JP2003114855A - Network scanner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an e-mail device capable of summary information for the contents of a file attached to e-mail without opening the attached file. SOLUTION: This network scanner comprises a scanner part for reading image data from a document; an image memory part for accumulating the image data; an image processing part for converting the file format of the image data to accumulate them in the image memory part; an operation and display part for performing necessary input and output displays such as various sets and transmission operation; a communication interface part connected to a network to perform a data communication; and an e-mail forming part for converting the image data accumulated in the image memory part to a file format attachable to e-mail in the image processing part to form the attached file of e-mail, and further converting the data to a file format embeddable in an e-mail text in the image processing part to form an e-mail with the image data embedded in the e-mail text.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network scanner having a function of communicating image data with another terminal device connected to a network using electronic mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, network technologies such as the Internet have rapidly progressed, and scanners (image reading devices) and fax machines have become popular.
A product has been developed in which even an OA device having a scanner function such as the above can use a network by giving a unique address. Sc is the function of the scanner that uses a network such as the Internet.
There is an to Email function (called SE function). This is for an e-mail by converting the document image data scanned by the image reading part (scanner part) of the scanner into a file format (eg TIFF format file) that can be attached to the e-mail in the scanner connected to the network. The attached file is created, and the created attached file is attached to an electronic mail and sent to a destination (host device) on the Internet.

Also widely used on the Internet
A technique for embedding an image in JPEG or GIF format in a document by using an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) format or an RTF (Rich Text Format) format that can be used in an application (browser) of a WWW server is generally known. ing. For example, in the field of network printers, there is a method of embedding printer output information using HTML-formatted electronic mail data and performing printout on the receiving side (host device) according to the embedded printer output information. No.

[0004]

Since the conventional SE function is as simple as designating the destination of the electronic mail from the scanner, the standard field stored in the device is stored in the title column and body of the electronic mail. However, the sender could not convey the information about the transmission contents to the image receiver.

Even when the image receiver receives an e-mail with an image file attached as an attachment file, the sender's address is an e-mail address peculiar to the scanner that is the sender, and in the body of the e-mail. Also, since the fixed text automatically created by the scanner is written and there is no information about the content of the attached file, it is inconvenient because the content is not known until the application software that handles this attached file is started and the file is opened. Met.

Further, since it is not possible to confirm what kind of data has been sent until the attached file is expanded by application software and the contents of the attached file are actually viewed, the result of opening the attached file is There was also the danger of being infected by a computer virus.

In order to solve the problem in using the SE function, a person who wants to send an e-mail reads a manuscript describing a sentence explaining the contents of the attached file with a scanner, and The standard character recognition software recognizes characters and encodes them. The e-mail creation unit creates an e-mail with the encoded data as the text, and the created e-mail is network controlled by the e-mail sending unit. A technique of a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting data via a network is disclosed in
It is disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-22660. As a result, the body of the e-mail is not a fixed phrase automatically created by the network facsimile machine (that is, the fixed phrase does not describe who the sender is and what the contents of the attached file are). Since the sender can freely enter and write the sender's name and attachment file description, etc., the recipient can read the e-mail text and see from whom the content of the e-mail You can check it.

However, according to this technique, the content of the email is indirectly determined by the text of the body of the email created by the sender, and the detailed content in the attached file cannot be confirmed until the attached file is opened. Therefore, there is still the risk of opening the attached data and getting a computer virus.

Further, when the attached file has contents over a plurality of pages, the entire contents cannot be grasped unless each page is opened by using application software for browsing the attached file. Therefore, it is inconvenient if you want to see only the outline of the attached file in a short time.

When the attached file is image information obtained by dividing graphic information of a large area into a plurality of pages, it may be difficult to understand the entire graphic information even if the plurality of pages are opened and viewed. .

Therefore, the present invention is to provide a network scanner capable of directly confirming the content of an attached file without opening the attached file of an electronic mail on the receiver side.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a network scanner which can grasp the contents of all pages of an attached file without opening the attached file of the electronic mail on the side of the recipient.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a network scanner capable of grasping the contents of the attached file on the receiving side in a combined state when the attached file of the electronic mail is divided image information or the like.

[0014]

A network scanner of the present invention made to solve the above problems is a scanner unit for reading image data from a document, an image memory unit for storing the image data, and a file format of the image data. Image processing unit that converts the image and stores it in the image memory unit, various settings,
An operation / display unit for performing necessary input and output display such as transmission operation, a communication interface unit for performing data communication by connecting to a network, and image data accumulated in the image memory unit are processed by an image processing unit. At the same time as converting to a file format that can be attached to an e-mail and making it an e-mail attachment file, further converting to a file format that can be embedded in the e-mail text in the image processing unit and embedding it in the e-mail text. And an e-mail creating unit for creating an e-mail.

According to this structure, when the image data of the document is to be transmitted from the network scanner as an attached file of an electronic mail, the scanner unit scans the document, captures the image data, encodes the image data, and stores it in the image memory. Memorize in the department. The stored image data is converted into a file format (for example, TIFF format) that can be used as an attachment file by e-mail by the image processing unit, and is stored in the image memory. Furthermore, the image data is converted into a file format (for example, GIF format or JPEG format when described in HTML format) that can be displayed by the description format (for example, HTML format) used in the body of the electronic mail, and is converted into an image memory. accumulate. Then, the e-mail creation unit embeds at least a part of the image data included in the file to be attached in the e-mail text so that it is displayed when the e-mail text is viewed, and then the image data is attached as an e-mail attachment Send.

By this, the recipient of the e-mail can grasp the contents of the e-mail without opening the attached file of the e-mail, just by looking at the body of the e-mail, so the contents can be confirmed before opening the file. Therefore, the risk of getting a virus is reduced.

The image embedded in the text may be subjected to image processing such as thumbnailing (reduced image conversion), resolution reduction, and black and white in the case of a color image. As a result, it is possible to reduce the amount of transmission data, and also to reduce the capacity load on the mail storage memory that stores electronic mail on the receiving side.

Further, the arrangement and form of the image may be designated when the electronic mail creating unit embeds the image data of a plurality of pages as thumbnails in the main body of the electronic mail. Thereby, for example, when one large image is divided into a plurality of images and transmitted, the plurality of images can be combined and confirmed as one whole image in the text.

Further, the electronic mail creating section may embed only the first page or a specific page in the text when the electronic mail attachment file has a plurality of pages.
As a result, it is possible to reduce the amount of transmission data, and also to reduce the capacity load on the mail storage memory that stores electronic mail on the receiving side.

Further, the e-mail creating unit may embed only a specific area designated by the operation unit when embedding the image data in the body of the e-mail. This reduces the amount of data to be transmitted, and makes it easier for the recipient to read the contents. When embedding the image of the specific area in the text, the image may be embedded by enlarging it at the same size.

Further, the network scanner further includes a character recognition section, and the electronic mail creation section embeds only a specific area of the image designated when the image data is recognized by the character recognition section into a standard format in the electronic mail text. You may do it. At this time, the text recognized by the character recognition unit may be embedded as characters together with the image data.

The e-mail creating unit may confirm the capacity of the attached file and prompt the user to change the setting when the capacity exceeds the designated capacity.

When CC or BCC is designated as the destination of the electronic mail in addition to the original destination, the attached file may not be attached to CC and BCC but may be embedded in the text.

[0024]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a network scanner which is an embodiment of the present invention. The network scanner 101 is connected to the network 103 and is assigned a unique electronic mail address. The network scanner 101 can send and receive e-mail to and from other devices connected to the network 103.

The personal computer 102 is also the network 10
3 and has an electronic mail function. The personal computer 102 connected to the network 103 can send and receive an HTML format e-mail from the network scanner 101 or another personal computer, and if an attachment file is attached to the received e-mail, the attachment file is displayed on the display. Can be displayed on or output to a printer.

If the electronic mail is in the HTML format, the image data can be embedded in the body of the electronic mail, and by opening the received electronic mail body with the browsing software, the embedded image data is based on the HTML format. Can be displayed in the document.

Next, the internal structure of the network scanner 101 will be described. This network scanner includes a control unit 104, a scanner unit 105, an image memory unit 106, an operation / display unit 107, an image processing unit 109, a LAN interface unit 108, an email address management unit 112, a character recognition unit 113, an email creation unit 114. , The electronic mail transmission unit 115.

The control unit 104 is composed of a CPU, a ROM and a RAM, and controls the entire network scanner. The scanner unit 105 includes a reading device that optically reads an image on a document. The image memory unit 106 includes a hard disk, and can encode and store image data read by the scanner unit 105.

The operation / display unit 107 is composed of a liquid crystal screen with a touch panel attached to the network scanner, and is operated by the user to execute scanning of the scanner unit, input of an e-mail address, and output to the panel. It is for displaying.

The LAN interface unit 108 functions as a communication interface unit for interface communication for connecting the network scanner to the network 103.

The image processing unit 109 also performs thumbnailing, resolution reduction, monochrome conversion, and other image processing of image data. The e-mail address management unit 112 registers and manages the e-mail address input by the operation / display unit 107. The character recognition unit 113 includes a scanner unit 105.
Characters are optically read from the image data read in to extract the characters, are recognized as document data (called an OCR function), and are converted into a document file format (for example, text format).

The e-mail creating section 114 converts the image data stored in the image memory section 106 to create an e-mail attachment file, and embeds the image file in the HTML format e-mail text or manipulates it.・ Display 1
Inputting from 07 creates the header part and the body of the e-mail. The electronic mail transmission unit 115 transmits electronic mail to the personal computer 102 or the like via the LAN interface unit 108.

In the image processing unit 109, the electronic mail address management unit 112, the character recognition unit 113, the electronic mail creation unit 114, and the electronic mail transmission unit 115, the CPU of the control unit 104 executes the programs stored in the hard disk. By doing so, each function is executed.

Next, the outline of the operation of transmitting an electronic mail using the SE function of the present invention will be briefly described. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram for explaining a procedure for creating an electronic mail by the SE function of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a case where map information is transmitted by electronic mail as an example. First, an address to be sent is selected, and various settings necessary for sending an e-mail are made. The example of FIG. 2A shows a state in which an address to be a destination is selected from the list of destination addresses in the electronic mail address management unit 112. Then, as shown in FIG.
Scan the original sent from. In the example of FIG. 2B, the map is read. The image data 10 read by the scanner unit 105 is encoded 20 as shown in FIG. 1 and temporarily stored in the image memory unit 106.

The electronic mail creating unit 114 converts the coded image data 10 into a file format (for example, compression-encoded TIFF format file) that can be attached to the electronic mail 30 by the image processing unit 109, and At least a part of the image data included in the file attached to the email is converted into an image data file format (for example, GIF format) that can be embedded in the email body. Then, the header portion 31 in which the destination information, the sender information, and the title information are described, the email body 32 in which the image data is embedded, and the attached file 33 are combined to create the email 30. Although there is only one destination field in FIG. 2 (c), CC (Carbon C
An opy) field and a BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field may be provided to allow transmission to the original destination as well as transmission to the CC and BCC fields. The CC column and the BCC column are columns for notifying another person (the recipient designated in the CC column or the BCC column) of the fact that the sender has sent the electronic mail to the original recipient. In the example of FIG. 2C, the map image is “0001.tif
There is an attachment 33 with the file name "f",
Image data that has been thumbnailed (reduced) is also embedded in the email body 32.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described using a flow chart. 4 to 6 are flow charts showing the operation of the network scanner which is an embodiment of the present invention. Standard operation (st101) First, transmission settings are made. This transmission setting is made by input from the operation / display unit. Here, the destination address of the e-mail is set, the image to be embedded in the body of the e-mail is specified, the form of the image to be embedded (thumbnail, black and white, multi-shot (described later), etc.)
To set. That is, the processing method is not set and processed after being read by the scanner, but the processing method is set in advance and then read by the scanner. The destination address setting is performed by displaying a list of the mail addresses accumulated in the electronic mail address management unit 112 on the operation / display unit 107 and selecting the mail address to be transmitted. If there is a CC or BCC field in the destination field,
Addresses may be set in the CC and BCC fields as well as the original destination fields.

In the setting of the transmission mode, first, the setting is made as to whether the image should be reduced (thumbnail) and embedded, or whether the image should be embedded as it is. Next, when the original to be attached has a plurality of pages, it is set whether to embed only the first page, the designated page, or all pages in the body of the email. If you set to embed all pages, you can embed each page separately, or combine 2 to N image data by using a function called multi-shot that combines and displays multiple images. And set whether to embed. Further, in the case of a color image, it is set whether to embed the image in color or to embed it in black and white.

(St102) When the transmission setting is completed, the scanner unit 105 sequentially scans the original image to read the image data. As a result, the image data is encoded and stored in the image memory unit 106. (St103) The image processing unit 109 converts the read image data into the attached file format of the e-mail, and stores it in the image memory unit 106.

(St104) Confirm whether the image to be embedded in the body of the electronic mail is a thumbnail image or a normal size image. You can reduce the memory load on the receiving side by reducing the mail capacity by making thumbnails,
Also, the transmission time can be shortened. When embedding the same size image as it is, the process directly proceeds to st106. (St105) When an image to be embedded in the body of an electronic mail is to be a thumbnail image, the image data is taken out from the image memory unit 106, the image processing unit 109 performs thumbnail processing, and the thumbnailed image data is also stored in the image memory unit 106. .

(St106) It is confirmed whether the page to be embedded in the text is set only to the front page (first page). If only the front page is embedded, the process proceeds to st110. When embedding a page other than the front page, the process proceeds to st107. (St107) It is confirmed whether the setting is to embed only the designated page other than the front page. For example, if the front page contains only formal contents and the contents of the attached file can be grasped on the second page, the second page is designated and embedded instead of the front page. When embedding only one designated page, st1
Go to 10. If all pages are to be embedded instead of embedding only one designated page, the process proceeds to st108.

In the present embodiment, only one arbitrary page is embedded or all pages are embedded. However, it is possible to embed a plurality of arbitrarily selected pages out of all pages. You may allow it.

(St108) In the case of setting to embed all pages, it is confirmed whether the setting is further embedding using the multi-shot function of combining and displaying a plurality of images or simply embedding. In the case of the simple embedding setting, the process proceeds to st150 in the flow <1> of FIG. 5 described later. The steps after st150 will be described later. Further, in the case of setting to embed using the multi-shot function, the process proceeds to step 109. (St109) When embedding using the multi-shot function, the setting whether to embed in the “2in1” format in which two images are combined or in the “Nin1” format in which N images are combined is confirmed. Note that N can be set in advance. For example, when combining four images, set to “4 in 1”. When "2 in 1" is set, the process proceeds to st160 in the flow <2> of FIG. Also,
When "Nin1" is set, st in flow <3> of FIG.
Proceed to 170. Details of st160 and st170 and later will be described later.

(St110) If the front page or the designated page to be embedded in the body of the e-mail is a color image, it is confirmed whether or not the image is black and white. The black-and-white conversion reduces the mail capacity, so that the load on the memory on the receiving side can be reduced as much as possible, and the transmission time can be shortened. If black and white is to be performed, the process proceeds to st111. If black and white is not to be performed, the process proceeds to st112.

(S111) When black and white is set, the image data accumulated in the image memory unit 106 (thumbnail image data when embedding a thumbnail image) is taken out, and only the necessary page is written in the e-mail text. It is converted into a monochrome image in an embeddable file format (for example, GIF format) and stored again in the image memory unit 106.

(St112) If black and white is not set, the color image (thumbnail image data when embedding a thumbnail image) is directly converted into a file format that can be embedded in the body of the email, and the image memory unit 106 is used. Accumulate in.

(St113) E-mail creating section 114
Creates the entire format of the email, st10
Attach the attachment file created in 3 to the email. For example, the created TIFF format attachment file is a known MI.
Attach to mail based on the grammar of ME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension).

(St114) Subsequently, the electronic mail is completed by embedding the image data in the electronic mail text area based on the HTML format grammar. For example, change the path where the thumbnailed files are stored to "thumbnai
"IMG SRC =" thumbnail "in the email body as" l "
An electronic mail with an embedded image can be created by embedding the thumbnail image in the form of>.

(St115) An e-mail is transmitted by pressing a transmission button (not shown) on the operation display unit 107. The electronic mail shown in FIG. 2C is an example of the electronic mail transmitted at this time, and the image for one page included in the attached file “00001.tiff” is embedded in the main body of the electronic mail.

<1> in FIG. 5 is a flow chart after st108 when the setting for simply embedding all pages is made in st108. (St150) If the page to be embedded in the body of the e-mail includes a color image, confirm whether to make the image black and white. When black-and-white conversion is performed, the process proceeds to st151, and when black-and-white conversion is not performed, the process proceeds to st152. (S151, st152) When black and white is set, the image data stored in the image memory unit 106 (thumbnail image data when embedding a thumbnail image) can be taken out and all pages can be embedded in the email body. It is converted into a monochrome image in a file format (for example, GIF format) and stored again in the image memory unit 106. If black and white is not set, the color image (thumbnail image data when embedding a thumbnail image) is converted into a file format (for example, GIF format) that can be embedded in the body of the e-mail, and the image memory unit 106 is read again. Accumulate in.

(St153, st154) Attach the attached file created in st103 to the electronic mail, and
The image data is embedded in the body of the email based on the grammar of the TML format to complete the email. For example, in this case, if N thumbnail files have been created, <IMG SRC = "thumbnail-N" will appear in the body of the email.
By embedding N thumbnail image tags in the form of> (N = 1 to N), an e-mail with an embedded image can be created. (St155) The send button on the operation / display unit 107 is pressed to send the electronic mail. FIG. 7 shows an example at this time. The attached file “00001.tiff” includes image data of 8 pages A to H. The thumbnailed images of 8 pages of the attached file are separated and embedded in order in the body of the electronic mail.

In <2> of FIG. 5, the setting for embedding is selected by using the multi-shot function of combining and displaying a plurality of images in st108, and further, in st109, "2 in 1" (combining two image data together. Is a flow chart after st109 in the case where the setting of (Embedding and embedding) is made. st160 and st163 to st165 are st150 and st153 to st16 in <1> of FIG.
Since it is the same as that of 5, the description is omitted. When "2 in 1" is set, two images to be embedded in the e-mail text are combined to form a black and white image depending on the setting status of black and white in st160 (st161), or two images are combined to form a color image. Either forming an image (st162) is executed. FIG. 8 shows an example at this time. The attached file “00001.tiff” includes image data of 8 pages A to H. The thumbnail images of 8 pages of this attachment are AB, EF, CD, G
It is embedded in the body of the e-mail in a state where two pieces are combined like H. The embedding order and position can be set in advance by the operation / display unit 107.

In <3> of FIG. 6, the setting for embedding is selected using the multi-shot function for combining and displaying a plurality of images in st108, and further, “Nin1” (combining all N image data is combined in st109. Embed)
FIG. 7 is a flow chart after st109 when the setting is made. Since st170 and st173 to st175 are the same as st150 and st153 to st165 in (1) of FIG. 5, description thereof will be omitted. When "Nin1" is set, N images are embedded in the e-mail text to combine to form a black and white image depending on the setting status of black and white in st170 (st171) or N images are combined to form a color image. Either forming an image (st172) is executed. FIG. 9 shows an example at this time, where N is set to 4. The attached file “00001.tiff” includes image data of 8 pages A to H. The thumbnailed images of 8 pages of the attached file are embedded in the body of the e-mail in a state where four images are combined like ABCD and EFGH. The embedding order can also be set in advance by the operation display unit, as in the case of "2 in 1".

Here, a useful use when the "Nin1" setting is used will be described. As shown in FIG. 10, it is assumed that a large columnar object is transmitted as nine divided image data pieces a to i. The attached file of the e-mail includes image data for 9 pages in which the partial images a to i are drawn. Unzip this attachment 1
Even if you look at each page, you can only see each part,
I can't grasp the whole picture.

On the other hand, if "Nin1" is set in the text of the e-mail and the value of N is set to 9 and the image data of all pages from a to i are embedded in the order shown in FIG. A columnar shape, which is the whole image, appears in the text. Therefore, rather than opening the attached file, the content can be understood by the image embedded in the body of the email.

Area Enlarging Operation Next, the case of enlarging the original and embedding it in the body of the electronic mail will be described. For example, consider a case where an original document such as an estimate sheet consisting of one A4 sheet with the characters shown in FIG. 12 is transmitted by the above-described method. This quote is attached to an e-mail as a TIFF format attachment file, and thumbnails are added to the text (A4 originals cannot be embedded as they are in the text area frame, so thumbnails are added).
Then, as shown in FIG. 13, it is possible to see the structure of the manuscript in which the address is located in the upper left of the manuscript, the title is described in the center of the manuscript, and the manuscript text is written under the manuscript. , Characters are too small to read each character.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, only the upper left area of the original is designated as the enlarged area, and the enlarged image of this portion is thumbnailed and embedded in the body of the electronic mail. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a case where a partially enlarged image of a document is made into a thumbnail and embedded in the body of an electronic mail. As shown in the figure, the characters of the embedded image in the text can be read.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart when the area expanding function is added. The steps similar to those in FIG. 4 are assigned the step numbers to simplify the description. The setting of presence / absence of black-and-white / multi-shot is the same as that in FIG. 4, and thus the description thereof is omitted, but it goes without saying that it may be incorporated in the flow.

(St201) First, transmission settings are made. The destination address of the email is set, the image to be embedded in the body of the email is designated, and the form of the image to be embedded (thumbnail, black and white, multi-shot, etc.) is set (st1).
01).

(St202) As one of the transmission settings,
Specify the enlargement area of the image to be embedded in the text. The designation is performed by highlighting the designated area on the area designation screen displayed on the operation / display unit 107 as shown in FIG. (St203, st204) The scanner unit 105 scans (scans) the original image, and the image processing unit 109 converts the read image data into the attached file format of the electronic mail and stores it in the image memory unit 106. .
(See st102 and st103)

(St205) It is confirmed whether the enlarged area is designated. If there is an area designation, st20
If not, go to st207.

(St206) The designated area is enlarged to create a thumbnail image, which is stored in the image memory unit 106. (St207) When the area is designated, a thumbnail image of the entire page is created and stored in the image memory unit 106.

(St208, st209, st210)
The entire format of the electronic mail is created, and the attachment file created in st204 is attached to the electronic mail. Then, based on the HTML format grammar, the image data is embedded in the email body area to complete the email. Then, the send button on the operation / display unit 107 is pressed to send the electronic mail. (St113, st114, st11
(See 5)

Standard Format Extraction Operation An operation in the case where a standard format document is repeatedly attached and transmitted will be described. For example, when repeatedly preparing the quotation shown in FIG. 12, a standard format of the quotation (the destination field is located in the upper left of the manuscript, the word “quote” is described in the center of the manuscript, and the quotation is written below the quotation). The contents have been written) has been created, and using this standard format, it is possible to create a quotation by individually inputting the necessary items such as the "address" and the contents of the quotation. Has become. In such a case, for example, if there is a character string "quote" in the center of the manuscript,
If it is determined that the "quote" is to be sent by identifying it using the CR function (optical character recognition function), it is not necessary to specify the area when setting the sending, and It can also be extracted and embedded in the body of the email.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a flow for recognizing a fixed format sentence by using the OCR function, extracting a specific area and transmitting it. The steps similar to those in FIG. 4 are assigned the step numbers to simplify the description. The setting of presence / absence of black-and-white / multi-shot is the same as that in FIG. 4, and thus the description thereof is omitted, but it goes without saying that it may be incorporated in the flow.

(St301) First, transmission settings are made. The destination address of the email is set, the image to be embedded in the body of the email is designated, and the form of the image to be embedded (thumbnail, black and white, multi-shot, etc.) is set (st1).
01).

(St302, st303) Scanner unit 1
05 scans the original image, and the image processing unit 10
Reference numeral 9 converts the read image data into a file format of an electronic mail attachment and stores it in the image memory unit 106. (See st102 and st103)

(St304) OCR of character recognition unit 113
Character recognition of a character string included in the image data stored in the image memory unit 102 is performed by the function to identify whether the image is a standard format image. If it is not the fixed format, st305, if it is the fixed format, st306
Proceed to.

(St305) If it is determined that the format is not the standard format, an image of the entire page to be embedded in the body of the electronic mail is created and stored in the image memory unit 106.

(St306) If it is determined that the standard format is set, a preset area is extracted. (St
307) The extracted area is scaled (thumbnailed (reduced), equal size, or enlarged) to create an image to be embedded in the body of the e-mail and stored in the image memory unit 106.

(St308, st309, st310)
The entire format of the electronic mail is created, and the attachment file created in st303 is attached to the electronic mail. Then, based on the HTML format grammar, the image data is embedded in the email body area to complete the email. Then, the send button on the operation / display unit 107 is pressed to send the electronic mail (st113, st114, st115).
reference).

Fixed Format Extraction and Character Recognition Operation In the example shown in FIG. 16, the specific area is extracted and the extracted image is simply embedded in the body of the electronic mail. By the way, when the fixed format extraction is performed, the character itself in the image can be recognized because the OCR function of the character recognition unit 113 is used. Therefore,
Along with the embedded image of the area extracted by the standard format extraction function, the characters included in the area may be recognized by the OCR function and written as character data in the text. As a result, the text information can be viewed in the same size as the other text in the email body.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the contents of the electronic mail according to the flow of FIG. Image data of a specific area is embedded on the left side of the email body, and characters in the area are written on the right side as character data.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an operation flow at this time (st306a). In this embodiment, when an area preset in steps from st301 to st306 is extracted, the character recognition unit 11 extracts the extracted area.
3 performs character recognition in the extraction area using the OCR function.

(St309a) When the character recognition is performed in st306a, the extracted area is first scaled in st307 to create an image for embedding in the body of the electronic mail, and the image is stored in the image memory unit 102. Then, in st308a, the entire format of the electronic mail is created, and the attached file created in st303 is attached to the electronic mail. st309
In a, the image data of the extraction area is embedded in the e-mail text area based on the HTML format grammar.
Write the content of character data recognized by the CR function in the body of the e-mail.

Capacity Change Operation Next, a case where the change of the transmission setting is urged by the transmission data amount of the electronic mail will be described. There is an upper limit on the amount of data that can be sent in one email, and if more data is to be sent, the data will be divided and sent in multiple emails. Therefore, when the capacity of the entire e-mail including the attached file is likely to exceed the upper limit, the capacity of the attached file is notified to prompt the change of the transmission setting.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a flow when the transmission setting is urged to be changed depending on the size of the attached file. Also in this figure, steps similar to those in FIG. 4 are assigned step numbers to simplify the description.
The setting of presence / absence of black-and-white / multi-shot is the same as that in FIG. 4, and thus the description thereof is omitted, but it goes without saying that it may be incorporated in the flow.

(St401) First, transmission settings are made. The destination address of the email is set, the image to be embedded in the body of the email is designated, and the form of the image to be embedded (thumbnail, black and white, multi-shot, etc.) is set (st1).
01).

(St402, st403) Scanner unit 1
05 scans the original image, and the image processing unit 10
Reference numeral 9 converts the read image data into a file format of an electronic mail attachment and stores it in the image memory unit 106. (See st102 and st103)

(St404) The e-mail creating unit 114 confirms the capacity of the attached file stored in the image memory unit 106, and the capacity that can be sent by one e-mail when the e-mail is created with the current transmission settings. Calculate whether or not As a result, when the capacity is exceeded, st40
If not, go to st407. (St405) When it is determined that the calculated result exceeds the capacity, a warning is issued by displaying the capacity of the attached file on the operation / display unit 107. (St406) The operator sees this warning and changes the transmission settings. For example, if you set the image to be embedded at the same size, make it a thumbnail, if you want to embed a color image, make it black and white, and if you set to embed all pages, set to embed only the specified page. Change the settings so that the total e-mail capacity is reduced. Then, the process returns to st402 again, and the scanning of the original is restarted.

(St407, st408, st409)
If it is judged that the capacity that can be sent by one e-mail is not exceeded, the entire format of the e-mail is created, and st
The attachment file created in 403 is attached to the e-mail. Then, based on the HTML format grammar, the image data is embedded in the email body area to complete the email. Then, the send button on the operation / display unit 107 is pressed to send the electronic mail (st113, st114,
(See st115). By the above operation, it becomes possible to complete the transmission with one email.

Operation for Changing Transmission Contents by Destination Next, a case will be described in which the transmission contents are changed according to the destination designation mode of the electronic mail. The e-mail function is used to notify the fact that the e-mail was sent from the sender A to the recipient B together with the designation of the original recipient B who is the sender of the e-mail directly from the sender A. CC (Carbon Copy) "," BCC (Blind Carbo
n Copy) ”is available. Of these, CC is
All the addressees designated as CC are displayed, and the addresses of all the addressees can be known to each other.
In CC, only the address of the person himself / herself is displayed, and the addresses of other recipients are not displayed.

In such a case, the addressee B is used in this embodiment.
Send the body of the email and the attached file to "C
Only the text is transmitted to the recipient designated by "C" and "BCC".

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a flow for changing the transmission content according to the destination designation mode. Note that this flow chart is based on the premise that when the destination is designated in the transmission setting (st101) in FIG. 4 etc., the destination is also designated by the “CC” and “BCC” columns.

(St501) "CC" is set according to the transmission setting.
It is confirmed whether or not there is a destination in the “BCC” column. If these settings are not present, the process proceeds to st502, and if they are present, st5.
Go to 03. (St502) If "CC" and "BCC" are not set, the body of the electronic mail and the attached data are transmitted only to the original recipient. (St503, st504) When "CC" and "BCC" are set, the text and attached data are sent to the original recipient as in st502, and only the email text is sent to "CC" and "BCC". To do. In the above-described embodiment, the e-mail in which the image is embedded in the text is transmitted to the CC and BCC destinations, but the image is not embedded in the body for the CC and BCC destinations. You may create and send an email.

[0085]

As described above, according to the present invention, the image data converted by the image processing unit into a file format that can be attached to an e-mail is used as an e-mail attachment file, and the image processing unit Since the image data converted into a file format that can be embedded in the body of the email is embedded in the body of the email, it is possible to know the outline of the content without opening the attached file of the email, and the operability is improved. Since the contents can be confirmed before opening the attached file, the risk of being infected with a virus can be reduced.

Further, the image data to be embedded in the body of the e-mail is converted into thumbnails, the resolution is reduced, the image is made into black and white, or only a specific page is embedded in the body to reduce the load on the memory while operating. And the risk of virus infection can be reduced.

By embedding the partial image data obtained by cutting out a part of the image data included in the attached file in the text, it is possible to make small characters easy to see. Further, by embedding a plurality of divided image data included in the attached file in an appropriate order and arrangement in the body of the electronic mail, the entire image can be viewed.

Further, by further including a character recognition section having an OCR function, in the case of image data based on a fixed format, a preset part of the image data is cut out and the partial image data is embedded in the body of the electronic mail. Can be Further, it is possible to extract the characters included in the partial image data as character data and write the extracted character data together with the partial image data in the body of the electronic mail.

Further, only the text of the electronic mail can be sent to the address designated as CC or BCC for the destination of the electronic mail.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a data flow when an electronic mail is created by a network scanner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a procedure for creating an electronic mail by a network scanner which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a network scanner that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the network scanner that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the network scanner that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the network scanner that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an email when all pages are simply embedded in the body of the email.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an email when all pages are embedded in a body of the email by a “2in1” function.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an electronic mail when all pages are embedded in an electronic mail text by a “Nin1” function (where N = 4).

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a method of dividing a large cylindrical shape and combining read images.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of an operation of enlarging a specific area and embedding it in an email body.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a quotation created in a fixed format.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an email when the entire page of the quotation in FIG. 12 is converted into thumbnails and embedded in the email body.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a state in which a part of the area in one page is designated.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an email when a designated area is enlarged and embedded.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing an operation of automatically extracting an image of a specific area and embedding it in the email body in the case of a fixed format.

FIG. 17 shows a case where an image in a specific area is automatically extracted and embedded in an e-mail text in the case of a fixed format, and a character in the specific area is extracted by the OCR function to describe the character in the e-mail text. Flow chart.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an electronic mail when the flow chart of FIG. 17 is executed.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an operation when confirming the size of an attached file and changing a transmission setting.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the operation of changing the transmission content according to the destination designation mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: Image data 20: Encoded image data 30: E-mail 31: Header 32: Body (image data (GIF format)) 33: Attachment file (compressed encoded data (TIFF format)) 101: Network scanner 102: PC 103: Network 104: Control unit 105: Scanner unit 106: Image memory unit 107: Operation / display unit 108: LAN interface unit 109: Image processing unit 112: E-mail address processing unit 113: Character recognition unit 114: E-mail creation Part 115: E-mail sending unit

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5C062 AA05 AA29 AA35 AB17 AC30                       AE01 AF01 BA00                 5C075 AB90 BA07 CA90 CF04 FF02

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A scanner section for reading image data from a document, an image memory section for accumulating image data, an image processing section for converting a file format of image data and accumulating in the image memory section, and various setting and transmission operations. The image processing unit stores the image data stored in the image memory unit, and the operation / display unit that displays necessary input and output, such as the communication interface unit that connects to the network for data communication. An email that is converted to a file format that can be attached to an email and used as an email attachment file, and that is also converted to a file format that can be embedded in the email body by the image processing unit and embedded in the body of the email. A network scanner comprising: an electronic mail creating unit for creating a. 2. The network scanner according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit further performs a process of converting the image data into thumbnails and storing the thumbnails in the image memory unit. 3. The network scanner according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit further reduces the resolution of the image data and stores the image data in the image memory unit. 4. The network scanner according to claim 1, wherein, when the image data is a color image, the image processing unit performs a process of converting the image data into a monochrome image and storing the image in the image memory unit. 5. The e-mail creation unit is configured to be able to specify the order / arrangement of image data to be arranged in the e-mail text when there are a plurality of image data to be embedded in the e-mail text. The network scanner according to claim 1, wherein the network scanner is a network scanner. 6. The e-mail creating unit is configured to embed only the image data of the first page or a designated page in the text when the image data attached to the e-mail has a plurality of pages. The network scanner according to claim 1. 7. The image processing unit performs a process of creating partial image data in which a part of the image data is cut out by input from the operation / display unit and stores the partial image data in the image memory unit, and the electronic mail creating unit is configured to store the partial image data. The network scanner according to claim 1, wherein the image scanner is configured to embed the image data in the text. 8. The network scanner further comprises a character recognition unit having an OCR function, and the character recognition unit judges by the OCR function whether the image data read by the scanner unit is image data based on a fixed format, When the determination result is the image data based on the standard format, the processing unit cuts out a preset part of the image data, creates the partial image data, and stores it in the image memory unit. The network scanner according to claim 1, wherein the partial image data is configured to be embedded in an electronic mail text. 9. The character recognizing unit extracts characters included in the partial image data to be embedded in an electronic mail text as character data, and the electronic mail creating unit stores the extracted character data in the electronic mail text together with the partial image data. The network scanner according to claim 8, wherein the network scanner is configured to write. 10. The electronic mail creation unit confirms the capacity of the attached file accumulated in the image memory unit and the transmission setting, and prompts the user to change the setting when the capacity of the electronic mail to be transmitted exceeds a predetermined capacity. The network scanner according to claim 1. 11. The e-mail creating unit, when designating a destination to which an e-mail is sent, separates the CC from the original destination.
Or, when the destination is designated as BCC, the original destination is created as an email with an attached file together with the email body, and the destination designated as CC or BCC is created as an email with only the email body. The network scanner according to claim 1, wherein: