JP2007013238A - Network facsimile system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network facsimile system enabling transmission operation with only a network board side telephone directory by enabling the data of a main apparatus side telephone directory to be added to the telephone directory of the network board side. <P>SOLUTION: If, when a Post command of HTTP is received from a client personal computer, the received Post command is a request of exporting a main apparatus side telephone directory, the data of the main apparatus side telephone directory are converted into the data of the telephone directory of the network board (steps 201 to 207), and then, the converted data are stored in the predetermined storage of the network board (step 208). Next, a list of registered telephone directories is transmitted as response data to the client personal computer (step 209). Thus, the data of main apparatus side telephone directory can be added to the data of the network board side telephone directory. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a network facsimile apparatus connected to a terminal apparatus such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer) via a communication network such as a LAN, and more particularly to a network facsimile apparatus having telephone book data on the main body side and the network board side. About.

  Recently, facsimile systems have spread in offices and the like, and play a useful role in data communication. Such a system is configured, for example, by connecting a network facsimile apparatus or a terminal device so-called client personal computer through a communication network such as a LAN. The network facsimile apparatus transfers data received by facsimile to the client personal computer. When the data specifying the transfer destination is received from the client personal computer, the received data is transmitted to the specified transfer destination.

On the other hand, the network facsimile machine has a network board having a web browser function, and registers destination information such as a destination fax number and a destination email address as a telephone directory from the web browser screen of the terminal device to the network board, and transmits it. To do this, call up the network directory phone book or the phone book on the main unit side, display it on the display unit of the terminal device, and select the desired destination from the displayed destination information so that transmission can be performed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP-A-11-205569

  As described above, the conventional network facsimile apparatus can select the destination information by calling the phone book on the network board side or the phone book on the main body side. Since they are used as different things, it is necessary to use both, and there is a problem that the operation is troublesome.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and by making it possible to add data in the phone book on the main body side to the phone book on the network board, a transmission operation can be performed only with the phone book on the network board side. It is an object of the present invention to provide a network facsimile machine that can be used.

  In order to achieve the above object, a network facsimile apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is a network facsimile apparatus connected to a terminal apparatus via a communication network, and a telephone directory storage on the main body side capable of registering destination information. And a network board side telephone book storage means capable of registering destination information, and a control means for registering stored data in the main body side telephone book storage means in the network board side telephone book storage means. It is characterized by.

A network facsimile apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the network facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the control means collectively stores the data stored in the telephone directory storage means on the main body side. It is characterized by being registered in the phone book storage means,
A network facsimile apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the network facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the control means individually stores the data stored in the telephone directory storage means on the main body side. It is registered in the storage means.

  According to the network facsimile apparatus of the first to third aspects of the present invention, the phone book data on the main body side can be added to the phone book on the network board all at once or necessary data can be added to the network board. Sending operations can be performed only with the phone book on the board side.

  An embodiment in which the network facsimile apparatus of the present invention is applied to a network multifunction device will be described below. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration example of a system including a network multifunction device, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the network multifunction device.

  In the network configuration diagram shown in FIG. 1, 1 is a network multifunction device, 2, 3, 4... Are personal computers, 5 is a public switched telephone network (PSTN), 6 is a LAN (Local Area Network), and 7 is an Internet network. is there. The network multifunction device 1 has functions of a copy mode, a printer mode, and a fax mode, and also has a mail transmission function, and is connected to the PSTN 5 and the LAN 6, and a plurality of personal computers 2, 3, 4,.・ ・ Is connected. The LAN 6 is also connected to the Internet network 7, and the network MFP 1 can send and receive mail via the Internet network 7.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the network multifunction device 1. As shown in the figure, the network multifunction device 1 has a CPU 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, and a display. An operation unit 14, a reading unit 15, an image memory 16, a recording unit 17, a codec 18, a modem 19, a network control unit NCU 20, a network board 21 and a LAN interface (I / F) 22 are configured. Connected.

  The CPU 11 controls each part of the hardware of the network multifunction peripheral 1 via the bus 23 and executes various programs based on the programs stored in the ROM 12. The ROM 12 performs various programs and operations necessary for the operation of the network multifunction peripheral. Operation messages and the like are stored in advance. The RAM 13 is composed of an SRAM or the like, and includes a phone book storage area 24 for storing temporary data generated when the program is executed and for storing phone book data on the main body side.

  The display / operation unit 14 includes a display unit that displays an operation state of the network multifunction peripheral or displays an operation screen for various functions, and a plurality of keys for operating the network multifunction peripheral. An original document reading table such as an auto document feeder (ADF) or a flatbed scanner (FBS) is provided, and the original is read by a scanner using a CCD or the like, and dot image data is output.

  The image memory 16 is configured by using a DRAM or the like, and stores image data to be transmitted or received image data or image data read by the reading unit 15, and a recording unit 17 is a printer device such as an electrophotographic system. The received data, copy original data, or print data transmitted from an external personal computer is printed out.

  The codec 18 encodes and decodes in accordance with a predetermined protocol. In order to transmit the image data of the read original, the codec 18 is encoded by the MH, MR, or MMR method, and decodes image data received from the outside. Also, encoding and decoding are also performed in correspondence with the TIFF method, which is an image format generally used as a file that can be attached to an e-mail.

  The modem 19 is connected to the bus 23 and has a function as a fax modem capable of facsimile communication. The modem 19 is also connected to the NCU 20 connected to the bus 23. The NCU 20 is hardware that closes and opens an analog line, and connects the modem 19 to the PSTN 5 as necessary.

The network board 21 stores and stores images such as a fax transmission image, a scanned image, a fax / mail reception distribution image, and the like, as well as telephone book data, which are operated from the network multifunction peripheral 1 main body.
The LAN interface 22 is connected to the LAN 6 and receives signals from the Internet network 7 while transmitting signals and data to the LAN 6 and executes interface processing such as signal conversion and protocol conversion.

  The network multifunction device 1 has the above-described configuration. During facsimile transmission, document image data is read by the reading unit 15, compressed by the codec 18, and stored in the image memory 16. The compressed image data is read from the image memory 16, modulated by the modem 19, and transmitted from the NCU 20 to the communication partner through the PSTN 5. At the time of facsimile reception, the received image data is demodulated by the modem 19, stored in the image memory 16, decoded by the codec 18, and printed by the recording unit 17.

  On the other hand, as shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. 3, the network board 21 includes a TCP / IP protocol control unit 31, an HTTPD control unit 32, a homepage information management unit 33, a document management unit 34, and a telephone directory information management unit 35. Each of these units includes a CPU, a ROM, a memory such as a RAM, a magnetic disk (hard disk) storage device, and the like.

The TCP / IP protocol control unit 31 controls TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) / IP (Internet Protocol), and the HTTPD control unit 32 uses the data stream transfer function of the TCP / IP protocol control unit 31 to perform HTTPD (Hyper Text Transfer). Protocol Deamon) function is executed, and requests from WWW (World Wide Web) browsers such as personal computers 2, 3, 4 are processed.
Note that HTTPPD is a daemon that provides the functions of an HTTP server, and is used when a web server is operated on a UNIX (registered trademark) operating system.

The homepage information management unit 33 outputs a homepage file to the HTTPD control unit 32 in response to a homepage request from the HTTPD control unit 32, and the document management unit 34 sends a fax transmission document by an operation from the network multifunction peripheral 1 main body. Stores and saves documents such as scanned documents, fax / mail received delivery documents, etc., and converts saved document list information into HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) format files in response to requests from the HTTP PD control unit 32 The information output to the HTTPD control unit 32 and the information input from the HTTPD control unit 32 are analyzed, and processing such as transfer and deletion of a stored document is performed.
Further, the phone book information management unit 35 stores and saves, as phone book data, a fax number, a mail address, or the like input from the monitor screen of the personal computers 2, 3, 4, etc. or the operation unit of the display / operation unit 14.

In this network system, a user can browse phone book data registered in the phone book storage area 24 of the RAM 13 of the network multifunction peripheral 1 or the phone book information management unit 35 of the network board 21 from the personal computers 2, 3, 4, etc. The operation when browsing the phone book data will be described below.
For example, when the user starts the WWW browser and performs access by designating the IP address of the network MFP 1 on the WWW browser screen displayed on the monitor screen of the personal computer 2, the HTTPD control unit 32 of the network board 21 performs this access. The homepage file described in HTML is read from the homepage information management unit 33 and transferred to the personal computer 2 via the TCP / IP protocol control unit 31, the LAN interface 22, and the LAN6.

When the user selects and instructs to display the phone book data from this home page, the phone book data display request is transferred to the network multifunction device 1 via the LAN 6, and the HTTPD control unit 32 of the network board 21 detects this. .
Hereinafter, the operation of the network board 21 when this telephone directory data display request is received will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The HTTPPD control unit 32 of the network board 21 always executes the program shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, and receives an HTTP Post command from the personal computers 2, 3, 4, etc. via the TCP / IP protocol control unit 31. Whether or not (step 101). For example, if it is determined that an HTTP Post command has been received from the personal computer 2, the HTTP PD control unit 32 stores the IP address and port number of the transmission source in a storage unit (not shown) (step 102) and then receives the HTTP post command. It is determined whether or not the Post command is a display request for telephone directory data (step 103).

  Note that the HTTP Post command is one of the commands for transmitting the content described in the HTML form to the web server. When Post is specified, the content described in the form does not appear directly in the URL, so the URL length Long data that does not fall within the limits can be transmitted, and the transmitted content does not touch the user's eyes or remain as a history.

  If it is determined that the received Post command is not a phone book data display request, the HTTPD control unit 32 executes other processing (step 104), and if it is determined that it is a phone book data display request, the phone book management unit It is determined whether or not there is a phone book registration area in the phone book storage area 24 of 35 or RAM 13 (step 105). If it is determined that there is no phone book registration area, no phone book is registered in the personal computer 2 An error response is made by notifying the fact (step 106).

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 105 that there is a phone book registration area, the HTTPD control unit 32 extracts the phone book information of the registered abbreviated number from the phone book storage area 24 and the phone book information management unit 35 of the RAM 13. Thereafter, the extracted telephone directory information is transferred to the transmission source stored in step 102, that is, the personal computer 2 (step 108).
As a result, telephone directory registration data as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the monitor screen of the personal computer 2.

  In the screen of FIG. 5, the address book of the phone book on the main body side is displayed. By clicking the index of “board address book”, the phone registered in the phone book information management unit 35 of the network board 21 is displayed. The address book of the book can be displayed, and the address book address book of each group registered in the phone book information management unit 35 of the network board 21 can be displayed by selecting “board group”. Can do.

Furthermore, you can delete the phonebook data of the selected abbreviated number by checking and selecting one of the check boxes for the abbreviated number, and clicking “Delete”. By clicking “Import”, You can import phone book data from other files.
Also, by selecting the abbreviated number and clicking “Export”, the phonebook data of the selected abbreviated number can be output to an external file etc. By clicking “Export to Board Address Book”, The phone book data on the main body side can be added to the phone book information management unit 35 of the network board 21.

On the other hand, when “New” is clicked, the main body address table setting screen shown in FIG. 6 is displayed, and the telephone book data can be newly registered in the main body side telephone book.
In this main body address table setting screen, as shown in FIG. 6, “number”, “destination number”, “destination name”, “reading kana”, and “group number” can be entered.
If the “Number” field is set to 0 and the “Set” button is clicked, a new registration request for the phone book data is sent to the network multifunction device 1, and the network multifunction device 1 automatically sets the minimum registration-ready abbreviated number. Grant.

Next, the operation of the network board 21 when the user clicks “Export to board destination table” on the destination table setting screen shown in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
The HTTPPD control unit 32 of the network board 21 always executes the program shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, and receives an HTTP Post command from the personal computers 2, 3, 4, etc. via the TCP / IP protocol control unit 31. Whether or not (step 201). For example, if it is determined that an HTTP Post command has been received from the personal computer 3, the HTTP PD control unit 32 stores the IP address and port number of the transmission source in the storage unit (step 202), and then the received Post command is sent to the main body side. It is determined whether or not there is a telephone directory export request (step 203).

  If it is determined that the received Post command is not a phone book export request on the main body side, the HTTPD control unit 32 executes other processing (step 204), and if it is determined that it is a phone book export request on the main body side, It is determined whether or not there is a phone book registration area in the information management unit 35 (step 205), and if it is determined that there is no phone book registration area, a notification that the phone book is not registered is sent to the personal computer 3 An error response is then performed (step 206).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 205 that the phone book information management unit 35 has a phone book registration area, the HTTPD control unit 32 stores the specified phone book data in the phone book storage area 24 of the RAM 13 on the main body side as a network board. After the conversion to the telephone book data 21 (step 207), the converted data is stored in the telephone book management unit 35 of the network board 21 (step 208). Next, the registered telephone directory list is transmitted as response data to the transmission source stored in step 202, that is, to the personal computer 3 (step 209).
As a result, as shown in FIG. 8, the address book of the telephone book on the network board side to which the data of the telephone book on the main body side is added is displayed on the monitor screen of the personal computer 3.

If you click “Export to Board Address Book” without adding a check to the number in the Address Book Settings in FIG. 5, all phone book data on the main unit will be added to the phone book on the network board. When a check is added and “Export to Board Address Book” is clicked, only the phone book data of the checked number on the main body side is added to the network board phone book.
FIG. 9 is a destination correction screen when the number “0001” is clicked in FIG. 8. The phone book data on the main body side added to the network board phone book is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, “destination number” is converted to “fax number”, “destination name” is converted to “name”, and “reading kana” is converted to “name reading kana” and stored.

  As described above, the phone book data on the main unit side can be added to the network board phone book from the personal computers 2, 3, 4, etc. all at once, so that the user can It is possible to perform a transmission operation using only the phone book.

In the above embodiment, “number”, “destination number”, “destination name”, “reading pseudonym”, and “group number” are stored as the destination information of the main body side phone book. Other information can be stored, and the information can be converted into the corresponding phone book information on the network board side.
In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the network facsimile apparatus of the present invention is applied to a network multifunction peripheral has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a normal facsimile apparatus having no mail function.

It is a figure which shows the network structural example of the system provided with the network multifunction device. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of a network multifunction device. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of a network board. It is a flowchart which shows the effect | action of the network board in the case of transmitting telephone directory information to a personal computer. It is a figure which shows an example of a telephone directory information display screen. It is a figure which shows an example of a main body destination table setting screen. It is a flowchart which shows the effect | action of a network board in the case of adding the telephone directory data of a main body side to a network board. It is a figure which shows an example of the network board destination table to which the telephone directory data of the main body side was added. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen of a network board destination table.

Explanation of symbols

1 Network MFP 2, 3, 4 PC 5 PSTN
6 LAN
7 Internet 11 CPU
12 ROM
13 RAM
14 Display / Operation Unit 15 Reading Unit 16 Image Memory 17 Recording Unit 18 Codec 19 Modem 20 NCU
21 Network board 22 LAN I / F
23 Bus 24 Phonebook storage area 31 TCP / IP protocol control unit 32 HTTPD control unit 33 Homepage information management unit 34 Document management unit 35 Phonebook information management unit

Claims (3)

A network facsimile apparatus connected to a terminal device via a communication network,
Phone book storage means on the main body side capable of registering destination information, phone book storage means on the network board side capable of registering destination information, and stored data in the phone book storage means on the main body side as phone book on the network board side A network facsimile apparatus comprising: control means for registering in storage means. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The network facsimile apparatus, wherein the control means collectively registers the data stored in the telephone directory storage means on the main body side in the telephone directory storage means on the network board side. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The network facsimile apparatus, wherein the control means individually registers the data stored in the telephone directory storage means on the main body side in the telephone directory storage means on the network board side.

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