, the first table 5
1 is a number field 52, a name field 53, a mail address field 54, and a print color field 55.
including. The number field 52 is assigned a unique number identifying the source. In the name field 53, an individual caller name or a caller belonging name is registered. In the e-mail address field 54, an individual e-mail address for an individual sender name or an originator affiliation name is registered. In the print color field 55, information on individual print colors for individual caller names or caller affiliation names is registered. Name field 53, Email address field 5
The user can sequentially input or delete the information in the print color field 4 and the print color field 55 using the operation buttons 9 and the dial buttons 10 shown in FIG. In the first table 51 shown in FIG. The e-mail sent from Taro Nippon registered in 01 indicates that it is printed in blue.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the control device 4 of the C-IFAX 1 shown in FIG. In step a1, C-IFAX1 is the telephone network 2 shown in FIG.
0, personal computer 21, or LAN 22
Receives the e-mail to the color image storage device 5 through
FROM of the header part of the mail received in step a2
Extract the source mail address information from the section. Next, in step a3, a print color is determined from the color information corresponding to the mail address extracted in step a2 based on the first table 51 shown in FIG. In step a4,
The mail received by the color image printing device 6 is printed using the color determined in the step a3. In this way,
The received mail is automatically printed in the registered color.

For a mail from a new sender not registered in the first table 51 shown in FIG. 3, for example, a method of assigning a print color to the new sender or temporarily storing the mail in the color image storage device 5 is used. A method of determining whether or not to print after confirming this mail by the user can be performed.

In this manner, by performing color printing by associating individual print colors with individual sender names or sender affiliation names, the color printed without reading the text of the mail can be obtained. At a glance, it is possible to determine a sender's name, a sender's affiliation name, an email from a sender with a high degree of importance or urgency, and the like.

FIG. 5 shows a C-I according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a second table 61 stored in a facsimile storage device 8. The configuration of the C-IFAX according to the present embodiment is similar to the configuration of the C-IFAX 1 described above, and differs only in the table stored in the storage device 8. In the present embodiment, individual transmission sources are grouped, and printing colors corresponding to the groups are registered.

More specifically, the second table 6
1 has a record including a number field 62, a name field 63, and a mail address field 64, and includes a group [001] 65 and a group [002] 66 in which a plurality of records are put together. The number field 62 is assigned a unique number for identifying the caller, the name field 63 is registered with the individual caller name or caller affiliation name, and the mail address field 64 is registered with the individual caller name. Alternatively, an individual e-mail address corresponding to the sender affiliation name is registered. In the present embodiment, the print color is not registered in each record individually, but is registered in units of a group obtained by grouping a plurality of records. This grouping can be classified, for example, by company relations, relatives relations, friend relations, mail sources with high importance or urgency. Each information of the name field 63, the mail address field 64, the group [001] 65 and the group [002] 66 can be sequentially input or deleted by the user using the operation buttons 9 and the dial buttons 10 shown in FIG. .

In the second table 61 shown in FIG. The e-mail sent from Hanako Tokyo registered in 03 is the group [0
01] is printed in red, which is the print color of [01].

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the control device 4 of the C-IFAX of this embodiment. Step b1 to step b2 correspond to step a shown in FIG.
Since these steps are the same as the respective steps from 1 to a2, their description is omitted. In step b3, a group including the mail address extracted in step b2 is selected based on the second table shown in FIG. 5, and a print color is determined from the color information registered in the group. In step b4, the mail received by the color image printing device 6 is printed using the color determined in step b3 as in step a4 of FIG. In this way, the received mail is automatically printed in the registered color.

For a mail from a sender not registered in the second table 61 shown in FIG. 5, a new group is assigned to a new sender, and then the user is made to belong to any group. Or a method of determining whether or not.

In this way, individual caller names or caller affiliation names are grouped, the printing colors are made to correspond to the groups, and color printing is performed to make a call from any group at a glance. It can be determined whether it is mail.

FIG. 7 shows a third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a third table 71 stored in a facsimile storage device 8. The configuration of the C-IFAX according to the present embodiment is similar to the configuration of the C-IFAX 1 described above, and differs only in the table stored in the storage device 8. In the present embodiment, print disable information can be registered as color information of an individual transmission source.

More specifically, the third table 7
1 is a number field 72, a name field 73, a mail address field 74, and a print color field 75.
including. The number field 72 is assigned a unique number identifying the source. In the name field 73, an individual sender name or a sender affiliation name is registered. In the e-mail address field 74, an individual e-mail address for an individual sender name or an originator affiliation name is registered. In the print color field 55, individual print color information and individual print color information corresponding to individual caller names or caller affiliation names are registered. Each information of the name field 73, the mail address field 74 and the print color field 75 can be sequentially input or deleted by the user using the operation buttons 9 and the dial buttons 10 shown in FIG. In the third table 71 shown in FIG.
The electronic mail transmitted from Mr. Yamada Shokai registered in 02 indicates that automatic printing is not performed even if it is received, because the print-disabled information is registered in the print color field 75. Further, as the information indicating the unprintable information registered in the print color field 75, for example, an X mark is used.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the control device 4 of the C-IFAX 70. Steps c1 to c2 are the same as steps a1 to a2 shown in FIG. 4, respectively, and thus description thereof is omitted. In step c3, a record corresponding to the mail address extracted in step c2 is determined based on the third table shown in FIG. 7, and the color information in the print color field 75 is referred to. Next, in step c4, it is determined whether or not the color information of the print color field 75 referred to in step c3 is non-printable information. If the non-printable information is registered, the process proceeds to step c5 and printing is not performed. If you receive this email but did not print it automatically,
An erasing method and a method of storing the image in the color image storage device 5 and performing printing according to a user's instruction can be performed. Also, in step c4, if no print disable information is registered in the color information of the print color field 75 corresponding to the received mail and the color information is registered, the process proceeds to step c6. In step c6, as in step a4 in FIG. 1, the received mail is printed in the print color registered as the color information.

Also, mail from a sender not registered in the third table 71 shown in FIG.
As in the case of IFAX1, there is a method of allocating one print color to a new source or a method of allocating non-printable information. If no print color or print prohibition information is assigned, a method of temporarily storing the information in the color image storage device 5 and deciding whether or not to print after confirming this mail by the user is used. You can do it too. In this manner, by registering the print disable information at the specific mail address, the automatic printing of the e-mail sent from the specific mail address is not performed. by this,
For example, by registering non-printable information in advance at a transmission address that can be determined to have a low degree of importance and urgency, unnecessary mail printing can be omitted and mail processing can be easily performed.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, printing is performed in a printing color corresponding to an individual sender, so that at a glance, the sender name, the sender affiliation name, the importance of the received mail, Urgency and the like can be determined.

Further, according to the present invention, since individual transmission sources are grouped and printed in print colors in group units,
Based on the printed colors, it is possible to determine from which group the mail is from at a glance.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to specify that a specific sender is not to perform automatic printing of mail, so that useless printing is omitted and processing of received mail is facilitated. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a C-IFAX1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a connection state when sending and receiving an e-mail using the C-IFAX1 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a first example in which individual print colors are registered for individual transmission sources stored in the storage device 8 of the C-IFAX 1 in FIG.
6 is a chart showing an example of a table 51.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control operation of a control device 4 of the C-IFAX 1 shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows C-IFAX6 according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a chart showing an example of a second table 61 stored in a storage device 8 of No. 0;

FIG. 6 shows C-IFAX6 according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart showing a control operation of a control device 4 of No. 0.

FIG. 7 shows C-IFAX7 according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a chart showing an example of a third table 71 stored in a storage device 8 of No. 0;

FIG. 8 shows C-IFAX7 according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart showing a control operation of a control device 4 of No. 0.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 40, 45, 46 Color facsimile machine 4 Control device 5 Color image storage device 6 Color image printing device 8 Storage device 12 Display device 51 First table 52, 62, 72 Number field 53, 63, 73 Name field 54, 64 , 74 Mail address field 55, 75 Print color field 61 Second table 65 Group [001] 66 Group [002] 71 Third table

Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 5B089 GA26 HA10 JA05 JA31 KA02 KC34 LB12 5C062 AA02 AA13 AA29 AA35 AB22 AB42 AC04 AC29 AC38 AE03 AE14 AF01 AF02 AF14 BA00 BD09 5C075 AB90 BA08 CA90 CD02 CD20 CF05 FF03

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A color facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving electronic mail and facsimile, and capable of color printing, comprising: a storage device in which a plurality of mail addresses and color information corresponding to each mail address are registered; A color facsimile apparatus for printing a received mail from a registered mail address in a color corresponding to the mail address. 2. The color facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a function of classifying mail addresses stored in said storage device into predetermined groups and registering color information in group units. 3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: registering print-impossible information at a specific mail address among the mail addresses stored in said storage device, and printing a received mail sent from the mail address registered with said print-impossible information. 3. The color facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein output is not performed.