JP2003338901A - Facsimile apparatus and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To save printing paper, etc., for use in an Internet facsimile apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: In case an electronic mail 1 is received in a facsimile apparatus 2, if an address of the facsimile apparatus is described in a 'TO' field as shown in an electronic mail 31, the mail contents are printed as soon as the electronic mail has been received. If an address different from the facsimile concerned is described in the 'TO' field as shown in electronic mails 32, 33, the mail contents are not printed even the electronic mail has been received, instead, the mail contents are stored in a memory. At the same time, history information including sender and destination information and an addressee for reference distribution is prepared. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus for performing facsimile communication via a computer network such as the Internet and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electronic mail has been one of the main fields of application of the Internet. The following techniques have been developed in order to realize facsimile communication using this electronic mail.

(1) In the case of broadcast transmission to a facsimile machine connected to a public network or the Internet via a relay facsimile machine, a {TO:} destination indicating an electronic mail destination and a reference distribution destination {CC: } A secret reference distribution function that detects a destination and a {BCC:} destination indicating a confidential reference distribution destination, and distributes the address described in the {BCC:} destination in secret to other destinations There is technology that can be realized.

(2) When sending an electronic mail to a plurality of Internet addresses from an Internet facsimile apparatus such as a personal computer which does not have a keyboard, which is based on a normal stand-alone facsimile, it is necessary to change the address of the destination to {}. To:} destination, {CC:} destination, or {BC
C:} A function is provided to specify the attribute of whether to make it a destination,
There is a technology for improving the operability by facilitating the setting of the corresponding address.

(3) Since a facsimile machine compatible with a securities company in the United States is required to send all received data to a supervisor and to keep a copy of the data, a facsimile copy of a received facsimile document and File and transmission work were required, and the cost for that became enormous. In order to reduce this work and cost, data transmission to the center that collectively manages the copy of the received facsimile document is performed by e-mail, and the destination of the center at this time is {BCC:} and the actual destination user There is a technique for making this processing unknown.

(4) When an e-mail is sent to a plurality of addresses by the Internet facsimile machine, a plurality of designated addresses {TO:} destination, {CC:} destination and {BCC:} destination are included in the output image of the receiving side. In the case of outputting as a header, in order to prevent a large amount of header printing, there is a technique of dividing these destinations into a plurality of groups and preventing the header printing from being unnecessarily long.

[0007]

In any of the above-mentioned prior arts, the transmission processing or operability according to the {TO:} destination, {CC:} destination, and {BCC:} destination in the internet facsimile or relay facsimile on the transmitting side is either. However, the receiving side does not say that the process according to the type of the destination is performed, but is only displayed as the type of the destination.

On the other hand, whether or not the e-mail received by the personal computer is printed on paper is determined by the recipient. In the case of the Internet facsimile, the received data is printed out on paper. However, it is not always necessary to print a reference distribution mail that is not originally addressed to the facsimile device. Despite that, all received emails are treated in the same way, so they are always printed out,
Not only wastes paper and wastes money by printing received emails that do not need printing, but also when you need to print urgent emails, you have to wait for the unnecessary emails to finish printing. This can happen, resulting in reduced productivity.

Further, there is an inconvenience that it is not easy to distinguish between the mail addressed to the device itself and the reference distribution by the header or the reception history information.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and provides an Internet facsimile apparatus and a control method therefor, which print out received data according to the type of destination to prevent information arrangement and paper consumption. The purpose is to provide.

Further, the present invention provides an Internet facsimile machine and a control method therefor, in which the destination types are separately described in the communication history information to provide efficiency in communication management and convenience for additional printing after reception. With the goal.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following constitution.

A facsimile machine connected to a computer network and having an electronic mail transmission / reception function, which reads a transmission destination described in a destination field, a reference distribution destination field, and a confidential reference distribution destination field of a received electronic mail, and transmits the destination field. When the e-mail address of its own machine is detected, the e-mail is printed out.

More preferably, the identification name corresponding to the address described in the transmission source field of each electronic mail is described as the transmission source address, and the address of the facsimile machine is the destination field of each electronic mail, the reference distribution destination. Describe the identifier that indicates which of the fields, the confidential reference distribution destination field,
It further comprises means for creating a communication history in which character data indicating the title of each electronic mail is described.

More preferably, for the electronic mail in which the own electronic mail address is described in the destination field,
The system further includes an output unit that outputs the communication history in a column corresponding to the electronic mail in a mode different from that of other electronic mails.

More preferably, the body data of the electronic mail whose own electronic mail address is not described in the destination field is stored in the memory.

[0017]

1 is a schematic diagram of an Internet facsimile machine according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the Internet facsimile machine 2 receives the received mail 1. The facsimile device 2 has "x@ab.co.
The email address "jp" is given. There are three types of mail received by the facsimile apparatus 2 depending on the distribution mode. The first is a mail 31 in which the address of the facsimile device 2 is designated in the TO field indicating the destination. This e-mail is printed out. Second
Is the facsimile machine 2 in the TO field indicating the destination.
An address other than the address is designated, and the address of the facsimile apparatus 2 is designated in the CC field indicating the reference distribution destination, which is the mail 32. Third is a TO that indicates the destination
An address other than the address of the facsimile device 2 is designated in the field, and the address of the facsimile device 2 is designated in the BCC field indicating the confidential reference distribution destination. These mails 32 and 33 are printed out only when an explicit instruction is given by the operator.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of a facsimile apparatus. In FIG. 5, the facsimile apparatus 3000 has an R
A CPU 1 for executing a program for controlling the entire facsimile apparatus including a program shown in a flowchart described later stored in the program ROM of the OM 3 is provided, and each device connected to the system bus 4 is provided with the CPU 1.
Is controlled comprehensively. The RAM 2 functions as a main memory, a work area, etc. of the CPU 1. Program is RA
It may be stored in M2. Scanner controller 5
Controls the image scanner 9 for reading the original image, and reads the image as digital data. The panel controller 6 controls display and input of the touch panel 10 provided on the liquid crystal panel and the keyboard or the liquid crystal panel. An external memory controller (MC) 7 controls access to an external memory 11 such as a hard disk (HD) that stores programs, received mails, scanned image data, and the like. Printer controller (PRT
C) 8 is connected to the printer 12 and controls printout of received facsimile data and communication history. The network controller (NC) 13 is connected to a communication medium connected to a public telephone network or other computer networks, and provides an electrical and physical interface with the network. The apparatus of this embodiment provides an interface for both the public telephone network and the computer network (Internet).

FIG. 2 shows a connection state of the Internet facsimile machine shown in FIG. 5 with the Internet and a public network as a normal facsimile machine.

The Internet facsimile machine 2 according to the present invention is connected to both a local area network (LAN) 26 and a public network 24. The public network 24 is a general telephone line to which a normal facsimile device 25 is connected. In addition to the terminals 27 and 28, a server 29 that controls the LAN is connected to the LAN 26. The server 29 functions as an electronic mail server in the LAN 26, and an electronic mail destined for the facsimile device 2 is once stored in the server 29 and then read by the facsimile device 2. The LAN 26 is connected to the Internet 22 via the router 23. An electronic mail terminal 21, other internet facsimiles 30, 31, etc. are connected to the internet 22. The user can send an electronic mail to the facsimile device 22 via the Internet 22 by using the terminal 21, the facsimile 30, and the like. In the present embodiment, the case where an electronic mail is transmitted from the terminal 21 to the facsimile device 2 will be described.

Next, the detailed operation of the Internet facsimile machine 2 when receiving an electronic mail will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. The procedure of FIG. 4 shows the case of the simple mode of the Internet facsimile machine (which is to be compared with the real-time mode described later, which is an Internet facsimile machine of one form of the store-and-forward method). In the case of the simple mode, it is checked whether or not the mail information once received by the server 29 is received from the terminal on the LAN at regular intervals.

First, in step S40, the mail reception activation time is monitored. Yes at step S4 when the activation time comes
Proceed to 1 to check whether the server has received mail addressed to itself. Next, in step S42, when there is no corresponding incoming mail, No is returned to step S40 and the operation is repeated.

Here, if the corresponding mail can be detected, the process proceeds to Yes in step S43 and the received address T
Check the O, CC and BCC fields. If the address of the self-device (facsimile device 2) is described in the TO field, the process goes to step S45 to create header information for print output, and in step S46, attaches the header created in step S45 to the mail text. Output and print. Then, in step S44, a communication history as shown in FIG. 3 is created.

On the other hand, when the own machine address is not described in the TO field and the own machine address is described in the CC or BCC field, the process directly proceeds to step S44 without printing the output, and only the communication history is created. .
Save the subject and body of the received e-mail in the memory. It is also possible not to save the memory when printed out for effective use of the memory. In this way, even if the mail text is not printed out, by saving it in an internal storage area such as a hard disk or an external storage device such as a flexible disk, even if it is received as a reference distribution (CC) or confidential reference distribution (BCC). , When you want to check the detailed contents of the mail, you can print it out later if necessary. This is similar to the normal memory reception output when confidential reception or paper is exhausted, quoting the item number of communication history information or displaying the communication history information equivalent of FIG. 3 on the display of this device, It can be easily realized by selecting.

As another application example, in the case of a real-time internet facsimile in which terminals are directly connected to communicate in real time, steps S40, S41,
Instead of S42, a step of detecting an incoming email,
The sending terminal 21 (sending terminal) and the receiving terminal 2 are directly connected and the communication step for receiving mail operates. that time,
Since the text and title address information is saved and the communication history information is created, step S44 is unnecessary.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the format of the communication history information created by the Internet facsimile machine 2 in step S44. Although FIG. 3 shows the output format, the format stored in the memory may be any format that electronically represents the format of FIG. When stored in the memory, management becomes easy by storing a field corresponding to one e-mail as one record. In FIG. 3, columns 31 to
33 corresponds to the e-mails 31 to 33 of FIG. 1, respectively. The history information includes, for each e-mail, a send / receive field indicating whether it is a sent mail or a received mail, a date / time field indicating the time of sending or receiving, a sender field indicating the sender, a TO field indicating the destination, and reference distribution. It includes a CC field indicating the destination, a BCC field indicating the confidential reference distribution destination, and a title field indicating the title attached to the electronic mail.

The column 31 is for the mail address yy @ gl. c
o. jp from the sending terminal 21 to the address x @ ab. co. Indicates that the email was received with jp as the TO field. Column 32 contains the address xx @ lo. co. device 3 with jp
0 to the address x of this Internet facsimile machine
@Ab. co. It indicates that the email is received by jp as CC as a reference distribution destination. Column 33 contains the address zz @ ur. co. From the device 31 having jp to the address x @ ab. co. j
It indicates that the email is received with p as the BCC that is the reference distribution destination. Further, since the content of the subject (Subject) column described in the electronic mail is also described, it is convenient for later reference and grasping the outline of the mail content at the time of reference distribution.

Here, in order to easily identify that it is not a reference distribution, the column indicating that the electronic mail is the electronic mail address in the TO field, that is, the column 31, is different from other electronic mails. , For example, printed in red letters. By doing so, by referring to the history information, it is easy to identify whether or not it is reference distribution. If you make it bold or italic instead of color, it can be applied to black-and-white printing and display.

FIG. 6 is an example of a procedure for printing history information. When an operation for outputting history information is performed from the operation panel 10 in a predetermined procedure, the process of FIG. 6 is started.

First, the top record is read from the history information file (step S601). It is determined whether or not the file ends (step S602). If the file ends (no record), the print data created up to that point is printed out (step S606).

When the record can be read out, the TO field of the record is inspected, and if the electronic mail address of the own machine is described, the column is written in red and print data is created. If the e-mail address of another machine is described, the relevant field is made black and print data is created.

With the above configuration and procedure, since it is printed out when it is not a reference distribution, there is an effect that information arrangement and paper consumption can be prevented.

The communication history information includes TO, CC, BCC.
By describing each separately, there is an effect that the efficiency of communication management and convenience for additional printing after reception can be provided.

Further, by displaying in a different color only when the own machine address is designated in the TO column, reference distribution and communication history of other than that can be easily distinguished, and operability at the time of printout after reception is improved. effective.

Further, even in the case of reference distribution, the contents of the save memory can be downloaded and printed out when the text is required later.

As described above, according to the invention described in claim 1, there is an effect that printout can be performed only when the reference distribution is not performed and information can be organized and wasteful paper consumption can be prevented.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the communication history information is described by classifying the types of the transmission destinations, whereby it is possible to improve the efficiency of the communication management and the convenience of additional printing after reception. effective.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the own machine address is designated in the destination field, the information is output in a manner different from the other cases, so that the reference history and the communication history of the others are identified. And the operability at the time of printout after reception is improved.

According to the invention described in claim 4, even in the case of reference distribution, there is an effect that the contents of the save memory can be downloaded and printed out when the text is required later.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one form of the present Internet facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a connection diagram of the present Internet facsimile machine.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of communication history information.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a facsimile device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. Connected to a computer network,
A facsimile device having an e-mail transmission / reception function, which reads the destinations described in the destination field, reference distribution destination field, and confidential reference distribution destination field of the received e-mail, and detects the e-mail address of the device itself in the destination field. A facsimile machine, which prints out the e-mail when it does. 2. An identification name corresponding to an address described in a transmission source field of each electronic mail is described as a transmission source address, and the address of the facsimile device is a destination field, a reference distribution destination field of each electronic mail, The method further comprising means for describing an identifier indicating which field is included in the confidential reference distribution destination field and creating a communication history describing character data indicating a title of each electronic mail. 1. The facsimile machine according to 1. 3. For an electronic mail having its own electronic mail address described in the destination field, a column corresponding to the electronic mail is further provided with output means for outputting the communication history in a manner different from other electronic mails. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, which is characterized in that. 4. The body data of an electronic mail for which the own electronic mail address is not described in the destination field is stored in the memory.
Facsimile apparatus described in 1. 5. A computer having an e-mail transmission / reception function, which is connected to a computer network, reads a destination described in a destination field, a reference distribution destination field, and a confidential reference distribution destination field of the received e-mail, and a destination field. A computer program for causing the electronic mail to function as a means for printing out the electronic mail when the electronic mail address of the own machine is detected. 6. An identification name corresponding to an address described in a transmission source field of each electronic mail is described as a transmission source address, and the address of the facsimile apparatus is a destination field, a reference distribution destination field of each electronic mail, A method for causing a computer to further function as a means for creating a communication history in which an identifier indicating in which field of the confidential reference distribution destination field is described, and character data indicating a title of each electronic mail is described. 5. The computer program according to item 5. 7. For an electronic mail having its own electronic mail address described in the destination field, the column corresponding to the electronic mail is further made to function as a computer for outputting the communication history in a mode different from other electronic mails. A computer program according to claim 6 for. 8. The computer program according to claim 5, for storing the text data of an electronic mail in which the own electronic mail address is not described in the destination field in the memory. 9. A computer recording medium in which the computer program according to claim 5 is recorded. 10. A method for controlling a facsimile device having an electronic mail transmission / reception function, which is connected to a computer network, and is described in a destination field, a reference distribution destination field and a confidential reference distribution destination field of a received electronic mail. A facsimile characterized by reading the destination, discriminating an e-mail in which the e-mail address of the machine is described in the destination field, and printing out an e-mail in which the e-mail address of the machine is described in the destination field. Device control method.