JP2005094781A - Picture data transmitting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a picture data transmitting device which makes communicative efficiency high by summarizing especially the same type of transmission destination in E-mail system. <P>SOLUTION: Grouping based on a registration data memorized by a registration memory 13a memorized by a destination decision unit 13 the transmission destination inputted from a control panel 10 this is memorized in a memory 14. A controller 12 transmits and controls as one copy of mail, adding an image data to all transmission destinations which belong to this group for each group by which is grouped to memory 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image data transmitting apparatus having a function of performing broadcast transmission.

  In recent years, the spread of facsimile apparatuses has become widespread, and the frequency of performing facsimile communication not only in Japan but also overseas has increased. However, there is a problem that the communication cost becomes very high when long-distance communication to overseas or the like is performed in facsimile communication using a general public line. Therefore, in addition to facsimile communication via a general public line, an Internet-compatible facsimile apparatus that performs facsimile communication by connecting to the Internet has been developed. In the Internet-compatible facsimile apparatus, communication costs other than fixed costs are unnecessary, and it is possible to greatly reduce the number of communication devices in long-distance communication such as overseas.

  In this Internet-compatible facsimile apparatus, image data of a document to be transmitted is attached to a mail address of a transmission destination and transmitted to a mail server on the Internet in an electronic mail format. The receiving facsimile apparatus periodically receives the mail server after checking it, develops it into print data, and prints it out.

In such a facsimile apparatus, it is also possible to broadcast the same image data by both the facsimile method and the e-mail method. Conventionally, the facsimile method and the e-mail method are provided to the communication partner. When the same image data is transmitted in a mixed manner, each time the communication partner is entered with a speed dial, etc., the communication partner is compatible with a facsimile method using a general public line or an e-mail method via the Internet The image data transmission operation is sequentially performed based on the determined result (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-42068 JP-A-11-55486

  However, when the same image data is broadcast by mixing the facsimile method and the e-mail method, each time a communication partner is input as in the conventional method, the corresponding method of the communication partner is changed. If the sequential transmission operation is performed after determination, there is a problem that efficient communication cannot be performed. In other words, due to the characteristics of the communication method, the e-mail method can send transmission data at a higher speed than the facsimile method, but the corresponding method is determined each time one communication partner is input as in the past. Then, in the method of transmitting image data by the facsimile method or the electronic mail method, the communication by the facsimile method having a relatively long transmission time and the electronic mail method having a relatively short transmission time is performed at random. As a result, there is a problem that the arrival of the electronic mail that should be able to be transmitted immediately is very delayed, and there is a problem that the communication efficiency is lowered as a whole. In particular, in the e-mail system, when there are a plurality of communication destinations, when sending them all together, the transmission process need only be a single mail transmission process. Therefore, there has been a problem that the efficiency is very poor. Also, even if all the communication destinations to be transmitted are electronic mail type devices or facsimile type devices, if the type of compression method or format of the image data to be transmitted is different, the communication destination is It is necessary to change the conversion method every time it changes, and in this case, if initialization is required prior to each conversion, initialization will be performed many times before transmission of all image data is completed. As a result, the control time is prolonged, and the communication efficiency as a whole is similarly reduced.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image data transmitting apparatus that enhances the efficiency of communication, particularly by gathering communication partners of the same type in an electronic mail system.

  The present invention has the following configuration in order to solve the above problems.

(1) In an image data transmitting apparatus having a function of broadcasting the same image data to a plurality of destinations using an electronic mail system using a network,
A destination determination unit that groups the input communication partners with at least one attribute data, a memory that stores the grouped communication partners for each group, and a group that belongs to the group A control unit that performs transmission control by adding the image data to all communication partners.

  In the present invention, even if a plurality of communication partners are input, image data transmission control is performed for each group after these communication partners are grouped. Therefore, since batch transmission for each group is possible, transmission can be performed more efficiently. For example, if the communication method is an e-mail method and communication partners are grouped for each communication method, batch transmission can be performed to the group of the e-mail method. In the e-mail method, even if there are a large number of communication partners, the image data is added to all communication partners belonging to the group and transmission control is performed, so the communication time is It is not so different from the communication time for one communication partner. As a result, the overall communication time is extremely short.

  Also, if all the communication destinations are e-mail devices and the format of each attachment process is different, grouping for each attachment process format will convert the image data into the attachment process format. , As many as the number of groups. Therefore, the conversion efficiency is improved, and as a result, efficient transmission can be performed.

  (2) The partner determination unit groups the input communication partners every time one communication partner is input. In addition, the destination determination unit groups all the communication destinations that have been input when the input of all the communication destinations is completed.

  In the present invention, any timing is possible as long as the communication partner grouping is performed before transmission control. Whether the grouping is performed every time one communication partner inputs or the grouping is completed when all the communication partners are input, both are processed for each group at the time of transmission. Which is better depends on the design concept of the device. In the former method of grouping each time one communication partner is input, the input buffer may be small if it is difficult to perform software processing when correction is performed. In the latter method in which grouping is performed when input of all communication counterparts is completed, software processing when correction is performed is simple, but the input buffer needs to be enlarged.

  (3) The control unit performs transmission control of the image data sequentially for each group. In this case, the control unit can perform transmission control with priority given to a group of communication counterparts connected to the network. The control unit performs transmission control of the image data in parallel for each group.

  In the present invention, transmission control of image data is performed for each group, but this may be performed sequentially for each group or in parallel for each group. Also, if transmission control is performed with priority given to a group of communication partners connected to the network, the communication time is almost the same as that for one communication partner even if there are many communication partners of this type. To achieve efficient transmission. In the present invention, the network refers to a network that performs data communication using the TCP / IP protocol or other protocols, and includes a LAN and the Internet.

  According to the present invention, since the input communication counterparts are grouped first and image data transmission control is performed for each group, extremely efficient transmission is possible. In particular, in the case of an e-mail communication system, the image data is added to all communication partners belonging to the group for each group by grouping communication partners of the e-mail communication system. In order to perform transmission control as a single e-mail, it is possible to immediately transmit to all communication partners, and by processing this first, very efficient transmission as a whole becomes possible.

  Further, by using various attribute data as registration data for grouping communication partners, appropriate grouping according to the situation becomes possible, and more efficient transmission control can be performed.

  FIG. 1 shows a route for communicating image data using a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention. The three types of dedicated facsimile machines 1a to 1c represent different types. The facsimile apparatus 1a corresponds only to the Internet, the facsimile apparatus 1b corresponds to both the Internet and the public line, and the facsimile apparatus 1c corresponds to only the public line. Here, “corresponding to a public line” means to correspond to a communication system using a peer-to-peer (one-to-one) connection via a public line. These 1a to 1c are dedicated facsimile machines. In addition, the multifunction machine 1d having both functions of a facsimile machine and a copying machine is connected to a public line and a LAN (local area network). Personal computers 2 a and 2 b are connected to the LAN, and the LAN is connected to the Internet by a router 3. In FIG. 1, the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention corresponds to a dedicated facsimile machine 1b capable of supporting both the Internet and the public line and a multifunction machine 1d connected to the public line and the LAN.

  FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the facsimile apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The operation panel 10 is provided with various keys and a display unit, and is used to input a communication partner or registration data stored in a registration memory described later.

  The panel control unit 11 processes data input by operating the operation panel 10 and passes the data to the control unit 12 or inputs it to the counterpart determination unit 13.

  The partner determination unit 13 includes a registration memory 13a. The registration memory 13a stores a communication partner and attribute data corresponding to the speed dial. Here, the communication partner is a fax number or a mail address of the communication partner, and the attribute data is an attached file format when the communication partner is a mail address. The counterpart determination unit 13 groups the communication counterparts input from the panel control unit 11, that is, the communication counterparts input from the operation panel 10, based on the contents recorded in the registration memory 13a. Normally, a communication partner with a high transmission frequency is registered in the registration memory 13a. Of course, when the FAX number or mail address of the communication partner is directly input on the operation panel 10, data in this registration memory is stored. Is not used for the destination determination. In this case, direct communication partner grouping is performed based on the input data.

  The memory 14 stores grouped communication partners for each group. In the example shown in the figure, the file format of the attachment process and the notation method of the communication partner are registered data for grouping. The notation method of the communication partner means a distinction between being expressed in alphabets or numbers. As shown in FIG. 2, the memory 14 is grouped into groups 14a and 14b in alphabetical notation (that is, mail addresses) and groups 14c in numerical notation (that is, fax numbers). The file format attribute data is grouped into two groups 14a and 14b. Thus, in this embodiment, as the registration data for grouping, the communication partner notation method and the attribute data file format are used, but the attribute data includes the resolution and the communication partner terminal type. In this case, communication partners can be grouped based on these registration data.

  Therefore, when the speed dial of the communication partner is input from the operation panel 10, the partner determination unit 13 reads the corresponding registration data from the registration memory 13a and is input based on the read registration data. The group to which the communication partner belongs is determined and stored in the corresponding area.

  The control unit 12 controls the entire facsimile communication. That is, when image data is transmitted from the own machine, the image data of the original read by the reading unit 15 is transmitted to the communication partner by the E-mail transmission / reception unit 18 or the FAX transmission / reception unit 19. When the image receiving apparatus receives image data from the communication partner apparatus, the image data received by the E-mail transmission / reception unit 18 or the FAX transmission / reception unit 19 is output onto a recording sheet of the printer unit 17.

  The memory 16 stores image data read by the reading unit 15 and is used as a work area when converting the image data into a designated file format, resolution, and compression format. It is also used as a buffer for temporarily storing received image data. The E-mail transmission / reception unit 18 has a function of executing a communication procedure according to the TCP / IP protocol, and is connected to the Internet or a LAN in FIG. In the present invention, the network is a concept including both a LAN and the Internet. The FAX transmission / reception unit 19 is connected to a public line. Accordingly, in FIG. 1, the dedicated FAX machine 1 b or the multifunction machine 1 d has the E-mail transmission / reception unit 18 and the FAX transmission / reception unit 18.

  When a plurality of communication partners are input by the operator and grouped in the memory 14 as shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 12 performs transmission control of image data for each group. First, transmission control of image data is performed with respect to the communication partner of the group 14a and group 14b, and then transmission control of image data is performed with respect to the communication partner of the group 14c. Therefore, first, transmission control of image data is performed from the E-mail transmission / reception unit 18 to the mail address of the communication partner, and then the image data is sequentially transmitted to the FAX number of the partner via the FAX transmission / reception unit 19. Transmission control is performed. For the communication partner of the group 14a, the image data read by the reading unit 15 is converted into a TIFF file format and transmitted as an attached file. For the communication partner of the group 14b, the TIFF is transmitted. Convert to -F file format and send it as an attachment. In this case, the control unit 12 performs conversion control. First, conversion to TIFF is performed, and then conversion to TIFF-F is performed. That is, in the conversion control procedure, the conversion format only needs to be changed once. On the Internet, if only one piece of data is sent to a mail server for transmission, it will be distributed to a plurality of designated mail addresses, so that the image data is sent via the E-mail transmission / reception unit 18. The time for performing transmission control is almost constant regardless of the number of mail addresses stored in the groups 14a and 14b, and the communication time mostly depends on the capacity of the attached file and the communication speed. For this reason, communication time is very short compared with fax transmission.

  As described above, the control unit 12 controls transmission of image data to the communication partner mail addresses of the groups 14a and 14b, and then uses the FAX transmission / reception unit 19 to store each communication stored in the group 14c. Image data is sequentially transmitted to the destination FAX number. That is, after the image data is transmitted by telephone connection to the first FAX number, the same transmission control is performed by telephone connection to the next FAX number. This process is repeated, and after completing the transmission control of image data for all FAX numbers, all communication processes are completed.

  The destination determination unit 13 groups each time a communication partner is input from the operation panel 10 and records it in the corresponding area of the memory 14. And waiting for all communication partners to be input to the buffer from the operation panel 10, and then grouping the communication partners recorded in the buffer at a time and recording them in the memory 14. Good.

  In the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 12 first transmits image data by the E-mail method and then transmits image data by the facsimile method. If the FAX transmitting / receiving unit 19 can be driven at the same time, image data transmission control can be performed in parallel to the communication destinations of the group 14a and group 14c or the group 14b and group 14c.

  Next, the operation of the control unit 12 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In the initial state of the facsimile apparatus, since the communication partner can be input, when one communication partner is input by speed dial (S1), the communication partner corresponding to the input speed dial is entered. Is read from the registration memory 13a, and it is determined whether the notation method of the communication partner is a number or an alphabet. That is, it is determined whether it is a fax number or a mail address. If the communication partner is a fax number, the fax number is stored in the storage area of the group 14c (s3). If the notation method of the communication partner is an alphabet, that is, a mail address, the file format as attribute data is determined (s4). If the file format is TIFF, the mail address of the communication partner is stored in the area of the group 14a (s5). If the file format is TIFF-F, the mail address of the communication partner is stored in the area of the group 14b. (S6).

  Subsequently, if there is an input from the next communication partner, the processes of s1 to s6 are performed, and if input of all the communication partners is completed on the s7 side, the process proceeds to s8.

  At the stage where s7 is completed, as shown in FIG. 2, all input communication partners are grouped and stored in the memory 14 for each group.

  When these processes are completed, the transmission document is read by the reading unit 15, and the read transmission document data is stored in the memory 16 in the G3 format which is a facsimile data format (S9).

  Next, all the communication partner mail addresses of the groups 14a and 14b stored in the memory 14 are transferred to the E-mail transmission / reception unit 18 (s10), and the process proceeds to the mail transmission process of s11. Next, all FAX numbers stored in the area of the group 14c are transferred to the FAX transmitting / receiving unit 19 (s12), and FAX transmission processing is performed (S13).

  FIG. 4 shows the mail transmission process of s11.

  First, the file format is determined (s21). If the format is TIFF, the G3 data is converted to TIFF data (s22). If the format is TIFF-F, the G3 data is formatted to TIFF-F. Conversion is performed (s25). If processing is performed for each mail address of the group 14a, the format conversion is performed from s21 to s22. Next, the converted image data is attached as an attached file, and a mail header including all the communication partner mail addresses of the group currently processed, its own mail address, date and time, etc. is added to this (s23). It is transmitted as a mail (s24). Subsequently, the processing from s21 onward is performed on the next group. When mail transmission processing for all groups is completed, the process returns to s12 in FIG. In this mail transmission process, mail transmission in s24 is performed for the number of groups grouped based on the file format. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 2, since there are two file formats, the mail transmission process is performed twice.

  FIG. 5 shows the FAX transmission process shown in s13 of FIG. In this FAX transmission process, transmission operations are sequentially performed one by one. The counter n represents the number of transmissions, and the nth communication partner is called in s32, and FAX data is transmitted in s33. The communication partner line is closed (s34), and if there is a next partner (s35), the counter n is incremented by one and the above steps s32 and below are executed.

  As described above, by first performing the mail transmission process and then performing the FAX transmission process, it is possible to perform immediate processing on the communication partner compatible with e-mail, and all communication partners. As a whole, the most efficient transmission control can be performed.

  In the above embodiment, the communication method using e-mail and the communication method using facsimile are shown as communication methods. However, the present invention can also be applied to other communication methods, for example, communication methods using radio waves. . In addition, the communication partner is not necessarily a facsimile machine, and may be a personal computer as long as it has a function capable of transmitting image data. Further, the attribute data is not limited to the above TIFF and TIFF-F file formats, but may be a format such as PDF, JPEG, MPEG, and the resolution of transmission data (300 dpi, 600 dpi,...). May be attribute data, and a compression method (lzh, zip, etc.) may be attribute data, and communication partners may be further grouped based on this data.

  In addition, the communication memory corresponding to the speed dial is stored in the registration memory 13a. However, it is possible to store the communication partner corresponding to the one-touch dial, and the communication partner and attribute data are stored. It is also possible to input directly from the operation panel 10. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, every time one communication partner is input, the communication partner is grouped. However, a buffer is provided in the partner determination unit 13, and all the inputs are input in this buffer. It is also possible to store communication partners and group them together afterwards.

It is a figure which shows the route which performs transmission control of image data using the facsimile apparatus which concerns on this invention. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A flowchart showing the operation of the facsimile apparatus A flowchart showing mail transmission processing of the facsimile apparatus A flowchart showing FAX transmission processing of the facsimile apparatus

Claims (7)

In an image data transmitting apparatus having a function of broadcasting the same image data to a plurality of destinations using an e-mail method using a network
A destination determination unit that groups the input communication partners with at least one attribute data, a memory that stores the grouped communication partners for each group, and a group that belongs to the group An image data transmitting apparatus comprising: a control unit that performs transmission control by adding the image data to all communication partners. The image data transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attribute data includes a format of an attached document to be transmitted to the communication partner when the communication partner is connected to the network. The image data transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attribute data further includes a resolution of an attached document transmitted to the communication partner when the communication partner is connected to the network. The image data transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attribute data further includes a data compression method for transmitting to a communication partner. 5. The image data transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the destination determination unit groups the input communication counterparts every time one communication counterpart is input. 5. The image data transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the destination determination unit groups all the input communication destinations when input of all the communication destinations is completed. The image data transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sequentially controls transmission of the image data for each group.

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