JP2002314779A - Internet facsimile machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an internet facsimile machine, by which a user can easily confirm whether electronic mail which is sent through a communication network has been received, and can properly take countermeasures. SOLUTION: The internet facsimile terminal 1, including a function of receiving electronic mail whose destination is addressed to itself by making communication with a mail server on a communication network N in accordance with a prescribed protocol, is provided with a reception history recording means 10 that records the reception history of the electronic mail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improved Internet facsimile apparatus having a function of receiving an electronic mail addressed to itself by communicating with a mail server on a communication network according to a predetermined protocol. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an Internet facsimile apparatus, a predetermined protocol, that is, POP3 (Post 3), is communicated with a mail server on a communication network.
It has a function of receiving an e-mail addressed to itself by communicating according to Office Protocol 3).

[0003]

However, the conventional Internet facsimile apparatus has a smaller data storage capacity than other apparatuses on a communication network, for example, a personal computer, and therefore has a large capacity. In some cases, the e-mail attached with the file cannot be received or all transmitted e-mails cannot be received, and the user cannot confirm that such a situation has occurred in the apparatus. .

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and enables a user to easily confirm whether or not an e-mail transmitted through a communication network has been received, and to take an appropriate measure. It is an object of the present invention to provide an Internet facsimile machine capable of performing the following.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the Internet facsimile apparatus includes a reception history recording means for recording a reception history of electronic mail. .

[0006] In the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the second aspect, the reception history includes at least information on the size of a file attached to the e-mail that failed to be received and information on the data format of the file. It is characterized by the following.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the Internet facsimile apparatus further comprises output means for outputting the reception history recorded by the reception history recording means.

In the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the present invention, when an error such as a connection error to the mail server, an authentication error, or an e-mail reception error occurs during communication with the mail server, the fact is recorded in the reception history record. Recording by means and output by output means.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a main part of an Internet facsimile apparatus 1 according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a configuration of a facsimile system configured using the Internet facsimile apparatus 1.

The Internet facsimile apparatus 1 connects a telephone line L and a LAN (N), which is one of communication networks, as a communication network. The LAN (N) is connected to the LAN (N) as shown in FIG. like,
The mail server 2 is connected to the Internet.

Although the LAN (N) is shown here as a communication network, the present invention is not limited to this example, and other types of networks such as WANs and dedicated lines, or LAN (N) and the Internet It may be configured by combining a plurality of types of networks, such as a combination with.

The Internet facsimile apparatus 1 converts image data received through a public line network (PSTN) or a LAN (N) according to a predetermined protocol into a client 2, another facsimile apparatus connected to the public line network, or the Internet. Can be distributed to other facsimile machines connected to the Internet. Further, the image data read by the Internet facsimile machine 1 can be transmitted to the client 2, another facsimile machine connected to the public line network, or another facsimile machine connected to the Internet according to a predetermined protocol. .

Further, the Internet facsimile machine 1
Communicates with the mail server 2 in accordance with the POP3, specifies its own mail address, receives an e-mail stored in the mail server 2, and communicates with the mail server 2 using SMTP (Simple Mail Tran).
By performing communication in accordance with the S.protocol. (s.Protocol.), the mail server 2 can store an e-mail specifying a destination mail address.

As shown in FIG. 1, the Internet facsimile apparatus 1 includes a CPU 10 for controlling the following units,
RAM 11 for storing received e-mails, ROM 12 for storing control programs and the like in advance, and scanner 13 for reading image data from a document and converting it into image data
A printer 14 for recording data on predetermined recording paper,
NCU 15 for controlling connection to telephone line L, and modem 16 for modulating and demodulating various signals required for facsimile communication
And an operation panel 17 including a liquid crystal screen and various operation keys, and MH, M
CODEC for encoding and decoding by R, MMR, etc.
18 and a LAN interface 19 for connecting the LAN (N) according to a standard such as Ethernet (registered trademark).

In such a configuration, according to the present invention, by communicating with the mail server 2 in accordance with the POP 3, its own mail address is designated, and the mail server 2
The operation at the time of receiving the e-mail stored in is described below. This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

That is, Internet facsimile 1
Automatically accesses the mail server 2 at predetermined time intervals, and records the reception start date and time in the RAM 11 at the time of access (100, 101). At this time, if it is possible to access the mail server 2 (102), the processing shifts to the processing described later.
A “connection error” is recorded in the RAM 11 as a reception result, and communication with the mail server 2 is terminated (103, 11).
6) If the user can access the mail server 2, the user sends the user name and password of the Internet facsimile 1 to the mail server 2 and is authenticated (104). If not received (105), the result of the reception is "authentication error"
Is recorded in the RAM 11 and the communication with the mail server 2 is terminated (106, 116).

If authentication is received from the mail server 2, it is confirmed whether there is a new mail (107). If there is a new mail (108), the process proceeds to the processing described later, while if there is no new mail (108). Then, "No new mail" is recorded in the RAM 11 as the reception result,
The communication with is terminated (109, 116).

If there are new mails, the processing of steps 110 to 113 is repeated until all the new mails have been received. That is, new mails are received one by one (11
0) If the mail is successfully received, the mail is deleted from the mailbox (111, 113). If the mail is not received, the reason for the reception error is recorded in the RAM 11 (11).
1, 112). As the reason why the file cannot be received, information on the file size, such as a large file size attached to the e-mail, and information on the data format of the file, such as unsupported data format of the file, are recorded.

When such processing is repeated and reception of all newly arrived mails is completed (114), the result of the reception is recorded in the RAM 11 as "Received 通 message, error △ message" (1).
15) Terminate communication with the mail server 2 (11)
6).

The Internet facsimile apparatus 1 receives the e-mail from the mail server 2 in this manner. The contents recorded in the RAM 11 are stored in the e-mail reception history as shown in FIG. Is output as That is, at a predetermined time, for example,
At a predetermined time interval, a predetermined date and time, a predetermined number of history records, a predetermined error occurrence, and the like (200), the reception history of the RAM 11 is recorded by the printer 14, displayed on the operation panel 17,
Facsimile transmission to a preset destination or e-mail to a preset destination (20
1). Note that these processes in step 201 may be performed by only one of the processes, or may be performed by combining two or more processes.

As the output form of the reception history, it is sufficient to output all the recorded contents of the RAM 11 at the time of output. When the connection error, the authentication error, and the reception error described above occur, the contents related thereto, that is, the error, Only the reason corresponding to the content may be output.

[0022]

As can be understood from the above description, the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention includes the reception history recording means for recording the reception history of the electronic mail, so that the transmission is performed through the communication network. The user can easily confirm whether or not the e-mail has been received, and can take an appropriate measure.

In the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the second aspect, the reception history includes at least information relating to the size of a file attached to the e-mail which has failed to be received and information relating to the data format of the file. Therefore, by referring to the reception history including these pieces of information, the user can take measures such as increasing the free space in the storage capacity of the Internet facsimile apparatus, or having the file size or format changed and transmitted again. , Is convenient.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the Internet facsimile apparatus further includes an output unit for outputting the reception history recorded by the reception history recording unit. Or sending it as an e-mail to a predetermined destination, it is possible to check the reception history even if the user is away from the Internet facsimile apparatus, which is convenient.

In the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the present invention, when an error such as a connection error to the mail server, an authentication error, or an e-mail reception error occurs at the time of communication with the mail server, the reception history recording means. And output by the output means, so that the user can confirm the error at the time of error occurrence, check the setting information for communication with the mail server, check the information about the file size of the e-mail, etc. Can take appropriate measures.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a facsimile system configured using an Internet facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of the Internet facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining another example of the operation of the Internet facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a reception history.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Internet facsimile machine 10 ... CPU 14 ... Printer 16 ... Modem 17 ... Operation panel 19 ... LAN interface N ... LAN

Claims (4)

[Claims] An Internet facsimile apparatus having a function of receiving an electronic mail addressed to itself by communicating with a mail server on a communication network in accordance with a predetermined protocol. An Internet facsimile apparatus comprising a reception history recording unit for recording a history. 2. The reception history according to claim 1, wherein the reception history includes at least information relating to a size of a file attached to the e-mail which has failed to be received and information relating to a data format of the file. Internet facsimile machine. 3. An Internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an output unit for outputting a reception history recorded by said reception history recording unit. 4. The reception history recording means according to claim 3, wherein an error such as a connection error to the mail server, an authentication error, or an e-mail reception error occurs during communication with the mail server. An Internet facsimile apparatus, wherein the information is recorded by the output means and output by the output means.