JP2010199671A - Address book management device, address book management method, and address book management program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an address book management device, an address book management method, and an address book management program which enable the facsimile number, or the like, of the transmission source of a received electronic mail to be readily registered in the address book of a facsimile machine. <P>SOLUTION: A computer 200 has electronic mail software 10 and an address book management application 20. The address book management application 20 extracts the facsimile number and address name of a mail transmission source from the description of the electronic mail received by the electronic mail software 10. Then the facsimile number and address name extracted are registered in the address book 117 of a composite machine which is the facsimile machine. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an address book management apparatus, an address book management method, and an address book management program for managing an address book registered in a facsimile apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an application that allows a destination book registered in a facsimile apparatus to be managed from a personal computer or the like connected to these apparatuses over a network. In this address book management application, the user can register and manage the address book in the address book of the facsimile apparatus by inputting an arbitrary address and its fax number. For example, when registering the transmission source of the received e-mail in the address book, the user opens the e-mail with e-mail software and searches for a fax number or the like described in the e-mail. Then, the found fax number or the like can be registered in the address book of the facsimile apparatus by copying / pasting or directly inputting it to the address book management application.

  Patent Document 1 describes a system that includes a telephone system and an electronic mail system, and manages telephone numbers and electronic mail addresses in association with each other. In this system, the telephone system notifies the telephone number of the other party to the electronic mail system, and the electronic mail system extracts an electronic mail including the telephone number of the other party. Then, the electronic mail address and the telephone number of the extracted electronic mail are associated and registered in the address book. Thereby, it is possible to manage an address book in which electronic mail and telephone are linked.

JP 2002-330234 A

  However, when trying to specify information to be registered, such as a fax number, from the e-mail description for the address book management application, it is cumbersome to specify the necessary part and copy / paste or directly input the information It takes time and effort to the user. In addition, in the case of direct input, there is a risk that an input error or the like may occur. As described above, the conventional address book management application is inconvenient for the user because the fax number cannot be easily registered from the description of the e-mail.

  The technique described in Patent Document 1 is such that a telephone number and an e-mail address are linked between a telephone system and an e-mail system, and the address book of a facsimile apparatus cannot be easily managed. It was.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to solve at least a part of the problems described above, and the invention can be implemented as the following forms or application examples.

  Application Example 1 A destination book management apparatus that manages a destination book of a facsimile apparatus, a receiving unit that receives an e-mail, an extraction unit that extracts a fax number of a mail transmission source from the description of the received e-mail, And a registration unit for registering the extracted fax number in the address book.

  According to this configuration, the extraction unit extracts the fax number from the description of the received e-mail, and the registration unit registers the extracted fax number in the address book of the facsimile apparatus. Therefore, it is necessary for the user to register the fax number. Eliminates the hassle and allows you to easily register and manage the fax number of the mail sender in the address book. Therefore, convenience for the user is improved.

  Application Example 2 In the address book management apparatus, the extraction unit further extracts a character string indicating a mail transmission source from the received description of the e-mail, and the registration unit includes the extracted character string and the A destination book management apparatus, wherein a fax number is associated and registered in the destination book.

  According to this configuration, since the character string indicating the mail transmission source and the fax number extracted from the e-mail are associated and registered in the address book of the facsimile apparatus, the user can specify the character string of the mail transmission source, It can be grasped as the destination of the registered fax number.

  Application Example 3 In the above address book management apparatus, the extraction unit specifies a name field in the name field of the received electronic mail, and extracts the fax number from the name field. apparatus.

  According to this configuration, the fax number can be detected more reliably by extracting the fax number from the famous column.

  Application Example 4 In the address book management apparatus, a display unit that displays a screen that prompts the user to select whether or not to register the extracted fax number in the address book, and an operation unit that receives a selection operation according to the screen The address book management apparatus, wherein the registration unit registers in the address book the fax number selected when registering in the address book by operating the operation unit.

  According to this configuration, the user can arbitrarily register the fax number extracted from the e-mail according to the screen displayed on the display unit.

  Application Example 5 In the above address book management apparatus, the screen can correct the extracted fax number, and the registration unit displays the fax number corrected by an input operation to the operation unit. A destination book management apparatus characterized by registering in a book.

  According to this configuration, the user can arbitrarily correct the fax number registered in the address book of the facsimile apparatus.

  Application Example 6 A destination book management method for managing a destination book of a facsimile apparatus, the step of receiving an e-mail, the step of extracting a fax number of a mail transmission source from the description of the received e-mail, And registering the extracted fax number in the address book.

  In this way, the user can save time and effort for registering the fax number, and the fax number of the mail transmission source can be easily registered and managed in the address book.

  Application Example 7 An address book management program for managing an address book of a facsimile apparatus, wherein the computer extracts the fax number of the mail transmission source from the description of the received e-mail, and the extracted An address book management program that causes a fax number to function as a registration unit that registers an address in the address book of the facsimile apparatus stored in a storage unit.

  According to the address book management program, the user can save the trouble of registering the fax number, and a function can be realized in which the fax number of the mail transmission source can be easily registered and managed in the address book of the facsimile apparatus.

The figure which shows the structure of the address book management system which concerns on a present Example. The figure which shows the software structure of a computer. The flowchart which shows the flow of the process which registers destination information from an email. The figure which shows an example of the description of an email. The figure which shows an example of a registration confirmation screen. The figure which shows an example of a registration confirmation screen. It is a figure explaining the modification 1, (a), (b) is a figure which shows an example of a software structure.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on examples.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an address book management system according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the address book management system 1 includes a multifunction device 100 that is an example of a facsimile device, a computer 200 that is a host device of the multifunction device 100, and a router 400. And a mail server 300 that performs mail transmission / reception with an external mail server. Each device of the address book management system 1 is connected to a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network).

  The multifunction device 100 is a device having a plurality of functions such as a copy function, a printer function, a scanner function, and a fax function, and includes a controller 110, an operation panel 120, a scanner 130, a print engine 140, a facsimile unit 150, It has.

  The operation panel 120 includes a key input device 121 for receiving user operations and the like, and a display device 122. The user operates the key input device 121 according to the screen displayed on the display device 122 to perform operations for using the printer function, the scanner function, and the fax function of the multifunction device 100 and various settings related to the multifunction device 100. The operation to change can be performed.

  The scanner 130 is a hardware unit for reading a document set on a document table and generating scan data of a document image. Scan data generated by the scanner 130 reading the document is transferred to the controller 110 and stored in the RAM 113 or the nonvolatile memory 114.

  The print engine 140 is a hardware unit that performs printing on a print medium such as print paper based on print data generated inside the multifunction peripheral 100 or print data received from the computer 200. Printing is executed according to the received print data.

  The facsimile unit 150 is a part for performing facsimile communication via a fax line network. The facsimile unit 150 encodes image data to be transmitted to generate fax data for facsimile communication, transmits and receives fax data, and reverse-encodes received fax data to obtain image data. Etc.

  The controller 110 is a part that controls the operation of each part of the multi-function peripheral 100, and includes a CPU 111, a ROM 112, a RAM 113, a nonvolatile memory (storage unit) 114, a network I / F 115, and a memory I / F 116. Have. These components are connected to each other via an internal bus.

  The network I / F 115 is an interface portion connected to the network, and the multi-function device 100 can perform data communication with the computer 200, the mail server 300, and the router 400 via the network I / F 115. The memory I / F 116 is an interface part to which an external memory such as the USB memory 118 is detachably attached, and performs processing for reading and writing data from and to the external memory.

  The CPU 111 is a main control device of the controller 110, and performs various controls in the multifunction peripheral 100 by using the RAM 113 as a work area and executing various programs stored in the ROM 112. Specifically, the CPU 111 performs a process of issuing a reading instruction to the scanner 130, a process of issuing a printing instruction to the print engine 140 and transferring printing data, a process of controlling reading of an original by the scanner 130, and a process by the facsimile unit 150. Processing for controlling facsimile communication is performed.

  The non-volatile memory 114 is a readable / writable memory such as a flash ROM, NVRAM, or the like, and stores data of an address book (hereinafter, also referred to as “multifunction machine address book”) 117 in advance.

  The address book 117 is address book data in which a destination name for facsimile, a fax number, and the like are registered. In the destination book 117, a destination name for fax transmission and a fax number are registered in association with each other by a destination book management application of the computer 200 described later or a user operation on the key input device 121.

  Further, the CPU 111 of the controller 110 registers a destination name and a fax number in the destination book 117 according to an instruction from the destination book management application or a user operation to the key input device 121, and designates a fax destination according to the destination book 117. The processing to do is performed. The user can easily and surely specify the destination of fax transmission by selecting a desired destination from the destinations registered in the destination book 117 by a user operation on the key input device 121.

  Next, the configuration of the computer 200 will be described. The computer 200 is, for example, a general-purpose personal computer, and as shown in FIG. 1, a CPU 210, a ROM 220, a RAM 230, a hard disk drive (hereinafter referred to as “HD”) 240, a network I / F 250, an input An I / F 260 and a video I / F 270 are provided. Each component 210 to 270 of the computer 200 is connected to be communicable via a bus by a chip set (not shown) or the like.

  In the HD 240, in addition to the data in the address book (hereinafter also referred to as “host device address book”) 241 and the address book management program 242 of the address management application, various types of programs such as a driver program for the multifunction peripheral 100 and an e-mail software program are included. The program is stored. The address book management program 242 is a computer recorded in various computer-readable recording media such as a flexible disk, an optical disk such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM, a magneto-optical disk, a memory card, or a portable hard disk. 200. The address book management program 242 recorded on the recording medium is read by a drive device (not shown) provided in the computer 200 and recorded on the HD 240. However, the acquisition method of the address book management program 242 is not limited to this, and the computer 200 may download the address book management program 242 from the predetermined server to the HD 240 via a network such as the Internet.

  The network I / F 250 is a part connected to a network in the system, and is an interface part for performing data communication with the multifunction peripheral 100, the mail server 300, and the router 400 that are also connected to the network. The video I / F 270 is an interface part that outputs an image signal, and is connected to a display 271 that is a display unit. The input I / F 260 is an interface part that receives an input signal to the computer 200, and is connected to input devices such as a keyboard 261 and a mouse 262 that are operation units.

  Next, the software configuration of the computer 200 will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a software configuration of the computer 200. As shown in FIG. 2, the computer 200 includes e-mail software (reception unit) 10 and an address book management application 20. These software configurations function by the CPU 210 reading and executing the corresponding program from the HD 240 under a predetermined operating system. In particular, the address book management application 20 functions as the CPU 210 reads the address book management program 242 from the HD 240 and executes it.

  The e-mail software 10 is an application that performs e-mail transmission / reception processing, e-mail browsing processing, and the like on the mail server 300.

  The address book management application 20 is an application for managing the address book of the multifunction peripheral from the computer 200 as a host device, and includes an address information extraction unit (extraction unit) 21, an address information registration unit (registration unit) 22, Have

  The destination information extraction unit 21 is a functional unit that extracts and acquires information to be registered in the destination book from the description of the email received by the email software 10. Specifically, the destination information extraction unit 21 performs a process of extracting destination information including a destination name and a fax number of a mail transmission source from an electronic mail text.

  The destination information registration unit 22 is a functional unit that performs processing for registering the destination information obtained by the destination information extraction unit 21 in the destination book 241 of the host device.

  Further, the destination information registration unit 22 is connected between the address book 241 of the host device and the address book 117 of the multifunction device at a timing when an instruction from the user is given, or every predetermined time or when a new registration is made. Performs synchronous control. That is, the destination registered in the address book 241 of the host device is also registered in the address book 117 of the multi-function peripheral when the destination information registration unit 22 synchronizes between the address books 117 and 241. As a result, the address book 117, 241 is managed in a consistent state.

  Next, processing for registering destination information from an e-mail will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The process described below is performed by the CPU 210 executing the destination book management program 242.

  For example, when the e-mail software 10 receives an e-mail from the mail server 300 or when the e-mail is opened by the user, the address book management application 20 sends the received e-mail data to the e-mail software 10 3 to start the processing of FIG.

  When the process is started, the destination information extraction unit 21 first determines from the domain part of the e-mail transmission source e-mail address, and determines whether the e-mail is from a domain permitted for registration (step S10). ). If the email is from a domain that has not been previously authorized (step S10: No), the processing of FIG. 3 ends without registering the destination information for the email.

  If it is an e-mail from a domain that has received permission in advance (step S10: Yes), the destination information extraction unit 21 allows the sender of the e-mail to be registered in the destination book, and from the description of the e-mail. A predetermined character string corresponding to the fax number and the destination name of the mail transmission source is searched (step S20).

  Here, the search method will be described. FIG. 4 shows an example of e-mail description. As shown in FIG. 4, an e-mail description has a famous column 30 at the end. Generally, the famous column 30 includes a company name, an e-mail address, a telephone number, a fax number, etc. The contact information of is written. The destination information extraction unit 21 searches the e-mail description for a character string “FAX” and its synonym (“fax”, “fax”, etc.) as a character string corresponding to the fax number. To do. Further, a character string such as “corporation” or “company” is searched as a character string corresponding to the mail transmission source. Thus, in the example of FIG. 4, the character string 31 of “FAX” and the character string 33 of “Corporation” are searched from the famous column 30 of the e-mail.

  For searching for a predetermined character string corresponding to the fax number, for example, by recognizing a predetermined character string described before and after the famous character field 30, the e-mail description of the famous character field 30 It is desirable to specify a range and perform a search limited to the famous column 30. However, the first character string found by searching in order from the description on the back side of the e-mail may be acquired, and the subsequent search may not be performed. Thus, the search speed can be increased by narrowing down the search target.

  The search for a predetermined character string corresponding to the mail transmission source is preferably performed for a predetermined number of characters before and after the position where the character string “FAX” and its synonym are searched. . In this way, it is possible to prevent a character string such as “corporation” from being searched from descriptions other than the famous column and to speed up the search.

  Next, the destination information extraction unit 21 determines whether or not there is a predetermined character string corresponding to the fax number as a result of the search in step S20 (step S30). If there is a corresponding character string (step S30: Yes), the destination information extraction unit 21 uses a numeric character string 32 following the predetermined character string 31 corresponding to the fax number as shown in FIG. 4 as an example. Extracted and acquired as a fax number (step S40). If the corresponding character string is not included in the mail (step S30: No), the fax number is not registered for the target electronic mail, and the process of FIG. 3 is terminated.

  When the fax number is extracted from the description of the e-mail, the destination information extracting unit 21 determines whether or not the extracted fax number is already registered in the destination book 241 of the host device (step S50). If it has been registered (step S50: Yes), this fax number does not need to be newly registered, and the processing of FIG.

  On the other hand, when the extracted fax number is not registered (step S50: No), the destination information extraction unit 21 determines whether or not a predetermined character string corresponding to the mail transmission source has been searched as a result of the search in step S20. Is determined (step S60). If the corresponding character string is present in the mail (step S60: Yes), the destination information registration unit 22 continues to the character preceding the predetermined character string 33 corresponding to the mail transmission source as shown in FIG. The column 34 is specified and acquired as the destination of the mail transmission source (step S70).

  Next, the destination information registration unit 22 displays a registration confirmation screen on the display 271 (step S80). FIG. 5 shows an example of a registration confirmation screen. As shown in FIG. 5, the registration confirmation screen 40 a includes a destination name input field 41 and a fax number input field 42. When this registration confirmation screen 40a is displayed, the destination name to the mail transmission source acquired in step S70 is already entered in the destination name input field 41, and the fax number acquired in step S40 is the fax number. The number has already been entered in the number input field 42. The user confirms the content input on the registration confirmation screen 40a, and operates the keyboard 261 and mouse 262 as necessary to arbitrarily change the content previously input in the input fields 41 and 42. When the user confirms the contents displayed in the input fields 41 and 42 of the registration confirmation screen 40a and then presses the OK button 43 or the cancel button 44, the process proceeds to step S100.

  On the other hand, in step S60, when the predetermined character string corresponding to the mail transmission source is not included in the description of the e-mail (step S60: No), a registration confirmation screen 40b shown as an example in FIG. (Step S90). When the registration confirmation screen 40b is displayed, the fax number acquired in step S40 has already been entered in the fax number input field 42. However, since the destination name for the mail transmission source has not been acquired, the destination name input field 41 is not input. The user confirms the contents input on the registration confirmation screen 40b and operates the keyboard 261 and the mouse 262 to input the destination name in the destination name input field 41 and the contents previously input in the input field 42. Make a change. When the user presses the OK button 43 or the cancel button 44, the process proceeds to step S100.

  When the process proceeds to step S100, the destination information registration unit 22 determines whether registration of a fax number has been instructed. If the OK button 43 is pressed on the registration confirmation screen 40, it is determined that there is an instruction for registration (step S100: Yes), and the destination name and fax number to the mail transmission source designated on the registration confirmation screen 40 Are associated and registered in the address book 241 of the host device (step S110).

  Next, the destination information registration unit 22 transmits an instruction to register the same content as the content newly registered in the address book 241 of the host device to the multifunction device 100 to register it in the address book 117 of the multifunction device ( Step S120). In this way, when synchronization is made between the address book 241 of the host device and the address book 117 of the multifunction device, and the registration contents are matched, the extracted fax number and the destination name to the mail transmission source are registered in the address book 117 of the multifunction device. The process of FIG. 3 is terminated.

  When the cancel button 44 is pressed on the registration confirmation screens 40a and 40b, the destination information registration unit 22 determines that there is no registration instruction (No in step S100) and is designated on the registration confirmation screen 40. The contents shown in FIG. 3 are terminated without newly registering the contents.

  According to the address book management system 1 described above, the fax number and address name information to the mail transmission source are extracted from the e-mail received by the computer 200, and the address book 241 of the host device and the address of the multifunction device are extracted. Registered in the book 117. For this reason, the user himself / herself finds out the fax number from the description of the e-mail, and does not need to perform the troublesome operation of copying / pasting or directly inputting the specified part into the address book management application 20, so that the sender of the e-mail can be determined. You can register. Therefore, for the user, the sender of the received electronic mail can be easily registered in the destination books 117 and 241, and erroneous registration due to an input error can be prevented, improving convenience for the user.

  Although one embodiment has been described above, the embodiment is not limited to one having all the configurations of the embodiment, and various forms may be used without departing from the spirit of the embodiment. Hereinafter, modified examples will be described.

  (Modification 1) In the above embodiment, the address book management application 20 receives the information of the opened e-mail from the e-mail software 10 and extracts the fax number from this information. However, the present invention is not limited to this. . For example, as shown in FIG. 7A, the function of the address book management application 20 is incorporated in the main body of the e-mail software 10, and the address book management application 20 includes the contents of the e-mail text in the e-mail software 10. It is good also as a structure which acquires. Further, the address book management application 20 does not acquire e-mail information from the e-mail software 10, but monitors the communication port assigned for e-mail transmission / reception, as shown in FIG. 7B. It is good also as a structure which acquires the content of an email directly. However, the address book management application itself may have a mail receiving function.

  (Modification 2) In the above embodiment, the address book management application 20 registers the fax number extracted from the e-mail once in the address book 241 of the host device and synchronizes with the address book 117 of the multifunction peripheral. A fax number is registered in the address book 117 of the multifunction machine. The extracted fax number may be directly registered in the address book 117 of the multifunction machine.

  (Modification 3) In the above embodiment, the case where the address book recorded in the multi-function peripheral 100 as an example of the facsimile apparatus is managed has been described. However, the facsimile apparatus is not limited to this, and the facsimile dedicated machine, Address books such as printers and telephones having a facsimile function may be managed.

  Further, a facsimile machine such as a multifunction machine may be configured to have the function of the address book management application 20. That is, the facsimile apparatus may receive e-mail data from the e-mail software of the host apparatus, search for the fax number from the received e-mail, and register it in the address book 241 of the host apparatus.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Address book management system, 10 ... E-mail software as a receiving part, 20 ... Address book management application, 21 ... Destination information extraction part as an extraction part, 22 ... Destination information registration part as a registration part, 40 ... Registration confirmation Screen: 100: MFP, 110: Controller, 114: Non-volatile memory as storage unit, 117: Address book of MFP, 120: Operation panel, 130: Scanner, 140: Print engine, 150: Facsimile unit, 200: Computer, 241 ... Host device address book, 242 ... Address book management program, 250 ... Network I / F, 260 ... Input I / F, 261 ... Keyboard as operation unit, 262 ... Mouse as operation unit, 270 ... Video I / F, 271 ... display as a display unit, 300 ... mail server, 400 Router.

Claims (7)

An address book management device for managing an address book of a facsimile machine,
A receiver for receiving e-mail;
An extraction unit that extracts a fax number of a mail transmission source from the description of the received e-mail;
And a registration unit for registering the extracted fax number in the address book. In the address book management device according to claim 1,
The extraction unit further extracts a character string indicating a mail transmission source from the description of the received e-mail,
The registration unit registers the extracted character string and the fax number in the destination book in association with each other. In the address book management device according to claim 1 or 2,
The said extraction part specifies the famous column of the famous column of the said received email, The address book management apparatus characterized by extracting the said fax number from this famous column. In the address book management device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A display unit for displaying a screen prompting selection of whether or not to register the extracted fax number in the address book;
An operation unit that receives a selection operation according to the screen,
The said registration part registers the fax number selected when registering in the said address book by operation to the said operation part to the said address book, The address book management apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. In the address book management device according to claim 4,
The screen is capable of correcting the extracted fax number;
The registration unit registers a fax number corrected by an input operation to the operation unit in the destination book. A destination book management method for managing a destination book of a facsimile machine,
Receiving an email; and
Extracting a mail source fax number from the received e-mail description;
Registering the extracted fax number in the address book. An address book management program for managing an address book of a facsimile machine,
Computer
An extractor that extracts the fax number of the email sender from the description of the received email;
An address book management program that functions as a registration unit that registers the extracted fax number in the address book of the facsimile apparatus stored in a storage unit.

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