JP2002281224A - Internet facsimile apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an Internet facsimile apparatus that can easily confirm status information. SOLUTION: The contents of the status information in the Internet facsimile apparatus are not printed on paper for outputting, thus saving recording paper for reducing costs, and effectively protecting environment.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an Internet facsimile apparatus having an electronic mail communication function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electronic mail communication function has been provided,
Internet facsimile apparatuses capable of exchanging image information using electronic mail have been put into practical use.

[0003]

However, in such an Internet facsimile apparatus, when confirming the setting of the device, it is common to confirm the setting by LCD display or print out the setting list on paper. But,
The LCD display has a problem that it is difficult to grasp the whole because the number of digits to be displayed at a time is small, and that printing out on paper leads to an increase in cost and waste of resources. Further, when setting or changing the setting of the device, there is a problem that the operation efficiency is poor due to a small number of keys in an input unit (operation panel) of the Internet facsimile apparatus.

[0004] On the other hand, in the case of an Internet facsimile apparatus directly connected to a local area network, some terminals can browse device parameters from a user's PC via a local area network and change settings. Recently, some terminals have the function of a WWW server and can be operated from a general Web browser of a PC.

However, an Internet facsimile machine having no function of directly connecting to a local area network, for example, a connection to an Internet service provider through an analog public network and a connection to the Internet through this Internet service provider Since it cannot be applied to the Internet facsimile machine of the embodiment, it has been forced to browse / change inconvenient settings.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an Internet facsimile apparatus capable of easily checking status information.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in an Internet facsimile apparatus having an electronic mail communication function, predetermined status information inside the apparatus is transmitted to a predetermined administrator terminal using electronic mail. Things.

Further, in an Internet facsimile apparatus having an electronic mail communication function, it is possible to select whether to transmit predetermined status information inside the apparatus by using an electronic mail or to record and output the status information, and to output the status information. At the time of the request, if the transmission of the status information by e-mail is selected, the status information is transmitted to a predetermined administrator terminal by e-mail, and the status information is recorded and output. If the user has selected the status information, the status information is recorded and output.

In an Internet facsimile apparatus having an electronic mail communication function, when an electronic mail for a status information transmission request is received, predetermined status information inside the device is transmitted to a predetermined administrator terminal using the electronic mail. It is like that.

In an Internet facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function, when an e-mail for a status information transmission request is received, the e-mail address of the transmission source of the e-mail is changed to a previously registered administrator e-mail address. Only when it matches, the specified status information inside the device is
This is transmitted to a predetermined manager terminal.

In an Internet facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function, when an e-mail for a status information transmission request is received, an e-mail address of the transmission source of the e-mail is set to a pre-registered administrator e-mail address. Is matched, and
Only when the password included in the e-mail matches the password registered in advance, the predetermined status information inside the device is transmitted to the predetermined administrator terminal using the e-mail.

In an Internet facsimile apparatus having an electronic mail communication function, when an electronic mail for a status setting request is received, the status designated by the electronic mail is updated to the set contents.

In an Internet facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function, when an e-mail for a status setting request is received, the e-mail address of the e-mail is changed to a pre-registered e-mail address of a manager. Only when they match, the status specified by the e-mail is updated to the set contents.

In an Internet facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function, when an e-mail for a status setting request is received, the e-mail address of the e-mail is changed to a previously registered administrator e-mail address. Only when a match is found and when the password included in the e-mail matches a pre-registered password, the status specified by the e-mail is updated to the set contents.

[0015]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, an Internet facsimile machine FX has at least a function of performing image information communication using electronic mail and a facsimile machine function. The Internet facsimile machine FX is connected to an analog public network PSTN, and is connected to an Internet service provider ISP. Internet I through
Connect to NET.

Also, an Internet facsimile machine F
X is the Internet service provider IS
P has a subscriber contract for dial-up connection, and the Internet facsimile machine FX makes a dial-up connection to each Internet service provider ISP, and then a mail server device installed on the Internet INET. (Not shown)
To send or receive an e-mail.

In this case, the Internet facsimile machine FX has a mail account provided in the mail server, and can use this mail account to receive an electronic mail transmission / reception service.

The administrator terminal MM connected to the Internet INET is for collecting status information of the Internet facsimile machine IFAX and performing various settings.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the Internet facsimile machine FX. This Internet facsimile apparatus is connected to the Internet via an ISP by a dial-up connection, performs image information communication using electronic mail, and has a predetermined function between another group 3 facsimile apparatus via an analog public network PSTN. It has a function of exchanging facsimile data using a facsimile transmission procedure and a facsimile device function.

In FIG. 1, a system control unit 1 performs various control processes such as a control process of each unit of the Internet facsimile machine FX and a facsimile transmission control procedure process, and a system memory 2 includes a system control unit. A control processing program executed by the control program 1;
It stores various data required when executing the processing program and constitutes a work area of the system control unit 1. The parameter memory 3 stores various information unique to the Internet facsimile machine FX. The clock circuit 4 outputs current time information.

The scanner 5 is for reading a document image at a predetermined resolution, the plotter 6 is for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution, and the operation display unit 7 is provided for the Internet facsimile apparatus. It is used to operate the FX, and includes various operation keys and various display devices.

The encoding / decoding section 8 encodes and compresses the image signal, and decodes the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal.
This is for storing a large number of image information in a coded and compressed state.

The group 3 facsimile modem 10 is for realizing a group 3 facsimile modem function. The group 3 facsimile modem 10 has a low-speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging transmission procedure signals, and mainly exchanges image information. High-speed modem function (V.17 modem,
V. 34 modem, V.34. 29 modem, V.29. 27ter modem etc.).

The network control unit 11 is for connecting the facsimile apparatus to the analog public network PSTN and for performing data communication using the group 3 facsimile modem 10. Further, the network control device 11 has an automatic transmission / reception function for facsimile transmission / reception.

The data modem 12 has a predetermined data modem function, and is provided by an Internet service provider ISP.
(ISP1, ISP2) for exchanging data with each other.
2 is connected to the analog public network PSTN. Further, since the network control device 13 is used for dial-up connection to the Internet service provider ISP, it has only an automatic calling function.

The Internet transmission control unit 14 performs communication control processing of various predetermined protocol suites for exchanging various data with various server devices and other data terminal devices on the Internet via the data modem 12. It is for running.

The system control unit 1, system memory 2, parameter memory 3, clock circuit 4, scanner 5, plotter 6, operation display unit 7, encoding / decoding unit 8, image storage device 9, group 3 facsimile modem The network control devices 10, 13, the data modem 12, and the Internet transmission control unit 14 are connected to an internal bus 15. Data exchange between these elements is mainly performed through the internal bus 15. Has been done.

Here, in this embodiment, basically,
The exchange of data on the Internet is called TC
This is performed by applying a combination (a so-called protocol suite) of a transmission protocol up to the transport layer called P / IP and a communication protocol of a higher layer than that. For example, in the exchange of e-mail data, SMTP (Sim
ple Mail Transfer Protocol
The communication protocol 1) is applied.

The protocol applied by the Internet facsimile apparatus FX to a mail server apparatus on the Internet for confirming reception of an e-mail addressed to a user or requesting the user to obtain the e-mail is a so-called POP.
(Post Office Protocol) or the like can be applied.

Communication protocols such as TCP / IP, SMTP, and POP, and data formats and data structures of e-mails are respectively IETF (In).
ternet Engineering Task F
orce), an RFC (Request) issued by an organization that summarizes technical content related to the Internet.
st For Comments) document. For example, TCP is RFC793, IP is RFC
793, SMTP is RFC821, E-mail format is RFC822, RFC1521, RFC1522
(MIME (Multi Purpose Mail
Extension)).

Also, since the facsimile image information is binary data and the electronic mail cannot directly include the binary data, a predetermined conversion method (for example, B
After being converted into readable information (7-bit character code) by applying the ase64 encoding method, it is included in the electronic mail. Such a format of the body information of the electronic mail is called a MIME format.

As shown in FIG. 3, the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX stores various information necessary for dial-up connection and transmission / reception of electronic mail.
It is stored in the ISP connection table.

The ISP connection table includes an ISP telephone number indicating the telephone number of the Internet service provider ISP and an IS indicating the user name when logging on to the Internet service provider ISP.
P connection user name, ISP connection password indicating the password used to log on to the Internet service provider ISP, POP server name indicating the name of the POP server to access when receiving e-mail, e-mail from the POP server POP server connection user name (e-mail address) used when acquiring e-mail, POP server connection password used for authentication when acquiring e-mail from the POP server, and distributing (sending) e-mail An SMTP server name indicating the name of the SMTP server is registered.

The Internet facsimile machine IFAX stores a management table as shown in FIG.

The management table includes a record output permission flag indicating whether recording and output of status information as a hard copy is permitted, and whether transmission of an electronic mail for notifying status information is permitted. E-mail transmission permission flag indicating the e-mail, e-mail destination address indicating e-mail destination, password for authentication, status information transmission request When status e-mail is received, status information is transmitted by e-mail in response to the e-mail Status information transmission request permission flag indicating whether the setting is permitted, and setting request reception permission indicating whether the setting process is permitted in response to the setting request e-mail when it is received. Flags are registered.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a process performed when a status information output request is issued from a user by an operation command.

When a status information output request is issued by the user (the result of determination 101 is YES), list information of predetermined status information is created (process 102). Here, the list information of the status information is, for example, a list of auxiliary functions such as registration information of one-touch dial and speed dial, a list of setting states of communication functions such as communication speed and retransmission processing, and the like.

Next, it is checked whether or not the recording output permission flag in the management table is set (decision 103).
If the result of decision 103 is YES, process 102
The list information of the status information created in step 4 is recorded and output from the plotter 6 (process 104), and the process returns to the determination 101.

If the result of the judgment 103 is NO, it is checked whether or not the e-mail transmission permission flag is set (decision 105). The result of decision 105 is N
When it becomes O, the process returns to the judgment 101.

When the result of determination 105 is YES, the e-mail destination address in the management table is
Check whether a valid value is registered (decision 10
6). When the result of the determination 106 is YES, for example, the transmission “E-mail transmission destination address is set as the transmission destination e-mail address of the administrator. Do you want to transmit as it is? (Y / N)” The first confirmation guidance is displayed (process 107).

When the user instructs to change the transmission destination confirmation guidance, the result of decision 108 is YES
, The user is operated to input the e-mail address of the transmission destination (step 109). Also, judgment 1
Even when the result of step 06 is NO, the process shifts to step 109, where the user is operated to input the e-mail address of the transmission destination. When the result of the determination 108 is NO, the process 109 is not executed.

When the transmission destination e-mail address is determined in this way, a status information e-mail having the list information of the status information prepared in the processing 102 as the body information is prepared (processing 110), and the ISP connection table described above is prepared. A dial-up connection is made to the Internet service provider ISP with reference to the above elements (process 111), and the e-mail created in process 110 is transmitted to a predetermined mail server device (process 112). Then, the process returns to the judgment 101.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show an example of the processing of the Internet facsimile machine IFAX when receiving an electronic mail.

Waiting for the e-mail acquisition period to elapse (NO loop of decision 201), it is time to acquire the e-mail, and if the result of decision 201 is YES, each element of the ISP connection table is referred to. Then, a dial-up connection is made to the Internet service provider ISP (process 202), and an inquiry is made to the POP server as to whether an e-mail addressed to the terminal is received (process 203).

Thus, when it is determined that the e-mail addressed to the own terminal has not been received, and if the result of the determination 204 is NO, the process returns to the determination 201.

When an e-mail addressed to the terminal is received and the result of determination 204 is YES, all the received transmission mails are acquired (process 205).

Next, one e-mail is selected (process 2).
06), the header information and the body information of the selected electronic mail are analyzed (process 207).

Here, it is checked whether or not the selected e-mail is a request for status information transmission (decision 20).
8). When the result of judgment 208 is YES, it is checked whether or not the status information transmission request permission flag in the management table is set (decision 209), and judgment 209 is made.
If the result of step (1) is YES, it is checked whether the source mail address of the selected electronic mail matches the electronic mail destination address in the management table (determination 21).
0), if the result of decision 210 is YES, check whether the password contained in the selected e-mail matches the password in the management table (decision 2)
11).

When the result of determination 211 is YES, list information of predetermined status information is created (Process 2).
12), create a status information e-mail using the list information of the status information created in the process 212 as text information (process 213), and refer to each element of the ISP connection table described above to obtain the Internet service provider I.
Dial-up connection to SP (processing 214), processing 21
The e-mail created in step 3 is transmitted to a predetermined mail server device (process 215).

Then, it is checked whether or not the processing has been completed for all the received e-mails (decision 216). If the result of the decision 216 is NO, the process returns to the processing 206, and the same processing is performed for the remaining e-mails. Execute.
When the result of the determination 216 is YES, the process returns to the determination 201.

When the result of the judgment 209 is NO, or when the result of the judgment 210 is NO, or when the result of the judgment 211 is NO, the judgment 21
6 and execute the subsequent processing.

If the result of the judgment 208 is NO, it is checked whether or not the selected e-mail is a request for setting (decision 217). The result of decision 217 is YE
If S, it is checked whether the setting request acceptance permission flag in the management table is set (decision 21).
8) If the result of the judgment 218 is YES, it is checked whether or not the transmission source mail address of the selected e-mail matches the e-mail transmission destination address of the management table (judgment 219, the result of the judgment 219 is YES) , It is checked whether the password included in the selected e-mail matches the password in the management table (decision 220).

When the result of the judgment 220 is YES, a setting process is performed according to the contents of the selected e-mail (process 221), the process proceeds to the judgment 216, and the subsequent processes are executed.

When the result of judgment 218 is NO, or when the result of judgment 219 is NO, or when the result of judgment 220 is NO, judgment 21
6 and execute the subsequent processing.

When the result of the determination 217 is NO, a normal electronic mail process (process 222) is executed,
The flow shifts to decision 216 to execute the subsequent processing.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the contents of the status information of the Internet facsimile machine IFAX are not printed out on paper, waste of recording paper can be suppressed, and as a result, cost reduction and environmental protection can be achieved. effective.

The Internet facsimile machine I
This is very convenient because various settings of the FAX can be made using e-mail.

[0060]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the content of the status information of the Internet facsimile apparatus is not printed out on paper, waste of the recording paper can be suppressed, and as a result, cost reduction and environmental protection are effective.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a communication system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an Internet facsimile machine FX.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an ISP connection table.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a management table.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed when a status information output request is issued from a user by an operation instruction;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX when receiving an electronic mail.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart (continued) showing an example of processing of the Internet facsimile apparatus IFAX when receiving an electronic mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

 IFAX Internet facsimile machine MM administrator terminal

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04M 11/00 302 H04M 11/00 302 H04N 1/32 H04N 1/32 Z F-term (Reference) 5B021 AA05 BB10 5C062 AA02 AA29 AA30 AB22 AB42 AC21 AC29 AC42 AF01 AF12 BA00 BD00 5C075 AB90 BA08 BB06 CA90 CD07 EE02 FF03 5K030 GA17 HA06 HB00 HC01 JT05 5K101 KK01 KK02 NN18 PP03

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An Internet facsimile apparatus having an electronic mail communication function, wherein predetermined status information inside the apparatus is transmitted to a predetermined administrator terminal by using an electronic mail. 2. An Internet facsimile apparatus having an electronic mail communication function, wherein it is possible to select whether to transmit predetermined status information inside the apparatus by using an electronic mail or to record and output the status information, and to output the status information. At the time of the request, if the transmission of the status information by e-mail is selected, the status information is transmitted to a predetermined administrator terminal by e-mail, and the status information is recorded and output. An Internet facsimile apparatus for recording and outputting the status information when the user has selected the fact. 3. The Internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the e-mail address of the administrator terminal is registered in advance. 4. When the status information is requested to be output using an e-mail at the time of the output request of the status information, and the e-mail address of the administrator terminal is not registered, 3. The Internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an input request is made for the e-mail address of the administrator terminal, and the e-mail address is transmitted to the obtained e-mail address. 5. At the time of the output request of the status information, if transmission of the status information by electronic mail is selected, the transmission confirmation is performed to the user, and only when the user instructs the transmission. 3. The Internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the electronic facsimile is transmitted. 6. An Internet facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function, when receiving an e-mail for a status information transmission request, transmits predetermined status information inside the apparatus by using the e-mail.
An Internet facsimile apparatus for transmitting to a predetermined administrator terminal. 7. An Internet facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function, upon receiving an e-mail for a status information transmission request, sets an e-mail address of a sender of the e-mail to a previously registered administrator e-mail address. An Internet facsimile apparatus which transmits predetermined status information inside the device to a predetermined administrator terminal by using an e-mail only when the information matches. 8. An Internet facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function, when receiving an e-mail for a status information transmission request, an e-mail address of a sender of the e-mail is set to an administrator e-mail address registered in advance. Only when the password matches the password and the password included in the e-mail matches the pre-registered password, the specified status information inside the device is sent to the specified administrator terminal by e-mail. Internet facsimile machine characterized by performing. 9. An Internet facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function, wherein when an e-mail for a status setting request is received, the status specified by the e-mail is updated to the set contents. . 10. In an Internet facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function, when an e-mail for a status setting request is received, an e-mail address of a source of the e-mail is set to an administrator e-mail address registered in advance. An Internet facsimile apparatus which updates the status specified by the e-mail to the set content only when the values match. 11. An Internet facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function, when an e-mail for a status setting request is received, an e-mail address of a transmission source of the e-mail is set to an administrator e-mail address registered in advance. An Internet facsimile characterized by updating the status specified by the e-mail to the set content only when the password matches and the password included in the e-mail matches the password registered in advance. apparatus.