JP2003032424A - System and method for facsimile communication - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To receive a facsimile image, which is transmitted from a facsimile terminal, by a personal computer(PC) or the like and to display the image with high image quality. SOLUTION: Facsimile data transmitted from a FAX terminal 20 are received and saved in a storage device by a FAX server 10 (S2). An electronic mail address corresponding to the facsimile number of the FAX terminal 20 as a transmitting source of the received facsimile data, is read out of an address table 80 by the FAX server 10. Electronic mail describing a URL instructing FAX image data 70 is transmitted to the electronic mail address of a recipient by the FAX server 10 (S3). The recipient receives that electronic mail (S4) and downloads these FAX image data 70 from the URL described in that electronic mail (S5). The downloaded FAX image data 70 are displayed with high picture quality by a PC 40 of the recipient.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a facsimile communication system.

[0002]

Facsimile communication is most widely used as a transmission means for images and handwritten documents.
In addition to facsimile communication, communication methods such as e-mail and World Wide Web (WWW) are also widely used. However, when sending an image or a handwritten document, a facsimile is the easiest means, especially for the sender.

One of the applications in which facsimiles are widely used is in order processing for products and the like. For example,
After the buyer fills in the necessary items on the copy of the product catalog or the like by hand, the contents of the copy are transmitted from the facsimile terminal of the buyer to the facsimile terminal of the supplier, and the supplier accepts the order for the facsimile.

[0004]

In the above example, a thriving supplier would receive a large number of facsimile orders daily. A large number of facsimile terminals and a large number of staff are required to handle a large number of orders. In addition, a large number of received facsimile printouts should be kept for future reference. These consume huge costs.

Further, when referring to a certain order received in the past, it is necessary to search for a corresponding one among a large number of printouts stored. Facsimile printouts can be difficult to read due to poor image quality. If the facsimile printout is transmitted to another place by facsimile, the image quality is further deteriorated. This reduces work efficiency. Also, a large amount of printouts is not preferable in terms of resource saving.

These problems are more or less present not only in the order processing as in the above example but also in various applications using facsimile.

[0007] Therefore, one object of the present invention is to enable reception of contents of facsimile communication without a facsimile terminal.

Another object of the present invention is to enable the contents of facsimile communication to be used without pretending out.

Another object of the present invention is to enable the contents of facsimile communication to be used with high quality.

Still another object of the present invention is to simplify the storage, retrieval or transfer of contents of facsimile communication to another person.

Still another object of the present invention is to enable a plurality of remote persons to simultaneously use the same facsimile content for a meeting or the like.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A facsimile communication system according to one aspect of the present invention comprises address registration means for registering sender identification information of facsimile communication and an electronic communication address associated therewith, and facsimile data. Facsimile receiving means for receiving the received facsimile data, content storing means for storing the content data included in the received facsimile data in a storage location, and electronic communication related to the sender identification information relating to the received facsimile data. An electronic device describing an address selecting device for selecting an address from electronic communication addresses registered by the address registering device, and resource specifying information for specifying the content data saved by the image saving device. Compose a message, add the electronic message to the The electronic message transmitting means for transmitting to the electronic communication address selected by the follower selecting means, and the resource request including the resource specifying information from the client device, receive the content data specified by the resource specifying information. An image transmitting unit that reads out from the storage location and transmits to the client device.

In a preferred embodiment, the facsimile communication system further comprises viewer providing means for transmitting a viewer program capable of displaying the content data to the client device.

When the content data is 2-gradation image data, the viewer program sets the
It is possible to have a multi-gradation means for converting the gradation image data into multi-gradation image data.

In a preferred embodiment, the facsimile communication system has a plurality of client devices that have received the same content data from the image transmitting means.
The apparatus further comprises a unit that sets the plurality of client devices into one meeting group, and a unit that distributes the meeting data created by one of the client devices to another client device in the same meeting group.

In a meeting system using facsimile contents according to another aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of client devices acquire content data of the same facsimile communication, the plurality of client devices form one meeting group. And means for distributing the meeting data created by any client device to another client device within the same meeting group.

A facsimile communication method according to still another aspect of the present invention is an address registration step of registering transmission source identification information of facsimile communication and an electronic communication address related thereto, and a facsimile reception for receiving facsimile data. A content storing step of storing content data included in the received facsimile data in a storage location, and an electronic communication address associated with sender identification information of the received facsimile data, A recipient selecting step of selecting from the electronic communication addresses registered in the registering step, and creating an electronic message describing resource specifying information for specifying the content data saved in the image saving step, The electronic message Content specified by the resource specifying information in response to an electronic message sending step for sending to the electronic communication address selected in the recipient selecting step and a resource request including the resource specifying information from the client device An image transmission step of reading data from the storage location and transmitting the data to the client device.

In a meeting method using facsimile contents according to another aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of client devices acquire content data of the same facsimile communication, the plurality of client devices form one meeting group. And a step of distributing the meeting data created by one of the client devices to another client device within the same meeting group.

An image viewer suitable for a facsimile image according to another aspect of the present invention is a means for reading image data of two gradations and a means for converting the read image data of two gradations into multi-tone image data. And means for displaying the converted multi-tone image data.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, an image display method suitable for a facsimile image has a step of reading image data of 2 gradations and a read 2 steps.
The method includes the steps of converting gradation image data into multi-tone image data and displaying the converted multi-tone image data.

The above-described method of the present invention, although in a preferred embodiment, can be implemented by causing a computer to execute a computer program, it need not necessarily be so implemented.

The above-described facsimile communication system of the present invention, in a preferred embodiment, is implemented using a system called a facsimile server. This facsimile server may be implemented by one machine or a plurality of machines. Also, in a preferred embodiment, the facsimile server is the World Wide Web (WW
W) Equipped with a server. This WWW server may be implemented on the same machine as the facsimile server or on a different machine. Also, in the preferred embodiment, a meeting server is further used, but this meeting server may also be implemented on a single machine or multiple computer machines, and may also be a facsimile server or WWW. It may be implemented on the same machine as the server or on a different machine.

[0023]

FIG. 1 shows the overall system configuration of a communication system using a facsimile server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, there is a facsimile server 10 having a World Wide Web (WWW) server 12. One or more facsimile terminals 20 can be connected to the facsimile server 10 via the telephone communication network 30 to perform facsimile communication. Also, the WWW server 1 of the facsimile server 10
One or more client computers (hereinafter, referred to as client PCs) 40 can be connected to the server 2 via the inter-computer communication network such as the Internet 50 or an intranet to perform communication by the HTTP protocol. The user of the client PC 40 has his or her e-mail address in a predetermined mail server on the Internet 50 or the intranet.

The outline procedure of facsimile communication in this system is as follows.

In step S1 shown in FIG. 1, the user of the client PC connects to the WWW server 12 and registers the address. In this address registration, the user registers the sender's facsimile number (telephone number) of the facsimile communication he / she wants to receive and his / her e-mail address in the address table 80 of the WWW server 12 in association with each other. To do. In the example of FIG. 1, the facsimile number (telephone number) of the facsimile terminal 20 and the electronic mail address held by the user of the client PC 40 in the mail server 60 are associated with each other and registered in the address table 80. .

Then, as shown in step S2, the user of the facsimile terminal 20 is
The image of the document desired to be shown to the user of the client PC 40 is transmitted by facsimile from 0 to the facsimile server 10. The facsimile server 10 obtains facsimile image data (an image in which, in addition to the image of the above-mentioned document, the transmission date and time, the source telephone number, etc. are described in addition to the image of the above document) data 70 from the facsimile data received from the facsimile terminal 20, and the facsimile The image data 70 is converted into a file of a predetermined format and stored in a certain directory of the storage in the facsimile server 10.

When the facsimile data is received, the WWW server 12 sends an electronic mail address (in this example, the facsimile number of the facsimile terminal 20) associated with the sender's facsimile number (in this example, the facsimile number of the facsimile terminal 20). The user of the client PC 40 is the mail server 60
E-mail address inside), address table 8
Then, as shown in step S3, the electronic mail is transmitted to the electronic mail address. In the body of this electronic mail, a URL pointing to the facsimile image data 70 stored in the facsimile server 10 is described.

After that, as shown in step S4, the user of the client PC 40 receives the electronic mail from the WWW server 80 from the mail server 60. Then, the user opens the e-mail, and the facsimile image data 70 described in the text thereof.
If you click the URL of the mouse with a mouse, step S5
As shown by, the client PC 40 automatically sets the WWW
By connecting to the server 12, the facsimile image data 70 in the facsimile server 10 is downloaded through the WWW server 12 and the facsimile image is displayed.

Thus, the user of the client PC 40 can receive and display the facsimile image transmitted from the facsimile terminal 20 on his or her computer without receiving the facsimile image on the facsimile terminal and printing it out.

The facsimile image processed by the above method is stored in the storage of the facsimile server 10 in the form of electronic data, and the URL is also given. Therefore, it is extremely easy to store a large number of facsimile images, retrieve them as needed, and transfer them to another place.

FIG. 2 shows a program of an application used in the client PC 40 in order to use the facsimile server 10 as described above.

As shown in FIG. 2, the client PC 40
Then, in order to communicate with the WWW server 12 of the facsimile server 10, the WWW browser 41 is used. Further, the electronic mailer 42 is used to receive the electronic mail from the facsimile server 10. Further, the image viewer 43 is used to display the downloaded facsimile image. The application program used as the image viewer 43 is
Anything that supports the file format of the downloaded facsimile image will do. However, the image viewer 43 used in this embodiment is
As will be described in detail later, it is a special one designed to display a facsimile image with good image quality. This image viewer 43 is a WWW browser 4
It may be a program independent from 1 or the like, and may display a facsimile image in a window unique to the image viewer 43 different from the window of the WWW browser 41. Or, the image viewer 43 is a program installed in the WWW browser 41 or a helper application for assisting the WWW browser 41, such as displaying a facsimile image in the window of the WWW browser 41 (for example, Microsoft Corp. ActiveX controls or Java applets from Sun Microsystems, Inc.). Also, this image viewer 43
May be available to the user regardless of the facsimile server 10, or may be downloaded from the facsimile server 10 or the WWW server 12 to the client PC 40 at the user's discretion. , Or automatically when downloading a facsimile image from the WWW server 12, etc.
Something that is sent from the WW server 12 to the client PC 40 (for example, Active of Microsoft Corporation in the United States)
X control and Sun Microsystems, Inc. Java
Such as an applet).

FIG. 3 shows an example of an address registration screen (web page) provided by the WWW server 12 to the client PC 40 in step S1 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the address registration screen 100 has a current registration list table 101.
The registered contents of the address table 80 are displayed there. In the illustrated example, in each row of the registration list table 101, the sender facsimile number is displayed in the left column, and the electronic mail address associated with it is displayed in the right column. When making a new registration, the sender's facsimile number is entered in the FAX number entry box 102 below this registration list table 101, and the mail address entry box 103 below it is entered.
Enter the e-mail address in and click the register button 104. Then, the new sender facsimile number and the electronic mail address that have been entered are associated with each other and the address table 80
Is additionally registered, and a new line is added to the registration list table 101 and displayed there. Multiple e-mail addresses can be registered for one sender's facsimile number (separated by commas). To delete the data already registered in the address table 80, enter the sender facsimile number to be deleted in the entry box 105 and click the delete button 10
Click 6.

FIG. 4 shows the operations from the facsimile reception to the electronic mail transmission of the facsimile server 10 shown in steps S2 to S3 in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the facsimile server 1
When 0 receives the facsimile data from the facsimile terminal 20 (S10), it acquires the data of the transmission source facsimile number and the transmission date and time from the header of the facsimile data (S11). Then, the facsimile server 10
Creates a new directory in the storage, makes the data of the facsimile image obtained from the received facsimile data into a file of a predetermined format, and saves it in the new directory (S12). The file in the predetermined format is, for example, a PNG file. Although the directory name of the newly created directory does not necessarily have to be such, in this embodiment, it is created using one or both of the transmission date and time and the transmission source facsimile number acquired from the header. Then, it is easy to do later lookups, and it is easy to create a unique directory name for each facsimile communication.

Further, the facsimile server 10 searches the address table 80 for the electronic mail address associated with the transmission source facsimile number acquired from the header of the facsimile data, and if found, finds the electronic mail address. Read from 80 (S13). If the sender's facsimile number is not yet registered in the address table 80, an error notification may be immediately returned to the sender's facsimile terminal 20 as an error, or a predetermined number may be sent. Until the waiting period (for example, one day) elapses, the sender's facsimile number is waited to be registered in the address table 80, and if registered, the associated email address may be read from the address table 80. Good. When the latter method is adopted, the registration in the address table 80 does not necessarily have to precede the facsimile transmission, and may be performed after the facsimile transmission.

The facsimile server 10 also sends a URL (for example, "http: //" followed by the site name of the facsimile server 10 and the facsimile image file 70 in the facsimile server 10 to the facsimile image file 70 stored in the above directory). Create an e-mail with the text in the text). Then, the facsimile server 10 sets the e-mail address read from the address table 80 in step S13 as the destination of the e-mail and sends the e-mail to the Internet 50 (S1).
4). This electronic mail is then received and displayed on the client PC 40 used by the user of the destination.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the body of the electronic mail sent from the facsimile server 10 to the client PC 40 in step S14. As illustrated, the URL of the facsimile image file directed to the user is described.

FIG. 6 shows the operations from the reception of the electronic mail by the client PC 40 to the display of the facsimile image shown in steps S4 to S5 in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, the electronic mailer 43 connects to the mail server 60 and receives the electronic mail from the facsimile server 10 (S21). The user commands the electronic mailer 43 to display the text of the electronic mail on the display screen, and clicks the URL in the text with the mouse (S22). Then, the WWW browser 41 is automatically activated by a signal from the electronic mailer 43 to the OS in response to the click, and the WWW browser 41 connects to the WWW server 12 through the Internet 50 using the URL,
The facsimile image file 70 designated by the URL is downloaded (S23).

When the facsimile image file 70 is downloaded, the image viewer 43 registered in the OS in advance as an application for opening the file format of the facsimile image file 70 (eg PNG file) is automatically started, The image viewer 43 opens the facsimile image file 70 and displays the facsimile image on the display screen (S24). When displaying the facsimile image, the image viewer 43 converts the facsimile image, which was originally a two-gradation bitmap image (binary bitmap image of 1 or 0), into a multi-tone bitmap image (for example, 4 tone, 8 tone). 3 such as gradation or 16 gradations
It is displayed after being converted to an image with more than gradation. As a result, when the facsimile original includes a grayscale image, the grayscale image is displayed with high image quality.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a window (graphical user interface) of the image viewer 43 displayed on the display screen.

As shown in FIG. 7, the viewer window 2
In 00, there are a toolbar in which various control tools are arranged and a view box 208 in which an image is displayed. As the control tool in the toolbar, for example, "display previous image" button 201, "display next image" button 202, "rotate image left" button 203, "rotate image right" button 204 There are a button 205 for “drawing a free line graphic on an image”, a button 209 for “turning on / off image multi-tone correction”, a button 206 for “login to meeting server”, and the like.

The control tool shown in the figure is an example, and in addition, "type text on image", "type text on message box independent of image", "geometry on image" Various tools can be placed such as "draw", "enlarge / reduce image", "perform character recognition on selected area in image".

A facsimile image is displayed in the view box 208. In that state, the various tools described above can be used, for example, as follows.

When the mouse cursor is placed on the "Rotate image left" button 203 or the "Rotate image right" button 204 and the left mouse button is clicked or pushed down, depending on the number of clicks or the pushdown time. Depending on the length, the facsimile image in view box 208 rotates substantially continuously (ie, in very small angular increments) counterclockwise or clockwise.

"Draw a free-line figure on the image"
When the left button of the button 205 is clicked, the mouse cursor is moved onto the facsimile image in the view box 208, and when the left mouse button is pushed down and the mouse cursor is dragged, a line along the drag route is displayed. Is overlaid on. When you stop pushing the left button, the line ends.

The "turn on / off image multi-gradation correction" button 209 is a toggle switch. By clicking this button with the left button, it is determined whether or not the above-mentioned multi-gradation processing function is enabled. You can switch. If this function is enabled, a two-grayscale facsimile image is originally converted into a multi-grayscale image and displayed as described above. As a result, the grayscale image is displayed beautifully. On the other hand, when this function is disabled, the original two-gradation facsimile image is displayed. In the case of a clear facsimile image including only texts and figures that does not include a grayscale image, it may be easier to see the original two gradations.

When the "Login to Meeting Server" button 206 is left-clicked, the image viewer 43 logs in to the meeting server (FIG. 10, reference numeral 90) on the Internet, as will be described later. By using this meeting server 90, while viewing the same facsimile image with another person who has downloaded the same facsimile image, and freely writing a free line figure or the like on the facsimile image as described above. , Can hold meetings.

Further, apart from the above-described writing of free line figures, normally, when the mouse cursor is placed on the facsimile image in the view box 208 and the left button is pushed down, the push down is performed. While in the state of FIG.
Is displayed as a scroll cursor having a shape as indicated by reference numeral 207. Move this scroll cursor 207 to 3
When dragging in any direction within 60 degrees, the facsimile image in the view box 208 scrolls in the dragged direction at a speed according to the dragged distance.

Normally, when the mouse cursor is placed on the facsimile image in the view box 208 and the right button of the mouse is pushed down, the mouse cursor is different from the scroll cursor 207 while the push-down state is maintained. It is displayed as another type of zoom cursor (not shown). When the zoom cursor is dragged upward or downward, the view box 2 is substantially continuously (that is, with a very small zoom ratio step) depending on the upward component or the downward component of the dragged distance.
The facsimile image in 08 is enlarged or reduced.

The scrolling and enlarging / reducing operations as described above are examples, and other operating methods may be adopted.
In any case, it is comfortable for the user to be able to perform continuous scrolling and enlargement / reduction. This alleviates the problems commonly encountered with images displayed on a display monitor that are more difficult to use than printed out images. Further, due to the above-described multi-gradation processing and enlargement display function, it becomes easier to see than a facsimile image printed out.

FIG. 8 shows the operation when the image viewer 43 displays an image. It should be noted that this flow is for the case where the multi-tone processing function described above is enabled.

As shown in FIG. 8, the image viewer 43
Reads the target facsimile image file (S31), converts the original two-gradation bitmap image of the facsimile image into a multi-tone gradation bitmap image (S32), and displays the multi-tone facsimile image in FIG. It is displayed in the view box 208 shown (S33). When the user performs the image enlarging / reducing or rotating operation as described above, the image viewer 4
3 enlarges / reduces or rotates the original 2-gradation bitmap image of the facsimile image as desired by the user (S35), and again rescales the original 2-gradation gradation of the enlarged / reduced or rotated facsimile image. After converting the image to multi-tone image (S3
2) This is displayed (S33).

Although various methods can be adopted for the multi-gradation processing, one method is to use interpolation of density between pixels (averaging of density). FIG. 9 shows a pixel array in a facsimile image in order to explain the principle of the multi-gradation processing using the density interpolation.

In FIG. 9, as an example, attention is paid to a certain area of 3 pixels × 3 pixels in the facsimile image.
The size of this region does not necessarily have to be 3 pixels × 3 pixels and can be made larger or smaller than that. Now, in the 3 pixel × 3 pixel region illustrated in FIG. 9, in the case where the density of the central pixel P5 is multi-tone, the original density value (1 or 0) of the target pixel P5 and the peripheral pixel P1 Original density values of P4 to P4 and P6 to P9 (both are
For example, the following interpolation calculation (or averaging calculation) is performed using 1 or 0).

CV (P5) = W1 × BV (P1) + W2
× BV (P2) + ... + W9 × BV (P9) where CV (P5) is the calculated density value of the pixel P5. Further, BV (P1) to BV (P9) are density values (1 or 0) in the 2-gradation image of each of the nine pixels P1 to P9 in the area. W1 to W9 are weighting factors assigned to each of the nine pixels P1 to P9, and the sum of them is 1.

As described above, the densities P1 to P1 of the surrounding pixels are
The gradation value of the desired pixel number P5 is calculated from the density value CV (P5) of the target pixel P5 calculated in consideration of P4 and P6 to P9, so that the density of the target pixel P5 is multi-tone. If this is done for all the pixels in the facsimile image, a multi-tone facsimile image is obtained.

Instead of uniformly performing the multi-gradation processing on the entire area of the facsimile image, it is possible to perform it only on the area designated by the user in the facsimile image.

FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
1 shows an overall system configuration of a communication system for allowing a plurality of people to have a meeting while viewing the same facsimile image.

A meeting server 90 exists on the Internet 50 in addition to the above-mentioned facsimile server 10. Multiple users each have their own client P
The C41 and C42 can be used to connect to the facsimile server 10 and the meeting server 90.

Here, first, as shown in step S41, it is assumed that one client PC 41 downloads a certain facsimile image file 70 from the facsimile server 10 by the method already described. Further, as shown in step S42, another client P
C42 also downloads the same facsimile image file 70 from the facsimile server 10. The case where a plurality of client PCs 41 and 42 download the same facsimile image file 70 can occur in the following two situations, for example. First, as illustrated in the second line of the registration list table 101 in the registration screen 100 shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of email addresses are associated with the same sender facsimile number. It's time. Then, when the facsimile transmission is performed from the transmission source facsimile number to the facsimile server 10, the electronic mail describing the URL of the received facsimile image is sent to the plurality of mail addresses.
The second situation is a case where one user who receives an e-mail describing the URL of a facsimile image from the facsimile server 10 forwards the e-mail to another person. Then, the other person can also download the facsimile image from the facsimile server 10.

In any case, a plurality of client PCs
It is assumed that 41 and 42 have downloaded the same facsimile image file 70. Then, it is assumed that the same facsimile image is displayed on the image viewers of the plurality of client PCs 41 and 42, respectively, and then the "login" button 206 shown in FIG. 7 on the window of each image viewer is clicked. Then, as shown in steps S43 and S44, the image viewers of the plurality of client PCs 41 and 42 are
Each connects to and logs into the meeting server 90. At the time of this login, each image viewer has a URL indicating the download source of the facsimile image currently displayed by itself (that is, the U of the facsimile image file 70 in the facsimile server 10).
RL) to the meeting server 90.

Then, the meeting server 90 categorizes the plurality of image viewers (client PCs 41, 42) notified of the same URL into the same meeting group. Thereafter, until the plurality of image viewers (client PCs 41 and 42) log out and the meeting group is dissolved, the meeting server 90 performs data communication between the plurality of image viewers (client PCs 41 and 42) belonging to the meeting group ( For example, the "draw a free line graphic on the image" button 205 shown in FIG. 7 is used to relay data such as the transfer of data such as a graphic drawn on a facsimile image. As a result, as shown in step S45, a meeting can be held between the users of the client PCs 41 and 42 while viewing the same facsimile image and freely writing figures and the like there.

FIG. 11 shows an operation in which the image viewer of each client PC transmits and receives data such as a figure drawn by the user and displays the data in this meeting.

As shown in FIG. 11, when the "login" button 206 (see FIG. 7) is clicked (S51), the image viewer logs in to the meeting server 90 and downloads the currently displayed facsimile image. Of the URL and the IP address of the user are notified to the meeting server 90 (S52). After that, the mediation of the meeting by the meeting server 90 is started. After that, when the user performs an operation of drawing a figure or the like on the facsimile image using the "draw a free line figure on the image" button 205 shown in FIG. 7 (S53), the drawn figure or the like is displayed. Vector image data (hereinafter,
(Referred to as graphic data) is created, and the graphic data is transmitted to the meeting server 90 (S54), and based on the graphic data, the graphic data is overlaid on the currently displayed facsimile image. The image of is displayed (S56). The data such as graphics sent to the meeting server 90 is sent from the meeting server 90 to another client PC belonging to the same meeting group.
Will be transferred to the image viewer.

Here, the format of the data such as graphics is, for example,
When the user drags the mouse cursor to draw the figure or the like, it is vector data in which the coordinate values on the facsimile image of a plurality of points on the locus of the mouse cursor are arranged in the dragged order. Therefore,
According to the enlargement / reduction and rotation of the facsimile image,
The image such as the figure is also enlarged / reduced or rotated.

If a figure or the like is drawn on the facsimile image of another client PC belonging to the same meeting group, similarly, the figure or the like data created by the other client PC is transferred to this image through the meeting server 90. It is sent to the viewer. This image viewer is another client P
When the graphic data from C is received from the meeting server 90 (S55), the image of the graphic is displayed on the facsimile image which is being displayed based on the received graphic data (S56). ).

In this way, a plurality of users can hold a meeting by sharing the same image.

FIG. 12 shows the relay operation of the meeting server 90 in this meeting.

As shown in FIG. 12, when the meeting server 90 logs in from the image viewer of each client PC (S61), the meeting server 90 stores the URL and IP address notified from the image viewer (S62),
Then, the same URL as that URL is searched from the URLs already stored and notified from the other client PCs (S63). If the same URL is not found,
It does not proceed to the further steps shown in FIG. On the other hand, if the same URL is found, the meeting server 90
Categorizes the image viewers of the plurality of client PCs in the login state, which have notified the same URL, into one meeting group (S64). After that, the meeting server 90 delivers the data such as the graphics sent from any image viewer in the meeting group to other image viewers (S6).
5). Thus, the data communication for the meeting is relayed. This relay operation is continued until the image viewers belonging to the meeting group are logged out and only one image viewer remains (that is, until the meeting group is dissolved).

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but this is merely an example for explaining the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. Therefore, the present invention can be implemented in various other modes without departing from the gist thereof.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the meeting server relays the data communication in the meeting group, but it is not always necessary to do so. After the meeting group is established, the clients belonging to the group may know each other's IP addresses and directly send and receive data such as graphics without going through the meeting server.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall system configuration of a communication system using a facsimile server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an application program of a client PC used to use a facsimile server.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an address registration screen (web page) provided by the facsimile server to the client PC.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation from facsimile reception to electronic mail transmission of the facsimile server.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the body of an electronic mail sent from a facsimile server to a client PC.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation from reception of an electronic mail by a client PC to display of a facsimile image.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an image viewer window.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation for displaying an image of the image viewer.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a pixel array in a facsimile image for explaining multi-tone processing.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an overall system configuration of a communication system for allowing a plurality of people to have a meeting while viewing the same facsimile image according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an operation in which an image viewer transmits and receives and displays a figure drawn by a user in a meeting.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the relay operation of the meeting server in a meeting.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Facsimile server 12 WWW server 20 Facsimile terminal 40 Client PC 43 Image Viewer 70 facsimile image 80 address table 90 Meeting Server

Continued front page    F term (reference) 5C062 AA02 AA14 AA29 AB23 AB42                       AC42 AC43 AC63 AF01 AF02                       BA01 BA02                 5C075 AB90 BA05 CD05 CD18 CD20                       CF04                 5K030 GA18 HA07 HB04 HC01 HC02                       HD03 HD05 JT03 JT05 KA01                       KA06 KA13 LD11 MB18                 5K101 KK01 LL01 LL05 NN06 NN21                       SS07 TT06 UU16

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. The address registration means for registering transmission source identification information of facsimile communication and an electronic communication address associated therewith, the facsimile receiving means for receiving facsimile data, and the received facsimile data. Content storage means for storing content data in a storage location; and an electronic communication address associated with the sender identification information relating to the received facsimile data, the electronic communication address of the electronic communication address registered by the address registration means. An electronic message describing resource selection information for selecting the recipient selecting means and resource specifying information for specifying the content data stored by the image storing means is created, and the electronic message is generated by the recipient selecting means. To an electronic communication address selected by Child message sending means, image sending means for receiving a resource request including the resource specifying information from the client device, reading the content data specified by the resource specifying information from the storage location, and sending the content data to the client device. Facsimile communication system equipped with. 2. The facsimile communication system according to claim 1, further comprising a viewer providing unit for transmitting a viewer program capable of displaying the content data to the client device. 3. The facsimile according to claim 2, wherein the viewer program has a multi-gradation unit for converting the 2-gradation image data into multi-gradation image data when the content data is 2-gradation image data. Communications system. 4. A means for setting a plurality of client devices, which have received the same content data from the image transmission means, into one meeting group, and a method for converting the meeting data created by any one of the client devices in the same meeting group to another. The facsimile communication system according to claim 1, further comprising: a means for distributing to the client device. 5. When a plurality of client devices acquire the same content data of the facsimile communication, a means for making the plurality of client devices into one meeting group, and one of the client devices in the same meeting group. A meeting system using facsimile contents provided with a means for distributing the created meeting data to other client devices. 6. An address registration step of registering transmission source identification information of facsimile communication and an electronic communication address associated therewith, a facsimile reception step of receiving facsimile data, and included in the received facsimile data. A content storage step of storing the content data in a storage location; and an electronic communication address associated with the sender identification information relating to the received facsimile data, the electronic communication address of the electronic communication address registered in the address registration step. Selecting a recipient from among the steps, and creating an electronic message describing resource specifying information for specifying the content data stored by the image storing step, and selecting the electronic message by the recipient selecting step. Electronically selected by A step of sending an electronic message addressed to a recipient address, a resource request containing the resource specifying information from the client device, and reading the content data specified by the resource specifying information from the storage location to obtain the client device. A facsimile communication method comprising: an image transmitting step of transmitting the image to the facsimile. 7. The facsimile communication method according to claim 6, further comprising a viewer providing step of transmitting a viewer program capable of displaying the content data to the client device. 8. The facsimile according to claim 7, wherein the viewer program has a multi-gradation means for converting the 2-gradation image data into multi-gradation image data when the content data is 2-gradation image data. How to transfer content. 9. When there are a plurality of client devices that have received the same content data from the image transmitting means, a meeting group setting step of setting the plurality of client devices as one meeting group, and within the same meeting group, 7. The facsimile communication system according to claim 6, further comprising means for distributing data transmitted from a client device to another client device. 10. When a plurality of client devices acquire content data of the same facsimile communication, a step of setting the plurality of client devices as one meeting group, and in any client device within the same meeting group. Distributing the created meeting data to other client devices, a meeting method using facsimile contents. 11. An address registration step of registering transmission source identification information of facsimile communication and an electronic communication address associated therewith, a facsimile reception step of receiving facsimile data, and included in the received facsimile data. A content storage step of storing the content data in a storage location; and an electronic communication address associated with the sender identification information relating to the received facsimile data, the electronic communication address of the electronic communication address registered in the address registration step. Selecting a recipient from among the steps, and creating an electronic message describing resource specifying information for specifying the content data stored by the image storing step, and selecting the electronic message by the recipient selecting step. Electron selected by An electronic message sending step of sending to a communication address; a resource request including the resource specifying information is received from the client device; the content data specified by the resource specifying information is read from the storage location; and the client device. A computer program for causing a computer to perform an image transmission step of transmitting to. 12. When a plurality of client devices acquire the same content data of the facsimile communication, a step of setting the plurality of client devices into one meeting group, and in any of the client devices within the same meeting group. A computer program for causing a computer to perform the steps of distributing the created meeting data to other client devices. 13. A means for reading image data of two gradations, a means for converting the read image data of two gradations into multi-tone image data, and a means for displaying the converted multi-tone image data. Image viewer with. 14. A step of reading image data of two gradations, a step of converting the read image data of two gradations into multi-tone image data, and a step of displaying the converted multi-tone image data. Image display method with. 15. A step of reading 2-gradation image data, a step of converting the read 2-gradation image data into multi-tone image data, and a step of displaying the converted multi-tone image data. A computer program for causing a computer to execute.