JP2004201159A - Communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication equipment capable of preferentially transmitting communication with high urgency. <P>SOLUTION: This communication equipment provided with a facsimile multi-address function uses a facsimile communication means to distribute picture information received by received e-mail to a plurality of destinations designated by the e-mail, and preferentially transmits a multi-address communication operation corresponding to the e-mail when preferential transmission is designated to the e-mail. Since preferential transmission can be designated in the case of requesting multi-address communication by e-mail, a network facsimile multi-address device obtains the effect of improving convenience. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an e-mail communication function for exchanging data using e-mail via a network, and a plurality of facsimile communication means for exchanging image information by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public line. The present invention relates to a communication device including:
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, the spread of the Internet and e-mail has made it possible to transmit and receive e-mails not only with computers but also with various devices.
[0003]
In addition, facsimile apparatuses that have been widely used and communication apparatuses that can transmit and receive electronic messages by facsimile transmission procedures have begun to spread electronic mail. Some of them can broadcast received e-mail to public networks by facsimile protocol.
[0004]
In such a device, when facsimile transmission of received mail to the public network is performed, if a large number of facsimile transmission requests to the public network are temporarily generated due to the relationship between the processing capability of receiving an e-mail and the processing capability of transmitting a facsimile, the communication device However, there is a problem that if a large number of messages waiting to be transmitted remain, and if it is desired to send the message immediately, the message that the user wants to send immediately cannot be transmitted until the already stored message has been transmitted.
[0005]
On the other hand, there has been proposed a communication apparatus having a plurality of facsimile communication means for exchanging image information according to a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public line, and having a facsimile broadcasting function.
[0006]
In such a communication device, for example, a device has been proposed in which priority transmission can be set for a transmission job of a broadcast communication so that transmission of a specific communication operation can be completed earlier than other communication operations. (See Patent Document 1).
[0007]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2000-41124
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described conventional apparatus, the priority transmission is set and operated at a stage after the image information is read using the operation means of the apparatus, and there is a problem that the operation is troublesome.
[0009]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a communication device capable of preferentially transmitting highly urgent communication.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention provides an e-mail communication function for exchanging data using e-mail via a network, and a plurality of facsimile communication means for exchanging image information by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public line. In the communication device provided with, the image information received by the e-mail is distributed to a plurality of destinations specified by the received e-mail using the facsimile communication means, and priority transmission is specified for the e-mail. In this case, the broadcast operation of the electronic mail is preferentially transmitted.
[0011]
In addition, an e-mail communication function for exchanging data using e-mail via a network, a plurality of facsimile communication means for exchanging image information by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public line, and a facsimile broadcasting function are provided. In the communication device, the image information received by the electronic mail is distributed to a plurality of destinations specified by the received electronic mail using the facsimile communication means, and priority transmission is specified for the electronic mail. In this case, the broadcast operation relating to the electronic mail is preferentially transmitted, and if a non-delivery destination occurs in the broadcast operation, the image information is managed as a non-delivery document, and the non-delivery document is managed. Is notified to the requester of the broadcast operation, and the received e-mail notifies the above document number. In this case, the non-delivery document managed corresponding to the document number is transmitted to the non-delivery destination. The transmission operation of the destination document to the non-delivery destination is preferentially transmitted.
[0012]
In addition, an e-mail communication function for exchanging data using e-mail via a network, a plurality of facsimile communication means for exchanging image information by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public line, and a facsimile broadcasting function are provided. In the communication device, the image information received by the electronic mail is distributed to a plurality of destinations specified by the received electronic mail using the facsimile communication means, and priority transmission is specified for the electronic mail. In this case, the broadcast operation relating to the electronic mail is preferentially transmitted, and if a non-delivery destination occurs in the broadcast operation, the image information is managed as a non-delivery document, and the non-delivery document is managed. Is notified to the requester of the broadcast operation, and the received document number is notified by the received e-mail. If the transmission is specified, the undelivered documents managed in correspondence with the article, with respect to the non-delivery destination, is obtained so as to preferentially transmit.
[0013]
Further, when a predetermined report output is instructed, transmission image information of the instructed report is created, and the image information is preferentially transmitted to a designated or registered destination.
[0014]
The designation of the priority transmission is performed by arranging a predetermined character string in a predetermined field of the header information of the e-mail. The designation of the priority transmission is performed by arranging a predetermined character string in a predetermined part of the body information of the e-mail.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0016]
FIG. 1 shows a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0017]
In the figure, a plurality of workstations WS1 to WSn, a mail server SM, and a network facsimile broadcasting device FX are connected to a local area network LAN, and also connected to the Internet via a router device RT. ing. Therefore, the workstation devices WS1 to WSn, the mail server device SM, and the network facsimile broadcasting device FX can exchange data with other appropriate terminal devices via the Internet.
[0018]
Here, the mail server device SM collects and distributes well-known e-mails to users using the workstation devices WS1 to WSn connected to the local area network LAN and to the network network facsimile broadcasting device FX. Service.
[0019]
The workstation devices WS1 to WSn include various programs such as facsimile application software for creating and displaying facsimile image information and various software for exchanging various data via a local area network LAN. Have been introduced and are used by specific users. Here, the specific user may be one or more users.
[0020]
The network facsimile broadcasting device FX has an e-mail processing function for exchanging image information and various reports as e-mails, accommodates a plurality of analog public telephone network PSTN lines, and receives image information received using e-mails. Is transmitted using the analog public switched telephone network PSTN as a transmission path.
[0021]
FIG. 2A shows a configuration example of the network facsimile broadcasting device FX.
[0022]
In FIG. 1, a system control unit 1 performs various control processes such as a control process of each unit of the network facsimile broadcasting device FX, a facsimile transmission control procedure process, and a broadcast communication process. And a control processing program to be executed by the system control unit 1 and various data necessary for executing the processing program, and also constitute a work area of the system control unit 1. The clock circuit 4 is for storing various information unique to the network facsimile broadcasting device FX, and outputs current time information.
[0023]
The operation display unit 5 is used to operate the network facsimile broadcasting device FX, and includes various operation keys and various displays.
[0024]
The encoding / decoding unit 6 encodes and compresses the image signal and decodes the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal. The image processing unit 7 performs predetermined image processing. (Enlargement / reduction processing, etc.), and the image storage device 8 is for storing a large number of encoded and compressed image information.
[0025]
The communication units CU1 to CUn are respectively connected to the analog public switched telephone network PSTN and perform facsimile communication with another group 3 facsimile apparatus.
[0026]
The local area network interface circuit 11 is for connecting the network facsimile broadcasting device FX to the local area network LAN. The local area network transmission control unit 12 is connected to another data terminal via the local area network LAN. This is for executing communication control processing of various predetermined protocol suites for exchanging various data with the device.
[0027]
These system control unit 1, system memory 2, parameter memory 3, clock circuit 4, operation display unit 5, encoding / decoding unit 6, image processing unit 7, image storage device 8, and communication units CU1 to CUn It is connected to a bus 13, and data exchange between these elements is mainly performed via the internal bus 13.
[0028]
FIG. 2B shows a configuration example of the communication units CU1 to CUn.
[0029]
Each of the communication units CU1 to CUn includes a group 3 facsimile modem 14 and a network control device 15.
[0030]
The group 3 facsimile modem 14 is for realizing the modem function of the group 3 facsimile, and is a low-speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging transmission procedure signals, and mainly for exchanging image information. It has a high-speed modem function (V.17 modem, V.34 modem, V.29 modem, V.27ter modem, etc.).
[0031]
The network control device 15 is for connecting the communication units CU1 to CUn to the analog public switched telephone network PSTN, and has an automatic transmission / reception function.
[0032]
Here, in the present embodiment, basically, data exchange between terminals connected to the local area network LAN is performed by a transmission protocol up to a transport layer called TCP / IP, and a further protocol. This is performed by applying a combination with a communication protocol of an upper layer (so-called protocol suite). For example, when exchanging e-mail data, a communication protocol called SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is applied as a communication protocol of an upper layer.
[0033]
Further, as a protocol applied by each terminal to the mail server device SM for confirming reception of an e-mail addressed to the user and for requesting acquisition, an POP (Post Office Protocol) or the like can be applied.
[0034]
Communication protocols such as TCP / IP, SMTP, and POP, and the data format and data structure of electronic mail are specified by RFC documents issued by the IETF. For example, TCP is RFC 793, IP is RFC 793, SMTP is RFC 821, and e-mail formats are RFC 822, RFC 1521, and RFC 1522 (MIME (Multi-Pose Mail Extension) format).
[0035]
In this embodiment, the network facsimile broadcasting device FX broadcasts image information received using electronic mail to a plurality of specified destinations using a plurality of communication units CU1 to CUn.
[0036]
Here, the facsimile image information is binary data, and the electronic mail cannot directly include the binary data. Therefore, a predetermined conversion method (for example, a Base64 encoding method) is applied to the readable information (7-bit data). After being converted to a character code, it is included in the e-mail as a so-called attached file. Further, the format of the body information of the electronic mail is called a MIME format.
[0037]
Further, when requesting the network facsimile broadcasting device FX to perform a broadcast communication, it is possible to designate that the broadcast communication is transmitted with priority.
[0038]
FIG. 3A shows an example of an e-mail (broadcast request e-mail) in this case.
[0039]
This broadcast request e-mail is in a multi-MIME format in which the body information includes a plurality of information elements (parts), and has one or more broadcasts in a format of “Fax = (phone number) 番号 (domain)”. The destination telephone number is described in the “To” field. In the "Subject" field, the content of the subject with the character string "important" added at the beginning is described, so that the communication requested by the broadcast request e-mail requests the priority transmission. specify.
[0040]
The body information includes two parts. The first part is a text part. For example, a description about transmitted image information carried by the e-mail is described. And an attached file formed by MIME-converting the transmission image information.
[0041]
Therefore, in this case, the network facsimile broadcasting device FX that has received the e-mail checks the contents of the “Subject” field, and if the character string “important” is arranged, the received e-mail is It recognizes that priority transmission is requested.
[0042]
When priority transmission is requested, the transmission image information obtained by inverse MIME conversion of the contents of the attached file of the body information and the telephone numbers of a plurality of broadcast destinations described in the “To” field are applied. Then, a well-known priority transmission operation is performed, and transmission is performed prior to communication for which priority transmission is not specified.
[0043]
Here, the priority transmission operation (process) is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-2000-041124, JP-A-2000-151879, JP-A-2000-151879, or JP-A-05-284305. Well-known methods as described above can be applied.
[0044]
In this manner, in this embodiment, when requesting a broadcast communication by e-mail, designation of priority transmission can be performed, so that the usability of the network facsimile broadcast apparatus FX is improved.
[0045]
In addition to the method shown in FIG. 3A, the method of designating priority transmission is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3B, "X-Priority" which is an extension field for designating priority transmission in header information. When a field is provided and priority transmission is designated, a method of providing this "X-Priority" field in the header information and setting "1" to the value can be applied. In this case, when the priority transmission is not specified, the “X-Priority” field is not provided, or “0” is set to the value of the “X-Priority” field.
[0046]
Further, as shown in FIG. 4A, by adding a special number for designating priority transmission to the destination telephone number described in the “To” field, priority transmission can be designated for each destination. . In this case, for example, “Fax=123456789##10@abc.jp” includes the special number “## 10” that designates priority transmission, so that the telephone number “123456789” is a destination to which priority transmission is applied. It is specified. The contents of the special number can be any contents as long as other special numbers can be identified.
[0047]
Also, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), a part for designating priority transmission is provided in the text information, and a command statement describing whether or not priority transmission is designated is arranged in the part, so that the priority transmission is performed. It is also possible to instruct whether or not to specify transmission. In this case, the first part is set to a part that specifies priority transmission, and the priority transmission is specified by describing the statement “Priority = 1”. If priority transmission is not specified, a sentence “Priority = 0” may be described.
[0048]
In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, in the text information, a sentence instructing priority transmission may be arranged before the first boundary line separating the parts. In this case, the sentence “Priority = 1” is the content for instructing priority transmission. If the priority transmission is not specified, a sentence “Priority = 0” is arranged, or this line is set to a blank line.
[0049]
Here, in the text information, the information before the first boundary line that separates the parts is a part that is not interpreted as display information by the network facsimile broadcasting device FX. Is displayed, the situation where the instruction content of the priority transmission is displayed can be avoided. Further, in the network facsimile broadcasting device FX which does not have the function of the present embodiment, since the information of this portion is not interpreted as valid information, no trouble occurs.
[0050]
FIG. 6 shows an example of processing when the network facsimile broadcasting device FX receives an electronic mail.
[0051]
First, when an e-mail is received (process 101), it is checked whether or not public network distribution is designated by referring to the contents of the “To” field of the header information (decision 102). Here, public network distribution refers to designating a destination telephone number in the format of “Fax = (phone number) 番号 (domain)”, as described above.
[0052]
If the result of decision 102 is YES, it is checked whether or not the received e-mail specifies priority transmission (decision 103). If the result of decision 103 is YES, the e-mail received at that time is checked. The priority transmission process is applied to perform a priority transmission operation (process 104).
[0053]
If the result of determination 103 is NO, normal transmission processing is applied to the e-mail received at that time, and a normal transmission operation is performed (processing 105).
[0054]
When the result of the determination 102 is NO, and the public network is not distributed, a predetermined non-distribution process (process 106) is performed.
[0055]
When a certain period of time has elapsed after the end of the transmission operation, the job relating to the transmission operation is deleted, and the transmission image information relating to the transmission operation is deleted from the image storage device 8.
[0056]
By the way, in the network facsimile broadcasting device FX, when the broadcast communication is completed, a transmission result report indicating a transmission result is created, and the created transmission result report is transmitted to the user of the transmission source using an e-mail. FIG. 7A shows an example of the transmission result report.
[0057]
In this transmission result report, the non-delivery destination is represented by the transmission result display “NG”, and when one or more non-delivery destinations occur, the document is set to be retransmittable.
[0058]
The designation of retransmission is performed, for example, by transmitting a retransmission instruction mail as shown in FIG. 7B to the network facsimile broadcasting device FX. In this case, if the “destination address” described in the “To” field includes the document number described in the “document number” of the transmission result report, it is determined that the retransmission operation has been specified. For example, the content “(document number) ＠ (domain)” can be applied.
[0059]
Upon receiving such a resend instruction mail, the network facsimile broadcasting device FX performs a resend operation for the non-reachable document of the designated document number. Also, if the non-delivery document for which retransmission has been instructed specifies priority transmission, priority transmission is also performed for the retransmission operation.
[0060]
Also, for a non-delivery document for which a retransmission operation has been instructed, the transmission job is deleted and the transmission image information is deleted when a certain period of time has elapsed since the end of the retransmission operation.
[0061]
FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 show an example of processing when the network facsimile broadcasting device FX receives an electronic mail in this case.
[0062]
First, when an e-mail is received (process 201), the “To” field of the header information is checked to determine whether a retransmission instruction has been issued (determination 202). If the result of the determination 202 is NO, it is checked whether or not public network distribution is designated by referring to the contents of the "To" field of the header information (determination 203).
[0063]
When the result of the judgment 203 is YES, it is checked whether or not the priority transmission is designated in the received e-mail (decision 204). When the result of the judgment 204 is YES, the e-mail received at that time is checked. The priority transmission process is applied to perform a priority transmission operation (process 205).
[0064]
If the result of determination 204 is NO, normal transmission processing is applied to the e-mail received at that time, and normal transmission operation is performed (processing 206).
[0065]
When the result of the determination 203 is NO, and the public network distribution is not performed, a predetermined non-distribution process (process 207) is performed.
[0066]
When the transmission operation for the received e-mail is completed in this way, it is checked whether or not a non-delivery destination has occurred (decision 208). If the result of determination 208 is YES, the transmitted document at that time is managed as a non-delivery document (process 209). For example, a transmission job for transmitting a non-delivery document is newly created.
[0067]
Next, the above-described transmission result report is created (process 210), and the transmission result report is transmitted to the broadcast transmission request source using an e-mail (process 211).
[0068]
On the other hand, if the received e-mail indicates retransmission, and the result of determination 202 is YES, a search is made for a non-delivery document of the specified document number (process 215), and It is checked whether the non-delivery document is stored (decision 216).
[0069]
When the result of the determination 216 is YES, it is checked whether or not the priority attribute is assigned to the unreachable document (decision 217). (Process 218). If the result of the determination 217 is NO, a normal transmission operation is performed for the transmission of the unreachable document (process 219).
[0070]
If the non-delivery document of the designated document number is not stored and the result of the determination 216 is NO, error processing is performed (processing 220), and this processing ends.
[0071]
In this manner, in the present embodiment, when a non-delivery destination occurs in a broadcast communication, a notification to that effect is sent to the broadcast transmission source, and an instruction to resend the non-delivery document can be made by using an e-mail. Therefore, a retransmission instruction at the time of broadcasting can be performed very easily, which is very convenient.
[0072]
Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, it is possible to make it possible to instruct the retransmission instruction mail to perform the retransmission operation by priority transmission.
[0073]
When such a retransmission instruction is received, the network facsimile broadcasting device FX performs a retransmission operation by priority transmission for a non-delivery document with the specified document number, regardless of whether or not the first priority transmission is specified.
[0074]
By doing so, the retransmission operation can be performed with priority, so that the broadcast transmission can be completed quickly, and the transmission operation according to the intention of the user who has designated the broadcast transmission becomes possible. .
[0075]
FIGS. 10 and 11 show an example of a process when the network facsimile broadcasting device FX receives an electronic mail in this case.
[0076]
First, when an e-mail is received (process 301), the “To” field of the header information is checked to determine whether a retransmission instruction has been issued (determination 302). When the result of the determination 302 is NO, it is checked whether or not the distribution of the public network is designated by referring to the contents of the “To” field of the header information (determination 303).
[0077]
When the result of the judgment 303 is YES, it is checked whether or not priority transmission is designated in the received e-mail (decision 304). When the result of the judgment 304 is YES, the e-mail received at that time is checked. The priority transmission process is applied to perform a priority transmission operation (process 305).
[0078]
If the result of determination 304 is NO, normal transmission processing is applied to the e-mail received at that time, and normal transmission operation is performed (processing 306).
[0079]
When the result of the determination 303 is NO, and the public network distribution is not performed, a predetermined non-distribution process (process 307) is performed.
[0080]
When the transmission operation for the received e-mail is completed in this way, it is checked whether or not a non-delivery destination has occurred (decision 308). If the result of determination 308 is YES, the transmitted document at that time is managed as a non-delivery document (process 309). For example, a transmission job for transmitting a non-delivery document is newly created.
[0081]
Next, the above-described transmission result report is created (step 310), and the transmission result report is transmitted to the broadcast transmission request source using an e-mail (step 311).
[0082]
On the other hand, if the received e-mail indicates resending and the result of determination 302 is YES, a search is made for a non-delivery document of the specified document number (process 315), and It is checked whether the non-delivery document is stored (decision 316).
[0083]
When the result of the determination 316 is YES, it is checked whether or not the priority attribute is assigned to the unreachable document (determination 317). When the result of the determination 317 is NO, priority transmission is instructed by a retransmission instruction mail. A check is made to determine whether or not it has been performed (decision 318).
[0084]
When the result of the determination 317 is YES, and when the result of the determination 318 is YES, a priority transmission operation is performed for the transmission of the unreachable document (process 319).
[0085]
If the result of the determination 318 is NO, a normal transmission operation is performed for the transmission of the unreachable document (process 320).
[0086]
If the non-delivery document of the designated document number is not stored and the result of determination 316 is NO, error processing is performed (processing 321), and this processing ends.
[0087]
By the way, in this embodiment, the network facsimile broadcasting device FX does not have a document recording function, and therefore cannot directly record and output, for example, when a user instructs to output various reports.
[0088]
In this case, first, a designated report is created, transmission image information of the report is created, and image information of the created report is transmitted to a destination designated in advance or a destination designated by a user. .
[0089]
Also, if the report output is set to automatic, if the output conditions set for the report are met, the transmission image information of the report is created and the created report is sent to the destination specified in advance. Of image information.
[0090]
In addition, in order to transmit the report as quickly as possible, if the transmission operation is not performed at that time, the report is transmitted immediately, and if any transmission operation is performed at that time, priority transmission is performed. .
[0091]
As a result, the image of the report output from the network facsimile broadcasting device FX can be received and recorded and output by another facsimile device.
[0092]
FIG. 12 shows an example of the processing in this case.
[0093]
First, when a report output request is received (process 401), a designated report is created (process 402), and it is checked whether immediate transmission is possible at that time (decision 403).
[0094]
If the result of determination 403 is YES, a call is made to a destination designated in advance, a predetermined group 3 facsimile transmission operation is performed, and the image information of the report created in process 402 is immediately transmitted (process 404). .
[0095]
If the result of determination 403 is NO, priority transmission is performed to transmit the image information of the report created in step 402 to the destination designated in advance (step 405).
[0096]
In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which a plurality of analog public switched telephone networks PSTN are accommodated. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where the public switched telephone network is a digital public switched telephone network ISDN.
[0097]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the apparatus is connected to the local area network LAN has been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to the case where the apparatus is independently connected to a network such as the Internet.
[0098]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when requesting broadcast communication by e-mail, designation of priority transmission can be performed, so that the effect of improving the usability of the network facsimile broadcast device is obtained.
[0099]
In addition, when a non-delivery destination occurs in the broadcast communication, the broadcast transmission source is notified of the fact and the instruction to resend the non-delivery document can be made by e-mail. The retransmission instruction at the time can be issued very easily, and the effect that it is very convenient is obtained.
[0100]
In the retransmission operation, priority transmission according to the instruction of the first broadcast communication or priority transmission according to the content specified at the time of retransmission designation is performed, so the transmission operation according to the intention of the user who specified the broadcast transmission is performed. Is also possible.
[0101]
In addition, when the image of the report output by the network facsimile broadcasting device is received and recorded and output by another facsimile device, the priority transmission operation is applied, so that the image of the report can be obtained quickly. obtain.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a network facsimile broadcasting device FX and a configuration example of a communication unit.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a broadcast request e-mail.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing another example of a broadcast request e-mail.
FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing still another example of the broadcast request electronic mail.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of processing when the network facsimile broadcasting device FX receives an electronic mail.
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a transmission result report and a retransmission designation mail.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing another example of processing when the network facsimile broadcasting device FX receives an electronic mail.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing another example of the processing when the network facsimile broadcasting device FX receives an electronic mail (continued).
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing still another example of the processing when the network facsimile broadcasting device FX receives an electronic mail.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart (continued) showing still another example of the processing when the network facsimile broadcasting device FX receives an electronic mail.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing when transmitting a report image.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 System control unit
2 System memory
3 Parameter memory
CU1 to CUn communication unit

Claims (6)

An e-mail communication function for exchanging data using e-mail via a network, and a plurality of facsimile communication means for exchanging image information by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public line, and a communication having a facsimile broadcasting function In the device,
The facsimile communication means is used to distribute the image information received by the e-mail to a plurality of destinations specified by the received e-mail, and when priority transmission is specified in the e-mail, the A communication device, wherein a broadcast operation relating to an e-mail is preferentially transmitted. An e-mail communication function for exchanging data using e-mail via a network, and a plurality of facsimile communication means for exchanging image information by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public line, and a communication having a facsimile broadcasting function In the device,
The facsimile communication means is used to distribute the image information received by the e-mail to a plurality of destinations specified by the received e-mail, and when priority transmission is specified in the e-mail, the Priority transmission of broadcast operations related to e-mail,
If a non-delivery destination occurs in the broadcast operation, the image information is managed as a non-delivery document, and the document number assigned to the non-delivery document is notified to the requester of the broadcast operation,
When the document number is notified by the received e-mail, the non-delivery document managed corresponding to the document number is transmitted to the non-delivery destination,
A communication apparatus characterized in that, when the above-mentioned unreachable document is transmitted for the first time, the transmission of the non-reachable document to the non-recipient destination is performed with priority. An e-mail communication function for exchanging data using e-mail via a network, and a plurality of facsimile communication means for exchanging image information by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public line, and a communication having a facsimile broadcasting function In the device,
The facsimile communication means is used to distribute the image information received by the e-mail to a plurality of destinations specified by the received e-mail, and when priority transmission is specified in the e-mail, the Priority transmission of broadcast operations related to e-mail,
If a non-delivery destination occurs in the broadcast operation, the image information is managed as a non-delivery document, and the document number assigned to the non-delivery document is notified to the requester of the broadcast operation,
If the document number is notified by the received e-mail and priority transmission is specified, the undelivered document managed corresponding to the document number is sent to the non-delivery destination by priority. A communication device. 3. When a predetermined report output is commanded, transmission image information of the commanded report is created and preferentially transmitted to a designated or registered destination. The communication device according to claim 3. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the designation of the priority transmission is performed by arranging a predetermined character string in a predetermined field of the header information of the e-mail. 6. Communication device. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the designation of the priority transmission is performed by arranging a predetermined character string in a predetermined part of the body information of the electronic mail. 6. Communication device.

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