JP2008204283A - Image forming apparatus, image forming method and imaging forming program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus, an image forming method and an image forming program for extracting only information necessary for a user from among received electronic mail, and for automatically printing only the extracted information. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus 100 is connected through a network 90 to an electronic mail receiving server 200, and downloads electronic mail received by the electronic receiving server 200 to the image forming apparatus 100 to thereby receive the electronic mail. This image forming apparatus 100 is provided with a retrieval means 42 for retrieving, based on retrieval conditions for extracting the electronic mail pertinent to specific conditions with respect to the electronic mail received by the image forming apparatus 100, the pertinent electronic mail; and a printing means 43 for printing the electronic mail retrieved and extracted by the retrieval means 42. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a function of receiving e-mail stored in an e-mail receiving server via a network.

  Currently, image forming apparatuses used in the office environment such as digital copiers (MFP: Multifunction Peripheral or Multifunction Printer), facsimile machines, and printers are built in the office environment in the same way as user terminals (PC: Personal Computer). Connected to a network.

  For example, a document created on a user terminal or a mailer of the user terminal (herein, “mailer” refers to Microsoft's Outlook Express (registered for creating and sending and receiving e-mails, storing and managing received e-mails) (E.g., email user software (MUA: Mail User Agent))), etc.), by printing from the user terminal to the image forming apparatus via the network, such as e-mail received by the user, Necessary information can be obtained as a paper medium.

  In particular, since e-mail has become the central position of recent communication tools, the frequency of handling e-mail information is high in the user's office environment, and e-mail can be sent from various destinations to a single e-mail address. An email arrives. For example, the email address of employee A who belongs to the sales department of a company that manufactures and sells electronic equipment products to be introduced into the office environment includes "customer contact person" and other " Receive e-mails from various parties such as “Members of Sales Department”, “Member of Product Development Zone”, “Member of Support Center”. For this reason, the operation of outputting (for example, printing) e-mail information to an optimal medium (for example, a paper medium) according to the business scene is very complicated for the employee A.

  In this way, a service is provided in which e-mail information is processed according to a business scene and output to an optimum medium by an image forming apparatus for e-mail that is frequently handled on a daily basis. Is important. Also, in today's office environment, useless printing results such as printing a large amount of e-mail received from the image forming apparatus at the user terminal or printing incorrect information can cause environmental resource problems and costs. It is not desirable from the viewpoint of reduction. Therefore, it is important to cope with these points in the image forming apparatus.

  Therefore, conventionally, in the image forming apparatus, since the processing format of the print data of the e-mail to be printed is different, the received e-mail is corresponding to the point that printing fails and a useless print result is output. To determine the print data processing mode (PDL is specified) based on the header information of the printer, select an image forming apparatus that can print the determined processing mode, or convert the print data processing mode to a printable processing mode (For example, refer to Patent Document 1) or in order to preferentially print important e-mails, when the number of printed sheets exceeds a predetermined number based on the received header information of the e-mail, A method has been proposed in which permission is requested from the user and the user can perform an operation of printing information with high priority (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

  Further, in some cases, the divided information is considered in consideration of the fact that an e-mail with divided information is transmitted (for example, an e-mail having a predetermined size or more is divided and transmitted by the e-mail transmission server). In order to be able to print in a form that is easy to read and handle, the body text of the divided emails based on the header information (link information added to the header information) of a plurality of received emails Have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

As described above, the conventional image forming apparatus can flexibly cope with the reception state of the e-mail, the processing mode of the received e-mail, and the like, and can perform appropriate output.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-320329 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-320330 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-73482

  However, the conventional image forming apparatuses disclosed in Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3 flexibly cope with the reception state of the email and the processing mode of the received email and perform appropriate output. Although it is possible, there is no time for the work of selecting the e-mail to be output (the e-mail including the information required by the user) from the received e-mails and printing only the selected e-mail. It remains a cumbersome task for (busy) users.

  That is, in the conventional image forming apparatus, the user receives one day of an e-mail (an e-mail including various information such as an e-mail with only a text or an e-mail attached with a file such as a document or an image). Therefore, it is not possible to cope with the point of outputting information efficiently without bothering the user with respect to the point of appropriately extracting only necessary information and outputting the minimum information.

  In the present invention, in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, an image forming apparatus capable of extracting only information required by a user from received e-mail and automatically printing the extracted information. It is an object to provide a forming method and an image forming program.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus of the present invention is connected to an e-mail receiving server via a network, and the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving server is downloaded to the image forming apparatus, thereby An image forming apparatus for receiving an email, wherein the email corresponding to the email received by the image forming device is extracted based on a search condition for extracting the email corresponding to a specific condition. Searching means for searching, and printing means for printing the electronic mail searched and extracted by the searching means.

  As a result, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention allows the user to select a specific condition (for example, an e-mail transmitted to the user from among e-mails) set in advance for the received e-mail. Search for the corresponding e-mail based on the search conditions for extracting the e-mail (e-mail containing the information necessary for the user) corresponding to the information you want to obtain, etc. And / or by printing a file attached to the text, it is possible to extract only the information required by the user from the received e-mail and automatically print the extracted information.

  In order to achieve the above object, the image forming apparatus of the present invention further includes a print confirmation unit that determines whether or not the received e-mail can be printed by the printing unit. A search for the corresponding e-mail based on the search condition for the e-mail that has been confirmed to be printable by the print confirmation unit among the e-mails received by the image forming apparatus. Features.

  As a result, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can print only printable e-mails that contain information required by the user among the received e-mails.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the print confirmation unit causes the print unit to check the email based on the data type of the body of the email received by the image forming apparatus. A first print confirmation unit for determining whether or not a body can be printed; and when the attached file is attached to the electronic mail, the electronic mail is attached by the printing unit based on an extension of the attached file And second print confirmation means for judging whether or not the file can be printed.

  Accordingly, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can suppress erroneous printing (useless printing result) due to data that cannot be printed by the apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the search unit sends the corresponding email based on the search condition to the body of the email received by the image forming apparatus. It has the 1st search means to search, and the 2nd search means to search the said electronic mail applicable to the attachment file of the said electronic mail based on the said search conditions, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  As a result, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can search and extract an attached file corresponding to the search condition with respect to the text and / or attached file of the received e-mail.

  In order to achieve the above object, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is configured such that, in the second search unit, when the attached file of the e-mail received by the image forming apparatus is image data, the image data On the other hand, a similar image search is performed on the basis of image data serving as a reference for similarity as the search condition.

  As a result, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can search and extract an attached file that satisfies the search condition even when the attached file of the received electronic mail is image data.

  Therefore, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can extract only e-mails including information required by the user from the received e-mails.

  In order to achieve the above object, the image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a statistical result acquisition unit that acquires a statistical result related to the search of the e-mail searched by the search unit. In the statistical result acquisition unit, The retrieval of the email based on the retrieval result of the body of the email retrieved by the first retrieval means and / or the retrieval result of the attached file of the email retrieved by the second retrieval means. It is characterized by income from statistical results.

  In order to achieve the above object, the image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a statistical result output unit that outputs a statistical result related to the search of the electronic mail acquired by the statistical result acquisition unit.

  Accordingly, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can automatically collect statistical results regarding information extracted from the received electronic mail, and can output the collected statistical results in a format desired by the user.

  Therefore, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can provide information relating to the received electronic mail in an easily understandable form.

  In order to achieve the above object, the image forming method of the present invention is connected to an e-mail receiving server via a network, and the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving server is downloaded to an image forming apparatus. The image forming method in the image forming apparatus for receiving the image, wherein the e-mail received by the image forming apparatus is based on a search condition for extracting the e-mail corresponding to a specific condition A search procedure for searching for the electronic mail and a printing procedure for printing the electronic mail searched by the search procedure.

  As a result, the image forming method of the present invention allows the user to select a specific condition (for example, an e-mail transmitted to the user from the e-mail addressed to the user). Search for the corresponding e-mail based on the search conditions for extracting the e-mail (e-mail containing the information necessary for the user) corresponding to the information you want to obtain, etc. And / or by printing a file attached to the text, it is possible to extract only the information required by the user from the received e-mail and automatically print the extracted information.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming program of the present invention is connected to an e-mail receiving server via a network and downloads the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving server to an image forming apparatus, thereby An image forming program in the image forming apparatus for receiving the e-mail received from the image forming apparatus based on a search condition for extracting the e-mail corresponding to a specific condition from the e-mail received by the image forming apparatus. A search unit that searches for the e-mail corresponding to the above and a printing unit that prints the e-mail searched by the search unit.

  As a result, the remote diagnosis / failure handling program of the present invention enables the computer to receive a specific condition (for example, an e-mail transmitted to the user) preset by the user for the received e-mail. Search for and extract the corresponding e-mail based on the search conditions for extracting the e-mail (e-mail containing information necessary for the user) It can be made to function to print the text of the electronic mail and / or the file attached to the text.

  Therefore, the image forming program of the present invention can extract only the information required by the user from the received e-mail and automatically print the extracted information.

  According to the present invention, specific conditions (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from among e-mails transmitted to the user) preset by the user for the received e-mail. ) (Email containing information necessary for the user) is searched based on the search condition for extracting the e-mail, and the body and / or body of the extracted e-mail is searched and extracted. By printing the attached file, the image forming apparatus, the image forming method, and the like, which can extract only the information required by the user from the received e-mail and automatically print the extracted information, And an image forming program.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiments”) will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
<Hardware configuration of image forming apparatus>
First, the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a control unit 11, a main storage unit 12, an auxiliary storage unit 13, a network I / F 14, an external storage device I / F 15, an external device I / F 16, The display unit 17, the input unit 18, the printing unit 19, and the scanner unit 20 are configured.

  A control unit (CPU: Central Processing Unit) 11 controls each device included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, such as a main storage unit 12, an auxiliary storage unit 13, and a network I / F 14 described below. . The control unit 11 is a device that executes a program stored in the main storage unit 12. The control unit 11 receives data from the input device or the storage device, calculates and processes the data, and outputs the data to the output device or the storage device ( (For example, display characters entered on the keyboard on the display).

  A main storage unit (ROM: Read Only Memory, RAM: Random Access Memory) 12 is a device for storing (including temporarily holding) a program executed by the control unit 11 and related data. The ROM stores a program executed by the control unit 11 and related data, and the stored program and related data are expanded (loaded) onto the RAM as needed by the control unit 11 and expanded. The (loaded) program and related data are calculated and processed by the control unit 11.

  The auxiliary storage unit (HD: Hard Disk) 13 is a device that stores basic software such as an OS (Operating System) and application software together with related data. Further, the auxiliary storage unit 13 stores various types of information managed by the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment (for example, search conditions for each user and images used as a reference for performing similar image search). It is managed by a database (DB) or a file system (FS: File System).

  The network I / F 14 includes peripheral devices having a communication function connected via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network) constructed by a data transmission path such as a wired and / or wireless line. It is an interface with the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

  The external storage device I / F 15 is an interface between an external storage device (for example, a storage media drive) connected via a data transmission path such as USB (Universal Serial Bus) and the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. It is.

  The external device I / F 16 is an interface between an external input device (for example, an external HD or a USB memory) connected via a data transmission path such as USB and the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment exchanges various types of data (transmission / reception and reading / writing) with the outside via these interfaces.

  A display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18 include a key switch (including hard keys and GUI (Graphical User Interface) software keys) and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) having a touch panel function. Device that functions as a UI (User Interface) when using the functions of the image forming apparatus 100.

  Upon receiving the image data composed of CMYK, the printing unit (plotter unit) 19 receives the image data on transfer paper (printing paper) using an electrophotographic process (exposure, latent image, development and transfer process) using a laser beam. This device outputs (prints) the image data.

  The scanner unit (document reading unit) 20 includes a line sensor composed of a CCD (Charge Coupled Devices) photoelectric conversion element, an A / D converter, and a drive circuit for driving them, and is set on the document reading surface (on the contact glass). This is a device that generates RGB 8-bit digital image data (reads information from a paper medium and digitizes it) by scanning a document.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment executes the program stored in the storage device such as the main storage unit 12 or the auxiliary storage unit 13 and controls each device, so that the image forming apparatus 100 can control the apparatus. It has functions such as copy, fax, scanner, and printer.

  Further, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes the hardware illustrated in FIG. 1 and realizes an “e-mail automatic printing function” described below.

<User environment where the image forming apparatus is installed>
In order to clarify the technical features of the present embodiment, printing of e-mails in a user environment in which the conventional image forming apparatus 100 is introduced and in a user environment in which the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is introduced. Differences from the procedure will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional procedure for printing received electronic mail.

In the conventional user environment, as shown in FIG. 2, the received e-mail is printed by the following procedure.
(1) Procedure for printing from the user terminal 300n The user can send an e-mail receiving server 200 (hereinafter referred to as “POP server (Post Office Protocol server)”) through a firewall 400 from a public data network such as the Internet. The e-mail arrived at the e-mail address addressed to the user is acquired using the mailer (e-mail client software (MUA)) of the user terminal 300n, and after confirming the contents with the mailer, necessary information ( The user selects an e-mail text or attached file to be printed, and prints it on the image forming apparatus 100 connected via the network 90.
(2) Procedure for performing automatic printing by the introduced image forming apparatus 100 A user connects the image forming apparatus 100 connected to the POP server 200 via the network 90 and having a function of receiving an e-mail. By registering (setting) the user's own e-mail address in advance, the image forming apparatus 100 acquires (receives) an e-mail addressed to the user that has arrived at the POP server 200 and acquires (receives) the e-mail. Print mail automatically.

  In the conventional printing procedure listed in (1), necessary information (e.g., the text of an email to be printed, an attached file, etc.) among received emails, which is cited as the most troublesome work for users who have no time (busy) ) Is selected, and there is a problem that the operation of printing only the selected e-mail is not supported. Also, in the conventional printing procedure described in (2), various information such as e-mail with text only and e-mail with attached files such as documents and images are also received in the e-mail received by the user on a day. There is a problem that it does not correspond to the task of appropriately extracting only necessary information from the electronic mail and printing the minimum information.

  Therefore, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment solves the conventional problem described above by the method described below, extracts only the information required by the user from the received e-mail, The extracted information is automatically printed.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a printing procedure for the received electronic mail according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the difference between the printing procedure of the received email according to the present embodiment and the conventional printing procedure is that the email addressed to the user that has arrived at the POP server 200 is acquired (received) and acquired ( In the function of automatically printing received e-mails (e-mail automatic printing function), the e-mail including necessary information is automatically searched according to a search condition set in advance by a user. It has a search function for extracting mail (hereinafter referred to as an “electronic mail automatic search function”) ”.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, a specific condition (for example, addressed to the user) preset by the user with respect to the e-mail acquired (received) from the POP server 200. Search and search for the corresponding e-mail based on the search conditions for extracting the e-mail (information necessary for the user) from the e-mail to be sent. By printing the text of the extracted email and / or a file attached to the text, only the information required by the user is extracted from the received email, and the extracted information is automatically printed The function to do is realized.

<Main Functional Configuration of Automatic Email Printing Function of Image Forming Apparatus>
Now, the main functional configuration of the electronic mail automatic printing function of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment described with reference to FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of main functions of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The electronic mail automatic printing function of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is mainly realized by each function of the “electronic mail automatic printing function” including the “electronic mail automatic search function” described in FIG. .

  The “e-mail automatic search function” and “e-mail automatic print function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment include a received mail address selection unit 21, an e-mail receiving unit 22, a received data type determining unit 23, and received data. The search unit 24 and the image forming unit 25 are included.

  The received mail address selection unit 21 includes a display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18 for an email address acquired (received) from the POP server 200 by an email receiving unit 22 described later. This is a function for selecting via the operation panel.

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, first, a user's mail address is input by a user via an operation panel including a display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18. (For example, an e-mail address is input using software keys such as alphanumeric characters displayed on an operation panel including the display unit 17 and the input unit (operation unit) 18). Next, in the image forming apparatus 100, the input mail address for each user is a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13 (for example, HDD (Hard Disk Drive), NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM), or external). Store in storage media (SD (Secure Digital memory) card, etc.).

  Therefore, the received mail address selection unit 21 acquires (receives) from the POP server 200 by the e-mail receiving unit 22 described later, among a plurality of mail addresses stored in a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13. The e-mail address is selected via an operation panel composed of a display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18 (for example, composed of a display unit 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18). Touch a software button showing multiple email addresses displayed on the control panel).

  The e-mail receiving unit 22 has a function of acquiring (receiving) an e-mail that has arrived at the e-mail address selected by the received e-mail address selecting unit 21 from the POP server 200.

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, another electronic device connected to the same network 90 via the network 90 and a predetermined communication protocol (for example, in the case of data communication related to electronic mail). , POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3) / SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), etc.). The image forming apparatus 100 is connected to the POP server 200 online via the network I / F 14 using, for example, the same function as the mailer (e-mail client software (MUA)) described above. If it is in the state, the electronic mail is periodically acquired (received) from the POP server 200.

  The e-mail receiving unit 22 stores the e-mail acquired (received) from the POP server 200 in a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13 for each registered user.

  The received data type determination unit 23 has a function of determining whether or not the e-mail data acquired (received) by the e-mail receiving unit 22 is data that can be printed by the printing unit (plotter unit) 19.

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, a printing unit (plotter unit) is used depending on a processing format related to printing, such as a PDL (Page Description Language) corresponding to the image forming apparatus 100 and a data type that can be handled by the image forming apparatus 100. 19) It must be determined whether or not a raster image (bitmap data) for printing can be generated.

  Normally, when printing is performed by the image forming apparatus 100, printing is performed based on print data that has been converted into corresponding PDL data by the image forming apparatus 100 via a printer driver or the like. However, when the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100 can print data in a predetermined format (for example, PDF (Portable Document Format)) (for example, PDF direct printing), it corresponds. In the predetermined format, a raster image (bitmap data) for printing by the printing unit (plotter unit) 19 can be generated without using a printer driver or the like.

  Therefore, the received data type determination unit 23 determines whether data other than text data in the acquired (received) e-mail data is data in a predetermined format corresponding to the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100. Judging. The function of the received data type determination unit 23 will be described in detail later in “Print Confirmation Unit 41”.

  The received data search unit 24 searches the e-mail acquired (received) by the e-mail receiving unit 22 based on a search condition set in advance by the user, and sends an e-mail ( This is a function of extracting the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of an e-mail including information required by the user.

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, a user inputs an image through an operation panel including a display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18 (for example, the display unit 17 and the input unit ( A search condition such as a character string, a numerical value, or a symbol is input using software keys such as alphanumeric characters displayed on an operation panel including the operation unit 18), and a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13. E-mail based on the search conditions for extracting e-mails that meet specific conditions (for example, information that users want to obtain from e-mails sent to users) The e-mail acquired (received) by the receiving unit 22 is searched, and the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the corresponding e-mail (e-mail including information required by the user) is extracted. . The function of the reception data search unit 24 will be described in detail later in “Search means 42”.

  The image forming unit 25 has a function of forming an image of the electronic mail searched and extracted by the received data search unit 24 by an electrophotographic process of the printing unit (plotter unit) 19 and printing it. The function of the image forming unit 25 will be described in detail later in the “printing unit 43”.

  As described above, the “e-mail automatic print function” including the “e-mail automatic search function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment stores programs for realizing the above-described functions in the main storage unit 12. By developing (loading) on a certain RAM and executing it by the control unit 11, it is possible to extract only the information required by the user from the received e-mail and automatically print the extracted information. it can.

<Means for Constructing Main Functions of Automatic Email Printing Function of Image Forming Apparatus>
FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show each means constituting the main function of the “e-mail automatic print function” including the “e-mail automatic search function” of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment described in FIG. Will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of means constituting the main functions of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The “e-mail automatic print function” including the “e-mail automatic search function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is realized by the functions of the image forming apparatus 100 described with reference to FIG. Here, the “automatic e-mail search function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is included, centering on the received data type determining unit 23, the received data searching unit 24, and the image forming unit 25 shown in FIG. The “e-mail automatic printing function” will be described.

  The “e-mail automatic print function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a print confirmation unit 41 (first print confirmation unit 41a and second print confirmation unit 41b), a search unit 42 (first search). Means 42 a, second search means 42 b), and printing means 43.

  The print confirmation unit 41 is a unit included in the received data type determination unit 23 described above, and prints e-mail data acquired (received) by the e-mail receiving unit 22 by the printing unit (plotter unit) 19. It is determined whether the data can be processed.

  The print confirmation unit 41 confirms the data structure of the e-mail with respect to the e-mail acquired (received) by the e-mail receiving unit 22 and then determines the type of data constituting the e-mail. It is determined whether printing can be performed by the printing unit 43 described later. That is, the print confirmation unit 41 determines whether the acquired (received) e-mail can generate a raster image (bitmap data) that can be printed by the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. To do.

  E-mail is roughly divided into two parts: a “header” and a “body”. “Header” defines information (text data) related to e-mail such as destination (To), sender (From), subject (Subject), transmission date and time (Data), and delivery record (Received) according to a predetermined format. The “body” is the body data 31 (text data) corresponding to the text of the letter and the attached file 32 (for example, binary data such as image data) attached in relation to the content of the body. It is an area including

  The print confirmation means 41 confirms the data structure of the “header” and “body” of the e-mail for the e-mail composed of such data, and then the type of the “body” data constituting the e-mail, That is, the type of data such as the body data 31 and the attached file 32 is determined, and it is determined whether or not the determined data can be printed by the printing unit 43.

  Therefore, the print confirmation unit 41 determines whether or not the body data 31 of the e-mail is a data type that can be printed by the printing unit 43 as a unit for determining the type of data such as the body data 31 or the attached file 32 of the e-mail. A first print confirmation unit 41a for determining whether or not the attached file 32 of the e-mail is a data type that can be printed by the print unit 43. Yes.

  Based on the header information of the email, the first print confirmation unit 41 a determines whether the body data 31 of the email is a type of data that can be printed by the printing unit 43.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a data configuration in the mail header information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The header information of the email is text data that defines information about the email according to a predetermined format. The header information of the e-mail is composed of a plurality of headers such as “Message-ID”, “From”, and “To” as shown in FIG. 6, and each header includes “header: header field (header content)”. It is defined according to a format called "." For details on the format of the header information of e-mails, refer to the contents stipulated in RFC 2045-2049 (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions Part 1-5) published by The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). http://www.ietf.org/ ").

  The first print confirmation means 41a obtains information on the content type (MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) type defined in RFC2045-2049) of the body data 31 of the email defined in the header information of the email. Based on the information defined in the header field of the header name “Content-Type” shown, it is determined whether or not the body data 31 of the e-mail is the type of data that can be printed by the printing means 43. The header field of the header name "Content-Type" includes "text / plain" (plain text data), "text / html" (HTML (HyperText Markup Language) text data), "image / gif" (GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) image data), "image / png" (PNG (Portable Network Graphics) image data), "image / jpeg" (JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) image data), and "application / octet-stream" (application data) ) Etc. are defined.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, if the header information of the acquired (received) e-mail includes a header definition of “Content-Type: text / plain;”, the first print confirmation unit 41a Based on the header field “text / plain” of the header name “Content-Type”, since the content type (MIME type) of the e-mail body data 31 is plain text, the body data 31 is printed by the printing means 43. Judge that the type of data is possible.

  Returning to FIG. 5, the first print confirmation unit 41 a determines whether or not a file such as image data or document data is attached to the e-mail based on the header information of the e-mail. Based on this, the second print confirmation unit 41b described below is instructed to determine whether or not the attached file 32 is a printable data type.

  When there is an attachment 32 in the e-mail, the header field of the header name “Content-Type” indicates “multipart / *” (“*” in RFC2045-2049) indicating that the e-mail is a multipart message. A defined character string indicating the format of the multipart message is defined. The “multi-part message” referred to here is a message in which the body area of the email is divided into a plurality of areas, and data other than the body data 31 is assigned to the extended area obtained by the division. It is a message that includes data 31 and an attached file 32.

  The first print confirmation unit 41a determines whether or not the attachment file 32 exists in the e-mail based on the information defined in the header field of the header name “Content-Type”. The second print confirmation unit 41b is instructed to determine whether the attached file 32 is a printable data type.

  For example, when the header information of the acquired (received) email includes a header definition of “Content-Type: multipart / mixed; boundary =" ---- = _ NextPart_000_0010_01C .... 0 "" (not shown) 1) The first print confirmation means 41a is the second print confirmation means because the body of the email is a multipart message based on the header field “multipart / *” of the header name “Content-Type”. 41b is instructed to determine whether or not the attached file 32 is a printable data type.

  Based on the extension of the attached file 32, the second print confirmation unit 41 b determines whether or not the attached file 32 of the e-mail is a data type that can be printed by the printing unit 43.

  For example, when the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can print data in a predetermined format such as TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) data or PDF (Portable Document Format) data, the second printing is performed. The confirmation unit 41 b determines that the attachment file 32 whose extension character string is “tif” or “pdf” is data that can be printed by the printing unit 43.

  Further, the second print confirmation unit 41b may determine whether the attached file 32 of the e-mail is a data type that can be printed by the printing unit 43 based on the header information of the e-mail.

  For example, when there is a header definition “Content-Type: application / pdf;” in the header information of the acquired (received) email (not shown), the second print confirmation unit 41b Based on the header field “application / pdf” of the name “Content-Type”, since the attached file 32 of the e-mail is PDF, it is determined that the attached file 32 is a type of data that can be printed by the printing unit 43. .

  As described above, the print confirmation unit 41 includes the first print confirmation unit 41 a that determines whether the body data 31 of the email is a type of data that can be printed by the printing unit 43, and the attached file 32 of the email. Using the second print confirmation unit 41b that determines whether or not the type of data that can be printed by the printing unit 43, and the e-mail body data 31 acquired (received) by the e-mail receiving unit 22; It is determined whether or not the attached file 32 can be printed by the printing unit 43.

  Accordingly, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can suppress erroneous printing (waste printing) due to data that cannot be printed by the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100.

  The search means 42 is a means included in the received data search unit 24 described above, and a search condition preset by the user for the e-mail acquired (received) by the e-mail receiving unit 22. And the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the e-mail (e-mail including information required by the user) corresponding to the search condition is extracted.

  The search means 42 applies to the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the e-mail that is determined to be printable by the print confirmation means 41 among the e-mails acquired (received) by the e-mail receiving unit 22. The user stores (sets) in advance in a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13 via an operation panel including a display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18. Search for extracting the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the e-mail corresponding to a specific condition (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the e-mail transmitted to the user) Based on the conditions (for example, a predetermined character string, numerical value, symbol, etc.), the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the corresponding electronic mail are searched.

  Therefore, in the search means 42, as means for searching each of the text data 31 of the email and the attached file 32, a first search authorization means 42a for searching the text data 31 of the email, and a first search means 42a. And a second search means 42b for searching the attached file 32 of the e-mail based on the search result by the above.

  The first search means 42a uses the e-mail body data 31 determined to be printable by the first print confirmation means 41a among e-mails acquired (received) by the e-mail receiving unit 22. Based on the search conditions preset by the user, the body data 31 corresponding to the search conditions is searched, and the corresponding body data 31 is extracted.

  For example, when the search condition set in advance by the user is a character string ““ ● × project ””, the first search means 42a uses the text data as the body data 31 of the e-mail. , Search whether or not the character string “● x project” is included in the search condition, and if the character string “● x project” is included in the search condition, the search is performed. The performed text data 31 is extracted as the text data 31 of the e-mail corresponding to the search condition.

  Further, when the first search means 42a extracts the body data 31 of the e-mail corresponding to the search condition, the first search means 42a searches the second search means 42b described below for the attached data 32 corresponding to the search condition. Instructing extraction of the corresponding attached data 32.

  The second search means 42b uses the attached file 32 of the e-mail that is determined to be printable by the second print confirmation means 41b among e-mails acquired (received) by the e-mail receiving unit 22. Based on the search conditions set by the user in advance, the attached data 32 corresponding to the search conditions is searched, and the corresponding attached data 32 is extracted.

  For example, when the attached file 32 of the e-mail is PDF data and the search condition set in advance by the user is a character string ““ ● × project ””, the second search means 42b The text data of the PDF data, which is the attachment file 32 of the e-mail, is searched for whether or not the character string ““ ● × project ”” is included in the search condition, and the search condition ““ × project ”” is searched. Is extracted as the attached file 32 of the e-mail corresponding to the search condition.

  However, as described in the print confirmation unit 41, the data attached to the e-mail 32 is not necessarily in a data format in which data determined to be printable by the second print confirmation unit 41b can be searched by a character string or the like. . The attached data 32 may be image data (binary data). In such a case, the corresponding attached file 32 cannot be extracted by the text search described above.

  Therefore, the second search means 42b performs a similar image search on the image data when the attached file 32 determined to be printable by the second print confirmation means 41b is image data. The attached file 32 to be extracted is extracted. The “similar image search” referred to here is a technique for extracting similar image data based on image data serving as a reference for similarity (hereinafter referred to as “reference image”). Therefore, in the present embodiment, the reference image corresponding to the search condition is stored in a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13 and used when similar image search is performed by the second search means 42b. The association between the reference image and the search condition is performed, for example, by a user using a software key such as alphanumeric characters displayed on an operation panel configured in advance by the display unit 17 and the input unit (operation unit) 18. When inputting the character string of the condition, the data name of the stored reference image is displayed, and the data name related to the contents of the search condition is selected from the data name of the displayed reference image.

  The similar image search by the second search means 42b is, for example, a character string of ““ ● × project ”” that is set in advance by the user, and the associated reference image is “● ×”. When the image data of “● product” related to the “project” is used, the image data (eg, TIFF data) that is the attachment file 32 of the e-mail and the image of “● product” that is the reference image The similarity is calculated, and when the calculated similarity is a value higher than a predetermined value, the image data that is the attached file 32 on which the similar image search is performed is extracted as the attached file 32 of the e-mail corresponding to the search condition. .

  As described above, the search means 42 searches for the attachment file 32 of the e-mail based on the first search approval means 42a for searching the body data 31 of the e-mail and the search result by the first search means 42a. 2, a specific condition (for example, addressed to the user) is sent to the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the email acquired (received) by the email receiver 22. The e-mail body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 corresponding to the information that the user wants to obtain from the e-mail is extracted.

  As a result, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment clearly separates information that the user needs from information that is not necessary, and prints information from the e-mail using the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100. be able to. Further, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can automatically extract the associated attached file 32 based on the body data 31 of the email corresponding to the information required by the user. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the complicated work that the user has performed and to efficiently acquire necessary information from the e-mail.

  The printing unit 43 is a unit included in the image forming unit 25 described above, and forms an image of the electronic mail searched and extracted by the received data search unit 24 by an electrophotographic process included in the printing unit (plotter unit) 19. And print.

  The printing unit 43 further includes, from the e-mails acquired (received) by the e-mail receiving unit 22, e-mails determined to be printable by the printing unit 43 by the print confirmation unit 41, and further by the search unit 42. The body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the e-mail corresponding to specific conditions (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the e-mail sent to the user) is searched and the user is required. The e-mail body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 extracted as information is formed by an electrophotographic process of the printing unit (plotter unit) 19 and printed. Accordingly, the electronic mail body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 of the electronic mail that is determined to be unprintable by the printing means 43 by the printing confirmation means 41 and the electronic mail that has not been extracted by the search means 42 are the data to be printed. Is not passed from the search means 42 to the printing means 43.

  For example, when printing the body data 31 and attached file of the e-mail retrieved and extracted by the retrieving unit 42, the printing unit 43 uses the text data that is the body data 31 and the image data that is the attached file 32 from the respective image data. A raster image (bitmap data) is generated, and based on the generated raster image, an image is formed and printed by an electrophotographic process of a printing unit (plotter unit) 19.

  As described above, the printing unit 43 uses the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment out of the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the email acquired (received) by the email receiving unit 22. Email body data 31 that is printable and corresponds to a specific condition set in advance by the user (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the email sent to the user) and The attached file 32 is printed.

  As a result, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can efficiently print necessary information from an e-mail and then perform automatic printing.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment performs the above-described units according to the following procedure, thereby enabling an “email automatic print function” (A ) Is realized.

(Procedure A-1) Initial data registration and e-mail reception The user performs “e-mail automatic print function” including “e-mail automatic search function” for e-mail acquired (received) from the POP server 200. Information related to e-mail (information listed below) necessary for performing setting / registration is set / registered via an operation panel composed of a display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18 (setting / registration). The registered information is stored in, for example, a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13).
-E-mail address for users-Search conditions for extracting information required by users (strings, numbers, symbols, etc.)
・ Reference image used for similar image search corresponding to the search condition (image data used as a criterion for similarity)
The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment acquires (receives) from the POP server 200 an e-mail that has arrived at a set e-mail address addressed to the user.

(Procedure A-2) Receiving Data Type Determination The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is configured so that the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the e-mail acquired (received) by the print confirmation unit 41 is an image. It is determined whether the type of data is printable by the printer function of the forming apparatus 100.
The print confirmation unit 41 determines whether or not the body data 31 of the email is a printable data type based on the header information of the email by the first print confirmation unit 41a. Based on the extension of the attached file 32, the print confirmation unit 41b determines whether the attached file 32 of the e-mail is a printable data type.

(Procedure A-3) Relevant Data Extraction The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is an electronic device that is determined to be printable by the print confirmation unit 41 among the emails acquired (received) by the search unit 42. A specific setting set by the user via the operation panel including the display unit (panel display) 17 and the input unit (operation unit) 18 for the mail body data 31 and / or the attached file 32. The e-mail body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 corresponding to the above conditions (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the e-mail sent to the user) is extracted (the user needs The body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the corresponding electronic mail is searched based on the search condition for extracting the information to be extracted).
The search means 41 searches the body data 31 of the e-mail based on the search conditions set in advance by the first search means 42a, and the e-mail of the e-mail based on the search conditions by the second search means 42b. The attached file 32 is searched. At this time, when the attached file 32 is image data, the second search means 42b performs a similar image search based on a reference image set and registered in advance.

(Procedure A-4) Corresponding Data Printing In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the printing unit 43 prints the printing unit 43 among the emails acquired (received) by the printing unit 43 by the email receiving unit 22. From the electronic mail that is determined to be printable by the above, the search means 42 further corresponds to a specific condition (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the electronic mail transmitted to the user). The printing unit (plotter unit) 19 has the body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 of the electronic mail extracted as information required by the user by searching the body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 of the electronic mail. An image is formed and printed by an electrophotographic process.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes (procedure A-1) to (procedure A-) of the “email automatic print function” (A) including the “email automatic search function” described above. According to 4), only the information required by the user can be extracted from the received electronic mail, and the extracted information can be automatically printed.

<Processing Procedure of “E-mail Automatic Printing Function” in Image Forming Apparatus>
A specific processing procedure of the “e-mail automatic printing function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of the electronic mail automatic printing function included in the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  For example, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment expands (loads) an image forming program that performs processing of the “e-mail automatic printing function” stored in the auxiliary storage unit 13 onto the RAM that is the main storage unit 12. This is executed by the control unit 11. At this time, the following processing procedures (S101 to S110) are executed.

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is used by a user to obtain (receive) from the POP server 200 via an operation panel including a display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18. Information on the e-mail addressed to the user (for example, the user's e-mail address, search condition, reference image for similar image search, etc.) is input (S101). For example, the information regarding the electronic mail input by the received mail address selection unit 21 is stored in a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13, for example.

  Next, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment acquires (receives) an e-mail addressed to the user that has arrived at the POP server 200 via the network I / F 14 (S102).

  Next, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment determines whether or not the e-mail acquired (received) by the print confirmation unit 41 is a type of data that can be printed by the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100. (S103).

  First, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the first print confirmation unit 41a acquires the body data 31 of the email acquired (received) based on the header information of the email. It is determined whether or not the type of data (text data) can be printed by the printer function (S104).

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, when the body data 31 of the e-mail is a data type (text data) that can be printed by the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100 (when S103 is YES), Based on the header information of the email, it is determined whether or not the attached file 32 exists in the acquired (received) email (S105).

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment uses the second print confirmation unit 41b based on the extension of the attached file 32 of the e-mail when the attached file 32 is included in the e-mail (when S105 is YES). Then, it is determined whether the attached file 32 of the acquired (received) e-mail is a data type (for example, TIFF data or PDF data) that can be printed by the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100 (S106). .

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the attachment file 32 of the e-mail is a type of data that can be printed by the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100 (for example, TIFF data, PDF data, etc.) ( When S106 is YES), the search means 42 extracts information necessary for the user from the body data 31 and the attached file 32 of the e-mail determined to be printable based on the search condition input in S101. The electronic mail search process 1 to be performed is performed (S107).

  Further, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment searches when the attached file 32 of the e-mail is a data type that cannot be printed by the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100 (when S106 is NO). The means 42 performs an e-mail search process 2 for extracting information required by the user from the body data 31 of the e-mail determined to be printable based on the search condition input in S101 (S110).

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment determines whether or not the e-mail body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 has been extracted in the e-mail search process 1 of S107 or the e-mail search process 2 of S110 ( S108).

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, when the e-mail body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 are extracted (when S108 is YES), the e-mail performed by the printing unit 43 in S107 or S109 is performed. The body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the e-mail extracted by the search process 1 or 2 is formed by an electrophotographic process of the printing unit (plotter unit) 19 and printed (S109).

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the body data 31 of the e-mail is a data type (data other than text data) that cannot be printed by the printer function of the image forming apparatus 100 (S103). Is NO), or when the e-mail body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 is not extracted (S108 is NO), the printing process of S109 is not performed and the process is terminated.

<Processing Procedure of “E-mail Automatic Search Function” in Image Forming Apparatus>
“E-mail automatic search function” that extracts information required by the user from the specific processing procedure of the “e-mail automatic print function” of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment described in FIG. A specific processing procedure will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure of the e-mail search processing 1 (in the case of the text + attached file) according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Also, the received data search processing 1 shown in FIG. 8 is a processing procedure performed in S107 of FIG.

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment applies to the body data 31 and the attached file 32 of the email determined to be printable by the search unit 42 based on the search condition input in S101 of FIG. The body data 31 and the attached file 32 of the electronic mail corresponding to the search condition are searched, and the body data 31 and the attached file 32 of the corresponding electronic mail are extracted.

  First, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment uses the first search unit 42a based on the search condition (for example, a predetermined character string, numerical value, symbol, etc.) input in S101 of FIG. The electronic mail body data 31 (text data) is searched for the electronic mail body data 31 (text data) determined to be printable by the first printing means 41a (S1071).

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment determines whether or not the text data 31 of the e-mail meets the search condition as a result of the search by the first search unit 42a (S1072).

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, when the body data 31 of the e-mail meets the search condition (when S1072 is YES), the search input by the second search unit 42b in S101 of FIG. Based on the conditions (for example, a predetermined character string, numerical value, symbol, etc.), the attached file 32 (for example, TIFF data, PDF data, etc.) of the e-mail determined to be printable by the second printing means 41b. On the other hand, the search is performed in the attachment file 32 (for example, TIFF data or PDF data) of the e-mail (S1073). At this time, if the attached file 32 of the e-mail is image data, a similar image search is performed based on the reference image associated with the search condition.

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment determines whether the attached file 32 of the e-mail meets the search condition as a result of the search by the second search unit 42b (S1074).

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment extracts the body data 31 and the attached file 32 of the corresponding e-mail when the attached file 32 of the e-mail satisfies the search condition (S1074 is YES) (S1075). ).

  Further, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, when the text data 31 of the email does not meet the search condition (when S1072 is NO), or the attached file 32 of the email is the search condition. If not applicable (when S1074 is NO), the process proceeds to S108 without performing the extraction process of S1075.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure of the electronic mail search process 2 (in the case of only the text) according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Also, the received data search process 2 shown in FIG. 9 is a processing procedure performed in S110 of FIG.

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment satisfies the search condition for the body data 31 of the email that is determined to be printable by the search unit 42 based on the search condition input in S101 of FIG. The body data 31 of the e-mail to be searched is retrieved, and the body data 31 of the corresponding e-mail is extracted.

  First, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment uses the first search unit 42a based on the search condition (for example, a predetermined character string, numerical value, symbol, etc.) input in S101 of FIG. The electronic mail body data 31 (text data) is searched for the electronic mail body data 31 (text data) determined to be printable by the first printing means 41a (S1101).

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment determines whether or not the text data 31 of the e-mail meets the search condition as a result of the search by the first search unit 42a (S1102).

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to this embodiment extracts the body data 31 of the corresponding e-mail when the body data 31 of the e-mail meets the search condition (S1102 is YES) (S1103).

  Further, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment does not perform the extraction process of S1093 when the body data 31 of the e-mail does not meet the search condition (when S1102 is NO), and goes to the processing procedure of S108. Transition.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is preset by the user with respect to the e-mail acquired (received) from the POP server 200 by the processing procedure illustrated in FIGS. Search to extract e-mails (e-mails that contain information necessary for users) that meet specific conditions (for example, information that users want to obtain from e-mails sent to users) A processing procedure is executed in which a corresponding electronic mail is searched based on the condition, and the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the electronic mail that is searched and extracted is printed.

<Summary>
As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment performs the following “e-mail automatic print function” (A) including the “e-mail automatic search function”. It is realized by the processing procedure.

(Procedure A-1) Initial data registration and e-mail reception The user performs “e-mail automatic print function” including “e-mail automatic search function” for e-mail acquired (received) from the POP server 200. Information related to e-mail (information listed below) necessary for performing setting / registration is set / registered via an operation panel composed of a display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18 (setting / registration). The registered information is stored in, for example, a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13).
-E-mail address for users-Search conditions for extracting information required by users (strings, numbers, symbols, etc.)
・ Reference image used for similar image search corresponding to the search condition (image data used as a criterion for similarity)
The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment acquires (receives) from the POP server 200 an e-mail that has arrived at a set e-mail address addressed to the user.

(Procedure A-2) Receiving Data Type Determination The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is configured so that the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the e-mail acquired (received) by the print confirmation unit 41 is an image. It is determined whether the type of data is printable by the printer function of the forming apparatus 100.
The print confirmation unit 41 determines whether or not the body data 31 of the email is a printable data type based on the header information of the email by the first print confirmation unit 41a. Based on the extension of the attached file 32, the print confirmation unit 41b determines whether the attached file 32 of the e-mail is a printable data type.

(Procedure A-3) Relevant Data Extraction The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is an electronic device that is determined to be printable by the print confirmation unit 41 among the emails acquired (received) by the search unit 42. A specific setting set by the user via the operation panel including the display unit (panel display) 17 and the input unit (operation unit) 18 for the mail body data 31 and / or the attached file 32. The e-mail body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 corresponding to the above conditions (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the e-mail sent to the user) is extracted (the user needs The body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the corresponding electronic mail is searched based on the search condition for extracting the information to be extracted).
The search means 41 searches the body data 31 of the e-mail based on the search conditions set in advance by the first search means 42a, and the e-mail of the e-mail based on the search conditions by the second search means 42b. The attached file 32 is searched. At this time, when the attached file 32 is image data, the second search means 42b performs a similar image search based on a reference image set and registered in advance in association with the search condition.

(Procedure A-4) Corresponding Data Printing In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the printing unit 43 prints the printing unit 43 among the emails acquired (received) by the printing unit 43 by the email receiving unit 22. From the electronic mail that is determined to be printable by the above, the search means 42 further corresponds to a specific condition (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the electronic mail transmitted to the user). The printing unit (plotter unit) 19 has the body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 of the electronic mail extracted as information required by the user by searching the body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 of the electronic mail. An image is formed and printed by an electrophotographic process.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the user presets the e-mail acquired (received) from the POP server 200 by (Procedure A-1) to (Procedure A-4). E-mail (e-mail containing information necessary for the user) corresponding to a specific condition (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from e-mail sent to the user) The corresponding electronic mail is searched based on the search conditions for extraction, and the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the extracted electronic mail can be printed.

  Therefore, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can extract only the information required by the user from the received electronic mail, and can automatically print the extracted information.

[Second Embodiment]
The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment realizes a statistical function (hereinafter referred to as “e-mail automatic statistical function”) that collects statistical results regarding electronic mail search.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described below. The difference between the first embodiment and the present embodiment is that “e-mail automatic” is performed on an e-mail acquired (received) from a POP server. In addition to the “search function”, an “e-mail automatic statistics function” is provided.

  Therefore, in addition to <Hardware configuration of image forming apparatus> in FIG. 1 described in the first embodiment, <User environment in which image forming apparatus is introduced> in FIGS. 2 and 3, and FIG. 9 and <the processing procedure of the “e-mail automatic search function” in the image forming apparatus> are the same in the present embodiment, and therefore, the description is omitted by using the same reference numerals, and the <image forming apparatus has Main function configuration of automatic e-mail print function>, <Means for configuring main function of automatic e-mail print function of image forming apparatus>, <Procedure for “automatic e-mail print function” in image forming apparatus> The difference from the first embodiment in <About> and <Processing procedure of “automatic e-mail statistical function” in the image forming apparatus >> will be described.

<Main Functional Configuration of Automatic Email Printing Function of Image Forming Apparatus>
The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is the same as the first embodiment described with reference to FIG. 4. The received mail address selection unit 21, the e-mail receiving unit 22, the received data type determination unit 23, the received data search unit 24, And an image forming unit 25.

  In the present embodiment, the difference from the first embodiment is a reception data statistics unit 26 that collects statistical results related to the search for electronic mail.

  Therefore, description of the same functional configuration as that of the first embodiment is omitted, and the reception data statistics unit 26 included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of main functions of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The received data statistic unit 26 searches the received data by the received data search unit 24 based on the search conditions set in advance by the user for the email acquired (received) by the email receiving unit 22. This is a function for collecting statistical results relating to the search of e-mails such as the number of e-mails including information required by the user based on the e-mail search results 33 obtained in this way.

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the statistical results collected by the reception data statistics unit 26 are output in various formats using the functions of the image forming apparatus 100. For example, in the image forming apparatus 100, the statistical result is printed by the printing unit (plotter unit) 19, or the statistical result is transmitted by e-mail via the network I / F 14. The function of the reception data statistics unit 26 will be described in detail later in “statistic result acquisition means 44” and “statistic result output means 45”.

  As described above, the “e-mail automatic search function” and the “e-mail automatic statistic function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment realize the functions described above. By extracting (loading) the program onto the RAM, which is the main storage unit 12, and executing it by the control unit 11, only the information required by the user is extracted from the received e-mail, and the extracted information Can be automatically printed, and statistical results regarding information extracted from the received e-mail can be automatically collected.

<Means for Constructing Main Functions of Automatic Email Printing Function of Image Forming Apparatus>
The “e-mail automatic printing function” of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is the same as the first embodiment described with reference to FIG. 5, the print confirmation unit 41 (the first print confirmation unit 41 a and the second print unit). The confirmation means 41 b), the search means 42 (the first search means 42 a and the second search means 42 b), and the printing means 43.

  The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a statistical result acquisition unit 44 that acquires a statistical result related to an e-mail search and outputs the acquired statistical result using a function of the image forming apparatus 100. This is a statistical result output means 45.

  Therefore, the description of the same means as in the first embodiment will be omitted, and the statistical result acquisition means 44 and the statistical result output means 45 included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. explain.

  FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a unit constituting main functions of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The statistical result acquisition unit 44 acquires a statistical result regarding the search of the e-mail performed by the search unit 42.

  The statistical result acquisition means 44 indicates the number of e-mail searches acquired (received) in a predetermined period, the number of e-mails corresponding to the search condition, etc., according to the statistics information set in advance by the user. The statistical information is acquired based on the electronic mail search result 33 by the search means 42, and when the predetermined period is reached, the acquired statistical information such as the number of searches and the number of cases is acquired as the statistical result related to the electronic mail search. To do. Here, the “predetermined period” is an execution time or an execution period in which statistics relating to the search of the e-mail are performed based on the e-mail search result 33 by the search means 42.

  Information related to statistics includes information on whether or not to perform the automatic statistical function (for example, ON / OFF, etc.), execution time or execution period when the automatic statistical function is performed (for example, T1 to T2 or D days) ), And a statistical result output method (for example, printing, data transmission, data storage, etc.) in the case of performing an automatic statistical function, and these pieces of information are displayed on the display unit (panel display) 17 and the input unit by the user. It is set in advance via an operation panel composed of (operation unit) 18.

  The statistical result acquisition unit 44 instructs the statistical result output unit 45 described below to output the statistical result when the predetermined period is reached.

  For example, the execution time for performing the automatic statistical function set by the user via the operation panel including the display unit (panel display) 17 and the input unit (operation unit) 18 is “9:00 am to 5 pm 30 (8.5 hours) ”, the statistical result acquisition means 44 is the number of email searches acquired (received) from the POP server 200 from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, and is acquired (received). The statistical result related to the search of the e-mail such as the number of cases corresponding to the search condition in the e-mail is acquired, and the statistical result output means 45 is instructed to output the statistical result at 5:30 pm.

  The statistical result output unit 45 outputs the statistical result regarding the search of the electronic mail acquired by the statistical result acquisition unit 44 using the function of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

  The statistical result output means 45 processes the statistical result by the function of the image forming apparatus 100 and outputs the processed data according to the statistical result output method of information related to statistics preset by the user.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a statistical result related to the electronic mail according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  For example, when the statistical result output method preset by the user via the operation panel including the display unit (panel display) 17 and the input unit (operation unit) 18 is “print”, the statistical result output unit 45 generates a raster image (bitmap data) from the statistical result acquired by the statistical result acquisition means 44, and forms an image by an electrophotographic process of the printing unit (plotter unit) 19 based on the generated raster image. And print. As a result, the user can obtain a statistical result as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 12 is an example in which statistical results related to the search of the e-mail are collectively printed for each e-mail that has arrived at three departments in charge by the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. For example, in the case of the statistical result acquired in the execution period “one day (one day from the start time to the end time)” in which the automatic statistics function is performed, the total number of e-mails addressed to the sales department received on the first day is shown in FIG. There are 743 emails, and the number of emails that correspond to the search condition “Sales Division 1” for extracting emails directed to Sales Division 1 set in advance by users of Sales Division 1 is 145. It is matter. In addition, the number of e-mails corresponding to the search conditions “Sales Section 1”, “Sales Section 2”, or “Sales Section 3” is 573, and the total number of e-mails sent to the sales department that arrived on the day is 743. Therefore, 170 cases are the number of e-mails not corresponding to the three search conditions (“Sales 1 Section”, “Sales 2 Section”, or “Sales 3 Section”).

  Accordingly, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can automatically collect statistical results regarding information extracted from the received e-mail, and can output the collected statistical results in a format desired by the user. it can.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes the “e-mail automatic search function” and the “e-mail automatic statistical function” by performing the above-described units according to the following procedure. E-mail automatic printing function "(B) is realized.

(Procedure B-1) Initial data registration and e-mail reception The user performs “e-mail automatic print function” including “e-mail automatic search function” for e-mail acquired (received) from the POP server 200. Information related to e-mail (information listed below) necessary for performing setting / registration is set / registered via an operation panel composed of a display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18 (setting / registration). The registered information is stored in, for example, a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13).
-E-mail address for users-Search conditions for extracting information required by users (strings, numbers, symbols, etc.)
・ Reference image used for similar image search corresponding to the search condition (image data used as a criterion for similarity)
The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment acquires (receives) from the POP server 200 an e-mail that has arrived at a set e-mail address addressed to the user.

(Procedure B-2) Judgment of Received Data Type The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment has the image data 31 and / or the data of the attached file 32 acquired (received) by the print confirmation unit 41 as an image. It is determined whether the type of data is printable by the printer function of the forming apparatus 100.
The print confirmation unit 41 determines whether or not the body data 31 of the email is a printable data type based on the header information of the email by the first print confirmation unit 41a. Based on the extension of the attached file 32, the print confirmation unit 41b determines whether the attached file 32 of the e-mail is a printable data type.

(Procedure B-3) Extraction of Relevant Data The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is an electronic device that is determined to be printable by the print confirmation unit 41 among the emails acquired (received) by the search unit 42. A specific setting set by the user via the operation panel including the display unit (panel display) 17 and the input unit (operation unit) 18 for the mail body data 31 and / or the attached file 32. The e-mail body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 corresponding to the above conditions (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the e-mail sent to the user) is extracted (the user needs The body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the corresponding electronic mail is searched based on the search condition for extracting the information to be extracted).
The search means 41 searches the body data 31 of the e-mail based on the search conditions set in advance by the first search means 42a, and the e-mail of the e-mail based on the search conditions by the second search means 42b. The attached file 32 is searched. At this time, when the attached file 32 is image data, the second search means 42b performs a similar image search based on a reference image set and registered in advance.

(Procedure B-4) Corresponding Data Printing In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the printing confirmation unit 41 prints the printing unit 43 out of the emails acquired (received) by the printing unit 43 by the email receiving unit 22. From the electronic mail that is determined to be printable by the above, the search means 42 further corresponds to a specific condition (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the electronic mail transmitted to the user). The printing unit (plotter unit) 19 has the body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 of the electronic mail extracted as information required by the user by searching the body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 of the electronic mail. An image is formed and printed by an electrophotographic process.

(Procedure B-5) Statistical Result Acquisition The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment uses the statistical result acquisition unit 44 to acquire (receive) an email in a predetermined period according to information regarding statistics set in advance. The statistical information is acquired based on the electronic mail search result 33 by the search means 42 and the statistical information acquired when the predetermined period is reached. A certain number of searches, the number of cases, and the like are acquired as statistical results regarding e-mail search.

(Procedure B-6) Statistical Result Output The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment has the functions of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the statistical result output method of information related to statistics set in advance by the statistical result output unit 45. To process the statistical results and output the processed data.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes (procedure B) of the “email automatic print function” (B) including the “email automatic search function” and the “email automatic statistical function” described above. From (-1) to (Procedure B-6), it is possible to extract only the information required by the user from the received electronic mail and automatically print the extracted information. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can automatically collect statistical results regarding information extracted from the received e-mail, and can output the collected statistical results in a format desired by the user. .

<Processing Procedure of “E-mail Automatic Printing Function” in Image Forming Apparatus>
FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of the electronic mail automatic printing function included in the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  As can be seen from the processing procedure shown in FIG. 13, the specific processing procedure of the “e-mail automatic printing function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is the first from S101 to S110 described in FIG. It is the same processing procedure as the embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the difference from the first embodiment is that it is determined that the automatic statistical function is to be performed based on the information on whether or not the automatic statistical function is set in advance by the user (S111 is In the case of YES), this is a processing procedure for performing the e-mail statistical process (S112) shown in FIG. 13 in which a statistical result related to the e-mail search is acquired and the acquired statistical result is output.

  Therefore, a description of the same processing procedure as that of the first embodiment is omitted, and a specific processing procedure (S112) of the “email automatic statistical function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is illustrated in FIG. Will be described.

<Regarding processing procedure of “e-mail automatic statistics function” in image forming apparatus>
FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure of the electronic mail statistical processing according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the number of e-mail searches acquired (received) in a predetermined period according to the statistical information preset by the user by the statistical result acquisition unit 44, The number of e-mails that meet the search condition is acquired as statistical information by counting the e-mail search results 33 by the search means 42 (S1121).

  When the predetermined period has been reached (S1122 is YES), the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment acquires the number of searches, the number of cases, and the like, which are the acquired statistical information, as a statistical result related to the search of the email, When a predetermined period is reached by the statistical result acquisition means 44, the statistical result output means 45 described below is instructed to output the statistical results (S1123).

  In addition, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment does not acquire the statistical result and output the statistical result while the predetermined period is not reached (when S1122 is NO).

  Next, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the statistical result output method is “print” or “e-mail transmission” based on the statistical result output method of information related to statistics preset by the user. "Or" data storage ", it is determined which output method is used (S1124).

  When the statistical result output method is “print” (S1124 is “print”), the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment uses the statistical result output unit 45 to generate a raster image (bitmap data) from the statistical result. Based on the generated raster image, an image is formed by an electrophotographic process of the printing unit (plotter unit) 19 and printing is performed (S1125).

  Further, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, when the statistical result output method is “e-mail transmission” (when S1124 is “e-mail transmission”), the statistical result output unit 45 sends the statistical result to the e-mail. In step S1126, the data is converted into a data format that can be transmitted through the network I / F 14, and the converted data is transmitted to a predetermined mail address.

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment converts the statistical result into electronic data by the statistical result output unit 45 when the statistical result output method is “data storage” (when S1124 is “data storage”). Then, the converted data is stored in a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13 (S1127).

<Summary>
As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes “email automatic print function” including “email automatic search function” and “email automatic statistical function”. "Function (B)" is realized by the following processing procedure.

(Procedure B-1) Initial data registration and e-mail reception The user performs “e-mail automatic print function” including “e-mail automatic search function” for e-mail acquired (received) from the POP server 200. Information related to e-mail (information listed below) necessary for performing setting / registration is set / registered via an operation panel composed of a display unit (panel display) 17 and an input unit (operation unit) 18 (setting / registration). The registered information is stored in, for example, a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13).
-E-mail address for users-Search conditions for extracting information required by users (strings, numbers, symbols, etc.)
・ Reference image used for similar image search corresponding to the search condition (image data used as a criterion for similarity)
The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment acquires (receives) from the POP server 200 an e-mail that has arrived at a set e-mail address addressed to the user.

(Procedure B-2) Judgment of Received Data Type The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment has the image data 31 and / or the data of the attached file 32 acquired (received) by the print confirmation unit 41 as an image. It is determined whether the type of data is printable by the printer function of the forming apparatus 100.
The print confirmation unit 41 determines whether or not the body data 31 of the email is a printable data type based on the header information of the email by the first print confirmation unit 41a. Based on the extension of the attached file 32, the print confirmation unit 41b determines whether the attached file 32 of the e-mail is a printable data type.

(Procedure B-3) Extraction of Relevant Data The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is an electronic device that is determined to be printable by the print confirmation unit 41 among the emails acquired (received) by the search unit 42. A specific setting set by the user via the operation panel including the display unit (panel display) 17 and the input unit (operation unit) 18 for the mail body data 31 and / or the attached file 32. The e-mail body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 corresponding to the above conditions (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the e-mail sent to the user) is extracted (the user needs The body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the corresponding electronic mail is searched based on the search condition for extracting the information to be extracted).
The search means 41 searches the body data 31 of the e-mail based on the search conditions set in advance by the first search means 42a, and the e-mail of the e-mail based on the search conditions by the second search means 42b. The attached file 32 is searched. At this time, when the attached file 32 is image data, the second search means 42b performs a similar image search based on a reference image set and registered in advance.

(Procedure B-4) Corresponding Data Printing In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the printing confirmation unit 41 prints the printing unit 43 out of the emails acquired (received) by the printing unit 43 by the email receiving unit 22. From the electronic mail that is determined to be printable by the above, the search means 42 further corresponds to a specific condition (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from the electronic mail transmitted to the user). The printing unit (plotter unit) 19 has the body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 of the electronic mail extracted as information required by the user by searching the body data 31 and / or the attachment file 32 of the electronic mail. An image is formed and printed by an electrophotographic process.

(Procedure B-5) Statistical Result Acquisition The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment uses the statistical result acquisition unit 44 to acquire (receive) an email in a predetermined period according to information regarding statistics set in advance. The statistical information is acquired based on the electronic mail search result 33 by the search means 42 and the statistical information acquired when the predetermined period is reached. A certain number of searches, the number of cases, and the like are acquired as statistical results regarding e-mail search.

(Procedure B-6) Statistical Result Output The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment has the functions of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the statistical result output method of information related to statistics set in advance by the statistical result output unit 45. To process the statistical results and output the processed data.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the user sets in advance the e-mail acquired (received) from the POP server 200 by (Procedure B-1) to (Procedure B-4). E-mail (e-mail containing information necessary for the user) corresponding to a specific condition (for example, information that the user wants to obtain from e-mail sent to the user) The corresponding electronic mail is searched based on the search conditions for extraction, and the body data 31 and / or the attached file 32 of the extracted electronic mail can be printed.

  Further, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment acquires (receives) in a predetermined period according to the information about the statistics set in advance by the user through (Procedure B-5) and (Procedure B-6). The number of retrieved e-mails, the number of e-mails that meet the search condition, etc. are acquired based on the e-mail search result 33 by the search means 42, and the acquired statistical results are set in advance. According to the statistical result output method of information regarding Oita statistics, the functions of the image forming apparatus 100 can perform output such as printing, e-mail transmission, or data storage.

  Therefore, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can extract only the information required by the user from the received electronic mail, and can automatically print the extracted information. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can automatically collect statistical results regarding information extracted from the received e-mail, and can output the collected statistical results in a format desired by the user. .

  Although the present invention has been described based on the first and second embodiments, the “e-mail automatic printing function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention is the first. And each processing procedure demonstrated in 2nd Embodiment is realizable by running with the computer the program coded with the programming language suitable for the operating environment (platform). Therefore, a program (image forming program) for executing the “e-mail automatic printing function” included in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention is stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Can do.

  As for the number of search conditions in the “e-mail automatic search function” described in the first embodiment, an appropriate number of search conditions are set in order to extract information required by the user. (The refinement search may be performed in the search means 42).

  The search timing in the “automatic e-mail search function” described in the first embodiment is not performed at the timing when the e-mail is acquired (received), but the acquired e-mail is received (received). Alternatively, it may be stored in a non-volatile storage device such as the auxiliary storage unit 13, and after a certain period of time has elapsed, the electronic mail stored during that time may be collectively searched.

  Further, the print format of the statistical result in the “e-mail automatic statistical function” described in the second embodiment may be a graph format instead of the table format shown in FIG.

  Finally, the present invention is not limited to the requirements shown here, such as combinations of other elements with the shapes listed in the above embodiments. With respect to these points, the present invention can be changed within a range that does not detract from the gist of the present invention, and can be appropriately determined according to the application form.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the printing procedure of the conventional received email. It is a figure which shows an example of the printing procedure of the received electronic mail which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of main functions of the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a unit that configures main functions of the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure in the mail header information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of an electronic mail automatic printing function included in the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence of the email search process 1 (in the case of a text + attachment file) which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence of the email search process 2 (in the case of only a text) which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the main functions which the image forming apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention has. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the means which comprises the main functions which the image forming apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention has. It is a figure which shows an example of the statistical result regarding the electronic mail which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of an electronic mail automatic printing function included in an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence of the email statistical process which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

11 Control unit (CPU)
12 Main memory (ROM, RAM)
13 Auxiliary memory (HD)
14 Network I / F
15 External storage device I / F
16 External device I / F
17 Output device I / F
18 Input device I / F
19 Printing Department (Plotter Department)
20 Scanner section (original reading section)
21 received mail address selection unit 22 e-mail receiving unit 23 received data type determination unit 24 received data search unit 25 image forming unit 26 received data statistics unit 31 e-mail body data 32 e-mail attachment file 33 e-mail search result 41 print confirmation means 41a first print confirmation means 41b second print confirmation means 42 search means 42a first search means 42b second search means 43 printing means 44 statistical result acquisition means 45 statistical result output means 90 network 100 image forming apparatus 200 electronic Mail receiving server (POP server) (information processing device)
300n User terminal (information processing device)
400 Firewall

Claims (9)

An image forming apparatus connected to an e-mail receiving server via a network and receiving the e-mail by downloading the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving server to the image forming apparatus,
Search means for searching for the e-mail corresponding to the e-mail received by the image forming apparatus based on a search condition for extracting the e-mail corresponding to a specific condition;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a printing unit configured to print the electronic mail searched and extracted by the searching unit. Printing confirmation means for determining whether the electronic mail received by the image forming apparatus can be printed by the printing means;
The search means includes
Of the e-mails received by the image forming apparatus, the e-mails that are confirmed to be printable by the print confirmation unit are searched for the corresponding e-mails based on the search conditions. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The print confirmation means includes
First print confirmation means for determining whether or not the printing means can print the text of the e-mail based on the data type of the text of the e-mail received by the image forming apparatus;
If there is an attachment in the email,
3. A second print confirmation unit that determines whether or not the printing unit can print the attached file of the e-mail based on the extension of the attached file. 4. The information processing apparatus described. The search means includes
First search means for searching for the e-mail corresponding to the body of the e-mail received by the image forming apparatus based on the search condition;
4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a second search unit that searches the attached file of the e-mail for the e-mail corresponding to the search condition. 5. Image forming apparatus. The second search means includes
When the attached file of the e-mail received by the image forming apparatus is image data,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a similar image search is performed on the image data based on image data serving as a reference for similarity as the search condition. A statistical result acquisition means for acquiring a statistical result related to the search of the e-mail searched by the search means;
The statistical result acquisition means includes
The retrieval of the email based on the retrieval result of the body of the email retrieved by the first retrieval means and / or the retrieval result of the attached file of the email retrieved by the second retrieval means. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a statistical result is obtained.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising: a statistical result output unit that outputs a statistical result regarding the search of the electronic mail acquired by the statistical result acquisition unit. An image forming method in the image forming apparatus, which is connected to an e-mail receiving server via a network and receives the e-mail by downloading the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving server to the image forming apparatus,
A search procedure for searching for the e-mail corresponding to the e-mail received by the image forming apparatus based on a search condition for extracting the e-mail corresponding to a specific condition;
And a printing procedure for printing the electronic mail retrieved by the retrieval procedure. An image forming program in the image forming apparatus that is connected to an e-mail receiving server via a network and receives the e-mail by downloading the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving server to the image forming apparatus,
Computer
Search means for searching for the e-mail corresponding to the e-mail received by the image forming apparatus based on a search condition for extracting the e-mail corresponding to a specific condition;
An image forming program that functions as a printing unit that prints the electronic mail retrieved by the retrieval unit.

Images