JP2002199198A - Internet facsimile machine and internet facsimile communication control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the communication charge for transmission/reception of an electronic mail for acknowledgment in an MDN system conforming to RFC 2298, with respect to an internet facsimile machine. SOLUTION: When depression of an acknowledgement request key provided in an operation display part 18 is detected through an operation acceptance part 12g, an acknowledgment request part 12c1 in an electronic mail transmission part 12c of an internet facsimile machine 1 on the transmission side which can transmit and receive facsimile information in a form of an electronic mail via the Internet by dial-up connection generates an electronic mail having a mail header with an acknowledgment request in the MDN system, which give an instruction that an electronic mail for acknowledgment indicating the occurrence of error should be transmitted to a designated destination, only in the case of the occurrence of error in processing related to facsimile information of a received electronic mail in Internet facsimile equipment on the reception side, and transmits this generated electronic mail through a transmission control part 12a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dial-up connection, via the Internet, in the form of e-mail,
The present invention relates to an Internet facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information and an Internet facsimile communication control method.
The present invention relates to an Internet facsimile apparatus and an Internet facsimile communication control method for transmitting / receiving a delivery confirmation request and a delivery confirmation e-mail based on a delivery confirmation procedure conforming to an age transfer notification method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the rapid development of networks such as the Internet, electronic mail communication forms for transmitting and receiving various types of document information via networks have become widespread.

[0003] Document information used in such a communication form using electronic mail is, for example, SMTP (Simp).
le Mail Transfer Protocol), it was basically only text data.
Encoded into a text data format based on the BASE64 encoding format or the like, and MIME (Multipurpose Intern
et Message Extensions), it is becoming possible to send it as an e-mail by describing it in the body of the e-mail.

[0004] Therefore, text data described in the body of the e-mail after being converted into an appropriate text data format,
Even when image information or different types of document information related to binary data are received, if necessary, after decoding to the original format, the data is transmitted via the plotter provided in the receiving terminal's own device. Then, it can be printed on a recording paper, displayed on a display device, or stored after being subjected to some processing. Further, it is possible to transfer the received document information to another transfer destination, or, if the received document information is facsimile information, to perform transfer communication for facsimile transmission to another destination.

[0005] Here, when performing the transfer communication of the e-mail, an e-mail address or a facsimile telephone number as a destination of the transfer is taken out from a predetermined place of the received e-mail and specified at the transmission source. Facsimile transmission can be performed to the transfer destination via a public communication network, or electronic mail can be transmitted via the Internet, a LAN, or the like. Such a transfer operation can be called a document transfer function for the sake of convenience on the transmitting side.

[0006] Further, it is preferable that facsimile transmission or e-mail transmission of received document information received by e-mail from a pre-registered transmission source to a transfer destination registered in advance on the receiving side. Is also possible. That is, it also has a document transfer function for the convenience of the receiving side.

In e-mail communication via a network such as the Internet, an e-mail accompanied by an e-mail address indicating a destination is transmitted from an e-mail server MTA (Message Transfer Agent) on the transmission side.
When stored in t), the e-mail will
In accordance with a predetermined e-mail transfer protocol such as SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), the data is transferred via a network such as the Internet to the receiving e-mail server device MTA where the receiving terminal indicated by the destination is registered. In the receiving-side electronic mail server device MTA, the data is accumulated and stored in a receiving mailbox provided for each destination.

On the other hand, in the receiving terminal, for example,
According to a predetermined e-mail receiving protocol such as POP3 (Post Office Protocol Version 3), the receiving-side e-mail server device MTA is periodically accessed,
A receiving operation for extracting the electronic mail stored in the receiving mailbox addressed to the own device is performed.

That is, in such e-mail communication via a network, as described above, the e-mail transmission operation at the transmitting terminal and the e-mail receiving operation at the receiving terminal are generally independent operations. Has been realized. Therefore, in the transmitting terminal, information on whether or not transmitted document information such as text data and image information transmitted as e-mail has been correctly received by the receiving terminal, There is no means for obtaining information on the content of the performed processing, the success or failure of the processing, and the like.

In order to solve such a problem, the Internet
In the Internet technical document RFC (Request For Comments), which is also regarded as a de facto standard, several delivery confirmation systems have been proposed as delivery confirmation systems that allow a transmitting terminal to confirm the status of a receiving side.

One is Internet Technical Document No. 1891.
No. 1894 (RFC1891 and RFC189)
DSN (Delivery Status) specified in 4)
Notification) and the SMTP
Attachment confirmation is performed at the command level that specifies the operation mode in the protocol. That is, at the time when the e-mail is stored in the receiving mailbox of the receiving e-mail server device MTA, the receiving e-mail indicating that the receiving e-mail server device MTA has stored the e-mail in the receiving mailbox. Is returned to the transmitting terminal.
Therefore, in the final receiving terminal, the received e-mail is correctly extracted from the received e-mail stored in the received mailbox, and the received e-mail is transmitted to the received document described in the received e-mail normally. Does not confirm whether the process has been performed.

Also, MDN (Me) specified in Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC2298).
The method called “ssage disposition notification” includes “Disposition-No.
A new "tification-To:" field is provided, and at the transmitting terminal, the "Disposition-Notification-To:" field is described to describe that a delivery confirmation is requested, and the "Disposition-Notification-To:" Field, an e-mail address to which the delivery confirmation e-mail is returned is described, and the e-mail is transmitted to the receiving terminal.

On the other hand, the receiving terminal that has received the e-mail accompanied by the request for delivery confirmation receives a MIME (Multipurpopo) containing delivery confirmation information in the MDN format specified in Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC2298).
se Internet Mail Extensions) format to create a delivery confirmation e-mail,
It is sent to the destination specified by the "-To:" field.

Here, the MIME format is not limited to text data of 7-bit ASCII code consisting of half-width alphanumeric characters, but also 8-bit data codes other than alphanumeric characters, or multimedia data such as binary data and image information. This is an extended specification electronic mail transmission / reception format that can transmit / receive document information including data in various code formats including the Internet.

In the delivery confirmation method based on the MDN system, as described above, the receiving terminal that has received the e-mail with the delivery confirmation request accompanied by the transmission request for the delivery confirmation performs processing performed on the transmitted document. (For example,
Transfer to any destination, display on a display device, or save, etc.
The type of processing performed on the received document information) and information on the success or failure of the processing are described in a newly added predetermined field (field) in the mail header portion, and the delivery confirmation e-mail is written. Create as

The mail header part of the delivery confirmation e-mail is composed of a multi-part mail header, and the following three parts are added after the first main header part. In other words, the first first part notifies the receiving terminal of the processing contents of the received document,
It is described in the form of an explanatory sentence composed of text data that can be understood by humans.
It is described in a text data format in a fixed format that is easy to process by a machine, and the last third part has a format in which header information of a transmission source is directly encapsulated and stored. Further, in the next e-mail text, the transmitted original e-mail text is stored as it is.

Therefore, “Disposition-Notification-T
When the terminal for confirming the delivery specified by the “o:” field receives the delivery confirmation e-mail, the first part part in the mail header part is left as it is.
By outputting the data to a display device such as a display device or a printing device such as a plotter, the sender can confirm the processing result of the receiving terminal performed on the transmission document. Also, referring to the second part,
The terminal that performs the delivery confirmation automatically determines what operation should be performed next based on the processing result of the receiving terminal,
It is possible to make a selection. For example, when the process of the receiving terminal with respect to the transmission document has failed, an operation such as automatically retransmitting the transmission document can be performed.

[0018]

However, in an Internet facsimile apparatus for transmitting and receiving facsimile information in the form of e-mail via the Internet, the receiving terminal transmits the facsimile information to the MDN system. If you do not want to confirm, in the same communication session as when you sent the email,
There is a problem that the delivery confirmation e-mail cannot be returned.

Accordingly, for example, in an Internet facsimile apparatus connected to the Internet through a dial-up connection or the like, such as a G3 facsimile apparatus, it is not possible to determine the processing result for an e-mail received in the same communication session. After disconnecting the dial-up connection with the Internet, when the processing result is determined, the dial-up connection is performed again, and the delivery confirmation e-mail is returned as communication in another communication session. Not get. In other words, in an Internet facsimile apparatus performing dial-up connection, in order to return delivery confirmation information for received facsimile information, a separate communication session is required for delivery confirmation e-mail. Result.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and is disclosed in Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC).
2298), the MDN (Message D
It is an object of the present invention to reduce as much as possible the communication fee of e-mail for realizing a delivery confirmation method based on isposition notification.

[0021]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an Internet facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in an electronic mail format via the Internet by a dial-up connection. An Internet facsimile machine is available from Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC).
2298), when transmitting facsimile information as an e-mail having a delivery confirmation request, only when an error occurs in the processing of the facsimile information in the receiving Internet facsimile apparatus in the mail header portion of the e-mail, A description is given instructing transmission of the delivery confirmation e-mail from the receiving Internet facsimile apparatus to a designated destination.

The internet facsimile apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention is capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in the form of electronic mail via the Internet by a dial-up connection.
The receiving-side Internet facsimile apparatus, which has received the e-mail having the delivery confirmation request based on 8), composes a delivery confirmation e-mail to be transmitted to the designated destination in response to the delivery confirmation request. The present invention is characterized in that a delivery confirmation e-mail is created in which the document information in the body of the e-mail and the header information in the mail header of the received e-mail are not added at all.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an Internet facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in the form of e-mail via the Internet by a dial-up connection.
The receiving-side Internet facsimile apparatus, which has received the e-mail having the delivery confirmation request based on 8), creates the delivery confirmation e-mail to be transmitted to the designated destination in response to the delivery confirmation request, and Only the first page of the document information in the body of the email is
It is characterized in that a delivery confirmation e-mail attached to the e-mail text is created.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an Internet facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in an electronic mail format via the Internet by a dial-up connection.
8), the receiving-side Internet facsimile apparatus, which has received the e-mail having the delivery confirmation request based on the delivery confirmation request, transmits the delivery confirmation e-mail transmitted to the Internet facsimile apparatus of the designated destination to the Internet facsimile apparatus of the destination. POP3 (Post Office Protocol) which is an electronic mail receiving protocol
Version 3) By using a command for specifying the number of received lines (TOP command) conforming to the protocol, only the specified number of lines from the first line of the delivery confirmation e-mail stored in the received mailbox is deleted. The destination Internet facsimile apparatus can receive the data.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an Internet facsimile communication control method capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in an e-mail format via the Internet by a dial-up connection. The device is compatible with Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC2).
298), when facsimile information is transmitted as an e-mail having a delivery confirmation request, only when an error occurs in the processing of the facsimile information in the receiving Internet facsimile apparatus in the mail header portion of the e-mail, It is characterized in that a description is given to instruct the receiving Internet facsimile machine to return a delivery confirmation e-mail to a designated destination.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable recording medium, comprising: The facsimile apparatus is described in Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC229).
As an email having a delivery confirmation request based on 8),
When transmitting the facsimile information, only when an error occurs in the processing of the facsimile information in the receiving Internet facsimile device in the mail header portion of the e-mail, the delivery confirmation e-mail is sent to the designated destination. An Internet facsimile communication control method in which a description instructing a reply from the receiving-side Internet facsimile apparatus is recorded as a program for causing a computer to execute the method.

[0027]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an Internet facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a block configuration of an Internet facsimile apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a network connection form of the Internet facsimile apparatus.

First, in FIG. 2, 1, 2, and 3
Are respectively Internet facsimile apparatuses IFAX1, IFAX2, and I
FAX3 is shown, and 4 and 5 are Internet service provider devices ISP1 and ISP1 in which the Internet facsimile devices IFAX1 and IFAX2 are registered, respectively.
ISP2 is shown. Reference numeral 4a denotes a reception mailbox for storing a reception electronic mail addressed to the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX1 installed in the Internet service provider apparatus ISP14.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a public communication network (GSTN) to which the Internet facsimile apparatuses IFAX1 and IFAX2 are connected. IFAX2
Facsimile machine IFA
This is the Internet directly connecting X3. The thin arrows indicate the flow of the line connection operation in the public communication network 6, while the thick arrows indicate via the Internet 7 after passing through the interconnected public communication network 6. Alternatively, directly via the Internet 7 only,
The flow of the data of the e-mail transmitted and received is shown.

That is, in FIG. 2, the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX22 (the electronic mail address on the Internet 7 is "abc@ccc.ddd.co.jp") is connected via the public communication network 6 by dial-up connection. ,
After being connected to the Internet service provider device ISP25, the Internet service provider device I
Internet facsimile machine I via SP25
Facsimile information addressed to FAX 11 (the e-mail address on the Internet 7 is "xyz@aaa.bbb.co.jp") is transmitted in e-mail format, for example, according to the SMTP transfer protocol.
The operation of transmitting X11 to the registered Internet service provider device ISP14 is shown.

On the other hand, in the Internet service provider device ISP14, the electronic mail transmitted to the Internet facsimile device IFAX11 is
It is stored and stored in the reception mailbox 4a for the Internet facsimile machine IFAX11.

Also, an Internet facsimile apparatus IF
The AX 11 connects to the Internet service provider device ISP 14 via the public communication network 6 by dial-up connection, and is stored and stored in the reception mailbox 4 a provided in the Internet service provider device ISP 14. A receiving operation is performed to read out an e-mail addressed to the own device in an e-mail format, for example, according to a POP3 reception protocol.

Further, an Internet service provider device (not shown) connected to the Internet 7
Facsimile machine I directly connected to
In the case of FAX 3 (the e-mail address on the Internet 7 is “qwe@qqq.ppp.co.jp”), dial-up connection of the public communication network 6 is unnecessary, and the Internet service provider device (shown in FIG. Facsimile information addressed to the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 (the e-mail address on the Internet 7 is "xyz@aaa.bbb.co.jp") in the form of an e-mail. .

Internet facsimile apparatuses IFAX1 to IFAX3 which perform such facsimile information transmission / reception operations
The circuits constituting the circuits 1 to 3 are, for example, as shown in FIG. Hereinafter, each circuit section in the Internet facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described by taking the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 as an example.

As shown in FIG. 1, the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 has a system control unit 11, a ROM
12, a RAM 13, a scanner 14, a plotter 15, a clock circuit 16, an image memory 17, an operation display unit 18, an encoding / decoding unit 19, a LAN communication control unit 20, a modem 21, a network control unit 22, and a system bus 23. It is configured.

The system control unit 11 is a microprocessor that controls each circuit unit of the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX 11 according to a control program stored in the ROM 12 while using the RAM 13 as a work area.

The ROM 12 stores the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 as described above.
Is a read-only memory in which various control programs necessary for controlling each circuit section are stored. RAM
Reference numeral 13 denotes a random access memory used as a work area of the system control unit 11 as described above.

The scanner 14 is 3.85 lines / mm, 7.7
This is for obtaining document image information by reading a document image set on a document tray at a predetermined reading line density such as book / mm, 15.4 book / mm, or the like. Plotter 15
Prints out document information received by facsimile communication or e-mail on recording paper according to the line density of the document information, or converts the document image information read by the scanner 14 to the line density of the document image information. This is for recording and outputting on recording paper in response.

The clock circuit 16 counts the current date and time, and the system control unit 11 can obtain information on the current date and time by reading the clock circuit 16. The image memory 17 temporarily stores the document image information read by the scanner 14 as an image file until it is transmitted by facsimile transmission or electronic mail, or conversely, the document information received by facsimile reception or electronic mail. For example,
It is used as a storage area for temporarily storing image files until some processing such as printing by the plotter 15 is performed.

The operation display unit 18 includes a numeric keypad for designating a destination telephone number and the like, an alphabet key for designating an e-mail address such as a destination, a transfer destination, a transmission destination of a delivery confirmation e-mail, and a one-touch destination. A one-touch dial key, a "scanned document e-mail transmission key" for requesting transmission of facsimile information read from the scanner 14 as e-mail, or a "delivery confirmation request key" for requesting transmission of transmission confirmation.
Etc. are provided. Further, a display device such as a liquid crystal display device for displaying received document information, an operation state of each circuit unit to be notified to a user, and various messages is provided.

The encoding / decoding unit 19 converts the document image information to be transmitted by facsimile into, for example, an MH (Modified Huffman)
Encoding and compression are performed using a predetermined coding method such as an R (Modified READ) coding method. Conversely, the facsimile-received document image information is decoded and decompressed by a predetermined decoding method corresponding to the MH coding method, the MR coding method, and the like. In addition, the encoding / decoding unit 19 transmits the file format of the document image
Encoding into an F (Tagged Image File Format) format file and further encoding into document information in a MIME format are performed. Conversely, decoding of document information received as an e-mail in MIME format, and furthermore, TIFF
The restoration processing from the format file to the document image information is also performed.

The LAN communication control unit 20 is a TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Int) for the LAN.
ernet Protocol) protocol.
The system control unit 11 transmits and receives e-mails based on the respective protocols of SMTP and POP3 over TCP / IP.
It is intended to be able to do.

The modem 21 is a G3 facsimile data modem, and modulates facsimile information or data to be transmitted to the public communication network 6 via the network control unit 22 into a facsimile signal or a data signal. Conversely, it demodulates a facsimile signal or data signal received from the public communication network 6 via the network control unit 22 into facsimile information or data. In the case of G3 facsimile communication in which facsimile communication is performed only via the public communication network 6, G3
It operates as a facsimile modem, while the Internet service provider device IS
When a dial-up connection is made to P and transmission / reception in the form of e-mail is performed via the Internet 7, it operates as a data modem.

The network control unit 22 is connected to the public communication line network 6 and detects the inversion of the polarity of the connection line, the detection of a tone signal such as a dial tone or a busy tone, the detection of a calling signal, and the detection of a DC loop of the connection line. It controls connection to a connection line, such as closing / release, detection of connection line release, and transmission control of a selection signal corresponding to a destination telephone number.

The system bus 23 is a signal line through which each of the above-mentioned circuit units exchanges data.

Various control programs stored in the ROM 12 include a transmission control unit 12a, a reception control unit 12b, an e-mail transmission unit 12c, and an e-mail reception unit 1.
2d, scanner reading unit 12e, plotter output unit 12f,
An operation receiving unit 12g and a display output unit 12h are provided.

The transmission control unit 12a controls the network control unit 22 to transmit a selection signal via the public communication network 6 to make a dial-up connection or, conversely, to release it. Control the connection line,
By controlling the network control unit 22 via the public communication network 6 and the Internet 7 after dial-up connection, or
It controls the LAN communication control unit 20 to perform control for transmitting data to and from the LAN. Also,
On the contrary to the transmission control unit 12a, the reception control unit 12b receives an incoming call request from the public communication line network 6 to the network control unit 22, controls the connection operation, and after the connection with the public communication line network 6, The control unit 22 controls the modem 21 to control data reception via the public communication network 6 or the LAN communication control unit 20 to receive data from the LAN.

The transmission control unit 12a and the reception control unit 12b
Are the encoding control units 12a, respectively. ₁And decryption control unit
12b₁Is provided, and the specified data
The encoding / decoding unit 19 outputs data in a predetermined format.
In addition, control for encoding and decoding is also performed. What
Note that the encoding control unit 12a₁And decryption control unit 12
b₁Are the transmission control unit 12a and the reception control unit 1, respectively.
It is not provided inside 2b, so it exists independently
Anyway, of course.

The e-mail transmission section 12c edits and prepares an e-mail for transmitting document information to a designated destination, and performs control for transmission via the transmission control section 12a. Conversely, the e-mail receiving unit 12d controls to decode the received e-mail and perform the designated processing.

[0051] The e-mail transmission unit 12c, an acknowledgment request unit 12c ₁ for setting the delivery confirmation request in accordance with the Internet technical documentation No. 2298 (RFC 2298) to the mail header portion, the e-mail with the delivery confirmation request upon receiving, as required, to create the delivery confirmation mail, delivery confirmation mail transmitting unit 12c ₂ for transmission to the destination specified is also provided.

[0052] Further, the electronic mail receiving unit 12d, decodes the e-mail for delivery confirmation request in accordance with the Internet technical documentation No. 2298 (RFC 2298), the e-mail confirmation delivery by the delivery confirmation mail transmitting unit 12c ₂ the acknowledgment determination unit 12d ₁ for controlling the creation, decrypts the delivery confirmation e-mail sent, acknowledgment for controlling the execution of the required processing contents e-mail receiving unit 12
d _{2 is} also provided.

The scanner reading unit 12e is for controlling the reading operation of the original set on the original tray of the scanner 14, and the plotter output unit 12f is connected to the designated document image via the plotter 15. This is for controlling the operation of printing information on recording paper.

The operation receiving section 12g is provided with the operation display section 1
The display output unit 12h displays the designated information on the display device provided in the operation display unit 18 for controlling the operation of reading the states of various keys provided in the display unit 8. This is for controlling the operation to be performed.

Next, the Internet facsimile machine IFAX11 (e-mail address "xyz@aaa.bbb.co.jp") having the above-described configuration is connected to the Internet facsimile machine IFAX22 (e-mail address "abc").
@ ccc.ddd.co.jp ”), Internet Technical Document No. 22
No. 98 (RFC2298) will be described with reference to a flowchart of an operation for transmitting an e-mail requesting delivery confirmation of the MDN method.

First, the Internet facsimile apparatus IF
The transmission operation of the e-mail with the delivery confirmation request in AX22 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an outline of an operation of transmitting an e-mail with a delivery confirmation request.

First, the sender sets the document to be transmitted on the document tray of the scanner 14 (step S
1) Various kinds of control information such as the presence / absence of a delivery confirmation request, the type of the delivery confirmation request, the presence / absence of a transfer request of the original, and the like are set by using various keys on the operation display unit 18. Using the alphabet key on the display unit 18, the e-mail address "xyz@aaa.bb" of the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 indicating the destination of the destination to which the original is transmitted.
b.co.jp ", the destination of the delivery confirmation e-mail, the destination of the transfer of the original, or the subject of the e-mail, etc. (step S2). Documents (document image information) read from the scanner 14 after all necessary control information is set by keys on the operation display unit 18
Is pressed in the form of an e-mail, and a "scan original e-mail transmission key" is pressed (step S3).

The operation receiving unit 1 stored in the ROM 12
When the system control unit 11 detects that the “scan original electronic mail transmission key” is pressed by the operation of 2g,
Based on the operation of the e-mail transmission unit 12c stored in M12, the e-mail address “xyz @ aaa.” Indicating the destination input to the alphabet key of the operation display unit 18 is displayed.
bbb.co.jp ", an e-mail address indicating the transmission destination of the delivery confirmation e-mail, and the like are temporarily stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 13 and set in the scanner 14 with respect to the scanner reading unit 12e. An instruction is issued to read the current document (step S4). In the present embodiment, only information related to alphabet keys such as an e-mail address indicating a destination and an e-mail address indicating a transmission destination of a delivery confirmation e-mail is read, and R
An example is shown in which data is stored in a predetermined area of AM13.
Not only the information on the alphabet keys but also all key information set on the operation display unit 18 may be read and temporarily stored in the RAM 13.

In accordance with the operation of the scanner reading unit 12e, the system control unit 11 secures an area of the image memory 17 for temporarily storing read image information, and then sends the designated read line to the scanner 14. Initiate a density based read operation. Based on the reading operation, the scanner 14 sequentially reads the document set on the document tray as document image information in accordance with the specified reading line density, and reads the document image information into an area secured in the image memory 17. Are sequentially accumulated (step S5).

When all the originals set on the original tray are read, the scanner 14 operates as a scanner reading unit 12e.
Is notified to the system control unit 11 via the.
The system control unit 11 which has detected the notification in accordance with the operation of
Causes the electronic mail transmitting unit 12c to transfer the original (document image information) stored in a predetermined area of the image memory 17 in order to transmit the read original as an electronic mail.

According to the operation of the e-mail transmission section 12c,
The system control unit 11, the read document, in order to send as e-mail, via the encoding control unit 12a ₁ in the transmission control unit 12a, and sent to the encoding and decoding unit 19, sent as an e-mail Then, the image data is converted into a desired format, and the conversion result is stored in a predetermined area of the image memory 17 (step S6). Here, the read original is document image information which is facsimile information, and the encoding / decoding unit 19 converts the document image information into a TIFF format image information file.
Create document information encoded in a text data format in MIME format.

On the other hand, in response to the operation of the e-mail transmission unit 12c, the system control unit 11 first generates a delivery confirmation request unit 12c in the e-mail transmission unit 12c in order to create a mail header part of the e-mail to be transmitted. Start ₁ and
MDN from the receiving terminal for the e-mail to be sent
A check is made as to whether a delivery confirmation conforming to the system is required (step S7).

[0063] Based on the operation of the delivery confirmation request unit 12c _1, the system controller 11, the state of the "delivery confirmation request key" on the operation display section 18, through the operation of the operation accepting unit 12g, the read, the If the “delivery confirmation request key” has not been pressed (NO in step S7), the system control unit 11 creates a normal mail header part without a delivery confirmation request according to the operation of the e-mail transmission unit 12c. (Step S11).

[0064] On the other hand, the case where "acknowledgment request key" is pressed (YES in step S7), and according to the operation of the acknowledgment request unit 12c _1, the system controller 11, the Internet technical documentation No. 2298 In order to create a mail header part with a delivery confirmation request conforming to the MDN method described in (RFC2298), the process proceeds to step S8.

[0065] In step S8, in response to the operation of the acknowledgment request unit 12c _1, the system controller 11, even if the "delivery confirmation request key" is pressed, further,
Only at the time of occurrence of an error in the received terminal request that the processing of the received e-mail has failed in the receiving terminal, it is checked whether or not a response to the e-mail for acknowledgment is requested (step S8).

[0066] Based on the operation of the delivery confirmation request unit 12c _1, the system controller 11 checks the which has been pressed "delivery confirmation request key", or was "acknowledgment request keys" when an error occurs only If the key is not the “delivery confirmation request key” only when an error occurs (N in step S8)
O) Regarding the result of the processing of the received e-mail in the receiving terminal, regardless of the success or failure of the processing, the transmission destination of the delivery confirmation e-mail (in the present embodiment, the transmission source terminal) Then, a mail header portion indicating that information on the type of the process and the success or failure of the process should be returned is created (step S10). On the other hand, if it is the “delivery confirmation request key” only when an error occurs (step S
8), the receiving side terminal creates a mail header section in which a description indicating that the delivery confirmation e-mail should be returned only when the processing of the received e-mail has failed (step S9).

Here, the processing of the received mail in the receiving terminal means, as described above, for example, displaying a received document of the received mail on a display device in the operation display section 18 of the own device, or displaying the plotter 15 on the display device. Via a recording paper, transfer to any destination (that is, the destination specified by the transmitting terminal, or the destination selected by the receiving terminal), or save. Indicates some processing. Further, the processing for such received mail is not limited to a single processing, and a plurality of processings may be performed.

Therefore, when requesting transmission of the delivery confirmation e-mail only when an error occurs, for example, if a plurality of processes are performed and at least one of the processes fails, Even when all the remaining processes are successful, the delivery confirmation e-mail is handled as a reply. In the case of only a single process, when the single process fails, and when performing a plurality of processes, if all of the plurality of processes fail, an e-mail for the delivery confirmation e-mail is sent. In the header, “error (“ error ”)” is displayed. On the other hand, when performing a plurality of processes, if not all but at least one of the processes fails, the delivery confirmation e-mail In the mail header part,
Although the description is given in this embodiment as what is displayed as "warning", the present invention is not limited to this display, and other displays may be used.

[0069] Based on the operation of the delivery confirmation request unit 12c _1, the system controller 11, after the creation of the mail header portion statuses delivery confirmation request, in accordance with the operation of the electronic mail transmitting unit 12c, the system control The section 11 creates the remaining mail header section (step S1).
2). That is, according to the operation of the e-mail transmission unit 12c,
The system control unit 11 uses the various keys of the operation display unit 18 to read information and the like regarding the presence or absence of the input transfer request via the operation reception unit 12g, and is also input from the alphabet key, and once, Information such as destination information and subject of the transfer destination at the time of the transfer communication request stored in the RAM 13 is set in a predetermined place of the mail header portion. Further, the e-mail address “xyz@aaa.bbb.co.” Of the Internet facsimile machine IFAX11, which is a destination stored in the RAM 13, is temporarily stored.
jp "at a predetermined place in the mail header, and
Own Internet facsimile machine IF indicating the transmission source
AX22 e-mail address "abc@ccc.ddd.co.jp"
At a predetermined location in the mail header.

When the creation of an e-mail is completed by the above procedure, the system control unit 11 activates the transmission control unit 12a in response to the operation of the e-mail transmission unit 12c, and changes the destination network type of the created e-mail. A determination is made (step S13).

Here, based on the operation of the transmission control unit 12a, the system control unit 11 connects the destination of the electronic mail to the same LAN as the LAN to which the Internet facsimile machine IFAX22 of the transmission source is connected. Is detected (N in step S13).
O), by driving the LAN communication control unit 20, the created electronic mail is sent to the system control unit 11 according to the operation of the electronic mail transmission unit 12c and the operation of the transmission control unit 12a.
The transmission is made to the LAN based on the SMTP protocol over TCP / IP of the AN (step S17).

On the other hand, if it is detected that the destination of the e-mail is a destination to be transmitted via the Internet 7 by dial-up connection to the public communication network 6 (YES in step S13), the transmission is performed. Based on the operation of the control unit 12a, the system control unit 11 firstly transmits the Internet service provider device ISP2 in which the Internet facsimile device IFAX22 of the transmission source is registered.
5 is transmitted to the public communication network 6 via the network control unit 22, and the connection between the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX22 and the Internet service provider apparatus ISP25 is performed via the public communication network 6. (Step S14).

When the connection is completed, the e-mail transmitting unit 1
According to the operation of the transmission control unit 12a and the operation of the transmission control unit 12a, the system control unit 11 transmits the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 (e-mail address “xyz @ aaa.
bbb.co.jp ”), the facsimile information addressed to the modem 21, the network control unit 22, the public communication network 6, and the e-mail server MTA of the Internet service provider ISP 25 as document information in the form of e-mail. Via the Internet 7 in accordance with the SMTP protocol, which is an electronic mail transfer protocol, and to the electronic mail server MTA of the Internet service provider ISP14 in which the Internet facsimile IFAX11 is registered. (Step S15), based on the operation of the transmission control unit 12a, the system control unit 11 releases the connection of the public communication network 6 (Step S16).

Here, the e-mail server device MTA of the Internet service provider device ISP14 sends the e-mail addressed to the Internet facsimile device IFAX11 transferred on the Internet 7 according to the SMTP transfer protocol to the Internet service provider. It is stored and stored in the reception mailbox 4a for the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 provided in the apparatus ISP14.

Here, an example of the description of the mail header part for the delivery confirmation request according to the present invention, which is created in the above-described e-mail transmission operation, will be further described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 shows a description example of a part of a mail header part in an electronic mail with a delivery confirmation request. Here, FIG. 4A shows the result of the processing of the received e-mail in the receiving terminal, regardless of the success or failure of the processing. FIG. 4 (B) shows a case in which a request to return information on the success or failure of the content is received. FIG. Only in the case of, the request is made to the transmitting terminal to return information on the content of the process and the content of the failed process.

As shown in FIG. 4 (A), regardless of the success or failure of the processing, when requesting a return of the delivery confirmation uniformly, Internet technical document No. 2298 (RFC229)
The mail header part of the delivery confirmation e-mail in the MIME format corresponding to the MDN method specified in 8) includes “Di
A "sposition-Notification-To:" field is displayed, and it is described that the electronic mail is an MDN-compliant acknowledgment request and that the destination of the acknowledgment is transmitted. FIG.
In (A), it is described that a delivery confirmation e-mail should be returned to the e-mail address "abc@ccc.ddd.co.jp" of the Internet facsimile machine IFAX22 from which the e-mail is transmitted. ing.

In the “Content-Type:” field, “Multipart / report” is described, indicating that the mail header part of the returned delivery confirmation e-mail should be composed of a plurality of parts. At the same time, and the "report-type" under it, "disposition-notific
ation "indicates that the delivery confirmation request is based on the MDN method.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4 (B), when requesting a return of the delivery confirmation only when an error occurs in which the processing on the receiving side has failed, a new “X-MDN- An extended field called “Return-Control:” field is defined, and the extended field portion describes conditions for returning a delivery confirmation in more detail. A new addition of such an extension field to the email header portion of an email is described in Internet Technical Document No. 822 (RF
C822). FIG.
In (B), the extension field “X-MDN-Return
"-Control:" indicates, as a default rule, that if the processing on the received mail is normal, it is not necessary to reply to the delivery confirmation based on the MDN method, "OK / no-
By describing the character string "return", only when an error occurs in the processing of the received mail, the e-mail for the delivery confirmation indicating the details of the failed processing and the details of the processing failure will be sent to the sender Internet Facsimile Machine I
FAX22 e-mail address "abc@ccc.ddd.co.j
p "is specified.

In general, in an ordinary e-mail transmission / reception operation, the frequency of occurrence of an error such that the processing of a received e-mail fails is smaller than that in a case where the processing is performed normally.
Since it is overwhelmingly small, adopting a method of returning a delivery confirmation e-mail only when such an error occurs reduces the generation of communication charges associated with the transmission of the delivery confirmation e-mail as much as possible. In addition, it is possible to guarantee the reliability of the e-mail transmission / reception operation.

In the DSN system defined in Internet Technical Document No. 1891 (RFC1891), for each processing status of the received electronic mail in the receiving mail server MTA of the receiving Internet service provider ISP14, Although it is possible to control whether a notification of reception confirmation can be made or not, in the MDN method specified in Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC2298), the receiving terminal processes each received e-mail for each processing state. At this stage, no provision has been made to control whether or not notification of delivery confirmation can be made. Therefore, by adopting the delivery confirmation method according to the present invention, the extended field “X-MD
By using `` N-Return-Control '' to control the return of the delivery confirmation e-mail according to the processing status of the receiving terminal, it is possible to reduce the communication fee and to ensure the e-mail transmission / reception process. Can be satisfied at the same time.

Next, the Internet facsimile apparatus IF
The operation of receiving an e-mail with a delivery confirmation request in AX11 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an outline of an operation of receiving an e-mail with a delivery confirmation request.

First, the receiver presses the "e-mail reception key" on the operation display section 18 (step S21).
Then, the system control unit 11 detects that the “e-mail reception key” is pressed by the operation of the operation reception unit 12g, and activates the e-mail reception unit 12d.

According to the operation of the e-mail receiving section 12d,
The system control unit 11 activates the transmission control unit 12a, and the Internet service provider device IS in which the Internet facsimile device IFAX11 is registered.
A selection signal destined for P14 is sent to the public communication network 6 via the network control unit 22, and via the public communication network 6,
The connection between the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 and the Internet service provider apparatus ISP14 is established (step S22).

When the connection is completed, the e-mail receiving unit 1
In accordance with the operation of the transmission control unit 12a and the operation of the transmission control unit 12a, the system control unit 11 sets the modem 21, the network control unit 2
2, via the public communication network 6 to the electronic mail server apparatus MTA of the Internet service provider apparatus ISP14, that is, the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 (electronic mail address "xyz @ aaa.
bbb.co.jp "), an operation is performed to inquire whether the received e-mail is stored and stored in the reception mailbox 4a (step S23).

If no received e-mail is stored and stored in the received mail box 4a (N in step S23)
O), according to the operation of the e-mail receiving unit 12d, the system control unit 11 immediately transmits via the transmission control unit 12a.
The operation shifts to an operation of releasing the connection of the public communication network 6 (step S37).

On the other hand, if there is an e-mail stored and stored in the reception mailbox 4a (step S23)
YES), according to the operation of the e-mail receiving unit 12d,
The system control unit 11 converts the e-mail stored and stored in the reception mailbox 4a into a POP according to the operation of the e-mail reception unit 12d and the operation of the reception control unit 12b.
3 sequentially, according to the receiving protocol, the image memory 17 in its own machine, ie, the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11.
Then, once the connection is stored, the connection of the public communication network 6 is released (step S24).

When the operation of receiving and storing the electronic mail stored and stored in the receiving mailbox 4a is completed, the system control unit 11 stores the electronic mail in the image memory 17 according to the operation of the electronic mail receiving unit 12d. Recognizing that the received e-mail is facsimile information from an appropriate transmission destination while referring to various information in the mail header part of the e-mail, and receiving the document information in the e-mail body through the decryption controller 12b ₁ on the control unit 12b, and sent to the codec unit 19, is converted to the desired format, the conversion result, is stored in a predetermined area of the image memory 17 (step S25).

Here, as the conversion processing to the desired format, as shown in the present embodiment, the document information stored in the image memory 17 converts the document image information as facsimile information into an image information file in TIFF format. After conversion,
If the document information is encoded in the text data format in the MIME format, the encoding / decoding unit 19 decodes the document information from the text data format in the MIME format to an image information file in the TIFF format. A conversion process is performed to restore the image information file in TIFF format to the document image information of the original facsimile information.

Next, in accordance with the operation of the e-mail receiving section 12d, the system control section 11 receives the received e-mail according to the processing request type in the mail header section of the received e-mail or the processing request type in the own Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11. Some processing is sequentially performed on the e-mail. For example, the received facsimile information (document image information) is transmitted to the Internet facsimile apparatus I.
The plotter 15 in the FAX 11 is caused to record and output on a recording sheet via a plotter output unit 12f, and the display output unit 12h
, Various processings such as displaying on a display, performing some processing and storing the data, or transferring the data to a specific destination designated by the transmitting terminal or the receiving terminal itself are performed ( Step S26).

Further, in response to the operation of the e-mail receiving section 12d, the system control section 11 first checks the delivery confirmation in the e-mail receiving section 12d in order to confirm whether there is a reply request for the delivery confirmation e-mail. start the determination unit 12d _1, causes examine whether the e-mail with the delivery confirmation request (step S27).

[0091] Based on the operation of the acknowledgment determination unit 12d _1, the system control unit 11, acknowledgment request field is described in the mail header portion or "Disposition-Noti
fication-To: "field is checked, and if the delivery confirmation request field is not described (step S27)
NO), in response to the operation of the e-mail receiving unit 12d, the system control unit 11 does not create the e-mail for delivery confirmation, but on the other hand, the delivery confirmation request field, ie, "Di
sposition-Notification-To: "If the field is present (YES in step S27), further, according to the operation of the acknowledgment determination unit 12d _1, the system controller 11
Causes the reception-side terminal to check whether or not the receiving terminal requests a return of an e-mail for acknowledgment only when an error occurs in which the processing of the received e-mail has failed (step S28).

Delivery confirmation judging unit 12d₁Based on the behavior of
Therefore, the system control unit 11 writes an error
The field of the delivery confirmation request only when the
"X-MDN-Return-Control: OK / no-return"
Check that the delivery confirmation request field only when an error occurs
If not (NO in step S28), the system
The control unit 11 checks the delivery confirmation in the electronic mail transmission unit 12c.
E-mail transmission unit 12c _TwoOn the receiving terminal.
The result of processing the received e-mail
Delivery confirmation e-mail, regardless of the success or failure of the processing content
In the “Disposition-Notification-To:” field
Internet facsimile transmission source specified in
IFAX22 (e-mail address "abc@ccc.ddd.
co.jp ”)
In the mail header part of the mail, the processing contents and the processing contents
Information on success / failure and destination of delivery confirmation e-mail
Is created (step S30).

On the other hand, a delivery confirmation request field only when an error occurs, that is, an extension field “X-MDN-Return-Control:
OK / no-return ”(Y in step S28)
ES), based on the operation of the acknowledgment determination unit 12d _1, the system controller 11 causes checks whether there is a failure in the various processes performed on the incoming e-mail (step S29).

If there is no failure in any of the various processes (NO in step S29), creation of an e-mail for delivery confirmation is not performed, but even one of the various processes fails. If there is, the system control unit 1
1 starts the transmission confirmation mail transmitting unit 12c ₂ in the e-mail transmitting unit 12c, a delivery confirmation e-mail about the various processing contents and results of the processing content, "Di
The source Internet facsimile machine IFAX specified in the "sposition-Notification-To:" field
22 (E-mail address "abc@ccc.ddd.co.jp")
In order to send a reply to the e-mail, the mail header part of the delivery confirmation e-mail is made to create information on the processing contents, the success or failure of the processing contents, and information on the transmission destination of the delivery confirmation e-mail (step S30). ).

Here, for example, when a plurality of processes are performed on a received e-mail, if at least one of the processes has failed, all the remaining processes have succeeded. Even if there is, the delivery confirmation e-mail is handled as a reply. In this embodiment, when only a single process is performed, when the single process fails, and when a plurality of processes are performed, when all of the plurality of processes fail. Indicates “error (“ error ”)” at a predetermined place in the mail header portion of the delivery confirmation e-mail,
If multiple processes are performed and at least one of the processes fails, but not all, a "warning" is displayed in the mail header of the delivery confirmation e-mail. It is shown as being done. However, the present invention is not limited to such a display, and the present invention is not affected at all by other displays.

[0096] Based on the operation of the delivery confirmation mail transmitting unit 12c _2, the system controller 11, after the creation of the mail header portion relates delivery confirmation based on MDN scheme,
In response to the operation of the e-mail transmission unit 12c, the system control unit 11 creates the remaining mail header part (Step S31). That is, the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX1 indicating the transmission source of the delivery confirmation e-mail
The e-mail address "xyz@aaa.bbb.co.jp" is set in a predetermined place in the mail header part, and is sent as the subject of the e-mail to indicate that it is a reply e-mail. "Re:" is further added to the head of the original subject.

When the creation of the delivery confirmation e-mail is completed according to the above procedure, the system control section 11 activates the transmission control section 12a in accordance with the operation of the e-mail transmission section 12c, and transmits the destination of the created e-mail. The network type is determined (step S32).

Based on the operation of the transmission control unit 12a, the system control unit 11 determines that the destination of the electronic mail is a destination connected to the same LAN as the LAN to which the Internet facsimile machine IFAX11 of the transmission source is connected. Is detected (NO in step S32), L
The system control unit 11 drives the AN communication control unit 20 to send the created delivery confirmation e-mail in accordance with the operation of the e-mail transmission unit 12c and the operation of the transmission control unit 12a.
The transmission to the LAN is performed based on the SMTP protocol on the TCP / IP of the LAN (step S3).
6).

On the other hand, when it is detected that the destination of the delivery confirmation e-mail is a destination to be transmitted via the Internet 7 by dialing up the public communication network 6 (YES in step S32). ), Transmission control unit 1
Based on the operation of 2a, the system control unit 11 first
A selection signal addressed to the Internet service provider device ISP14 in which the Internet facsimile device IFAX11, which is the source of the delivery confirmation electronic mail, is registered.
Via the network control unit 22 to the public communication network 6,
The connection between the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 and the Internet service provider apparatus ISP14 is made via the public communication network 6 (step S3).
3).

When the connection is completed, the e-mail transmission unit 1
2c and the operation of the transmission control unit 12a, the system control unit 11 creates the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX22 (e-mail address "abc @ ccc.
ddd.co.jp ”) to the modem 2
1, a network control unit 22, a public communication line network 6, and an e-mail server device MTA of the Internet service provider device ISP14. Facsimile machine IFAX
22 is transferred to the e-mail server device MTA of the Internet service provider device ISP 25 in which the transmission control unit 12 is registered (step S34).
Based on the operation a, the system control unit 11 releases the connection of the public communication network 6 (step S35).

Here, in the electronic mail server device MTA of the Internet service provider device ISP25, the Internet facsimile device I transferred to the Internet 7 according to the SMTP transfer protocol.
The e-mail addressed to the FAX 22 is stored and stored in a reception mailbox (not shown) for the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX 22 provided in the Internet service provider apparatus ISP 25.

On the other hand, the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX22, which has transmitted the e-mail with the acknowledgment for requesting the acknowledgment of the transmitted e-mail, performs the same operation as the above-described e-mail reception operation, and performs dial-up connection. Then, according to the POP3 reception protocol, the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX2 provided in the Internet service provider apparatus ISP25
The transmission confirmation e-mail stored and stored in the second reception mailbox (not shown) is temporarily stored in the image memory 17 in its own device, ie, the Internet facsimile machine IFAX22.

Next, the operation of the e-mail receiving section 12d will be described.
Therefore, the system control unit 11 sends the received e-mail
The header of the delivery confirmation email.
In this case, the delivery confirmation
Child mail receiver 12d _Two Activated and received a reply
Included in the email header of the delivery confirmation email
Various processing contents of the receiving terminal and the success or failure of the processing contents
Ask for confirmation. Therefore, if necessary,
Re-send emails that failed
Or the part where transmission / reception processing is successful
To discard outgoing e-mails
To improve the reliability of e-mail sending and receiving operations
It is possible to do. In addition, e-mail for delivery confirmation
Is sent only when the processing at the receiving terminal has failed.
By sending a reply to the sender, the e-mail
It is also possible to reduce the communication fee associated with the receiving operation.

Here, regarding the delivery confirmation e-mail created in the e-mail reception operation as described above,
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, "Disposition-Notification-T
An example of the description of the mail header portion of the delivery confirmation request email when the delivery confirmation email is returned to the sender when the sender of the email is described as the “o:” field is shown in FIG. This will be further described below.
FIG. 6 shows an example of a description of a part of a mail header portion in an e-mail for delivery confirmation, and the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX11 (e-mail address "xy").
z@aaa.bbb.co.jp ”is the Internet facsimile machine IFAX22 (e-mail address“ abc@ccc.ddd.c ”
o.jp "), an e-mail requesting a reply to an MDN-based delivery confirmation is sent to the sender's Internet facsimile machine IFAX22 to return an MDN-based delivery confirmation e-mail. It shows a part of a mail header part of the confirmation e-mail.

Here, Internet technical document No. 2298
The mail header part of the delivery confirmation e-mail of the MDN system conforming to No. (RFC2298) is defined in Internet Technical Document No. 1892 (RFC1892).
The following three types of parts are added. That is, in the first first part, a notification about the processing contents of the received document in the receiving terminal is described in the form of an explanatory sentence composed of text data that can be understood by human beings. In FIG. 6, “Content-typ
Following the "e:" field, a message "The message has been processed" is described in text data format.

In the subsequent second part, a notification of the processing contents of the received document at the receiving terminal is described in a text data format in a fixed format that is easy to process by a machine. That is,
In the “Content-Type:” field, “message / disposition-notifica” indicating that the delivery is confirmed based on the MDN method.
Option ”, followed by“ Final-Recipien ”, which indicates the recipient who performed the final processing of the email.
“t:”, “Original-Message-id:” indicating the message ID of the e-mail that made the delivery confirmation request, and “Disposition” in which information about the processing performed on the e-mail of the delivery confirmation request is described. The second part is configured by describing various fields including essential fields such as ":". Here, in the “disposition-type” of the “Disposition:” field that describes the processing content related to the document information of the received email and the status related to the result of the processing content, the email of the delivery confirmation request was processed by any method. "Processe
d ”,“ displaye ”indicating that the display was displayed
d ”,“ dispatche ”to indicate that it was transferred to another destination
d "or other processing contents are described.

[0107] Further, in the "disposition-modifier" of the "Disposition:" field indicating whether or not the result of the processing content regarding the received document information is successful, if the processing is successful, "processed"; If it has failed, "error" or "warning" is described. That is,
As described above, when only a single process is performed and the single process fails, or when a plurality of processes are performed and all of the plurality of processes are failed, “error On the other hand, if a plurality of processes have been performed, but not all of them, and at least one of the processes failed, "warning" is displayed. Therefore, the case where "warning" is displayed indicates that the process of extracting the received e-mail with the delivery confirmation request is normally performed, but there is some hindrance to any of the subsequent processes. Things.

When “disposition-modifier” is “error” or “warning”, “error” or “warning”
To give more additional information about
r: ”and“ Warning: ”fields to“ Disp.
osition: ”field, and an error reason character string specifically indicating the reason why the processing of the received document information failed is added to the“ Error: ”field or the“ Warning: ”field. It can be displayed.

In FIG. 6, two processings of “displayed” indicating display processing and “dispatched” indicating facsimile transfer to another are performed as “disposition-type” indicating processing contents of received document information. "Disposition-modifi" indicating the processing result.
er ", the display is successful (" pr
ocessed ”), but the facsimile transfer has failed (“ w
In addition, the “Warning:” field indicates that a line error (“Line Error”) has occurred at the time of G3 facsimile transmission.

Therefore, the delivery confirmation e-mail having the second part is “Disposition-Notification-T
o: ”field, the transmission source Internet facsimile machine IFAX22 (e-mail address“ abc @ cc
c.ddd.co.jp ”), the facsimile information is transferred to the Internet facsimile device IFAX11 (e-mail address“ xyz@aaa.bbb.co.jp ”) of the receiving terminal. The failure can be recognized in the transmission source Internet facsimile machine IFAX22.

[0111] In the last third part, the header information of the transmission source is directly encapsulated and stored. Further, in the next e-mail text, the document information of the sent original e-mail text is stored as it is.

However, in the case of the Internet facsimile apparatus, the document information stored in the body of the electronic mail is facsimile information (document image information) as described above.
Is converted to the TIFF format, and is image information encoded based on the MIME format. Generally, the amount of data is extremely large. Therefore, even if the transmission / reception e-mail is only transmitted / received, a considerable transfer time is required, and the communication fee of the public communication network associated with the transmission / reception operation of the transmission confirmation e-mail cannot be ignored.

In the case of an Internet facsimile apparatus which is connected to the Internet by dial-up connection and transmits and receives facsimile information in the form of e-mail, the e-mail receiving operation is generally performed as shown in the above-described embodiment. In many cases, a POP3 protocol or the like, which is an e-mail reception protocol, is used. In such a case, Internet technical document No. 2298 (RFC229) is added to the mail header of the received electronic mail.
If a delivery confirmation request conforming to the MDN method based on 8) is described, whether the received document information has been output normally,
In addition, each processing result such as whether or not the transfer has been normally performed is described as an e-mail for delivery confirmation as “Disposition-Notification-T
o: "field. However, during the communication session for performing the receiving operation of the delivery confirmation e-mail, it is almost impossible to find out the processing result. As shown in the above-described embodiment, the communication session related to the receiving operation is temporarily released. Then, by making the dial-up connection again, the delivery confirmation e-mail must be returned.

On the other hand, in the normal e-mail transmission / reception operation, when the processing of the received e-mail fails, the number is generally much smaller than when the processing is normally performed. Therefore, as described above, M according to Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC2298)
When replying to the DN-based delivery confirmation e-mail, when the processing of the received e-mail is executed, as shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 5, the delivery confirmation requesting unit 12c ₁ ,
Acknowledgment determining unit 12d _1, and, in the delivery confirmation mail transmitting unit 12c _2, it relates to processing of received e-mail,
By adopting a delivery confirmation method that returns a delivery confirmation email only when an error is detected, the frequency of returning the delivery confirmation email can be greatly reduced. It is possible to guarantee the reliability of the e-mail transmission / reception process while significantly reducing the communication fee of the communication network.

[0115] Further, in the processing of received e-mail only when an error occurs, even if the occupied performed a return acknowledgment e-mail, the delivery confirmation mail transmitting unit 12c _2, sent If the original text of the original e-mail, together with the third part of the e-mail header, is to be created as an e-mail for delivery confirmation in a completely deleted format, the transmission data amount of the e-mail for delivery confirmation will be greatly reduced. It is also possible to reduce
The communication time involved in the transmission and reception of the delivery confirmation e-mail is greatly reduced, and the communication fee of the public communication network can be significantly reduced.

When an error occurs in the processing of the received e-mail, as described above, all the transmitted original e-mail text is deleted as the returned delivery confirmation e-mail. If you have received the delivery confirmation e-mail,
In the Internet facsimile machine of the destination indicated in the “ition-Notification-To:” field, if it is unclear which of the transmitted originals caused a processing error on the receiving side, the transmission is performed. in confirmation e-mail transmitting unit 12c _2, of the original e-mail text, only the first of the first page, it may be made to return together with the third part of the mail header portion.

In the case of the Internet facsimile machine, the document information in the body of the e-mail is, as described above, TIF.
An F-format image information file. For example, even if the decoding process has failed due to a difference in the encoding format of the MIME format in the Internet facsimile apparatus on the receiving side, even if the decoding process has failed, the "Disposition-Notification-T
In the transmitting terminal indicated in the "o:" field, the original facsimile information (document image information) can be reproduced from the returned first page of document information. Can be determined.

[0118] Furthermore, the request for the return of the delivery confirmation "Dispos
By devising the operation of receiving the delivery confirmation e-mail on the Internet facsimile machine of the destination indicated in the “ition-Notification-To:” field, it is possible to further reduce the communication fee in the receiving operation. That is, as described above, the format of the mail header part of the delivery confirmation e-mail is Internet technical document No. 189.
2 (RFC1892), when the delivery confirmation e-mail is returned, the Internet technical document starts from the top of the mail header of the delivery confirmation e-mail. No. 1892 (R
FC1892), a predetermined number of lines (for example, about 100 lines), which is the number of lines specified to include the processing contents in the receiving terminal and the number of lines indicating the result of the processing contents. If it receives even, "Disposition-
In the transmitting terminal indicated by the "Notification-To:" field, it is possible to read and confirm the mail header portion including the processing content of the receiving terminal and the result of the processing content.

Therefore, “Disposition-Notification-T
The delivery confirmation e-mail conforming to the MDN method returned to the transmission source Internet facsimile apparatus indicated by the "o:" field is stored in the reception mailbox of the Internet service provider apparatus ISP in which the transmission source Internet facsimile apparatus is registered. If it is known that the file is stored, the system control unit 11 uses the TOP command in the e-mail reception protocol POP3 based on the operation of the e-mail reception unit 12d in the Internet facsimile machine of the transmission source. The received e-mail can be received.

Here, the TOP command refers to only the number of lines specified as an argument of the TOP command from the first line of the mail header portion of the electronic mail stored in the received mailbox. Is a command that specifies an operation that can be taken out to the sending side of the TOP command.

By using such a TOP command, the e-mail receiving unit 12d starts from the top of the mail header of the delivery confirmation e-mail stored in the reception mailbox in accordance with the POP3 reception protocol.
For example, if the receiving operation of extracting only 100 lines to the Internet facsimile apparatus of the transmission source is performed, it is possible to further reduce the data amount at the time of the receiving operation of the delivery confirmation e-mail, and it is possible to further reduce the data amount. The communication time for receiving the mail can be further reduced, and the communication charge of the public communication network can be further reduced.

[0122] Furthermore, similarly, in the delivery confirmation mail transmitting unit 12c _2, Internet technical documentation first 2298
When an e-mail for confirming the delivery of the MDN system conforming to the standard (RFC2298) is created, a predetermined number of lines from the top of the mail header to the processing contents and the processing result on the receiving side are included. Number of rows (for example,
If only about 100 lines) are returned as the delivery confirmation e-mail, the amount of transmission data of the delivery confirmation e-mail can be further reduced, and the communication time required for transmission / reception of the delivery confirmation e-mail can be reduced. Is further reduced, and the communication fee of the public communication network can be further reduced.

[0123]

(1) Operation and Effect Corresponding to Claims 1, 5 and 6 Generally, in a normal e-mail transmission / reception operation,
When the processing of the received e-mail fails, the number is far less than when the processing is performed normally. Therefore, even if an e-mail with a delivery confirmation request of the MDN method conforming to Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC2298) is received, if the received e-mail is processed normally, it is processed normally. By not sending any delivery confirmation e-mail to the effect that has been done, and sending the delivery confirmation e-mail to the designated destination only when some processing has failed, the MD
The transmission frequency of the N-type delivery confirmation e-mail can be greatly reduced, and the communication fee of the public communication network can be significantly reduced, while ensuring the reliability of the e-mail transmission / reception processing.

(2) Operation and Effect Corresponding to Claim 2 In the Internet facsimile communication, the original text of the transmitted e-mail is document information as a result of encoding the facsimile information which is image information, and a huge amount of data. Consist of quantity. Therefore, when an e-mail with a delivery confirmation request of the MDN method conforming to Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC2298) is received, the original e-mail text including a huge amount of data is transferred to the third part of the mail header. By sending back the delivery confirmation e-mail in a format that has been completely deleted with the department, the data amount of the delivery confirmation e-mail can be significantly reduced, and the communication accompanying the transmission / reception of the delivery confirmation e-mail The time is greatly reduced, and the communication fee of the public communication network can be significantly reduced.

(3) Action and Effect Corresponding to Claim 3 Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC2298)
When an e-mail with a delivery confirmation request of the MDN method conforming to the standard is received, only the first page of the original e-mail body is returned if an error occurs in the processing of the received e-mail. By doing so, it is possible to significantly reduce the data volume of the delivery confirmation e-mail, greatly reduce the communication time involved in sending and receiving the delivery confirmation e-mail, and greatly reduce the communication fee of the public communication network It is possible to improve the reliability of the e-mail transmission / reception process.

(4) Action and Effect Corresponding to Claim 4 Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC2298)
Even if an e-mail for delivery confirmation is returned in response to an e-mail with a delivery confirmation request of the MDN method conforming to the standard, the sender of the e-mail is transmitted by using the TOP command in the e-mail reception protocol POP3 protocol. The specified number of lines (for example, 100 lines) from the beginning of the mail header portion of the delivery confirmation e-mail stored in the reception mailbox provided in the Internet service provider device of By performing the receiving operation to be taken out by the facsimile machine, the amount of data during the receiving operation of the delivery confirmation e-mail can be reduced, and the communication time involved in the receiving operation of the delivery confirmation e-mail can be shortened. It becomes possible to reduce the communication fee of the communication network.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a block configuration of an Internet facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a network connection form of the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an outline of an operation of transmitting an e-mail with a delivery confirmation request.

FIG. 4 shows a description example of a part of a mail header part in an electronic mail with a delivery confirmation request.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an outline of an operation of receiving an e-mail with a delivery confirmation request.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a description of a part of a mail header portion in a delivery confirmation electronic mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,2,3 ... Internet facsimile machine IFAX
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... Internet service provider devices ISP 1, 2, 4a ... Receive mailbox, 6 ... Public communication network (GSTN), 7 ... Internet, 11 ...
System control unit, 12 ROM, 12a transmission control unit,
12a ₁ ... encoding control unit, 12b ... reception control unit, 12b ₁
... Decryption control unit, 12c ... E-mail transmission unit, 12c ₁
... Delivery confirmation requesting part, 12c ₂ ... Delivery confirmation e-mail transmitting part, 12d ... E-mail receiving part, 12d ₁ ... Delivery confirmation determining part, 12d ₂ ... Delivery confirmation e-mail receiving part, 12e ...
Scanner reading unit, 12f: plotter output unit, 12g: operation receiving unit, 12h: display output unit, 13: RAM, 14 ...
Scanner, 15 plotter, 16 clock circuit, 17 image memory, 18 operation display unit, 19 encoding / decoding unit,
20 LAN communication control unit, 21 modem, 22 network control unit, 23 system bus.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An Internet facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in the form of e-mail via the Internet by a dial-up connection, the transmission-side Internet facsimile apparatus being described in Internet Technical Document No. 2298 (RFC2298). When transmitting facsimile information as an e-mail having a delivery confirmation request based on the delivery confirmation request, only when an error occurs in the processing of the facsimile information in the receiving Internet facsimile apparatus in the mail header portion of the e-mail, the delivery confirmation E-mail is sent to the specified recipient
An Internet facsimile apparatus, wherein a description is given to instruct transmission from the reception-side Internet facsimile apparatus. 2. An Internet facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in an e-mail format via the Internet by a dial-up connection.
298), when the receiving-side Internet facsimile apparatus receives the e-mail having the delivery confirmation request and creates the delivery confirmation e-mail to be transmitted to the designated destination in response to the delivery confirmation request, An Internet facsimile machine for creating a delivery confirmation e-mail that does not add any document information in the body of the e-mail and header information in a mail header part of the received e-mail. 3. An Internet facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in the form of e-mail via the Internet by a dial-up connection.
298), when the receiving-side Internet facsimile apparatus receives the e-mail having the delivery confirmation request and creates the delivery confirmation e-mail to be transmitted to the designated destination in response to the delivery confirmation request, An Internet facsimile apparatus, wherein an e-mail for delivery confirmation is created by adding only the first page of document information in the body of an e-mail to the body of the e-mail. 4. An Internet facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in the form of e-mail via the Internet by a dial-up connection.
298), the receiving-side Internet facsimile apparatus that has received the e-mail having the delivery confirmation request based on the delivery confirmation e-mail is transmitted to the Internet facsimile apparatus of the designated destination by the Internet facsimile apparatus of the destination. POP3 (Post Office Protocol), a protocol for receiving e-mail,
ol Version 3) By using the command for specifying the number of received lines (TOP command) conforming to the protocol, only the specified number of lines from the first line of the delivery confirmation e-mail stored in the received mailbox is received. The Internet facsimile machine of the destination can receive. 5. An Internet facsimile communication control method capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in an electronic mail format via the Internet by a dial-up connection, wherein the transmitting-side Internet facsimile apparatus uses Internet technical document No. 2298 (RFC22).
98) When facsimile information is transmitted as an e-mail having a delivery confirmation request based on the facsimile information, only when an error occurs in the processing of the facsimile information in the receiving Internet facsimile apparatus in the mail header portion of the e-mail, An Internet facsimile communication control method, characterized in that a description is given to instruct the receiving Internet facsimile machine to return a delivery confirmation e-mail to a designated destination. 6. An Internet facsimile communication control method capable of transmitting and receiving facsimile information in the form of e-mail via the Internet by a dial-up connection.
As an email having a delivery confirmation request based on 8),
When transmitting the facsimile information, only when an error occurs in the processing of the facsimile information in the receiving Internet facsimile apparatus in the mail header portion of the e-mail, the delivery confirmation e-mail is sent to the designated destination. From the receiving Internet facsimile machine,
A computer-readable recording medium, wherein a computer-readable recording medium records an Internet facsimile communication control method in which a description instructing a reply is made.