JP2004110616A - E-mail print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that the relationship of correspondence between the contents of an electronic mail 1 and the contents of another electronic mail attached thereto becomes confused by printing the above mails as one set of prints D. <P>SOLUTION: According to the electronic mail received from a client device C to be printed, an analysis function 21 of a print system P analyzes the electronic mail data to generate the print data in which the electronic mail data are merged with data of another attached electronic mail. The merged print data are supplied to a printing apparatus 16 to output the electronic mail 1 to which another electronic mail 2 is attached as one set of prints D. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to print processing of print data received as electronic mail, and more particularly, to print processing of electronic mail to which other electronic mail data is attached as an attached file.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Information exchange by e-mail via an external network such as the Internet or an internal network such as a LAN is routinely performed.
Such information exchange is performed by transmitting and receiving e-mails to and from a mail server using an information processing device having a communication function (for example, a portable information terminal such as a personal computer or a PDA).
[0003]
Here, the information processing apparatus as described above is used as a client apparatus, and the print data is transmitted as e-mail from the client apparatus, and the print server (printer) outputs a printed matter by processing of a print server based on the print data. 2. Description of the Related Art Systems are known (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
The e-mail print system realizes, for example, printing by a high-performance printer arranged separately from the client device, and print output using a portable client device such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants). Data (print data) such as a document to be printed is transmitted from a client device to a mail server as e-mail, and the print server acquires print data from the mail server and prints out a document to be printed from the printing device. is there.
[0004]
The basic data structure of an e-mail is composed of a header part and a body part. The header part includes an e-mail identifier (Message-ID), an e-mail transmission date and time (Date), a source address (From), a destination address (To), an e-mail title (Subject), and an e-mail format (Content- Type), and the body part includes the text data of the e-mail.
[0005]
Here, the e-mail system has a convenient function for communicating, such as a reply function that can reply an e-mail to a received e-mail, and a function to transfer the received e-mail to another user. In addition to a transfer function, an attached file function for attaching images, sounds, character data, and the like to a mail as a file is provided. The attached file function uses the MIME (Multipurpose Internet Message Extensions) format to allow an electronic mail to be attached and transmitted with various media data files including other electronic mail data.
[0006]
FIG. 6 shows an example of a data structure in a case where another electronic mail data (which is appropriately described as a child mail) is attached as a file to an electronic mail (hereinafter appropriately described as a parent mail).
Also in the data structure of the e-mail attached with the file, each of the parent mail and the child mail has a basic structure including a header part and a body part, and as shown in FIG. And a body mail 1 composed of a body part 1b and a child mail 2 consisting of a header part 2h and a body part 2b are nested in the body part 1b of the parent mail 1 composed of the parent mail 1 and the body part 1b.
[0007]
As illustrated in FIG. 6, in addition to information such as Message-ID, Date, From, To, Subject, and Content-Type, a file is attached to the header portions 1h and 2h of the parent mail and the child mail. The body part 1b contains the mail text data of the parent mail 1, and the body part 2b contains the mail text data of the child mail 2. Note that (... D01FAD208573DD43F5D79254) in the figure is delimiter data.
[0008]
When an e-mail with such child mail attached as nested data is sent to the above e-mail print system, the e-mail (parent mail) and the contents of the attached child mail are printed separately. Is output. That is, the parent mail and the child mail are processed as separate print jobs in the print server.
[0009]
As an example, as shown in FIG. 8, a printed matter in which the contents of the parent mail 1 including the contents of the header portion 1h and the contents of the body portion 1b are printed, and as shown in FIG. A printed matter on which the content of the child mail 2 including the content of the section 2b is printed is output from the printing device.
[0010]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-6-77994 [Patent Document 2]
JP 2000-330753 A
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, in an e-mail print system that performs processing for causing a printing device to print the content of a received e-mail, if another e-mail is attached to the e-mail, the e-mail is printed. A plurality of printed materials in which the content of the e-mail and the content of the attached other e-mail are separately printed are output.
[0012]
However, if the contents of the parent e-mail and the contents of the attached e-mail are printed on separate printed materials, the distinction and correspondence between these printed materials will be lost even though they are attached because the contents are related. There was a problem that it was incomprehensible and the usability was poor. Such an inconvenience is caused by an e-mail print system in which print processing is performed by a print device distant from the client device via a network by a process of the print server, and further, a type in which print data is spooled until a print instruction is given. This is a remarkable problem in the e-mail print system, and it becomes difficult to know which e-mail attachment file contents are mixed with various prints such as prints of other client devices.
[0013]
Also, even if the e-mail attached with the file is printed in a batch, the e-mail is not necessarily output as a plurality of separate printed materials. Even if the user is interested in the contents, the contents of the parent mail will also be printed, so unnecessary print processing will be performed, and system resources and print media will be wasted and costs will be reduced. Problem.
[0014]
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to obtain the contents of a parent mail and the contents of a child file as a set of printed matter.
Further objects of the present invention will be apparent in the following description.
[0015]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention has a function of generating print data in which the contents of a first e-mail and the contents of a second e-mail attached thereto are merged. This is an electronic mail print system that has a function of generating data so that a parent mail to which a child mail is attached can be output as a set of printed contents. Further, the present invention provides a printing method which can be executed by the above-mentioned e-mail print system, a print processing program for realizing the processing of the above-mentioned e-mail print system using computer hardware, and further realized by such a print processing. It is also a printed matter.
[0016]
Further, in the present invention, it is sufficient that print data to be output as a set of prints can be generated by merging the contents of the first e-mail with the contents of the attached second e-mail. The format may be printed out in a different manner. However, in view of the actual printed matter, it is easier to read if the print contents have uniformity. Therefore, these contents may be generated as print data in the same format.
In this case, in order to simplify the system settings, it is preferable to generate print data that is unified into one of the format of the contents of the parent mail and the contents of the child mail.
[0017]
If the format format is unified as described above, the format can be adjusted to a format suitable for the print system. However, without unifying such a format format, the content of the parent mail and the content of the child mail can be adjusted. When print processing is performed in each format format, if any of these format formats is not supported by the print system, instead of the unsupported content, use message data notifying that fact. Print data may be generated. Further, when simplifying the function of the system, if the format of the contents of the parent mail and the contents of the child mail are the same, print data may be generated by merging the contents. Good.
Further, according to the present invention, a parent mail, a child mail, and a parent-child relationship may be output as a substantially complete set of printed matter. In order to realize this, the contents of the child mail are attached to the parent mail. Processing for printing such that the file can be identified may be performed.
[0018]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The present invention will be specifically described based on examples. The following describes an example of the e-mail data printing process shown in FIG.
FIG. 1 shows an example of an electronic mail print system to which the present invention is applied.
The system according to the present embodiment includes a client device C such as a personal computer having a function of transmitting and receiving an e-mail, and a print system P for performing a print service in response to a request from the client device C. The client device C transmits data to be printed to the print system P as e-mail, and the print system P performs a print process based on the data to be printed and outputs a printed matter.
[0019]
Here, a configuration that is not directly related to the processing of the present invention is not shown, but the print system P can be configured in various modes.
The basic functions of the print system P are a mail server function of receiving an e-mail, and a print server function of acquiring an e-mail from the mail server function and causing the printing device 16 to print the contents of the e-mail. A plurality of such printing systems P are provided on the network N, and a management function of passing an e-mail received by each printing system P to another printing system P in response to a request that satisfies a predetermined condition is further provided. The content of the e-mail transmitted from the client device C may be printed out by any of the print systems P.
[0020]
The mail server function, the print server function, and the management function may be configured as separate server devices in each print system P, but may be configured as a single server device having a combination of these functions. Is also good.
In any of the system modes, the print system P receives the e-mail from the client device C, automatically or spools the received e-mail, and when a separate print instruction is issued, the print server function is activated. This system fulfills a print job based on an e-mail and causes the printing device 16 to perform a printing process.
[0021]
More specifically, the print system P includes a communication unit 11 that performs communication via the network N, a central processing unit (CPU) 12 that performs operation control of the system and print processing control according to the present invention, and a central processing unit 12. A main storage unit 13 such as a RAM for providing a work area for print processing control, an external storage unit 14 such as a hard disk for storing data and programs such as print jobs for the central processing unit 12, and an input unit 15 for receiving an operation from an operator. And a printing device 16 for performing printing processing on a printing medium such as paper based on a print job, and a mail server function and a printer server function are mainly configured by processing by the central processing unit 12.
In this example, the printing system P and the printing device 16 are integrated into a device. However, the function units 11 to 15 as the printing system P are provided on the network N as devices separate from the printing device 16. It may be.
[0022]
The print processing control according to the present invention can also be realized by configuring the functions described below with dedicated hardware. In the present embodiment, the central processing unit 12 executes a predetermined print processing program. This is realized as a function added to the print server function.
This print processing program is provided to the central processing unit 12 by a known method such as storing it as a resident program in the main storage unit 13 or storing it in the external storage unit 14 and reading it out to the main storage unit 13 as necessary. Is done.
[0023]
Although not shown, the client device C includes an input unit for receiving an operation from a user, a communication function for performing communication via the network N, a mailer function for transmitting and receiving an e-mail to and from a mail server, and the like. As is well known, it has a function necessary for transmitting / receiving and printing an e-mail using a personal computer, and also has a function of transmitting print data as an e-mail to the print system P in accordance with an instruction from a user. Have.
[0024]
In the print system P, when the central processing unit 12 executes the print processing program, as shown in FIG. 2, it is determined whether or not other email data is included in the email data as a print job as an attached file. And a merge function 22 for merging the parent mail data and the attached child mail data when there is attached e-mail data to generate integrated print data 23. You.
[0025]
The analysis function 21 analyzes the header of the electronic mail to determine whether another electronic mail is attached as an attached file. That is, based on the MIME header of the header 1h of the parent mail 1, it is detected that an attached file is attached to the parent mail 1, and it is determined that the electronic mail is a Content-Type e-mail of the header 2h of the attached file. It is detected that the attached file is an electronic mail based on the information (message / rfc822) indicated.
[0026]
The merge function 22 extracts the data of the attached child mail 2 nested in the data of the parent mail 1 and prints data such as an image data format in which the data of the parent mail 1 and the data of the child mail 2 are integrated. 23 is generated. That is, one print job in which the data of the parent mail 1 and the data of the child mail 2 are merged is generated.
Then, the printing data 23 is generated in the main storage unit 13 and transferred to the printing device 16, developed as printing image data on the memory of the printing device 16, printed on paper (medium), and set as a set. Output as printed matter D.
[0027]
FIG. 3 shows an example in which the contents of the parent mail 1 and the contents of the child mail 2 are output as a set of printed matter D.
The print data is the image data of the print content of the printed matter D as it is, and the print data 23 generated by the merge function 22 has the data structure in which the data of the parent mail 1 and the data of the child mail 2 are continuous on a plane. . The symbol character string (*** (attachment) ***) 25 shown in FIG. 3 is a separator printed between the contents of the parent mail 1 and the contents of the child mail 2, and the merge function 22 In the processing, the delimiter data is inserted between the data of the parent mail 1 and the data of the child mail 2.
Here, a set of printed materials does not necessarily mean a single document, but means a group of documents in which the contents are continuous even if there are a plurality of sheets.
[0028]
Here, since the purpose of the present invention is to obtain the contents of the parent mail and the contents of the attached child mail as a set of printed matter, the mode of merging is not limited to the above, but is separated as described above. By inserting the data, the parent-child relationship between the parent mail and the child mail becomes clear. In this case, the contents of the header such as the title of each e-mail, the mail transmission time, the transmission destination address and the transmission source address and the contents of the body which is the main body of the mail are continuously printed, and Inserting a character string, symbol string, ruled line, graphic, or the like indicating a delimiter between the contents and the contents of the child mail makes it easier for the user to identify the contents of each mail.
[0029]
In the above merge processing, when the format of the body part 1b of the parent mail 1 is different from the format of the body part 2b of the child mail 2, the merging function unit 22 unifies the two format forms, May be merged.
For example, if the body part 1b of the parent mail is data in HTML format and the body part 2b of the child mail is data body in text format, a problem occurs if the data is merged and printed as it is. That is, if the printing is performed by the printing apparatus 16 as HTML data, since the HTML tag does not exist in the body part 2b of the attached mail in the text format, the printing result is distorted. On the other hand, if the printing is performed by the printing device 16 as text data, the HTML tag existing in the current mail body portion 1b in the HTML format is printed as it is, and the print result becomes difficult to read.
[0030]
Therefore, the above problem can be avoided by performing a format conversion process so as to unify the format into either the HTML format or the text format and performing the merge.
More specifically, in the case of unifying the data into the HTML format, an HTML tag specifying a line feed or a font is added to the body part data in the text format, and the data is converted into the HTML format. On the other hand, in the case of unifying the text format, all the line feeds and HTML tags are removed from the body part data in the HTML format, and a line feed is added only where the HTML line feed tag exists, so that the text format is obtained. Convert.
[0031]
It is considered that the method of converting the format format into the format of the parent mail is actually the optimal method, but a method of converting the format into a format supported by the print system P is also effective. For example, if the print system does not support the HTML format, the merging process is performed after the body part data of the mail is converted to the text format. Further, the merge function 22, which is different from the parent mail and the child mail, may convert the data into a third format that is optimal for the printing system.
[0032]
The integration processing of the parent mail 1 and the child mail 2 by the print system P is performed, for example, according to the procedure shown in FIG.
The analysis function unit 21 reads the e-mail data received from the client device C from the main storage unit 13 (step S1), and analyzes the header part to add another e-mail (child mail) to the e-mail (parent mail). Is determined (step S2).
As a result, if there is no attached mail, the electronic mail data is supplied to the printing device 16 to perform a printing process on a sheet (step S4).
[0033]
On the other hand, when the child mail is attached to the parent mail, the analysis function unit 21 determines whether it is possible to merge the contents of the parent mail and the contents of the attached child mail (step S3). ).
Here, the case in which merging is not possible means that, for example, the printing device 16 does not support the format format of the parent mail and the child mail, so that printing becomes impossible, or the format of the parent mail and the child mail is not used. These conditions are different when the conditions are set in the merge function unit 22 so that the merge process is performed only when the formats are the same. The determination is made based on the mail format (Content-Type) information.
[0034]
If the merge process is set to be performed only when the format of the parent mail is the same as the format of the child mail, the system function can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. It is set so that merge processing is performed even when the format format is different.
[0035]
As a result of the above determination, if merging is not possible, the parent mail data and the child mail data are set as separate print jobs, respectively, and supplied to the printing device 16 to perform print processing on the respective sheets as separate prints. (Step S4).
On the other hand, if merging is possible, the analysis function unit 21 determines whether or not both mail data have the same format (format is OK) (step S5). Merges the parent mail data and the child mail data by the merge function unit 22 as described above (step S6), supplies the merged data to the printing device 16 as a single print job, and prints the data on paper. Processing is performed (step S4).
[0036]
On the other hand, if the format formats are different, the merge function unit 22 performs the conversion process by any of the above methods to unify the format formats of the parent mail data and the child mail data (step S7), and thereafter, the parent mail data The data and the child mail data are merged (step S6), and the merged data is supplied to the printing device 16 as a single print job to perform a printing process on paper (step S4).
By performing the merge processing and the print processing in this manner, the contents of the parent mail 1 and the contents of the child mail 2 are output from the printing device 16 as a set of printed matter D in an integrated manner as shown in FIG. Is done.
The above process ends when there is no print job (step S8).
[0037]
FIG. 5 shows a printed matter D according to another embodiment of the present invention.
In this example, if the email data is in a format that is not supported by the printing device 16, a message notifying that the format format such as "cannot print" is not supported in place of the content of the email is sent. This is to print on the corresponding area of the printed matter D. In the example shown in the figure, the notification message is printed because the format of the parent mail 1 is not supported, and the content of the child mail 2 is printed in the lower area demarcated by printing the broken line 25.
For this purpose, the merge function unit 22 does not perform the format conversion (step S7), but performs a process of replacing the mail data determined to be in a format that cannot be printed by the analysis function unit 21 with the data of the message.
[0038]
Instead of merging the child mail with the parent mail and printing it, a process may be performed such that the child mail is printed so as to be distinguished as a child mail.
For example, a process of inserting a character “attached file” into a head portion of the content of a child mail or the like, a process of printing with a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern, a process of changing a printing color, Alternatively, by performing a process for changing the typeface, performing a process for printing with a frame, or performing a process for printing on a different medium, and performing printing in a unique manner, May be clarified.
[0039]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, since the contents of an e-mail and the contents of another attached e-mail can be obtained as a set of printed matter, it is easy for a user to understand the correspondence between these contents, and management is easy. Easy printed matter can be provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an e-mail print system according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a main functional configuration of an e-mail print system according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a printed matter of an electronic mail according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an e-mail print processing procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a printed matter of an e-mail according to the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an email data structure having an attached file.
FIG. 7 is a diagram conceptually showing an example of an electronic mail data structure having an attached file.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printed matter of an electronic mail.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printed matter of an electronic mail.
[Explanation of symbols]
1: E-mail, 2: E-mail attached,
1h, 2h: header portion, 1b, 2b: body portion,
21: analysis function unit, 22: merge function unit,
23: print data, 25: delimiter,
C: client device, D: printed matter,
N: Network, P: Print system,

Claims (16)

In an e-mail print system for performing a process for printing out a first e-mail attached with a file,
A function of generating print data in which the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail attached are merged when the attached file includes a second e-mail; An e-mail print system comprising: The electronic mail print system according to claim 1,
An e-mail print system for generating print data in which the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail are unified into the same format. The electronic mail print system according to claim 1,
An e-mail print system that generates print data in which the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail are unified into one of these format formats. The electronic mail print system according to claim 1,
If the format of any one of the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail is not supported by the print system, a notification to that effect is made instead of the unsupported contents. An e-mail print system for generating print data using the message data to be printed. The electronic mail print system according to claim 1,
An e-mail print system, wherein when the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail have the same format, print data in which the contents are merged is generated. The electronic mail print system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
An e-mail print system, wherein the generated print data is inserted with delimiter data indicating a delimiter between the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail. In an e-mail print system including a print server that receives a first e-mail transmitted by a client device via a network and performs a process for printing and outputting,
The print server analyzes the first e-mail data obtained from the client device, and when the first e-mail is attached with the second e-mail data, the print server analyzes the first e-mail data. An e-mail print system for generating print data in which contents are merged with contents of the second e-mail. When the file attached to the first e-mail includes the second e-mail, the content of the second e-mail is printed so as to be distinguished as the attached file of the first e-mail. E-mail print system for performing processing for the e-mail. The first e-mail data is analyzed, and when the second e-mail is attached to the first e-mail, the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail are A method for printing e-mail, characterized by generating print data in which the data is merged. The method for printing an e-mail according to claim 9,
If the format of any one of the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail is not supported by the print system, a notification to that effect is made instead of the unsupported contents. An electronic mail printing method, wherein print data is generated using message data to be printed. An electronic mail printing method according to claim 9 or claim 10, wherein
An e-mail printing method, characterized in that the generated print data includes delimiter data indicating a delimiter between the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail. When the file attached to the first e-mail includes the second e-mail, the content of the second e-mail is printed so as to be distinguished as the attached file of the first e-mail. E-mail printing method characterized by performing processing for the e-mail. Analyzing the first e-mail data and, if the first e-mail is accompanied by the second e-mail data, the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail And an e-mail print processing program for causing a computer to execute a process of generating print data in which the print data is merged. The electronic mail print processing program according to claim 13,
If the format of any one of the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail is not supported by the print system, a notification to that effect is made instead of the unsupported contents. An electronic mail print processing program for generating print data using message data to be printed. The electronic mail print processing program according to claim 13 or 14,
A print processing program for e-mail, wherein the generated print data includes delimiter data indicating a delimiter between the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail. . A printed matter obtained by printing the content of the first e-mail,
The print data generated based on the first e-mail data to which the second e-mail data is attached and in which the contents of the first e-mail and the contents of the second e-mail are merged. An e-mail printed matter obtained by supplying to a printing device for printing.

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