JP2005311508A - Fax system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a FAX system which exactly designates and sends the number of a portable telephone to a FAX party number. <P>SOLUTION: The FAX system comprises a FAX unit 1 for sending FAX data, a portable telephone 6 having previously allotted telephone numbers for the voice talking and for the FAX reception and a browser function, and a FAX center 4 which transforms received FAX data to HTML texts upon receipt of the FAX data addressed to a FAX receiving telephone number of the portable telephone 6 as a send destination and informs a portable telephone at the send destination of the URL of the transformed HTML texts by mail. The portable telephone accesses the informed URL to receive the FAX data in the form of the HTML texts sent from the FAX unit 1 to browse the contents of the FAX data owing to its browser function of the portable telephone 6. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a FAX system that can reference FAX data received by a FAX center by using a mobile phone.

As a prior art which seems to be related to the present invention, there is a facsimile server described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-150462).
The facsimile server disclosed in Patent Document 1 converts received FAX data (data transmitted through a communication line by converting a two-dimensional image such as a photograph, document, or figure into an electrical signal) into an HTML format, and sends it to a WWW server. Store.
Note that HTML (hypertextmarkup language) is a document description language for the WWW (worldwide web: Internet information service using hypertext), and a server is a computer or software on the network, that is, a client. A computer that provides services to

When the facsimile is received, the URL of the HTML document (uniform resource locator: a notation method for uniquely specifying the storage location of information resources such as files distributed on the Internet) is notified to the recipient by e-mail. .
Then, the recipient refers to the facsimile message stored in the notified URL by using a Web browser (browser: software for reading the contents of the data file).
JP-A-10-150462 (FIGS. 1 and 5)

In the conventional facsimile server described above, the destination described on the first page of FAX data may be handwritten.
When the destination is handwritten, there is a possibility that the destination cannot be accurately recognized even if the facsimile server has a highly functional OCR (optical character reader) function.
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a FAX system capable of accurately designating and transmitting a mobile phone number as a destination number of a general FAX apparatus. .

The FAX system according to the present invention includes a FAX device for transmitting FAX data, a telephone number for voice call and a telephone number for FAX reception, and a mobile phone having a browser function and a mobile phone Upon receiving FAX data having a FAX reception telephone number as a transmission destination, the FAX center converts the received FAX data into an HTML document and notifies the URL of the converted HTML document to the transmission destination mobile phone by e-mail. And
By accessing the URL notified from the FAX center, the FAX data transmitted from the FAX apparatus is received as an HTML document, and the contents of the FAX data can be browsed by the browser function of the mobile phone.

According to the FAX system of the present invention, it is possible to accurately designate and transmit the mobile phone number without erroneously recognizing the mobile phone number as a destination number of a general FAX apparatus, so it is possible to reliably send FAX data to the destination. A FAX system can be realized.
Further, even a mobile phone without a FAX reception function can confirm the contents of a FAX transmitted to the user himself / herself.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the drawings, the same reference numerals represent the same or equivalent.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a FAX system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In the figure, 1 is a facsimile apparatus (FAX apparatus: also simply referred to as FAX), 2 is a public network, 3 is FAX data received when the FAX transmission destination is a FAX number assigned to a mobile phone. Mobile phone network switch with transfer function, 4 is a FAX center that has the function of documenting received FAX data into a hypertext markup language (HTML) and publishing to the Web, 5 is a base station of the mobile phone network, and 6 is a browser (data It is a mobile phone with a software function to look through the contents of the file.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram specifically showing the configuration of the FAX center 4 in FIG.
The configuration of the FAX center 4 will be described with reference to FIG.
7 is a FAX modem that converts FAX data received from a telephone line (a line including the public line network 2 and the exchange 3) into image data, and 8 is an HTML having a function of creating an HTML document for viewing a mobile phone from the image data. A creation unit 9 is included in the HTML creation unit 8, an image conversion unit having a function of converting image data converted by the FAX modem 7 into JPEG and GIF format image data, and 10 is included in the HTML creation unit 8. This is an OCR unit having a function of extracting a character string from image data converted by the modem 7.
Also, 11 is a Web server that saves and publishes an HTML document created by the HTML creation unit 8, and 12 is a mail transmission unit that sends a URL referring to the HTML document stored in the Web server 11 to the mobile phone. , 13 are control units for controlling the FAX modem 7, the HTML creation unit 8, the Web server 11, and the mail transmission unit 12.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the processing flow of the FAX center 4.
The processing flow of the FAX center 4 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3A, the FAX center 4 controls the FAX modem 7 to receive FAX data (F1) and convert the FAX data into image data (F2).
Then, an HTML document is created from the image data by controlling the HTML creation unit 8 (F3) and stored in the WEB server 11 (F4).
Then, the URL referring to the created HTML document is transmitted to the mobile phone by mail by controlling the mail transmitting unit 12 (F5).
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3B, when a URL access request referring to the HTML document is received from the mobile phone (F6), the HTML document is transmitted to the mobile phone (F7).

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the FAX system according to this embodiment.
The operation of the FAX system according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
First, it is assumed that a telephone number for voice call and a telephone number for FAX reception are assigned to the mobile phone.
The user sends a FAX from FAX 1 with the destination as the FAX reception telephone number of mobile phone 6 (S1).
The exchange 3 that has detected the FAX transmission determines that the transmission destination is a telephone number for FAX reception, and transfers it to the FAX center 4 (S2).

When the FAX center 4 receives FAX data from the FAX 1 (S3), the FAX center 4 converts the FAX data into an HTML document, and notifies the mobile phone 6 of the URL referring to the HTML document by mail (S4).
When the user of the mobile phone 6 accesses the notified URL (S5), the FAX center 4 transmits the content of the FAX data as an HTML document (S6).
Thereby, the user of the mobile phone 6 can confirm the content of the FAX data by the browser function of the mobile phone.

  As described above, the FAX system according to the present embodiment has a FAX apparatus 1 for transmitting FAX data, a telephone number for voice call, and a telephone number for FAX reception, and a browser function. When receiving FAX data having the mobile phone 6 and the FAX reception telephone number of the mobile phone 6 as a transmission destination, the received FAX data is converted into an HTML document, and the converted HTML data is converted to the mobile phone of the transmission destination. A FAX center 4 for notifying the URL of the document by e-mail, accessing the URL notified from the FAX center 4 to receive the FAX data transmitted from the FAX apparatus 1 as an HTML document, and the browser function of the mobile phone 6 The contents of FAX data can be browsed.

According to the FAX system according to the present embodiment, by inputting the FAX number assigned to the mobile phone to the existing FAX apparatus, there is an effect that FAX transmission can be performed by specifying the mobile phone number to the other party. .
In the prior art, the destination described in the FAX data may be handwritten, and even if it has a high-performance OCR function, the destination may not be recognized correctly. According to the aspect, there is an effect that there is no misrecognition of the destination, and the destination can be reliably sent.
In addition, there is an effect that even if the mobile phone does not have a FAX reception function, the contents of the FAX transmitted to itself can be confirmed.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the FAX system according to the second embodiment.
In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a facsimile machine FAX, 2 is a public line network, and 30 is a mobile phone having a function (ON / OFF capable) of preferential transfer to a FAX center when the FAX transmission destination is a mobile phone number. A network switch 4 is a FAX center having a function of converting received FAX data into an HTML document and publishing the web, 5 is a base station of a mobile phone network, and 6 is a mobile phone having a browser function.
The configuration diagram and processing flow for the FAX center 4 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the configuration and operation of the exchange 30 in the present embodiment.
In FIG. 6, reference numeral 15 denotes a control unit having exchange switch control and routing table search functions. Reference numeral 16 denotes a telephone number, a connection destination, and an ON / OFF state of a function for preferential transfer to a FAX center. A route table 17 as a column is an exchange switch controlled by the control unit 15.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the exchange 30.
The processing flow of the exchange 30 will be described with reference to FIG.

When receiving the call setting information (G1), the exchange 30 in the figure performs a routing table search from the destination telephone number in the call setting information to determine the next connection destination (G2).
When the FAX priority transfer function of the search target telephone number is ON, the call connection is performed with the connection destination as the FAX center 4 (G3).
When the FAX priority transfer function of the search target telephone number is OFF, the call connection is made to the connection destination exchange in the routing table (G4).
Next, the operation of the FAX system will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG.
In order to use this service, the user of the mobile phone 6 notifies the exchange 3 in advance to turn on the FAX transfer function (T1).
The user of FAX 1 transmits the FAX from FAX 1 with the destination as the telephone number of mobile phone 6 (T2).

The exchange 30 that has detected the FAX transmission determines that the call destination is the telephone number of the mobile phone 6, and transfers to the FAX center 4 because the FAX transfer function is ON (T3).
When the FAX center 4 receives the FAX data from the FAX 1 (T4), the FAX center 4 converts the FAX data into an HTML document, and notifies the mobile phone 6 of the URL referring to the HTML document by mail (T5).
The user of the mobile phone 6 receives the content of the FAX data as an HTML document by accessing the notified URL (T6) (T7), and confirms (views) the content of the FAX data by the browser function of the mobile phone. be able to.

As described above, the FAX system according to the present embodiment is preferential when the transmission destination of the FAX data transmitted by the FAX apparatus 1 is the telephone number of the mobile phone 6 instead of the exchange 3 in the first embodiment. In addition, an exchange 30 for transferring FAX data to the FAX center 4 is provided.
As a result, in addition to the effects of the FAX system according to the first embodiment described above, the FAX transmission side can preferentially perform FAX transmission simply by inputting the mobile phone number of the other party, so that the FAX number is for the mobile phone. There is no need to be conscious of whether it is a number, and the convenience is improved.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the configuration of the FAX system according to the third embodiment, and this embodiment is characterized by the configuration of the FAX center.
In the figure, reference numeral 40 denotes a FAX center having a function of extracting a character string from received FAX data and transmitting the character string to a mobile phone by mail. The configuration of the FAX center 40 will be described with reference to FIG.
7 is a FAX modem that converts FAX data received from a telephone line into image data, 19 is an OCR unit having a function of extracting a character string from image data converted by the FAX modem 7, and 20 is a character output by the OCR unit 19. A mail transmission unit 21 for transmitting the column to the mobile phone, and a control unit 21 controls the FAX modem 7, the OCR unit 19, and the mail transmission unit 20.

Next, the processing flow of the FAX center 40 will be described with reference to FIG.
The FAX center 40 receives the FAX data by controlling the FAX modem 7 (H1), and converts the FAX data into image data (H2).
Then, the character string is extracted from the image data by controlling the OCR unit 19 (H3), and the character string output from the OCR unit 19 is transmitted to the mobile phone 6 by controlling the mail transmitting unit 20 (H4). ).
In FIG. 9, the exchange shows the exchange 3 used in the FAX system according to the first embodiment, but the exchange 30 used in the FAX system according to the second embodiment instead of the exchange 3 (that is, the exchange 3 is used). It may be a mobile phone network exchange having a function of preferentially transferring to a FAX center when the FAX transmission destination is a mobile phone number.

As described above, the FAX center 40 of the FAX system according to this embodiment includes the FAX modem 7 that converts received FAX data into image data, and the OCR unit that extracts a character string from the image data converted by the FAX modem 7. 19 and a mail transmission unit 20 that transmits the character string extracted by the OCR unit 19 to the mobile phone 6.
In the FAX system according to the first embodiment or the second embodiment, the user of the mobile phone 6 needs to access the Web server in order to check the FAX content. However, according to the FAX system according to the present embodiment, There is an effect that FAX contents can be directly sent to a mobile phone by e-mail.

  The present invention is useful for realizing a FAX system that eliminates misrecognition of a destination and can reliably send FAX data transmitted from a FAX apparatus to a destination mobile phone.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a FAX system according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram specifically illustrating a configuration of a FAX center in the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow of a FAX center in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the FAX system according to the first embodiment. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a FAX system according to Embodiment 2. FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the configuration and operation of an exchange in the second embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the exchange in the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the FAX system according to the second embodiment. FIG. 6 illustrates a configuration of a FAX system according to a third embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the exchange in the third embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 FAX apparatus 2 Public network 3 Switch 4 FAX center 5 Base station 6 Cellular phone 7 FAX modem 8 HTML preparation part 9 Image conversion part 10 OCR part 11 Web server 12 Mail transmission part 13 Control part 14 Internet part 15 Control part 16 Path | route Table 17 Exchange switch 19 OCR unit 20 Mail transmission unit 21 Control unit 30 Exchange machine 40 FAX center

Claims (3)

A FAX device for transmitting FAX data;
A telephone number for voice calls and a telephone number for FAX reception are assigned in advance, and a mobile phone having a browser function;
When receiving FAX data with a phone number for receiving a FAX of a cellular phone as a transmission destination, the received FAX data is converted into an HTML document, and the URL of the converted HTML document is notified to the transmission destination cellular phone by e-mail. And a fax center that
By accessing the URL notified from the FAX center, the FAX data transmitted from the FAX apparatus is received as an HTML document, and the contents of the FAX data can be browsed by the browser function of the mobile phone. FAX system.   2. The FAX system according to claim 1, wherein the FAX data is preferentially transferred to the FAX center when the transmission destination of FAX data transmitted by the FAX apparatus is a cellular phone number.   The FAX center sends a FAX modem that converts received FAX data to image data, an OCR unit that extracts a character string from the image data converted by the FAX modem, and mails the character string extracted by the OCR unit to a mobile phone. 3. The FAX system according to claim 1, further comprising: a mail transmission unit for transmission.

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