JP2004080388A - Network facsimile machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network facsimile machine for preventing services from being illegitimately utilized while providing generic and extensive services independently of a platform. <P>SOLUTION: The network facsimile machine transmits / receives a facsimile image data to / from other facsimile machine or host device via a conventional channel network and the Internet. Then the network facsimile machine is provided with a Web service interface for faxing from the host device, and is characterized in to fax a facsimile document after returning a transmission response with respect to a transmission request including destination information of faxing and image information to be faxed via the Web service interface. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a network facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to a network-compatible facsimile apparatus that performs facsimile transmission and reception via the Internet.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A network-compatible facsimile machine has many functions not available in a conventional facsimile machine without a network interface, such as an e-mail transmission / reception function and reference and editing of setting information by a Web browser. On the other hand, technologies such as XML (extensible Markup Language) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) have enabled a Web service technology capable of realizing a remote procedure call through a network. These technologies are standards defined mainly on W3C (http://www.w3.org/). These technologies have been generally used in personal computers, but these technologies have just started to be used in embedded systems such as facsimile machines and multifunction peripherals. It is also possible to provide a Web service interface by mounting an XML parser or SOAP in a network-compatible facsimile machine.
[0003]
Heretofore, as a means for transmitting a facsimile from a personal computer (PC facsimile transmission), image data generated by a printer driver has been transmitted to a network-compatible facsimile apparatus together with destination information, and the network-compatible facsimile apparatus having received the data has been publicly transmitted. A method of facsimile transmission through a line has been generally known. As another conventional technique of the PC FAX transmission technique, in the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-256147 (hereinafter referred to as a conventional example), a list of storage information of designated browse data is also stored. An image input / output system that allows browsing of print data that can be displayed on a browser has been proposed, and there is a portion common to the above-described PC FAX transmission in that the print data is used.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the PC FAX transmission method, it is necessary to install a printer driver depending on the operating system of the personal computer, and to develop a new printer driver to support a new operating system. There was a problem. In addition, in order to cooperate with a business application, there is a problem that setting must be performed through a unique application programming interface provided by a printer driver. Furthermore, according to the above-described conventional example, the various setting information transmitted from the personal computer to the device is in the format of the print data, and is improved in versatility as compared with the Web service using the standard XML and SOAP. There was room for Further, if the PC FAX transmission service is provided through the Web service interface, the service can be used from anywhere on the Internet or an intranet, but there is a risk that the service is used illegally.
[0005]
The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a network facsimile apparatus which can prevent a service from being used improperly and can provide a general-purpose and scalable service independent of a platform. Aim.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problem, the network facsimile apparatus of the present invention which transmits and receives image data to and from another facsimile apparatus or a host apparatus via a normal line network or the Internet is transmitted from the host apparatus by facsimile. Web service interface for Then, a facsimile transmission is performed after returning a transmission response to a transmission request having destination information of facsimile transmission and image information to be transmitted via the Web service interface. Therefore, a general-purpose and extensible service independent of the platform can be provided.
[0007]
Also, by having an access authentication function, it is possible to prevent unauthorized use of the service.
[0008]
Further, by performing access authentication using an external service registered in advance, it is possible to cooperate with an existing authentication service, and to provide a service with further expandability.
[0009]
Further, by notifying the image format that can be processed to the receiving side, a simpler network facsimile transmission service can be provided.
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The network facsimile apparatus of the present invention has a Web service interface for facsimile transmission from a host apparatus.
[0011]
【Example】
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a network facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a network facsimile apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a CPU 101, a ROM 102, a RAM 103, a timer control unit 104, an operation port I / F unit 105, a hard disk I / F unit 106, a communication control unit 107, a network control unit 108, It includes a decoding / decoding unit 109, a scanner I / F unit 110, a plotter I / F unit 111, an SRAM 112, a LAN communication control unit 113, and a character generator 114. Each unit is connected to an internal bus 115. The CPU 101 is an arithmetic processing LSI that controls the network facsimile machine 100. The ROM 102 stores a program for operating the CPU 101. The RAM 103 is a memory for storing data necessary for controlling the network facsimile apparatus 100, and is divided into a volatile memory section and a nonvolatile memory section. Timer control section 104 controls time. The operation port I / F unit 105 interfaces with an operation unit (not shown). The hard disk I / F unit 106 interfaces with a hard disk (not shown). The communication control unit 107 controls FAX communication. The network control unit 108 has an electrical interface with the PSTN (telephone network). The encoding / decoding unit 109 performs compression and decompression (including JPEG compression / decompression) of image information necessary for FAX communication. The scanner I / F unit 110 interfaces with a scanner (not shown). The plotter I / F unit 111 interfaces with a plotter unit (not shown). The SRAM 112 is an SRAM that retains information when power is turned off. The LAN communication control unit 113 corresponds to Ethernet (registered trademark) as a physical layer, and performs MIME (Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions) conversion and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) transmission for performing TCP / IP protocol and e-mail communication. . The character generator 114 holds character font information. The LAN communication control unit 113 has an HTTP protocol for displaying a Web page. In order to provide a Web service interface, an XML parser for analyzing XML data and a SOAP protocol are implemented.
[0012]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing software functions of the network facsimile apparatus of the present embodiment. In the figure, a data control unit 130 controls a print control unit 131, a scanner control unit 132, a FAX protocol 133, a modem control unit 134, a mail control unit 135, and a LAN control unit 136, respectively. The LAN control unit 136 controls the LAN driver 137.
[0013]
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a network to which the network facsimile apparatus of the present invention is applied. In the figure, a network facsimile apparatus 100 of the present invention is connected to a plurality of facsimile apparatuses 300 via a PSTN 200 so that facsimile communication is possible. Further, the network facsimile apparatus 100 is connected to a mail server 400, a plurality of personal computers 500 via a LAN 700, and further to other network facsimile apparatuses 100, personal computers 500 and a server 600 capable of providing Web services via the Internet 800. I have. In such a network configuration, the network facsimile apparatus 100 can transmit and receive data to and from the facsimile apparatus 300 via the PSTN 200 or the ISDN network. Furthermore, since it has a LAN interface, it is also possible to send and receive e-mail with the personal computer 500 on the LAN 700 and receive a transmission request from the personal computer 500 to the facsimile apparatus 300. If the LAN is connected to the Internet 800, it can receive an e-mail from the personal computer 500 connected to the Internet 800 or transmit an e-mail. Since the network facsimile apparatus 100 is equipped with a WWW server, it is possible to browse Web pages stored in the network facsimile apparatus 100 from a browser of a personal computer on the network. Communication with a server providing a Web service on the Internet or an intranet is performed by a SOAP protocol.
[0014]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the contents of essential data of a PC FAX transmission request transmitted from a personal computer to a network facsimile machine. As shown in the drawing, a PC FAX transmission request requires destination information 401 for facsimile apparatus transmission and image information 402 to be transmitted.
[0015]
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a PC FAX transmission request and an example of XML data definition of a response to the PC FAX transmission request. XML data can be expressed as a logical tree structure. The PC FAX transmission request from the personal computer to the network-compatible facsimile apparatus is the “PcfaxRequest” node 501. The “PcfaxRequest” node 501 has facsimile device transmission destination information and facsimile device image information in its elements. The destination information is represented by an “Address” node 502. The “Address” node 502 has a facsimile machine number (“FaxNumber”) 503 and a line type (“LineType”) 504 as its child elements. “FaxNumber” 503 is character string (text) data, and “LineType” 504 may be either a character string or numeric data, and takes a value corresponding to the line type of the network facsimile apparatus. “FaxImage” 505 is an element that expresses image information of the facsimile machine. It has actual image information “RawData” 506 as a child element. Image information that is binary data needs to be converted to text data in order to describe it in XML. Therefore, the binary data is encoded by MIME conversion or the like, and is converted into text data (byte array). The network facsimile apparatus that has received the image information data decodes the text data to obtain image information of the original binary data. The network facsimile apparatus that has received “PcfaxRequest” 501 analyzes the received XML data with an XML parser and acquires necessary data. The result of the processing is notified to the personal computer by a PC fax transmission response. “PcfaxResponse” 507 in FIG. 5 is an example of the XML definition of the PC FAX transmission response. The “PcfaxResponse” 507 has a “ResultCode” code 508 representing the result of the response as a child element. This code is numerical data, and may return zero if it succeeds or a non-zero error code if an error occurs.
[0016]
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an exchange between a network facsimile apparatus and a destination facsimile apparatus when a PC FAX transmission request is made from a personal computer. The network facsimile apparatus that has received the PC FAX transmission request 601 from the personal computer via the Web service interface transmits a PC FAX transmission response 602 to the personal computer. Next, facsimile transmission 603 is performed to the designated destination via the public line. When creating a facsimile transmission application that operates on a personal computer, facsimile transmission can be performed by calling a Web service provided by a network facsimile apparatus. Further, since the PC FAX transmission service does not depend on a specific platform, an application that can be used in a wide range of environments can be created by creating an application using a programming language that operates on a virtual machine such as the Java (registered trademark) language. Here, “RawData” is encoded in a data format that can be transmitted by the facsimile apparatus. Specifically, the format is MH, MR, MMR, JBIG, or the like. Therefore, since the facsimile machine transmission application needs to prepare data in these formats, it is possible to instruct the printer driver to create an image, convert the output file into XML data, and send it to the network-compatible facsimile machine. it can.
[0017]
Next, addition of user authentication data when using the PC FAX transmission service will be described.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an XML definition of PC FAX transmission data including authentication information. In addition to the PC FAX transmission request and the example of the XML data definition of the response to the PC FAX transmission request shown in FIG. 5, the “JobHeader” node 701 has a “UserID” node 702 and a “Password” node 703 as child elements. In a “UserID” node 702, information for identifying a user such as a user name is input. A “Password” node 703 represents a password and is preferably encrypted. The network facsimile stores a table of user information and password information (authentication table). When the “UserID” node 702 and the “Password” node 703 are received from the XML parser, the information is referred to an authentication table to determine whether or not the user has an appropriate use qualification. A “SendTime” node 704, which is a child element of the “JobHeader” node 701, is an element that specifies the time at which facsimile transmission is performed. This element is a character string such as “2002/06/27 15:20” representing the time. When this element is specified, the network-capable facsimile apparatus that has received the PC FAX transmission request does not immediately start facsimile apparatus transmission, but starts facsimile apparatus transmission at the specified time. Therefore, additional information for controlling the facsimile machine transmission processing can be added to the “JobHeader” node 701 to extend the function.
[0018]
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing exchange between a network facsimile apparatus and a destination facsimile apparatus when an external authentication service is used. In the figure, the information of the authentication service to be used needs to be registered in the network facsimile machine in advance. The network facsimile apparatus that has received the PC FAX transmission request 801 authenticates the information of the “UserID” node 702 and the “Password” node 703 of FIG. 7 using an external authentication service that is published as a Web service. That is, the network facsimile apparatus that has received the PC FAX transmission request 801 from the personal computer via the Web service interface transmits the authentication request 802 to the authentication server via the Web service interface. Next, the authentication server returns an authentication response 803 to the network facsimile machine via the Web service interface, and then transmits a PC FAX transmission response 804 to the specified destination. As the external service, various services such as an in-house personnel database, a service provided by an Internet service provider, or a commercial authentication service can be used. In order to use these services, it is necessary to implement processing corresponding to each service specification in a network facsimile machine. In practice, it may be difficult to support many services, but if authentication services are standardized in the future, this problem will be solved. Communication with an external service is performed by an authentication request and a response thereto. Also, “RawData” 506 in FIG. 7 has been described as a data format that can be transmitted by a facsimile apparatus such as MH, MR, MMR, and JBIG. In order to prepare data in these formats, there is an inconvenience that a driver for PC FAX transmission is required. If the data to be transmitted by the facsimile apparatus is simple text data or graphic data, the data is transmitted to the network facsimile apparatus as it is, and the network-compatible facsimile apparatus converts the image to the MH, It is preferable to convert to a format such as MR, MMR, JBIG. Therefore, according to this method, the configuration of the facsimile machine transmission application that issues a PC FAX transmission request is simplified, and the number of development steps can be reduced.
[0019]
FIG. 9 is an example of a PC FAX transmission XML definition including information on a data format to be transmitted. “DataType” 901 specifies which data type element is included in the “FaxImage” node 505. The “DataType” 901 can be defined as either a numeric type or a character string. When “DataType” 901 represents text data, the child element of the “FaxImage” node 505 is “TextData” 902. The “TextData” 902 is a character string type element. Further, when the “DataType” 901 represents graphic data, the child element of the “FaxImage” node 505 is “ImageData” 903. This “ImageData” 903 stores data obtained by encoding graphic data, which is binary data, into text. Upon receiving “DataType” 901, the network facsimile apparatus determines whether the data format is a processable data format and returns a response code to a PC FAX transmission response.
[0020]
It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications and substitutions can be made within the scope of the claims.
[0021]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the network facsimile apparatus of the present invention for transmitting and receiving facsimile data to and from another facsimile apparatus or a host apparatus via a normal line network or the Internet network is a Web facsimile apparatus for transmitting facsimile data from a host apparatus. Has a service interface. Then, a facsimile transmission is performed after returning a transmission response to a transmission request having destination information of facsimile transmission and image information to be transmitted via the Web service interface. Therefore, a general-purpose and extensible service independent of the platform can be provided.
[0022]
Also, by having an access authentication function, it is possible to prevent unauthorized use of the service.
[0023]
Further, by performing access authentication using an external service registered in advance, it is possible to cooperate with an existing authentication service, and to provide a service with further expandability.
[0024]
Further, by notifying the image format that can be processed to the receiving side, a simpler network facsimile transmission service can be provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a network facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating software functions of the network facsimile apparatus of the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a network to which the network facsimile apparatus of the present invention is applied.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing contents of essential data of a PC FAX transmission request transmitted from a personal computer to a network facsimile machine.
FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a PC FAX transmission request and an example of XML data definition of a response to the PC FAX transmission request.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing exchange between a network facsimile apparatus and a destination facsimile apparatus when a PC FAX transmission request is issued from a personal computer.
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an XML definition of PC FAX transmission data including authentication information.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing exchange between a network facsimile apparatus and a destination facsimile apparatus when an external authentication service is used.
FIG. 9 is an example of a PC FAX transmission XML definition including information on a data format to be transmitted.
[Explanation of symbols]
100; network facsimile machine, 101; CPU,
102; ROM, 103; RAM, 104; timer control unit,
105; operation port I / F section; 106; hard disk I / F section
107: communication control unit, 108; network control unit, 109; encoding / decoding unit,
110; scanner I / F section, 111; plotter I / F section
112; SRAM, 113; LAN communication control unit,
114; character generator, 115; internal bus,
130; data control unit, 131; print control unit, 132; scanner control unit,
133; fax protocol; 134; modem control unit; 135; mail control unit;
136; LAN control unit, 137; LAN driver.

Claims (4)

In a network facsimile apparatus that transmits and receives image data to and from another facsimile apparatus or a host apparatus via a normal line network or the Internet network,
A facsimile is transmitted after returning a transmission response to a transmission request having destination information of facsimile transmission and image information to be transmitted via the Web service interface, having a Web service interface for facsimile transmission from the host device. A network facsimile machine characterized by the above. 2. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, which has an access authentication function. 2. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein access authentication is performed using an external service registered in advance. 4. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a processable image format is notified to a receiving side.

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