JP2002271560A - Communication data transmitter with advertisement data adding function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable effective advertising without giving excessive load to a recipient. SOLUTION: Synthetic data are generated by adding a previously stored advertising image to image data received from a facsimile on the side of transmitting, and transmitted to a facsimile on the side of receiving later. In transmitting, a transmitting quantity is accumulated for each line number of the receiving side facsimile. Such a cumulative value indicates load forced on the receiving side by adding the advertising image. When the load on the receiving side can be grasped in this manner, measures such as preparing some kind of privilege corresponding to the burden can be taken. As a result, the advertising image can be added, without making the recipient conscious of increase in the load on receiving, and effective advertising becomes possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for transmitting communication data received from a transmitting information device via a communication line to a receiving information device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art If a facsimile is used, images such as documents and sketches can be easily transmitted.
That is, the image to be transmitted is set on the facsimile device, the line number is specified and the image is transmitted to the receiving facsimile device.
The transmitted image is output immediately after being printed on the recording paper. By using a facsimile, images can be sent immediately with simple operations.Facsimile equipment is relatively inexpensive, so texts, sketches, drawings, etc. Are widely used as means for transmitting and receiving images.

[0003] Since a facsimile is widely used as a means for transmitting and receiving an image as described above, it is considered that an effective advertisement can be provided by adding an advertisement to a facsimile image. In addition, since the transmitted image is output in a printed state, unlike a so-called direct mail advertisement, it is considered that the transmitted image is always seen by the recipient, and from this point, it is possible to efficiently advertise. it is conceivable that. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-164137 discloses a technique for adding an image for advertisement to an image transmitted by facsimile.

[0004]

As described above, the advertising method of adding an image to a facsimile is certainly an effective advertising method from the advertiser side, but on the other hand,
For the recipient, there is a problem that the user is forced to receive an undesired image. If such a burden is imposed on the receiver, the advertisement may be counterproductive or give a bad impression, and the advertisement may be counterproductive.

[0005] In addition, such a problem is not limited to the case where an image is added to a facsimile and an advertisement is added. For example, even when an advertisement message is added to an e-mail to perform an advertisement, reception of an unintended message for a recipient is not possible. And a similar problem may occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and has as its object to provide a technology capable of advertising effectively without giving a bad impression to a recipient. I do.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems and Their Functions and Effects In order to solve at least a part of the above-mentioned problems, the communication data transmitting apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is,
A communication data transmission device for connecting a transmission side information device and a reception side information device by a communication line, and transmitting communication data received from the transmission side information device to the reception side information device, wherein the transmission side information Communication data receiving means for receiving the communication data from a device, advertisement data storage means for storing advertisement data, and synthetic data generation means for adding the advertisement data to the received communication data to generate synthetic data; Means for transmitting the combined data to the information equipment on the receiving side via the communication line, and transmission for accumulating a transmission amount of the combined data to the information equipment on the receiving side for each of the information equipments on the receiving side The gist of the present invention is to provide an amount accumulating means.

Further, according to the communication data transmitting method of the present invention corresponding to the above-mentioned information terminal, the transmitting information device and the receiving information device are connected by a communication line, and the communication data received from the transmitting information device is transmitted. Is a communication data transmission method for transmitting to the receiving side information device, wherein advertisement data is stored in advance, the communication data is received from the transmitting side information device, and the advertisement data is added to the received communication data. The combined data is transmitted to the receiving side information device via the communication line, and the transmission amount of the combined data to the receiving side information device is determined for each of the receiving side information devices. The point is to add up.

In the communication data transmitting apparatus and the communication data transmitting method, the communication data is received from the transmitting side information device, the combined data to which the advertisement data is added is generated, and the generated combined data is transmitted to the receiving side information device. At the same time, the transmission amount is accumulated for each of the receiving side information devices.

[0010] The total value of the transmission amount for each information device on the receiving side is calculated by transmitting the combined data to which the advertisement data is added.
This represents the burden imposed on the receiving side. That is, by accumulating the transmission amount for each information device on the receiving side, it becomes possible to grasp the burden on the receiving side due to the addition of the advertisement data to the communication data. If the burden on the receiving side can be ascertained in this way, it is possible to take measures such as preparing some kind of privilege according to the burden. As a result, even if the advertisement data is added, the receiver is not conscious of the increase in the burden on the receiving side due to the addition or does not give a bad impression to the receiver, and it is possible to perform an effective advertisement. Become.

[0011] In the communication data transmitting apparatus, a transmission amount corresponding to the advertisement data in the composite data transmitted to the receiving side information device may be accumulated. In this way, the cumulative value accurately represents the degree of increase in the load of reception due to the addition of the advertisement data to the communication data. Therefore, it is preferable to prepare a privilege according to the cumulative value, because the privilege can be efficiently prepared.

In this communication data transmitting apparatus, a predetermined addition value is stored in advance for each stored advertisement data, and the addition value associated with the advertisement data is determined as a transmission amount to the receiving side information device. May be accumulated. This is preferable because the transmission amount corresponding to the advertisement data among the transmission amounts to the receiving-side information device can be easily accumulated.

Alternatively, the image data for advertisement may be stored, and the image data for advertisement may be added to the data transmitted to the facsimile receiver.

Since the facsimile receiver outputs the received data as a print image, the image of the advertisement to be added is easy to be seen by the receiver, and it is possible to perform an effective advertisement by that much. It is.

[0015] In the above communication data transmitting apparatus, the received communication data is converted into image data corresponding to an output image of the facsimile receiver, and the image data for advertisement is combined with a predetermined portion of the image data and synthesized. The image data may be generated, and the obtained combined image data may be transmitted to a facsimile receiver. This makes it possible to output an image in which the advertisement image is added at a predetermined position from the facsimile receiver.

Alternatively, the received communication data is converted into image data corresponding to an output image of the facsimile receiver, and the image data is reduced at a predetermined rate. May be transmitted to a facsimile receiver.

In this way, even when a large image that covers the entire surface of the printing paper is transmitted, the number of print pages in the facsimile receiver increases due to the addition of the advertisement image, or one image can be transmitted. Is preferable because it is possible to avoid such a problem that printing is performed over a plurality of printing papers.

In the communication data transmitting apparatus of the present invention, the combined data is generated by adding the advertising data and the cumulative value data indicating the cumulative value of the transmission amount to the communication data received from the transmitting side information device. It may be.

By transmitting the total value data in addition to the advertisement data, the receiving information device can know the total value together with the advertisement data. The result is that the ad data is favorably received by the recipient,
The more effective advertising can be performed.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to more clearly explain the operation and effect of the present invention, embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order. A. Embodiment: B. Apparatus configuration: B-1. Outline of communication network: B-2. Overview of FAX Server: Advertising data addition processing: C-1. When an advertisement image is added to an image transmitted from a facsimile: C-2. When an advertisement image is added to a document transmitted from a portable information terminal: C-3. To add an advertising message to a mobile information device email:

A. Embodiment: An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a communication system including a communication data transmitting device of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the communication system is connected to a facsimile transceiver 30, 32 via a communication line 20 to a facsimile server 10 as a communication data transmission device of the present invention.
And a computer 40 and a portable information terminal 50 such as a mobile phone are connected. Communication line 20
Alternatively, a configuration in which the mail server 60 is connected may be adopted. As will be described later, the communication line 20 is configured by connecting a plurality of types of line networks, such as a so-called public telephone line and the Internet, to form one communication line network as a whole.

FAX server 10 or mail server 6
0 is a RAM centering on a CPU for performing various operations.
And various devices such as a ROM, a large-capacity hard disk, etc. are well-known computers connected via a bus. The FAX server 10 can perform a predetermined process on the data taken in from the communication line 20 and transmit the processed data to the communication line 20.

The facsimile transceivers 30 and 32 read the image, convert it into facsimile transmission data and transmit it to the communication line 20, or transmit the facsimile transmission data received via the communication line 20 as a print image. It is a known communication device that outputs. If a special application program is incorporated in the computer 40, the computers exchange electronic mail with each other via the mail server 60, or the computer 4
From 0, e-mails and images can be transmitted to the facsimile transceivers 30 and 32.

A portable information terminal 50 such as a portable telephone communicates with a base station 52 by radio, and the base station 52
It is connected to the. Therefore, the portable information terminal 50 is connected to the computer 40 via the base station 52 and the communication line 20.
For example, data can be transmitted / received to / from various devices connected to the communication line 20.

Here, an outline of the operation of the communication data transmitting apparatus of the present invention will be described, taking as an example a case where an image is transmitted from the facsimile transceiver 30 to the facsimile transceiver 32. First, the facsimile transceiver 30 on the transmitting side
Is set to the image "ABC" to be transmitted, and the facsimile transceiver 32 on the receiving side is designated to specify the image "ABC".
Is read. Then, the image “ABC” is converted into facsimile communication data, and is output from the facsimile transceiver 30 to the communication line 20. The communication data output to the communication line 20 is once received by the FAX server 10, where the data of the advertisement image is added and converted into composite data. Advertising image data to be added is stored in the FAX server 10 in advance. FAX server 10
Outputs the combined data to the receiving-side facsimile transceiver 32 and accumulates the transmission amount for each receiving-side facsimile. The combined data output to the communication line 20 is received by the facsimile transceiver 32 and printed. As a result, the receiving facsimile transceiver 3
2 is output with the advertisement image added to the image “ABC” transmitted from the facsimile transceiver 30 on the transmission side.

In this way, as the facsimile transceiver 32 on the receiving side receives the image to which the advertisement image is added, the accumulated value of the transmission amount increases in the facsimile server 10 for each facsimile on the receiving side. Such a cumulative value can be considered to indicate the degree of burden placed on the recipient by the addition of the advertisement image to the image. Therefore, for example, if some kind of privilege is given, such as deduction of the line usage fee of the corresponding line number according to the cumulative value or preparing a prize according to the cumulative value, the advertisement with the advertisement is also provided to the receiver. There is no burden to receiving images. If the receiver does not feel burdened with receiving the image with the advertisement, an effective advertisement can be performed without giving a bad impression to the receiver.

The same applies to the facsimile transceiver 30.
Not only when transmitting images from
This is also true when transmitting images or documents created by the portable information terminal 50 such as a mobile phone. That is, after the FAX server 10 adds an advertisement to an image or document created by the computer 40 or the portable information terminal 50 such as a cellular phone,
The data may be transmitted to the facsimile transceiver 32 and the transmission amount may be accumulated for each facsimile transceiver. Of course, an advertisement message may be added to electronic mail exchanged between computers, and the transmission amount of the mail to which the advertisement message is added may be accumulated. By doing so, the receiving of the data with the advertisement does not burden the receiver, so that the advertisement can be effectively performed. Hereinafter, a communication data transmission device of the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments.

B. Apparatus configuration: B-1. Outline of communication network: FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a plurality of types of communication lines are connected to each other to form one communication network as a whole. As shown in the figure, the communication network 200 includes a public telephone network 210, the Internet 220, and a mobile communication network 230 connected to each other. Since these various communication networks are interconnected, data can be transmitted and received between the facsimile transceiver, the computer, and the portable information terminal.

The public telephone network 210 includes a plurality of exchanges 2
12 are connected to each other by a communication line, and each exchange 212 has a facsimile transceiver 30.
0 and a plurality of communication devices such as telephones 214 are connected. For example, by specifying the telephone number of the receiving side from the facsimile transceiver 300 or the telephone 214, the exchange 2
When a line is connected to the communication device 12, a telephone line is connected between the communication device on the transmitting side and the communication device on the receiving side by the function of the exchange 212. Thus, once the line is connected, the line can be occupied and data transmission / reception and a call can be performed until the line is disconnected on the receiving side or the transmitting side.

The Internet 220 includes a plurality of computers 222 connected to each other via a communication line via a router 226. Computers connected via the Internet 220 can exchange data with each other. Here, when exchanging data between the connected computers, the Internet 220
In this example, data is exchanged while one line is shared by a plurality of sets of computers. That is, when transmitting data using the public telephone network 210 described above,
While data is transmitted in a state where the line is occupied between the transmitting side and the receiving side, when data is exchanged between computers connected to the Internet 220, the data is used for data communication between other computers. Data can be exchanged as it is, that is, without occupying the line. As described above, in order to enable data exchange between a large number of computers while sharing a line, rules (so-called protocols) for transmitting and receiving data are predetermined in the Internet 220. Transmission and reception.

The mobile communication network 230 includes a plurality of radio base stations 232 and an exchange 212 connected to each other via a communication line. The wireless base station 232 wirelessly communicates with a portable information terminal 500 such as a mobile phone. Exchange 212
, A plurality of wireless base stations 232 are connected, and the exchanges 212 are also connected by lines. As an example, a case where a call is made from the mobile phone 502 to the mobile phone 504 will be described. A line is connected between the mobile phone 502 and the mobile phone 504 as follows. First, when a call is made by designating the mobile phone number on the receiving side, a radio wave emitted from the mobile phone 502 is received by the wireless base station 232 and transferred to the wireless base station on the receiving side via the exchange 212. A call signal is wirelessly transmitted from the wireless base station on the receiving side to the mobile phone 504, and when the mobile phone 504 receives the call signal, the mobile phone 504 performs a calling operation. When the mobile phone 504 is set in a state in which a call can be made in response to the calling operation, the transmitting mobile phone 502 and the receiving mobile phone 504 are set.
A line is connected between the mobile phone and the mobile phone, and thereafter, the line is occupied unless one of the mobile phones connects the line, and a call or data transmission / reception can be performed.

As described above, the public telephone network 210,
The Internet 220 and the mobile communication network 230 are separate communication networks and use different protocols for data communication. However, by converting data through a dedicated device, data can be exchanged with each other. ing. That is, by using the conversion server 224 to convert data on the Internet and data flowing through the public telephone network, data can be exchanged between the Internet 220 and the public telephone network 210. Similarly, the mobile communication network 230 and the public telephone line network 210 can exchange data with each other via the exchange 212, and the mobile communication network 230 and the Internet 220 are connected to the mobile communication switching center. It is possible to exchange data with each other via 238. Thus, the public telephone network 210, the Internet 220,
Since the mobile communication network 230 can exchange data with each other, it can be considered that all of them form an integrated communication network.

The FAX server 100 according to the present embodiment is connected to a mobile communication network 230 via an exchange 212.
Of course, public telephone network 210, Internet 22
0, since the mobile communication network 230 can exchange data with each other, the FAX server 100 can be connected to the public telephone network 210 or the Internet 220.

B-2. Overview of FAX server: FIG.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a structure of an AX server 100. FAX
The server 100 includes a CPU 102, a ROM 104, a RAM
106, timer 108, large capacity hard disk 110
It is a well-known computer provided with various devices such as. These devices are connected by a bus, and can exchange data with each other.

The ROM 104 stores various programs and data for the FAX server 100 to perform predetermined processing. Since the storage capacity of the ROM 104 is naturally limited, large programs and data are stored on the hard disk 110. As will be described later, the FAX server 100 according to the present embodiment accumulates and stores the transmission amount of the image with the advertisement for each line number. The CPU 102 can execute various operations such as a logical operation and an arithmetic operation, and executes predetermined processing by performing various operations according to a program read from the ROM 104 or the hard disk 110. RAM10
Reference numeral 6 is used to temporarily store data when the CPU 102 executes a process. If a timer is used, the passage of time can be easily detected.
The FAX server 100 has a network board 11
2 is mounted so that data on a communication line can be taken in or data can be output on the communication line via the network board 112.

C. Advertisement Data Addition Processing: Hereinafter, a description will be given of processing for adding an advertisement image to the image data transmitted by designating the receiving-side facsimile transceiver, and then transmitting the image data to the receiving-side facsimile transceiver. .

Here, for convenience of understanding, an explanation will be given assuming that an advertisement image is added to an image transmitted to the facsimile transceiver, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to the case where the advertisement image is transmitted to the facsimile transceiver. For example, the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where an advertisement message or image is added to document data or image data to be transmitted to a computer or a portable information terminal and transmitted.

C-1. In the case where an advertisement image is added to an image transmitted from a facsimile: In the following, an advertisement data addition process will be described with an example in which an advertisement image is added to an image transmitted from a facsimile transceiver and output from a facsimile transceiver on the receiving side explain. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of the advertisement data adding process in such a case, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a data flow in the process.

First, image data is transmitted from the facsimile transceiver on the transmitting side to the FAX server 100 (step S10 in FIG. 4). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, an image original to be transmitted is set on the facsimile transceiver 300a on the transmission side, the line number of the facsimile transceiver 300b on the reception side is designated, and the transmission button is pressed. . Then, the facsimile transceiver 300a
The original image is read and converted into image data for facsimile transmission, and the image data is transmitted to the FAX server 100 together with the line number of the receiving facsimile transceiver.
The line number is a so-called facsimile telephone number because it is assumed here that an image is transmitted to a facsimile transceiver, but when transmitting document or image data to a computer or a portable information terminal, etc. Various kinds of information for identifying the receiving-side information device, such as a so-called mail address, correspond to the line number here.

In this embodiment, since the FAX server 100 is connected to the mobile communication network 230, the data output from the facsimile transceiver 330a on the transmitting side is transmitted to the public telephone line network 210, the exchange 212, and the mobile communication network. Net 230
Is transmitted to the facsimile server 100. In FIG.
Facsimile transceiver 300a to FAX server 100
Is conceptually indicated that the image data and the line number of the receiving-side facsimile transceiver are being transmitted.

Upon receiving the transmitted image data and the line number of the facsimile transceiver on the receiving side, the FAX server 100 performs a process of adding an advertisement image to the image data, generates composite image data, and then generates the composite image data. Is transmitted to the facsimile transceiver on the receiving side (step S20 in FIG. 4).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of the advertisement image data adding process performed in the FAX server 100. This processing is performed by the CPU 1 in the facsimile server 100.
02 is realized by executing predetermined processing according to a program stored in the ROM 104 or the hard disk 110 (see FIG. 3).

In the advertisement image data adding process, first, the image data transmitted first and the line number of the receiving facsimile transceiver are received (step S10 in FIG. 6).
0). Next, after expanding the received image data in a predetermined area on the RAM 106 and converting it into two-dimensional image data corresponding to a printed state (step S102),
The advertisement image data is added to a predetermined position of the image data to generate a composite image (step S104). The advertisement image to be added is stored in the hard disk 110 in the FAX server 100 in advance (see FIG. 3).

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which an advertisement image is added to a predetermined position of received image data to generate a composite image. In FIG. 7, two advertisement images 304 and 305 are added to the lower end of the image data 302. Of course, an advertisement image may be added to the upper end portion or the side portion of the image data 302.

Alternatively, a small margin may be created by reducing the image data expanded on the RAM 106 at a predetermined ratio, and an advertisement image may be added to the margin. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram exemplifying a state in which the advertisement image 307 is added to the side of the reduced image 306. If the advertisement image is added to the side or upper and lower margins generated by reducing the image in this way, even if the image is large enough to cover the entire surface of the printing paper, the image and the advertisement are added. This is preferable because it is possible to control the image on the same printing paper. Also, when transmitting an image that covers a plurality of pages of printing paper, it is preferable because a print image can be added to each page. In this embodiment, the image data is stored in the RAM.
The composite image is generated by expanding the image data on 106 and adding an advertisement image.
It is also possible to generate the data of the composite image by simply adding the data of the advertisement image to the end of the received image data without expanding the image data.
FIG. 8 also shows an image 309 indicating the cumulative value, but such an image will be described later.

After the composite image is generated on the RAM 106, the data of the composite image is transmitted to the facsimile transceiver of the received line number (step S106 in FIG. 6).
The transmission amount of the composite image data is accumulated for each transmission line number (step S108). The data of the composite image is supplied to the receiving facsimile transceiver 300b via the mobile communication switching center 238 and the exchange 212. Further, the total value of the transmission amount of the combined image data is stored in the hard disk 110 of the FAX server for each line number.

In this embodiment, the number of transmissions of the combined image data is simply accumulated as the transmission amount to be accumulated. Of course, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the size of the data of the combined image data, the time required for transmission, the amount of the added advertisement image, the data amount of the added advertisement image, and the like may be accumulated. Further, an additional value to be accumulated for each advertisement image may be determined in advance, and the additional value corresponding to the added advertisement image may be accumulated. In FIG. 5, a white arrow pointing from the facsimile server 100 to the facsimile transceiver 300b schematically indicates that the data of the composite image is being transmitted from the facsimile server 100 to the facsimile transceiver 300b on the receiving side. This is shown in FIG.

When the facsimile server 100 completes the advertisement image data adding process, the facsimile transceiver 300b on the receiving side prints out the data of the composite image received from the facsimile server 100 on printing paper and outputs it (FIG. 4). Step S30).

As described above, if the advertisement image is added to the image transmitted from the facsimile transceiver 300a on the transmission side and is transferred to the facsimile transceiver 300b on the reception side, the facsimile transmission / reception 300b on the reception side has an advertisement. Is output. Since the advertisement printed together with the image from the facsimile transceiver 300b on the receiving side is considered to be almost certainly seen by the recipient, an effective advertisement can be provided. Of course, the receiver receives an advertisement image that is not always desired, but the reception amount of the image data to which the advertisement image is added is F
The advertisements are accumulated in the AX server 100, and by providing a certain privilege according to the accumulated value, it is possible to perform an effective advertisement without giving a bad impression to a recipient.

Here, the image 309 representing the cumulative value illustrated in FIG. 8 will be described. As shown in the figure, in addition to the advertisement image, an image 3 representing the cumulative value of the transmission amount of the composite image data
If 09 is added, the recipient who has received the image with the advertisement will know the total value on the spot. As a result, the advertisement added to the image is favorably received by the receiver, and effective advertisement can be performed.

As the privilege given according to the cumulative value, various privileges can be considered, such as preparing a prize according to the cumulative value or deducting the line usage fee. Is also good.

First, the facsimile transceiver 30 on the transmitting side
When the FAX server 100 receives the image data transmitted from the FAX server 0a, the reception amount of the image data is accumulated in the FAX server 100 for each transmission-side facsimile line number. When billing the line usage fee, the billing amount is calculated based on the cumulative value. Here, such a cumulative value is referred to as a line use cumulative value for convenience. As an example, a description will be given focusing on the line “A” having a certain line number. Then
When the FAX server 100 transmits the data of the composite image to which the advertisement image has been added to the facsimile transceiver of the line “A”, the line use for the line “A” is performed in accordance with the cumulative value of the data transmission amount. The accumulated value may be deducted. Of course, a value corresponding to the data transmission amount may be subtracted each time from the cumulative line use value. This provides a further advantage that the line usage fee can be easily calculated while giving a benefit to the recipient of the image with the advertisement. It is needless to say that these plural kinds of benefits may be obtained by being superimposed.

In the above description, for the sake of simplicity, the image data is always transmitted to the FAX server 100. However, it is needless to say that whether or not to add an advertisement when transmitting an image is specified. It may be possible. As a specification method, for example, various methods such as a method of specifying whether or not to add an advertisement image by adding a predetermined number to the head or end of the line number of the receiving side can be applied. In this way, when the advertisement is specified not to be added, the image data is transmitted to the receiving facsimile transceiver 30 without passing through the FAX server 100.
0b directly. In this way, it is possible to appropriately select whether or not to add an advertisement according to the content of the image to be transmitted.

C-2. Addition of an advertisement image to a document transmitted from a portable information terminal: The case where an advertisement image is added to an image transmitted from a facsimile has been described above, but an advertisement image is added to a document transmitted from a so-called portable information terminal such as a mobile phone. It may be added. Hereinafter, such a case will be briefly described.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a data flow when an advertisement image is added to the document data created by the mobile phone 500a and transmitted to the facsimile transceiver 300b on the receiving side. The process of adding the advertisement image to the document data transmitted from the mobile phone 500a is almost the same as the process of adding the advertisement image to the image transmitted from the facsimile transceiver described above. A process of adding an advertisement image to a document transmitted from the mobile phone 500a will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 6 described above.

First, a document is created by the cellular phone 500a, and the document data is transmitted to the mobile communication network 230 by designating the line number of the receiving facsimile transceiver 300b (corresponding to step S10 in FIG. 4). Then, the line number and document data on the receiving side are transmitted to the FAX server 100 via the wireless base station 232 and the exchange 212.
In FIG. 9, a white arrow displayed from the mobile phone 500 a to the FAX server 100 schematically shows a state where the line number and the document data are supplied to the FAX server 100.

The FAX server 100 receives the line number of the receiving side and the document data (corresponding to step S100 in FIG. 6), and expands the document data on the RAM 106 (corresponding to step S102 in FIG. 6). Usually, since the document data transmitted from the mobile phone 500a is so-called text data, the processing for converting the text data into image data is performed at the same time when the text data is expanded on the RAM 106.

An advertisement image is added to the developed image data to generate a composite image (step S1 in FIG. 6).
04). When generating a composite image, an advertisement image may be added after reducing the developed image data. The generated composite image data is transmitted to the line number of the receiving facsimile (corresponding to step S106 in FIG. 6), and the transmission amount of the composite image data is accumulated for each transmitted line number (corresponding to step S108 in FIG. 6). In FIG.
The white arrow pointing from the AX server 100 to the facsimile transceiver 300b indicates the FAX server 1
FIG. 5 schematically shows a state in which data of a composite image is transmitted from 00 to the facsimile transceiver 300b on the receiving side. The facsimile transceiver 300b on the receiving side
In this way, the data of the composite image received from the FAX server 100 is printed and output on the printing paper (corresponding to step S30 in FIG. 4).

As described above, if the document data advertisement image created by the mobile phone 500a is added and output from the facsimile transceiver 300b on the receiving side, the added advertisement image is almost certainly seen by the receiver. Therefore, effective advertising can be performed. Although the receiver receives an advertisement image that is not always desired, the reception amount of the image data to which the advertisement image is added is FA.
It is accumulated in the X server 100, and by providing some kind of privilege according to the accumulated value, it is possible to perform an effective advertisement without giving a bad impression to the recipient.

In the above description, the mobile phone 500a
It has been described that the document data created in step 1 is transmitted directly to the FAX server 100. Of course, the document data may be transmitted to the mail server once, and then transmitted from the mail server to the FAX server 100. This is preferable because the function of a mail server for realizing so-called e-mail can be used in the portable information terminal.

The image data may be attached to the document data and transmitted to the FAX server 100. FA
Upon receiving the document data to which the image data is attached, the X server 100 converts the document data and the image data into image data, and then expands the advertisement image on the RAM 106 to generate data of the composite image. The data of the synthesized image may be transmitted to the facsimile transceiver 300b on the receiving side.

Further, the case where the document data is transmitted from the portable information terminal to the facsimile transceiver has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, document data or image data created by a computer is transmitted to the facsimile transceiver. The same applies to the case of transmission.

C-3. In the case where an advertisement message is added to an e-mail of a portable information terminal: The case where an advertisement image is added to image data transmitted to a facsimile transceiver has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where an advertisement message or an image is added to an e-mail transmitted to a computer. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a data flow when an advertisement message or image is added to an e-mail transmitted from the mobile phone 500a and transmitted to the computer 222 or the mobile phone 500b on the receiving side. It is. In the following, FIG.
This will be briefly described with reference to FIG.

First, a document is created by the mobile phone 500a and the computer 222 or the mobile phone 5 on the receiving side is prepared.
00b, the mobile communication network 23
0 to send the document data. The transmitted document data and mail address are received by the FAX server 100 via the wireless base station 232 and the exchange 212. The FAX server 100 adds the advertisement message to the end of the received document data and reproduces the composite data, and then transmits the composite data to the mail address of the receiving computer 222 or the mobile phone 500b.

When transmitting the combined data to the computer 222, the combined data is supplied to the receiving computer 222 via the exchange 212 and the conversion server 224. When transmitting to the mobile phone 500b, the combined data is transmitted to the exchange 2
12, is supplied to the mobile phone 500b on the receiving side via the wireless base station 232.

When transmitting the combined data, the FAX server 100 accumulates the transmission amount for each mail address, and stores the accumulated value in the hard disk 110 for each mail address.

When the computer 222 or the mobile phone 500b on the receiving side displays the supplied composite data on the screen, an advertisement message is displayed together with the document data. As described above, the advertisement message added to the document data transmitted as the e-mail is considered to be almost certainly seen by the recipient, so that an efficient advertisement can be performed. Of course, the recipient receives an advertisement message that is not always desired. However, the received amount of the document data to which the advertisement message is added is accumulated in the FAX server 100, and some benefits are prepared according to the accumulated value. By doing so, it is possible to perform an effective advertisement without giving a bad impression to the recipient.

In the above description, the mobile phone 50
The document data created in step 0a has been described as being directly transmitted to the FAX server 100.
It goes without saying that the message may be transmitted to the mail server and then transmitted from the mail server to the FAX server 100. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied not only to the case of transmitting document data but also to the case of transmitting image data.

Although various embodiments have been described above, the present invention is not limited to all the above embodiments, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist of the invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a communication network.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile server.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of a communication data transmission process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a data flow when an advertisement image is added to an image transmitted from a facsimile.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of an advertisement image data adding process performed in the FAX server.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which an advertisement image is added to an image.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which an advertisement image is added after the image is reduced in scale at a predetermined ratio.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a data flow when an advertisement image is added to a document transmitted from a portable information terminal.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a data flow when an advertisement message is added to an electronic mail from a portable information terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... FAX server 20 ... Communication line 30, 32 ... Facsimile transceiver 40 ... Computer 50 ... Portable information terminal 52 ... Base station 60 ... Mail server 100 ... FAX server 102 ... CPU 104 ... ROM 106 ... RAM 108 ... Timer 110 ... Hard disk 112 Network board 200 Communication network 210 Public telephone network 212 Switch 214 Telephone 220 Internet 222 Computer 224 Conversion server 226 Router 230 Mobile communication network 232 Radio base station 300 Facsimile transceiver 302 image data 304, 305 advertisement image 306 image 307 advertisement image 309 image 330 facsimile transceiver 500 mobile information terminal 500a mobile phone 500b mobile phone 502 mobile phone 504: Mobile phone

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04M 11/00 302 H04M 11/00 302 5K101 H04N 1/32 H04N 1/32 Z 1/387 1/387 F Term (reference) 5C062 AA02 AA13 AA29 AA30 AB38 AC24 AC43 AF00 BD09 5C075 AB90 CA14 CF90 5C076 AA14 AA16 AA22 AA37 BA03 BA06 CA09 CB01 5K015 AF02 GA02 5K024 AA72 AA77 CC08 FF04 5K101 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A communication data transmitting apparatus for connecting a transmitting side information device and a receiving side information device by a communication line, and transmitting communication data received from the transmitting side information device to the receiving side information device. A communication data receiving unit that receives the communication data from the transmitting side information device; an advertisement data storage unit that stores advertisement data; and a combination that adds the advertisement data to the received communication data to generate composite data. A data generating unit, a combined data transmitting unit that transmits the combined data to the receiving side information device via the communication line, and a transmission amount by the combined data to the receiving side information device. A communication data transmitting apparatus comprising: a transmission amount accumulating unit that accumulates each time. 2. The communication data transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transmission amount accumulating means is means for accumulating a transmission amount of a portion corresponding to said advertisement data in said composite data. apparatus. 3. The communication data transmitting device according to claim 2, wherein the advertisement data storage means includes:
Means for storing a predetermined addition value associated with the advertisement data, wherein the transmission amount accumulating means is means for accumulating the addition value stored in association with the advertisement data Transmission device. 4. The communication data transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said receiving side information device is a facsimile receiver, and said advertisement data storage means stores image data for advertisement as said advertisement data. Communication data transmitting device. 5. The communication data transmitting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said combined data generating means converts said received communication data into image data corresponding to an output image of said facsimile receiver. Means, and combined image data generating means for generating combined image data by combining the image data for advertisement with a predetermined portion of the image data, wherein the combined data transmitting means includes the combined image as the combined data. A communication data transmitting device which is a means for transmitting data. 6. The communication data transmitting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said combined data generating means converts said received communication data into image data corresponding to an output image of said facsimile receiver. Means, image data reduction means for reducing the image data at a predetermined rate, and composite reduced image data generation for generating composite reduced image data by combining the image data for advertisement with a predetermined portion of the reduced image data Means for transmitting the synthesized reduced image data as the synthesized data. 7. The communication data transmitting device according to claim 1, wherein the combined data generating unit includes, in addition to the advertisement data,
A communication data transmitting apparatus, which is means for generating combined data by adding cumulative value data indicating the cumulative value of the transmission amount. 8. A communication data transmission method for connecting a transmission side information device and a reception side information device by a communication line, and transmitting communication data received from the transmission side information device to the reception side information device. Storing advertisement data in advance, receiving the communication data from the transmitting side information device, adding the advertisement data to the received communication data to generate composite data, and transmitting the composite data to the communication line. A method of transmitting communication data, wherein the communication data is transmitted to the receiving-side information device via a communication device, and a transmission amount of the combined data to the receiving-side information device is accumulated for each of the receiving-side information devices.