JP2002009976A - Image information reception system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image information reception system capable of designating a distributing destination when received image information is transferred to a plurality of personal computers accommodated in a LAN. SOLUTION: A FAX server device 10 receives a direct inward dialing number and facsimile image information from a PBX device 40, converts the received facsimile image information into image data, converts the received dial-in number into the network address of the LAN and transmits the image data to a client device 20 at the converted network address.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image information receiving system, and more particularly to an image information receiving system capable of receiving image information received from a facsimile terminal connected to a general public network by a personal computer connected to a computer network (for example, LAN). It relates to an information receiving system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Personal computers scattered between premises and offices are connected to a local area network (hereinafter referred to as LA).
N) and used for various information transmissions.

A system has been proposed in which a facsimile terminal device is connected to a LAN and image information is distributed to a personal computer.

[0004] An information distribution system for receiving image information transmitted from a facsimile terminal via a general public network and distributing it to a personal computer via a LAN has been proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-127664.

[0005] This information distribution system comprises a service correspondence means for identifying a telephone number used among a plurality of telephone numbers assigned by a dial-in service when a call is received from a telephone line, and a plurality of telephone numbers connected to a LAN. Management information holding means for holding management information indicating a correspondence relationship between a personal computer and each telephone number by a dial-in service assigned to each personal computer, and a service when image information is received from a telephone line via a telephone line interface. Distribution destination specifying means for specifying a personal computer to which the received image information is to be distributed based on the telephone number identified by the corresponding means and the management information held in the management information holding means; Via a LAN interface to the personal computer specified by the specifying means Facsimile apparatus, comprising: a delivery unit that delivers image information; and a reception information output unit that delivers reception notification information indicating that image information has been received to the personal computer specified by the destination specification unit and outputs the received image information. It has.

This facsimile apparatus accommodates a plurality of extension telephones via an NCU and accommodates a plurality of personal computers via a LAN control unit. The facsimile apparatus, each extension telephone and each personal computer include:
Different extension designation numbers contracted with the last one digit are assigned, and these extension designation numbers are stored in a management table corresponding to each extension telephone or personal computer as RA.
M is registered in advance.

When a polarity inversion and a call signal arrive from the exchange via the telephone line, a primary response signal is transmitted from the NCU, and a PB signal transmitted from the exchange is subsequently detected by the modem. The extension designation number (the last digit) is detected based on the extension number.

If the detected extension designation number is the extension designation number assigned to the extension telephone, the call is received by the corresponding extension telephone. If the extension designation number is not the extension designation number assigned to the extension telephone, the call is transmitted via the modem after a predetermined time. Facsimile communication is executed to receive image data.

Next, it is determined whether or not the extension designation number is assigned to the facsimile machine. If the extension designation number is assigned to the facsimile machine, the received image data is printed out, and the extension designation assigned to the facsimile machine is performed. If the number does not appear, R
Search AM, specify personal computer, LAN
The received image data is transferred to the specified personal computer via the PC.

A message indicating that there is received image data is displayed on the personal computer, and the image data is displayed by a key operation of the user.

[0011] Further, a predetermined personal computer among a plurality of personal computers connected to the LAN is positioned as a server, and if the detected extension designation number is not the extension designation number assigned to the facsimile apparatus, the extension designation number is set. To the personal computer serving as the server via the LAN, the personal computer serving as the server searches its own management table based on the received extension designation number, specifies the corresponding personal computer, and transmits the specific information via the LAN. And returns the image data received from the facsimile apparatus to the specified personal computer via the LAN.

[0012] A message indicating that there is received image data is displayed on the personal computer, and the image data is displayed by a key operation of the user.

On the other hand, in this type of distribution system,
In addition to transferring the received image information to a specific personal computer via the LAN, the image information can be distributed to a limited number of personal computers accommodated in the LAN,
In some cases, distribution to all personal computers accommodated in N is required.

For example, in a company or the like, delivery of a notification document to a plurality of specific departments (managers) from the top down, instructions to a plurality of leaders (related persons) of a project team, delivery of reports, delivery of a notice of holding a meeting, When distributing a message to all the users of a personal computer or the like, there are situations in which a broadcast limited to distribution destinations or a broadcast specifying all distribution destinations is required.

[0015]

In the above information distribution system, a facsimile machine set to be able to receive a dial-in service has a facsimile number assigned to each of a plurality of personal computers accommodated in a LAN by a dial-in service. Has a table describing the correspondence relationship with, and identifies the used facsimile number among the facsimile numbers assigned by the dial-in service when receiving an incoming call from the telephone line, and when receiving information from the telephone line, Based on the facsimile number identifying the received information and the table, the personal computer to which the received information is to be delivered can be specified, and the information received via the LAN can be delivered to the specified personal computer.

However, top-down distribution of notification documents to a plurality of specific departments (managers), instructions to a plurality of project team leaders (related persons), distribution of reports,
For example, distribution of a notice of holding a conference, distribution to a limited plurality of personal computers accommodated in the LAN, distribution of communication information to all users of the personal computer, etc.
The distribution to all personal computers accommodated in the AN cannot be performed.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image information receiving system capable of designating a distribution destination when transferring received image information to a plurality of personal computers accommodated in a computer network (for example, a LAN).

[0018]

An image information receiving system distribution system according to the present invention receives facsimile image information transmitted by a dial-in number via a general public network, and receives a local image designated by the dial-in number. The facsimile image information is transferred to a client device accommodated in an area network.

Further, facsimile image information transmitted from the general public network by a dial-in number is received via an exchange, and the facsimile image information is transferred to a client device specified by the dial-in number via a LAN. It is characterized by having a fax server device.

Further, facsimile image information transmitted from the general public network by a dial-in number is received through an exchange, the dial-in number is converted to a LAN network address, and the dial-in number is converted to a LAN network address through the LAN. A facsimile server for transferring the facsimile image information to a designated client device.

The FAX server device includes a dial-in management unit for receiving the dial-in number from the exchange, receiving the facsimile image information from the exchange, converting the facsimile image information into image data, and receiving guidance information for the image data. A client management table for converting the dial-in number into the network address of the LAN; and a dial-in number output by the dial-in management means and the image data output by the fax reception means. FAX control means for receiving and retrieving the client management table, identifying the network address corresponding to the dial-in number, and instructing the client device of the identified network address to transmit the reception guide information and the image data. , And having a FAX image data transmitting means for transmitting the reception guidance information and the image data to the client device of the network address through the LAN receiving the instruction of the FAX control unit.

Further, the client management table includes:
One or more network addresses are stored corresponding to a plurality of dial-in numbers.

Further, the reception guide information includes at least the number of received image data, paper size, reception date and time, and transmission source information.

[0024] Further, the client device is configured to execute the LA
A facsimile image data receiving means for receiving the reception guide information and the image data from the facsimile server device via N; a facsimile information storage unit for storing the reception guide information received by the facsimile image data receiving means; FA
A FAX image data storage unit that stores the image data received by the X image data receiving unit; and reads out the reception guide information from the FAX information storage unit and displays the reception guide information on a display provided in the client device. FAX image data display output means for reading image data and displaying the read image data on the display or an external output device.

[0025]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an image information receiving system of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a main configuration diagram of a FAX server device of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a main configuration diagram of a client device of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing information distribution processing, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing image data reception processing in the client device, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a client management table of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image information receiving system according to the present invention comprises a facsimile server device 10 which operates under program control and a facsimile device which operates under program control.
A client device 20, a facsimile transmission device 30 for transmitting image information, and a PBX device 4 having a dial-in function
0, and an output device 50 for outputting received image data. The FAX server device 10 accommodates a plurality of FAX client devices 20 via the LAN 60 and
The BX device 40 transfers the image information received from the FAX transmission device 30 via the general public network 70 to the FAX client device 20 via the FAX server device 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, the FAX server device 10 includes a dial-in management unit 11 and a FAX reception unit 12.
, FAX control means 13, FAX image data transmission means 14, and client management table 15.

The dial-in management means 11 receives the dial-in number and the port number received from the PBX device 40 and notifies the FAX control means 13. Further, when the communication state is restored, a status notification is received from the PBX device 40, and it is determined whether or not the reception of the image information is normally completed.
Notify the AX control means 13.

The facsimile receiving means 12 receives image information from a port of the PBX device 40, and converts the received image information into image data.
The reception guide information such as the paper size, the reception date and time, and the transmission source information is transmitted to the FAX control unit 13.

The facsimile control means 13 discards the received reception guide information and the image data when the reception of the image information is abnormal according to the notification from the dial-in management means 11. On the other hand, if it is normal, the dial-in number is converted from the client management table 15 into a network address, and the transmission of the reception guide information and the image data to the network address is requested to the FAX image data transmitting means 14. I do.

The facsimile image data transmitting means 14
The reception guide information and the image data are transmitted to the FAX image data receiving means 21 in response to a request from the control means 13 or a start notification from the FAX image data receiving means 21. If transmission is not possible, transmission is retried at regular intervals.

The client management table 15 contains the FA
Dial-in number and F assigned to X client device
Set the network address of the AX client device to 1
They are stored in advance in a one-to-one or one-to-n correspondence.

As shown in FIG. 3, the FAX client device 20 includes a FAX image data receiving unit 21, a FAX image data display output unit 22, a FAX information storage unit 23,
And a FAX image data storage unit 24.

FAX image data receiving means 21
When the client device 20 is activated, the FAX image data transmitting unit 14 is notified of the activation. The FAX image data display / output unit 22 reads the reception guide information from the FAX information storage unit 23, displays it on the display of the FAX client device 2, reads the image data from the FAX image data storage unit 24, and sends it to the display or output device 50. I do.

The FAX information storage unit 23 stores reception guide information such as the number of sheets received, paper size, reception date and time, and transmission source information. The FAX image data storage unit 24 stores the received image data.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, an outline of the operation will be described with reference to FIGS.

When the image information is transmitted from the FAX transmission device 30 to the dial-in number assigned to the FAX client device 20 (for example, a personal computer),
The dial-in management means 11 receives the dial-in number and the port number received from the PBX (digital exchange) device 40 and notifies the FAX control means 13.

The FAX receiving means 12 receives the image information from the port of the PBX device 40, converts the received image information into image data, and receives the image data and the number of received image data, paper size, reception date and time, The reception guidance information such as the transmission source information is transmitted to the facsimile control means 13.

The fax control means 13 converts the dial-in number notified from the dial-in management means 11 into a network address with reference to the client management table 15, and converts the reception guide information and image data into the network address. It requests the FAX image data transmitting means 14 to transmit.

The facsimile image data transmitting means 14 is a facsimile
Upon receiving a request from the control unit 13 or a start-up notification from the FAX image data receiving unit 21, it transmits reception guide information and image data to the FAX image data receiving unit 21.

The FAX image data receiving means 21
When the client device 20 is activated, the FAX image data transmitting unit 14 is notified of the activation.

The FAX image data receiving means 21
The reception guidance information and the image data are received from the image data transmission means 14, and the reception guidance information is stored in the FAX information storage unit 23.
The image data is stored in the FAX image data storage unit 24, respectively.

The FAX image data display output means 22
The reception guidance information such as the number of received image data, paper size, reception date and time, and transmission source information stored in the AX information storage unit 23 is read out, displayed on a display provided in the FAX client 20, and operated by a user. According to F
The image data is read from the AX image data storage unit 24 and displayed on the display. This image data is stored in the FA
It may be sent directly to the external output device 50 without being displayed on the X client device 20, or may be discarded.

In this way, the computer (client device) not connected to the general public network can receive the image information.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4 and FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, a process of distributing received image information in the FAX server device will be described.

When there is an incoming call from the facsimile transmission device 30, the PB
The X device 40 stores the incoming dial-in number and port number in the dial-in management unit 11 of the fax server device 10.
The dial-in management unit 11 notifies the fax control unit 13 of the received dial-in number and port number (step S101 in FIG. 4).

Further, the dial-in management means 11 sets the PBX 40
Receives the status notification of the status, determines the status, and notifies the FAX control unit 13 of reception status information indicating whether the reception of the image information is normal or abnormal.

The FAX receiving means 12 starts receiving image information from the port of the PBX device 40 (S10).
2) The received image information is converted into an image data format, and is transmitted to the FAX control unit 13 together with reception guide information such as the number of sheets received, paper size, reception date and time, and sender information.

Upon receiving the notification of the dial-in number and the port number from the dial-in management means 11, the FAX control means 13 converts the reception guide information and image data of the port into a FA.
X receiving means 12 and dial-in managing means 1
Then, the normality of the reception of the image information is determined based on the reception state information received from S1 (S103).

If the determination result in step S103 is "abnormal", the reception guide information and the image data are discarded (S103).
104), if the determination result in step S103 is “normal”, the client management table 15 is referred to, the dial-in number is converted into a network address (S105), and the network address, the reception guide information, and the image data are faxed. The image data is transmitted to the image data transmitting means 14.

In the client management table 15, FIG.
The correspondence between the dial-in number and the network address is set in advance as shown in FIG.

The facsimile image data transmitting means 14 is a facsimile
When receiving the network address, the reception guide information, and the image data from the control unit 13, the control unit 13 transmits the reception guide information and the image data to the FAX client device 20 of the network address (S106).

The FAX image data transmitting means 14
The reception guide information and the transmission result of the image data to the client device 20 are determined (S107). If the transmission result is “abnormal”, the activation notification transmitted from the FAX image data receiving means 21 when the client device 20 is activated. It is determined whether or not there is (S108).

If the result of determination in step S108 is that there is a start notification, the flow shifts to step S106 to retransmit the reception guide information and image data. If there is no activation notification, for example, a timer is activated to clock a predetermined time (S109).

In step S109, the process proceeds to step S108 until a predetermined time elapses (timer timeout), and when it is determined that the predetermined time elapses (timer timeout), the process proceeds to step S106 to retransmit the reception guide information and image data.

As described above, the network (LAN 60)
If the transmission of the reception guide information and the image data has failed, for example, when there is a failure in the FAX client device 20 or when the FAX client device 20 has not been activated, retransmission is performed at regular intervals.

Therefore, when the FAX client device 20 is activated during the execution of the retransmission process and the activation notification is received from the FAX image data receiving means 21, the reception guide information and the image data are immediately transmitted to the client device 20.

Next, the distribution processing of the received image information will be specifically described with reference to FIG. The client management table shown in FIG.
1 ”and“ 1110002 ”are stored, and the dial-in number“ 1110001 ”stores the network address“ 10.1.1.1.1 ”of a specific client device 20.
However, the dial-in number “1110002” has the network address “1” of the two client devices 20.
"0.1.1.2" and "10.1.1.3" are stored in correspondence with the dial-in numbers.

In step S 101, the dial-in management means 11 sends the dial-in number “1” from the PBX device 40.
110001 ”and the port number 1 are received.
02, when the FAX receiving means 12 receives the image information from the port number 1 of the PBX device 40, in step S10
In FIG. 5, the facsimile control means 14 uses the dial-in number “1110001” received from the PBX device 40 as shown in FIG.
Is retrieved, the network address "10.1.1.1.1" stored corresponding to the dial-in number "1110001" is read, and the client device 20 of this network address is retrieved.
Then, the image data obtained by converting the image information received from the facsimile transmitting device 30 by the facsimile receiving unit 12 is transferred to the client device (for example, the user A) specified in step S106 via the LAN 60.

In step S101, the dial-in management means 11 receives the dial-in number "1110002" and the port number 1 from the PBX device 40, and in step S102, the FAX receiving means 12 causes the PBX device 4
When receiving the image information from the port number 1 of port 0, the facsimile control unit 13 in step S105
The client management table 15 shown in FIG. 6 is searched based on the dial-in number “1110002” received from
The network addresses “10.1.1.2” and “10.1.3.3” stored corresponding to the dial-in number “1110002” are read, and the client device 20 having the network address is specified. S1
In step 06, the image data obtained by converting the image information received from the facsimile transmitting device 30 by the facsimile receiving unit 12 is transferred to the specified client device 20 (for example, the user B and the user C) via the LAN 60.

As described above, by arbitrarily registering the network address on the LAN for specifying the distribution destination of the image data in the client management table 15 of the FAX server device 10 in correspondence with the plurality of dial-in numbers, the general public can be registered. The image information received from the network can be reliably delivered to a designated personal computer (client device) on the LAN.

Therefore, in addition to the specific distribution to one specific personal computer on the LAN, distribution limited broadcasting to a plurality of limited personal computers on the LAN and all distribution destination designation for all personal computers on the LAN Broadcasting can be easily realized.

Next, the reception processing of image data in the FAX client device 20 will be described with reference to FIG.

The FAX image data receiving means 21 of the FAX client device 20 notifies the FAX image transmitting means 14 of the FAX server device 10 of the activation when the FAX client device 20 is activated (step S20 in FIG. 5).
1). Thereafter, the reception guidance information and the image data are received from the FAX image data transmission means 14 of the FAX server device 10 (S202), and the reception guidance information is stored in the FAX information storage unit 23.
Then, the image data is stored in the FAX image data storage unit 24, respectively.

The FAX image data display output means 22
The reception guidance information such as the number of received image data, the paper size, the reception date and time, and the sender information stored in the AX information storage unit 23 is read and displayed on the display of the FAX client device 20 (S203). The image data is read from the FAX image data storage unit 24 and displayed on the display according to the operation instruction (S204).

The image data may be sent directly to the external output device 50 or discarded without being displayed on the FAX client device 20.

The reception guide information stored in the FAX information storage unit 23 and the image data stored in the FAX image data storage unit 24 are displayed on a display.
Alternatively, the data is deleted from the FAX information storage unit 23 and the FAX image data storage unit 24 after output to the output device 50 or after discarding the image data.

[0068]

As described above, according to the image information receiving system of the present invention, the facsimile image information transmitted by the facsimile transmitting apparatus by the dial-in number is received by the facsimile server apparatus via the general public network, and the dial-in number is obtained. Converted to network address of computer network (LAN) and client device (personal computer)
Therefore, facsimile image information can be received without preparing a telephone line for each client device.

Further, a different telephone number is assigned to each client device, so that facsimile image information can be received as in the case of a general facsimile device.

The computer network (LA)
N) In addition to preparing a dial-in number for each client device accommodated above and distributing facsimile image information to the client device corresponding to the dial-in number, a dial-in number for distribution-only broadcast, all distribution designations By preparing a dial-in number for information, for example, top-down distribution of notification documents to a plurality of specific departments (managers), instruction to a plurality of project team leaders (related parties), distribution of reports, meetings Distribution to all personal computers accommodated in the LAN, such as distribution of event notices, distribution to a limited number of personal computers accommodated in the LAN, distribution of information to all users of the personal computer, etc. It can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a distribution system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a main configuration diagram of a FAX server device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a main configuration diagram of a client device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of distributing image information in the FAX server device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of receiving image data in a client device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a client management table of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 FAX server apparatus 11 Dial-in management means 12 FAX reception means 13 FAX control means 14 FAX image data transmission means 15 Client management table 20 FAX client device 21 FAX image data reception means 22 FAX image data display output means 23 FAX information storage part 24 FAX image data storage unit 30 FAX transmission device 40 PBX device 50 Output device 60 LAN 70 General public network

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page F term (reference)

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. Receiving facsimile image information transmitted by a dial-in number via a general public network, and transmitting the facsimile image information to a client device accommodated in a local area network specified by the dial-in number. An image information receiving system for transferring. 2. Receiving facsimile image information transmitted from a general public network by a dial-in number via an exchange, and transferring the facsimile image information to a client device specified by the dial-in number via a LAN. An image information receiving system comprising a facsimile server device. 3. Receiving facsimile image information transmitted by a dial-in number from a general public network via an exchange, converting the dial-in number into a network address of a LAN, and converting the dial-in number into a LAN network address through the LAN. An image information receiving system comprising a facsimile server device for transferring the facsimile image information to a designated client device. 4. The fax server device includes: dial-in management means for receiving the dial-in number from the exchange; receiving the facsimile image information from the exchange, converting the received facsimile image information into image data, and receiving guidance information for the image data. A client management table for converting the dial-in number into a network address of the LAN; the dial-in number output by the dial-in management means; and the reception guide information output by the fax reception means. Receiving the image data, searching the client management table to identify the network address corresponding to the dial-in number, and transmitting the reception guide information and the image data to the client device having the identified network address. Indicate FAX control means, and FAX image data transmitting means for receiving the instruction of the FAX control means and transmitting the reception guide information and the image data to the client device at the network address via the LAN. 4. The image information receiving system according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The image information receiving system according to claim 4, wherein the client management table stores one or a plurality of network addresses corresponding to a plurality of dial-in numbers. 6. The image information receiving system according to claim 4, wherein said reception guide information includes at least the number of received image data, a sheet size, a reception date and time, and transmission source information. 7. The FAX image data receiving means for receiving the reception guide information and the image data from the FAX server device via the LAN, and the reception guidance received by the FAX image data reception means. A facsimile information storage unit for storing information, a facsimile image data storage unit for storing the image data received by the facsimile image data receiving means, and a display provided in the client device for reading out the reception guide information from the facsimile information storage unit 4. An image information receiving system according to claim 1, further comprising: a facsimile image data display output unit for displaying the image data from the facsimile image data storage unit and displaying the image data on the display or an external output device. .