JP2002073482A - Method and system of e-mail printing, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and system of E-mail printing and a recording medium capable of saving paper resources in addition to making E-mail easy to read and to deal when printing more than one divided E-mail. SOLUTION: A network printer server 204 connects main texts of more than one E-mail which is divided based on turns of divided more than one E-mail contained in link information added to each header information of more than one E-mail divided from one E-mail exceeding a predetermined memory size into a plurality of E-mails below the predetermined memory size, on an ID of E-mail before division and on a total number of divided two or more E-mails and the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic mail printing system, a control method thereof, and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as a data terminal device used when performing data communication using a portable communication terminal device such as a portable telephone or a PHS, a portable electronic mail transmitting / receiving device connected to the portable communication terminal device, 2. Description of the Related Art A portable communication terminal device having an electronic mail transmitting / receiving function that does not require a portable electronic mail transmitting / receiving device is known.

The present applicant has proposed an electronic mail printing system for directly printing an electronic mail received by a portable electronic mail transmitting / receiving device or a portable communication terminal device having an electronic mail transmitting / receiving function without using a personal computer or the like. (Japanese Patent Application No. 11-146660).

Since the memory size of a portable electronic mail transmitting / receiving device or a portable communication terminal device with an electronic mail function is very small as compared with a normal electronic mail transmitting / receiving device, the memory size per electronic mail is limited.

[0005] Accordingly, a provider of an electronic mail transmitting / receiving service using a portable electronic mail transmitting / receiving device or a portable communication terminal device with an electronic mail function provides a dedicated gateway in order to limit the size of the received electronic mail. For example, an electronic mail exceeding a predetermined memory size is divided into a plurality of electronic mails having a predetermined memory size or less and distributed to a portable electronic mail transmitting / receiving device or a portable communication terminal device having an electronic mail function. Memory size.

When an electronic mail exceeding a predetermined memory size is divided into a plurality of electronic mails having a predetermined memory size or less and distributed, link information indicating a relationship between the plurality of divided electronic mails is divided into a plurality of divided electronic mails. Attached to each header information of the e-mail, it is notified that the e-mail is divided into a portable e-mail transmitting / receiving device and a portable communication terminal device with an e-mail function. The portable communication terminal device displays the plurality of divided e-mails as if they were one e-mail by referring to the link information added to the header information of each of the plurality of divided e-mails An e-mail system is known.
No. 6214).

[0007]

However, when a plurality of divided e-mails are printed by the printing system, each of the plurality of divided e-mails is treated as an independent e-mail, and is originally one. Since the body of the e-mail is printed on separate pages, the printed e-mail is hard to read and difficult to handle, and furthermore, there is a problem of wasting paper resources.

An object of the present invention is to make a plurality of e-mails divided by the e-mail system easier to read and to handle when printing the plurality of e-mails.
An object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail printing method and system capable of saving paper resources, and a storage medium.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic mail printing method according to claim 1 divides one electronic mail exceeding a predetermined capacity into a plurality of electronic mails having the predetermined capacity or less. Converting means for receiving a plurality of e-mails divided and transmitted from an e-mail system having division adding means for adding link information to the plurality of e-mails, respectively, and converting the received e-mails into print data In an e-mail printing system comprising
The conversion unit links the plurality of received e-mails based on the added link information.

In order to achieve the above object, a storage medium according to claim 2 is a readable storage medium storing a program for executing an e-mail printing method, wherein the program includes a plurality of divided and transmitted electronic mails. A conversion module for receiving mail and converting the received plurality of e-mails into print data; and a linking module for linking the plurality of received e-mails based on link information added to the plurality of received e-mails It is characterized by consisting of.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an e-mail printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an entire configuration of an electronic mail system using an electronic mail printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention transmits and receives an electronic mail and displays a body of the electronic mail.
DA: Personal Digital Assistants 101, a portable communication terminal device 102, a communication network 103 such as a public telephone line, ISDN or satellite communication, and an external provider 10
4 (division adding means), an application server 105 (conversion means) that communicates with a printer 109 described later by a predetermined protocol, the Internet 106 as a logical space, and a portable communication terminal device 107;
It includes an adapter 108 and a printer 109 as a printing device, another portable communication terminal device not shown, another adapter not shown, and another printer not shown.

If the portable communication terminal device 102 has an e-mail function, the PDA 101 is unnecessary. Also, in this embodiment, the portable communication terminal devices 102 and 107 are used on the mail transmission side and the print output side for easy understanding. However, by connecting the PDA 101 and the adapter 108, one unit can be used. It doesn't matter.

The application server 105 is connected to the Internet 106 and the communication network 103. P
The DA 101 is connected to an external provider 104 via a communication network 103 via a portable communication terminal device 102. Further, the printer 109 is connected to the communication network 103 via the adapter 108 and the portable communication terminal device 107.

The external provider 104 manages and operates an e-mail account of the PDA 101, communicates with the PDA 101 using a predetermined protocol, and can transmit and receive e-mails under the control of the user via the PDA 101. . In addition, the external provider 104 determines that the memory size of the e-mail transmitted to the PDA 101 is larger than a predetermined memory size (predetermined capacity) per e-mail that can be transmitted and received, which is set based on the memory size of the PDA 101. At this time, the transmitted e-mail is divided into a plurality of e-mails each having a predetermined memory size or less, and link information is added to each header information of the plurality of divided e-mails, so that the The plurality of divided e-mails are distributed to the PDA 101 via the mobile communication terminal device 102. At this time, the order of the plurality of divided e-mails, the ID of the undivided e-mail (the identification number of one e-mail), the total number of the plurality of divided e-mails, and the like are added to the link information.

The application server 105 gives an independent e-mail account to the printer 109 and the other printers. For example, if the user
Suppose an account ma is given. At that time, the following is automatically prepared as an e-mail account. 1. tama @ mnp. co. jp (for printing the mail text) 2. tamaA @ mnp. co. jp (for printing attached files) tamaB @ mnp. co. jp (for printing mail text + attached file) tamaC @ mnp. co. jp (for URL printing) For example, the user sends the received mail to 1. Of the application server 105
Creates print data of the mail body, transmits the created print data to the adapter 108 via the mobile terminal 107,
The data is converted into the format of the interface of the printer 109 and transmitted to the printer 109 to be connected.
09 prints, the user tama makes the above 1 .. The mail can be printed simply by sending the mail to this address.

Also, usually, the user can select the mail printing function by a simple operation of simply selecting an address registered in advance. In the embodiment of the present invention, since the address corresponds to the print function, there is an advantage that the user can select the address without inputting the print command and set the print function at the same time.

Further, the application server 105
It manages and operates unique information such as the ID of the adapter 108 connected to the printer 109, the telephone number of the portable communication terminal device 107 connected to the adapter 108, and the type of print data printable by the printer 109.

Also, the application server 105
An e-mail is received via the Internet 106.
When receiving the undivided e-mail, the application server 105 checks the text of the received e-mail (corrects garbled characters and the like) and copies the checked text to the printer 109 specified by the e-mail account. Converts the print data into printable print data, and converts the converted print data into a printer 109 via the communication line network 103, the portable communication terminal device 107, and the adapter 108.
When a plurality of divided e-mails are received and transmitted, the body of the plurality of divided e-mails is concatenated, and the concatenated body can be printed by the designated printer 109 in the same manner. The print data is converted into print data, and the converted print data is similarly transmitted to the printer 109 to perform printing or the like.

Further, the application server 105
Receives a mail from the Internet 106 to a certain e-mail account, converts the mail into print data by the above-described procedure, and connects the telephone of the portable communication terminal device 107 connected to the printer 109 specified from the management and operation specific information. The number is retrieved, a call is made to the communication network 103, and the adapter 108 is notified that the print data is ready.
Upon receiving the notification, the adapter 108 controls the portable communication terminal device 107 based on the preset information, and calls back the application server 105 via the communication network 103. The application server 105 connects to the adapter 108 by receiving an incoming call from the communication network 103, authenticates the adapter 108, and transmits print data to the corresponding printer 109.

The adapter 108 checks the connection of the printer 109 to which the adapter 108 is currently connected, determines whether the printer 109 is in an error state, checks the status of the printer 109, the communication state, and the like. The result of these determinations or confirmations is notified to the application server 105.

The adapter 108 controls the portable communication terminal device 107 and controls the application server 10.
5 is connected to the application server 105 by making a callback based on the notification from the application server 105, and the application server 1 is connected according to a predetermined protocol.
05, print data is received. Further, the print data is converted into the data format of the interface of the printer 109 and transmitted to the printer 109.

FIG. 2 shows an application server 105 for executing the electronic mail printing method according to the present invention in FIG.
It is a figure which shows schematic structure of.

In FIG. 2, the application server 1
05 is the firewall server 201 and the switch 2
02, communication server 203, and network print server 204 (determination, creation, and output means)
, RADIUS server 205 and mail server 206
And a WWW server 207.

The firewall server 201 is an entrance of the application server 105 on the Internet 106 side and has a function of blocking external intrusions and attacks, and is used for safely operating a group of servers provided in the application server 105. Is done.

The switch 202 is connected to the Internet 106 via the firewall server 201, similarly connected to the communication network 103 via the communication server 203, and further connected to the network print server 204, the RADIUS server 205, and the mail server 2.
06 and the WWW server 207. Thus, an intranet of the application server 105 is configured.

The communication server 203 is an entrance to the communication network 103 side of the application server 105, supports connection with PIAFS, analog modem, or ISDN, and has a firewall function and RAD
It has an IUS client function.

The network print server 204 transmits / receives print data, generates a print job, communicates with the adapter 108, monitors an e-mail arriving at the mail server 206, and connects a plurality of divided e-mail bodies described later. Perform processing.

The RADIUS server 205 is a RADIUS server.
Communication server 2 with S client function
In response to the authentication request from the client 03, the client responds to the client whether or not the authentication is permitted.

The mail server 206 receives the electronic mail to be printed. The WWW server 207 stores a homepage of the application server 105, and provides a print job control function by using CGI or the like.

Hereinafter, the network print server 204
Will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a process of linking the texts of a plurality of divided e-mails, which is executed by the network print server 204 of FIG.

First, as a precondition for using the e-mail system shown in FIG.
01, and use the mail server 206 in order to use this e-mail printing method.
To obtain an e-mail account of the printer 109 from the printer.

Thereafter, the user obtains all of the plurality of divided e-mails received by the PDA 101 and obtains the above-mentioned 1 .. (Tama@mnp.co.jp (for printing the mail text)) to the e-mail account. All transmitted e-mails arrive at mail server 206. At this time, the network print server 204 monitors the electronic mail arriving at the mail server 206 (step S301), and determines whether the electronic mail has arrived at the mail server 206 (step S302).

If the result of determination in step S302 is that no e-mail has arrived, the process returns to step S301, and
When a call arrives, the header information of the received e-mail is extracted (step S303), and it is determined whether link information is added to the header information (step S30).
4).

If the result of determination in step S304 is that link information has not been added, the body of the incoming e-mail is extracted (step S308), and then this processing is terminated. The body of the e-mail is extracted (step S305), and then the extracted body is combined with the body extracted from the other e-mails with the link information including the ID of the same e-mail before division added to the header information. The connection is made (step S306). At this time, the texts of the electronic mails are concatenated based on the order of the plurality of divided electronic mails included in the link information of each electronic mail.

Thereafter, similarly, it is determined whether or not all of the plurality of divided e-mails have arrived at the mail server 206 based on the total number of the plurality of divided e-mails included in the link information of each e-mail. Determine (Step S30)
7) When all of the plurality of divided e-mails have not arrived at the mail server 206, the processing from step S301 onward is repeated, and when they have arrived, this processing ends.

Thereafter, the linked or extracted text is converted into print data, transmitted to the printer 109, and printed.

According to the process shown in FIG. 3, the network print server 204 determines the header of each of a plurality of e-mails divided from one e-mail exceeding a predetermined memory size to a plurality of e-mails having a predetermined memory size or less. The body of a plurality of divided e-mails based on the order of the plurality of divided e-mails included in the link information added to the information, the ID of the e-mail before division, the total number of the plurality of divided e-mails, and the like Is concatenated, when printing a plurality of divided e-mails, the e-mails can be easily read and handled, and paper resources can be saved.

In this embodiment, the portable communication terminal device 102 transmits and receives e-mails by using a PDA.
Although the PDA 101 is required, the portable communication terminal 102 may be a portable communication terminal with an e-mail function that has an e-mail transmission / reception function and does not require the PDA 101.

Further, instead of the network print server 204 storing the control method of the electronic mail printing system, an arbitrary program storing a program for executing the control method of the electronic mail printing system realizing the above-described embodiment is stored. The storage medium may supply the above-described program to the above-described network print server 204, and any one of a computer (not shown), a CPU (not shown), or an MPU (not shown) of the network print server 204 may execute the program. Examples of a storage medium for supplying the program include a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, MO, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, and ROM. is there.

Further, instead of any one of the computer, the CPU and the MPU of the network print server 204, a circuit (not shown) which operates similarly to the above may realize the above-described embodiment.

The program supplied by the storage medium is written into a memory (not shown) provided in a function expansion board (not shown) inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit (not shown) connected to the computer. A CPU or the like (not shown) provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit may execute a part or all of the program.

In addition, O running on the computer
S or the like may execute a part or all of the program.

[0046]

As described above in detail, according to the e-mail printing method according to the first aspect and the storage medium according to the second aspect, one e-mail exceeding a predetermined capacity is converted into an e-mail having a predetermined capacity or less. Since the plurality of e-mails are linked based on the link information of each of the plurality of e-mails divided into a plurality of e-mails, the e-mails can be easily read and handled when printing the plurality of e-mails. In addition to saving paper resources.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an email system using an email printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an application server 105 that executes the electronic mail printing method according to the present invention in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a process of connecting the texts of a plurality of divided e-mails, which is executed by the network print server 204 of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 PDA 102 Portable communication terminal device 103 Communication line network 104 External provider 105 Application server 106 Internet 107 Portable communication terminal device 108 Adapter 109 Printer 201 Firewall server 202 Switch 203 Communication server 204 Network print server 205 RADIUS server 206 Mail server 207 WWW server

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An e-mail system having a division adding means for dividing one e-mail exceeding a predetermined capacity into a plurality of e-mails having the predetermined capacity or less, and adding link information to each of the plurality of e-mails. Receiving a plurality of divided e-mails transmitted from the e-mail and converting the received plurality of e-mails into print data, the e-mail printing method, wherein the conversion step is based on the added link information An e-mail printing method for connecting the received e-mails. 2. A readable storage medium storing a program for executing an e-mail printing method, the program receiving a plurality of divided e-mails and printing the received plurality of e-mails. A storage medium, comprising: a conversion module that converts data into data; and a link module that links the plurality of received e-mails based on link information added to the plurality of received e-mails. 3. Receiving a plurality of divided e-mails transmitted from an e-mail system having a division adding unit for dividing one e-mail into a plurality of pieces and adding link information to the plurality of e-mails, respectively. Means, and a converting means for converting a plurality of e-mails received by the receiving means into print data, wherein the converting means is configured to convert the plurality of received e-mails based on the added link information. An e-mail printing system for connecting e-mails. 4. A discriminating means for discriminating whether or not a received e-mail is a divided e-mail, and if the discriminating means determines that the received e-mail is a divided e-mail, the divided e-mail is An e-mail printing system, comprising: a creating unit that is connected to one and creates print data; and an output unit that outputs the print data created by the creating unit. 5. A server having the determination unit, the creation unit, and the output unit, a portable terminal that receives print data output by the output unit, and a printer that prints data from the portable terminal. The e-mail printing system according to claim 4, further comprising: an adapter that converts the data into an interface format; and a printer that performs printing based on print data from the adapter. 6. A discriminating step for discriminating whether or not the received e-mail is a divided e-mail, and when it is judged that the received e-mail is a divided e-mail, the divided e-mail is An e-mail printing method, comprising: a creation step of creating print data linked to one; and an output step of outputting the print data created by the creation step. 7. A server that executes the determination step, the creation step, and the output step, a mobile terminal that receives print data output by the server,
7. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the electronic apparatus is realized by a system having an adapter that converts print data from the portable terminal into a printer interface format, and a printer that performs printing based on print data from the adapter. Email printing method. 8. A readable storage medium storing a program for executing an e-mail printing method, the program comprising: a judgment module for judging whether or not a received e-mail is a divided e-mail. If the discrimination module determines that the email is a divided email, the divided emails are joined together to create print data, and a print data created by the creation module is output. A storage medium characterized by comprising an output module for performing the following. 9. A server including a storage medium storing a program including the determination module, the creation module, and the output module, a mobile terminal receiving print data output by the server, and the mobile terminal A program for executing an e-mail printing method implemented by a system having an adapter for converting print data from a printer into a printer interface format and a printer for performing printing based on the print data from the adapter. The storage medium according to claim 8, wherein