JP2003259066A - Network facsimile system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the enlargement of infection of virus though the Internet in an Internet facsimile system. <P>SOLUTION: When an E-mail receiving unit receives an E-mail attached with an TIFF file (Y in step S1), the TIFF file is developed (step S2). Then, a virus detecting unit detects a virus from the developed TIFF file (step S3). When the virus of a computer is detected (y in step S4), a virus detection flag for indicating the fact of virus detection is set (step S5), and a virus measurement unit performs various kinds of processes for preventing the enlargement of infection of the computer virus. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network facsimile machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An Internet facsimile machine is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-217987.

[0003]

By the way, a PC or the like connected to the Internet may be infected with a computer virus by receiving an e-mail, and computer virus measures are routinely taken.

However, in an Internet facsimile machine connected to the Internet via a LAN or the like, there are cases where the LAN or the like is unprotected even if it is not equipped with a firewall (especially for small-scale offices). ,), There was a security problem against computer virus intrusion.

An object of the present invention is to prevent the spread of computer virus infections that enter network facsimile machines via the Internet or the like.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an image data of a document is read by a scanner, attached to an electronic mail, transmitted to a destination via a network, and an electronic mail received from the network. In a network facsimile apparatus that prints out image data attached to a printer with a plotter, data expansion means for expanding image data attached to an electronic mail received from the network, and a virus for detecting a computer virus from the image data A network facsimile apparatus comprising: a detection unit; and an infection prevention unit that performs processing for preventing the spread of the computer virus when the computer virus is detected.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the spread of the infection of the computer virus invading through the network.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the network facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect, the virus preventing means detects the data stored in the apparatus when the computer virus is detected. The feature is that output to the outside is prohibited.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the spread of the infection at the output destination by outputting the data infected by the computer virus to the outside.

The invention described in claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the network facsimile apparatus according to the item (1), the virus prevention means, when the computer virus is detected, notifies the outside that the computer virus has been detected.

Therefore, the detection of the computer virus can be notified to call attention.

[0012] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the network facsimile apparatus according to the third aspect, the virus prevention means causes the computer connected to the apparatus to detect the computer virus. It is characterized by notifying that the computer virus has been detected.

Therefore, in a computer which is connected to the device and manages the device, measures are taken against computer virus infection in the device, and
Care can be taken not to spread the computer virus infection.

The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 3 or 4.
In the network facsimile apparatus according to the item (1), the virus prevention unit adds a message to the electronic mail transmitted via the network to warn that a computer virus is detected in the apparatus.

Therefore, it is possible to take care so that the infection of the computer virus is not spread at the recipient of the electronic mail.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the network facsimile apparatus according to any one of the third to fifth aspects, a conversion unit for converting the image data into a FAX format image and a FAX format after the conversion. Transmission means for transmitting an image through a telephone network,
When the computer virus is detected, the virus prevention unit adds an image for warning that the computer virus is detected by the apparatus to the FAX format image transmitted by the transmission unit. .

Therefore, it is possible to take care not to spread the computer virus infection at the recipient of the FAX format image.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical connection of hardware of a network facsimile apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the network facsimile apparatus 1 performs various calculations and centrally controls the network facsimile apparatus 1, a CPU 3 storing various programs and fixed data, and a RAM 4 serving as a work area of the CPU 2. When,
Are connected by a bus 16.

Further, the bus 16 has a scanner 5, a plotter 6, and an operation panel 7 for receiving various operations and displaying various messages via a predetermined interface.
, An image memory 8 for accumulating image data, an encoding / decoding unit 9 for encoding and decoding image data, and a network control device 10 for connecting to a public network 13 such as ISDN or PSTN of image data. And a LAN connected to the LAN 12
The control unit 11 is connected to.

The LAN 12 is connected to the Internet 14, and the network facsimile apparatus 1 is connected to the LA
It is connected to the Internet 14 via N12.
A PC 15 (see FIG. 5) is also connected to the LAN 12, and the network facsimile apparatus 1 can be used from the PC 15.

The network facsimile apparatus 1 having such a configuration is an Internet facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving facsimiles via the Internet 14, and encodes / decodes image data received from the public line network 13 or the Internet 14. Decrypt in part 9,
Image data read out by the plotter 6 and image data read by the scanner 5 can be encoded by the encoding / decoding unit 9 and transmitted to the other party via the public line network 13 or the Internet 14.

FIG. 2 shows a network facsimile apparatus 1.
It is a functional block diagram of.

As shown in FIG. 2, via the LAN 12,
When the e-mail sending / receiving unit 21 receives an e-mail with the TIFF file attached from the Internet 14, the TI
The image of the FF file can be printed by the plotter 6 by the printing unit 22, transferred to the PC 15 or the like by the transfer unit 23, or saved in the image memory 8 by the saving unit 24. On the contrary, the image read by the scanner 5 can be converted into a TIFF file by the TIFF file unit 25, attached to an electronic mail by the electronic mail transmission / reception unit 21, and transmitted via the LAN 12 and the Internet 14.

Also, these functions and the ordinary public line network 1
It is also possible to perform an operation in which facsimile transmission / reception via the communication line 3 is combined, and the facsimile transmission / reception unit 26 can transmit / receive the facsimile via the public line network 13. Therefore, the conversion unit 27 can also perform mutual conversion between the TIFF file and the FAX format.

The virus detection unit 28 uses the TIFF attached to the electronic mail received by the electronic mail transmission / reception unit 21.
When the file is expanded, a computer virus is detected from the TIFF file by a predetermined virus compatible software. Then, the antivirus unit 29 performs various processes for preventing the spread of the computer virus detected by the virus detection unit 28 (details will be described later).

FIG. 3 shows the TIF in the electronic mail transmitting / receiving unit 21.
7 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by the network facsimile apparatus 1 when receiving an e-mail with an F file attached.

As shown in FIG. 3, the electronic mail transmitting / receiving unit 2
When the e-mail attached with the TIFF file is received in step 1 (Y in step S1), the attached TIFF file is received.
The file is expanded (step S2). A data expansion means is realized by step S2. Then, the virus detection unit 28 detects a computer virus from the expanded TIFF file (step S3). When a computer virus is detected (Y in step S4), a virus detection flag indicating the fact of virus detection is set (step S5), and the antivirus unit 29 prevents the spread of computer virus infection. Perform various types of processing. The virus detecting means is realized by step S4, and the infection preventing means is realized by step S5.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the virus detection flag is set (Y in step S11),
Take the following measures. The infection preventing means is realized by the processing of FIG.

(1) First, the network facsimile apparatus 1 is informed to the PC 15 that a computer virus has been detected (step S13).

(2) When the facsimile transmission is instructed via the public line network 13 (Y in step S14) after the notification (Y in step S12, S13), the facsimile format image to be transmitted is displayed. A computer virus is detected by the network facsimile apparatus that has transmitted this image again (or as another image), and an image is displayed to warn the user to be careful (step S15).

(3) When a facsimile transmission instruction is given via the Internet 14 (Y in step S16), a computer virus is detected in the electronic mail carrying the TIFF file in the network facsimile apparatus which transmitted this image. Therefore, the text of the warning message is attached (or written directly) so as to be careful (step S17).

Note that instead of the processing of steps S14 to S17, transmission via the LAN 12 and the public line network 13 may be prohibited.

These processes (step S5) are maintained until the PC 15 instructs the network facsimile apparatus 1 to initialize (steps S18 and S19), as described below.

The user of the PC 15 notified of the step S14 can take care not to access the data of the network facsimile machine 1 such as the TIFF file stored in the image memory 8.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, programs and data infected by a computer virus, which are mainly stored in the image memory 8 on the network facsimile apparatus 1, are cleared and stored on the PC 15 side. A secure program or the like is installed in the network facsimile machine 1 to initialize the Internet FAX. This enables complete removal of computer viruses.

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the spread of computer virus infection that invades through the network.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the network facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect, it is possible to output the data infected by the computer virus to the outside and prevent the infection from spreading at the output destination. .

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the network facsimile apparatus described in (1), the detection of a computer virus can be notified to call attention.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the network facsimile apparatus according to the third aspect, in a computer connected to the device and managing the device, measures against infection by a computer virus in the device are taken. Take precautions and also be careful not to spread the computer virus infection.

The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 3 or 4.
In the network facsimile apparatus described in 1), it is possible to take care not to spread infection of computer virus at the recipient of the electronic mail.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, in the network facsimile apparatus according to any one of the third to fifth aspects, it should be noted that the recipient of the FAX format image does not spread the computer virus infection. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical connection of hardware of a network facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a network facsimile device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a process performed by a network facsimile device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process performed by the network facsimile device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of processing performed between a network facsimile device and a PC.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Network facsimile machine 15 Computer

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A network facsimile apparatus that reads image data of an original, attaches it to an e-mail, sends it to a destination via a network, and prints out image data attached to an e-mail received from the network. Data expansion means for expanding image data attached to an email received from the network, virus detection means for detecting a computer virus from the image data, and the computer virus when the computer virus is detected. A network facsimile apparatus, comprising: an infection prevention unit that performs processing for preventing the spread of the infection. 2. The virus prevention unit prohibits output of data stored in the apparatus to the outside when the computer virus is detected. The network facsimile machine according to 1. 3. The network according to claim 1, wherein when the computer virus is detected, the virus prevention means notifies the outside that the computer virus has been detected. Facsimile machine. 4. The virus prevention means, when the computer virus is detected, informs a computer connected to the apparatus that the computer virus has been detected. 3. The network facsimile machine described in 3. 5. The virus prevention means adds a message for warning that a computer virus is detected in the apparatus to the electronic mail transmitted via the network. The network facsimile machine according to 1. 6. A conversion means for converting the image data into a FAX format image, and a transmission means for transmitting the converted FAX format image through a telephone line network, wherein the virus prevention means is the computer. 6. When a virus is detected, an image for warning that a computer virus has been detected by this apparatus is added to the FAX format image transmitted by the transmitting means, any one of claims 3 to 5. The network facsimile machine according to 1 above.