JP2011172272A - Communication apparatus, method of controlling communication apparatus, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transmit a suitable amount of data even without performing complicated operation each time a transmission operation is performed. <P>SOLUTION: When a CPU 2-3 transmits image data obtained by reading an image on a document by a reading section 2-14 through a LAN interface section 2-6 to a desired partner as electronic mail, if a data amount exceeds an upper limit value preset by an operating section 2-17, the image data are divided into a plurality of electronic mail items or the data amount of the image data is decreased and then the image data are transmitted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device that transmits input data, a communication device control method, and a program.

In recent years, information exchange means for electronic information such as e-mails via the Internet / intranet is becoming common in addition to information exchange means such as facsimiles and telephones via telephone lines.
In an electronic mail, not only character information but also information in various data formats such as images, sounds, and program data can be exchanged.
The e-mail is created by e-mail client software called UA (User Agent), which is sent to an e-mail transfer device called the original MTA (Mail Transfer Agent). Then, it is transferred as if it were a bucket relay while accumulating and exchanging between a plurality of electronic mail transfer apparatuses up to the intended destination. A system that sequentially stores and exchanges e-mails in this way is called an e-mail storage and exchange system.
The e-mail received by each e-mail transfer device in this e-mail storage and exchange system is stored in the auxiliary storage device in the e-mail transfer device, transmitted to the e-mail transfer device to be transferred next, and finally at the final destination. Stored in a storage device of a certain e-mail transfer device or stored in a storage device in a received e-mail management server device having a mailbox (post office box) for managing each received e-mail for each e-mail user Is done.
It is then retrieved using e-mail client software called UA and provided to each user.

By the way, as described above, an e-mail can exchange information with a large amount of data such as an image, but the upper limit of the amount of data for one e-mail that can be handled by each e-mail transfer device is the system administrator of each device. If the data amount is large and it is expected that the data cannot be transmitted to the final destination, it is necessary to perform some operation on the transmission side to reduce the data amount per mail.
However, in order to do this, the user on the transmitting side checks whether the amount of transmission data is large by some operation, and if it is large, the operation to reduce it is very complicated. there were.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. An image file representing image data corresponding to the number of pages according to the determined division unit is determined by determining a division unit for dividing a plurality of pages included in image data. A common part indicating that each image file included in each of the plurality of e-mail data is related to each image file included in each of the plurality of e-mail data to be generated when generating each of the plurality of e-mail data included An object of the present invention is to provide a communication device, a communication device control method, and a program capable of giving a file name including a portion that is different for each image file and that can identify the page order of the plurality of pages. And

  In order to achieve the above object, a communication apparatus of the present invention comprises the following arrangement. That is, an input unit that inputs image data including a plurality of pages, a determination unit that determines a division unit that divides a plurality of pages included in the image data into a plurality according to a predetermined condition, and the determination unit Generating means for generating a plurality of e-mail data each including image files representing image data corresponding to the number of pages according to the division unit, and each of the plurality of e-mail data generated by the generating means is designated Transmitting means for transmitting to a destination, wherein the generating means associates each image file included in each of the plurality of e-mail data to be associated with each image file included in each of the plurality of e-mail data. A common part indicating that the image is to be processed and a part that is different for each image file, the part being capable of identifying the page order of the plurality of pages To give the name of the file that contains the door.

  According to the present invention, a division unit for dividing a plurality of pages included in image data is determined, and a plurality of pieces of e-mail data each including image files representing image data for the number of pages according to the determined division unit are obtained. When generating, each image file included in each of a plurality of generated e-mail data includes a common part indicating that the image files included in the plurality of e-mail data are related to each other, and a different part for each image file. In addition, it is possible to provide a communication device, a communication device control method, and a program capable of assigning a file name including a portion that can identify the page order of the plurality of pages.

It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure by embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the communication apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process by the communication apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the data of the email format transmitted. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process by the communication apparatus of 2nd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1-1 denotes an e-mail client in which e-mail client software is installed in a personal computer. The user name of this client is user1.
Reference numeral 1-2 denotes an electronic mail server, in which a mailbox for each electronic mail client is assigned to the auxiliary storage device.
Reference numeral 1-3 denotes a DNS server that performs mutual conversion between a domain name and an IP address and exchanges data with a partner having a different domain.
1-4 is a local area network, and domain name: aaa. bbb. co. It is assumed that e-mail addressed to each user of jp is exchanged.
Reference numeral 1-5 denotes a communication apparatus that performs processing unique to the present embodiment, which will be described later. Further, the communication device 1-5 is also connected to a public network (PSTN or ISDN) 1-6 via a telephone line, and publicly known procedures such as a remote facsimile device 1-7 and G3, G4, etc. via the public network 1-6. Can perform facsimile communication.
Reference numeral 1-8 denotes a router, which is used for a terminal on the local area network 1 to exchange data with a remote terminal via the Internet / intranet 1-9 which is an external network.
1-10 is an e-mail client connected to the Internet / intranet 1-9, and e-mail client software is installed in the personal computer in the same manner as 1-1.
Reference numeral 1-11 denotes an Internet facsimile machine which can exchange data in an e-mail format in which image data of a predetermined format is attached as a file via the Internet / intranet 1-9 as if it were an existing facsimile machine. It is.
Reference numeral 1-12 denotes an e-mail server that manages and controls e-mail exchanged via the Internet / intranet 1-9. Here, in particular, the domain name: ccc. ddd. co. The storage management of the e-mail addressed to jp is performed, the e-mail to be provided to the e-mail client 1-10 (user name: user2) which is the user of this server is managed, and in response to a request from the e-mail client 1-10 The e-mail addressed to the e-mail client 1-10 is transferred.

  In such a configuration, for example, an electronic mail (addressed to user2@ccc.ddd.co.jp) transmitted from the communication device 1-5 is transmitted to the electronic mail server 1-2 and the DNS server 1 via the local area network 1-4. -3, the router 1-8, and the Internet / intranet 1-9, respectively, are stored in the area for user 2 of the e-mail server 1-12, and in response to a request from the e-mail client 1-10, the e-mail client 1-10 The user can be browsed.

  Next, the communication device 1-5 shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the communication device 1-5.

ROM 2-2, CPU 2-3, RAM 2-4, storage memory 2-5, LAN interface unit 2-6, line interface unit 2-7, IO control B unit 2-8, IO control A unit 2-9 is connected to the image bus 2-10, the IO control A unit 2-9, the pixel density conversion unit 2-11, the compression / decompression unit 2-12, the printer unit 2-13, the reading unit 2-14, and the image rotation. The unit 2-15 and the image processing unit 2-16 are connected. Then, the operation unit 2-17 is connected via the IO control B unit 2-8.
System bus 2-1, ROM 2-2, CPU 2-3, RAM 2-4, storage memory 2-5, LAN interface unit 2-6, line interface unit 2-7, IO control B unit 2-8, IO control A unit 2-9, image bus 2-10, pixel density conversion unit 2-11, compression / decompression unit 2-12, image rotation unit 2-15, and image processing unit 2-16 are mounted on the control unit 2-18 as hardware Is done.

A ROM 2-2 is a boot ROM, and stores a boot program for the system of the communication device 1-5. Further, system software for realizing the operation of the present embodiment as will be described later is stored in the ROM 2-2 or the storage memory 2-5, and is executed by the CPU 2-3.
The RAM 2-4 is a system work memory area for executing software, and is also used as an image memory for temporarily storing image data.
The storage memory 2-5 stores system software, facsimile code data, e-mail data, various image data, and the like.
The LAN interface unit 2-6 is an interface for connecting to the local area network 1-4, and can be connected to the Internet or the like via a remote router or the like connected to the local area network.
The line interface unit 2-7 is connected to a public network 1-6 such as PSTN or ISDN, and is controlled by a communication control program in the ROM 2-2. ISDN / I / F, modem, NCU (network control unit) And a function for transmitting / receiving data to / from a remote terminal.
The IO control A unit 2-9 is a bus bridge that connects the system bus 2-1 to the image bus 2-10 that transfers image data at high speed, and converts the data structure of the data from the system bus 2-1. The image bus 2-10 is configured by a PCI bus or IEEE1394.
On the image bus 2-10, a reading unit 2-14 and a printer unit 2-13, which are image input / output devices, and a control unit 2-18 are connected to perform synchronous / asynchronous conversion of image data.
The pixel density conversion unit 2-11 converts the resolution by increasing or decreasing the pixel density of the input image data.
The image compression / decompression unit 2-12 performs JPEG, MMR, MR, and MH compression / decompression processing for multi-valued image data and binary image data.
The printer unit 2-13 records and outputs an image based on the input image data on a recording sheet.
A reading unit 2-14 scans a document fed from a document feeding device or an image on a document placed on a document table while scanning, and outputs image data corresponding to the image. Depending on the application, the image reading is switched such that a color document is output as multi-valued image data and a monochrome document is output as binary image data.
The image rotation unit 2-15 rotates the image represented by the input image data to a desired angle, and outputs image data representing the rotated image.
The image processing unit 2-16 performs predetermined correction, processing, and editing on the input image data and outputs the result.
The IO control B unit 2-8 is an interface unit with an operation unit (UI = User Interface) 2-17, supplies image data to be displayed on the operation unit 2-17, or is performed by the user from the operation unit 2-17. This is to transmit the operation contents to the CPU 2-3. The operation unit 2-17 includes a display device for providing information to the user using images and characters, a touch panel for detecting user input, a hard key, and the like, and software by a program in the ROM 2-2. Be controlled. The user uses this operation unit 2-7 to give a reading instruction, a transmission destination designation, a transmission instruction, various settings, and the like.
With the above configuration, the communication device 1-5 performs input / output of image data and various processes as described above under the control of the CPU 2-3 based on a program stored in the ROM 2-2 or the storage memory 2-5. As described later, the image data converted into a predetermined format is converted into a base64 code and converted into text so as to become data in a predetermined e-mail format, and the data in the e-mail format is converted according to an existing e-mail protocol. Perform processing such as sending.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of the communication device 1-5 according to the first embodiment.

  First, when a user sets a document on a document table or a document feeder (3-1), when an operation unit 2-17 selects a destination address and instructs to read a document image (3-2), The CPU 2-3 causes the reading unit 2-14 to scan the original and read an image on the original. The image data corresponding to the image is compressed and expanded by the compression / decompression unit 2-12. The multivalued image data is JPEG, and the monochrome image data is JBIG. , MMR, MR, MH and the like are compressed and stored in the storage memory 2-5 as encoded image data. This process is repeated for all pages of the document to be transmitted.

  The address selection in 3-2 is performed by causing the user to operate the operation unit 2-17 to display the address book on the display unit of the operation unit 2-17, and the user selects a desired transmission destination from the address book. It is assumed that the email address of user2 is selected as the transmission destination. Here, it is assumed that the operation unit 2-17 is set to read the original as a black and white image and encode it with MH. At this time, the format of the attached file (here, single page TIFF), the transmission source user (here: email@aaa.bbb.co.jp), Subject (here: Scan), reply address (here) user1@aaa.bbb.co.jp), the description content of the body part is also specified. These pieces of information are transmitted from the operation unit 2-17 to the CPU 2-3 to perform reading control and encoding control, and the CPU 2-3 is designated from those stored in the RAM 2-4 or the storage memory 2-5. Read the destination email address.

  Next, since binary image data cannot be transmitted directly in electronic mail, it is converted into a format that can be handled by electronic mail as follows.

First, the CPU 2-3 adds header information of TIFF CLASS F to the head of the image data in the storage memory 2-5 that has been encoded into MH by the compression / decompression unit 2-12 in accordance with the designation of the e-mail address. By doing so, TIFF image data is created (3-4). Since single page TIFF is used here, one page is created as one file.
Then, the CPU 2-3 converts the TIFF image data from binary format to text data by base64 conversion for each page of the document (3-5). When the conversion for one page is completed, the CPU 2-3 stores the TIFF image data in advance. It is determined whether the set upper limit value is exceeded (3-6). Here, the upper limit setting value is a data amount that can be arbitrarily set by the user using the operation unit 2-17, and this setting is stored in the RAM 2-4 or the like. The upper limit value can be set to a different amount for each destination.

If it is determined that the TIFF image data converted to text data has exceeded the upper limit setting value, the converted image data page exceeds one page, that is, there is at least one converted page. (3-7). If it exceeds one page, the TIFF image data for the last page is deleted from the current target e-mail data, and the deleted TIFF image data is stored in the storage memory 2-5 as the next e-mail data. (3-8).
If the converted image data does not exceed one page, the image data for one page already exceeds the upper limit setting value, and cannot be sent with this setting. Discard without contrast (3-9), and save the result as an error in RAM 2-4 (3-10). Here, even if one page of images to be transmitted includes only one page and exceeds the upper limit value, all images are not transmitted as an error. This is to eliminate the inconvenience of transmitting incomplete data as a whole.

If it is determined in step 3-6 that the upper limit value has not been exceeded, or if the last page of data has been deleted in step 3-8, the TIFF image data so far is stored as an email attachment. Save in the memory 2-5 (3-11). Note that after the processing in step 3-8, a new file is created from the next image data, otherwise the image data is added to one file.
If there is data for the next page (3-12), the processing from step 3-5 is repeated.
When processing of all the transmission target image data as an attached file of an e-mail is completed, the CPU 2-3 adds an e-mail header by adding a known e-mail header to all TIFF image data converted into text data. (3-13).

  FIG. 4 shows an example of data edited in the e-mail format. This data is a text file described in MIME format. The text file is divided into 5 parts by "--Boundary ---" separator line, the first part contains the mail header, the second part contains the transmission information (the body part), the third part, the fourth part Part 5 and Part 5 are identification information of the file format and identification information such as a base64 encoding method for converting binary data into a character string and blank lines, and 1, 2, 3 of the transmitted images of all 10 pages. Data corresponding to the image data of the page is described as a character string.

  In FIG. 4, the From, To, Reply-To, and Subject fields in the header portion are described based on the contents input or designated by the user from the operation unit 2-17 at step 3-2 when sending instructions. . In a place where “message” exists, the contents input by the user as the body text from the operation unit 2-17 are described. However, when the e-mail is divided into a plurality of parts as in the present embodiment, n / m is automatically added by the number m of divisions and n indicating the number of them following the subject specified by the user. (In this example, the first of the three divisions is shown).

  In the following, the items enclosed in brackets ([]) and their contents are automatically generated and described when e-mail data is created. [Mail content] indicates that an image in TIFF format is attached, [Sender host address] indicates the mail address of the sender, [Send date] indicates the date and time when transmission of the email starts, [ “Total number of transmissions” indicates the total number of pages of the image to be transmitted (here, 10 pages of images are transmitted in three times, and three pages are transmitted in this first mail) [division Number indicates the number of e-mails that contain the image to be sent, [Number of pages sent by this mail] indicates the number of pages sent by this mail out of the total number of pages sent by this mail, and [File name ] Indicates the file name of the file attached to this mail.

In addition, the file name is a transmission source user name (mail1), transmission date and time (19981031), a counter (01 to 03: a different number is assigned serially for each file), a communication number (10: a series of e-mails, in this case, divided) The extension (in this case, .tif indicating TIFF) indicating the file type is automatically given following the three emails that are common and distinguished from other emails.
In the “image 64th page encoded with base64” portion, the actual file content is described as text.
When such data in the e-mail format is completed, an external e-mail server (here, e-mail server 1- 1) is connected via the LAN I / F unit 2-6 (in the case of dial-up, the line I / F unit 2-7). A connection request is issued to 2), authentication is performed, and communication with the e-mail server 1-2 is established (3-14).
Then, when the communication is established, the CPU 2-3 sequentially transmits the e-mail data previously created by the SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) procedure (3-15). When transmission of all data is completed, communication with the e-mail server 1-2 is released (3-16). At the same time, the transmission date and time, the destination, the transmission source, a part of the image, the number of pages, the amount of data, the number of divisions, and the like are accumulated in the accumulation memory 2-5 as a history (3-17).

  The e-mail sent as described above is taken in by the UA on the e-mail client 1-10 according to the POP3 procedure in response to a request from the e-mail client 1-10, and the TIFF file is decoded and viewed.

  In the above example, the single page TIFF format is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Multi-page TIFF (one file with a plurality of pages) or JPEG is set by the setting from the operation unit 2-17. It goes without saying that it is possible.

Similarly to the above, it is possible to perform the same processing on an Internet FAX that transmits image data as an attached file of an electronic mail. At this time, different settings may be used for e-mail and Internet FAX.
In addition, regarding the setting and comparison of the upper limit value, the above-mentioned ones are converted to text for e-mail and then compared, but naturally the upper limit value may be determined in the previous stage.
Also, in the above, every time the upper limit is exceeded, the e-mail is divided up to the previous page. However, it is also possible to group and divide the e-mail so that each e-mail is almost equal. it can.
Further, the file may be divided based on the number of files (number of pages).
Further, the attached file may be not only an image from the reading unit 2-14 but also an image from another source, or a binary file other than the image. Of course, it can be easily realized by installing software corresponding to the present embodiment in a general-purpose personal computer.

According to the embodiment as described above, even large-capacity image data can be appropriately transmitted by e-mail even if the capacity of the e-mail server on the transmission side or the reception side is limited.
Further, since the limit value is also set in advance, it can be automatically divided and transmitted without the user being aware of it each time.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment will be described.

  Since the system configuration and the configuration of the communication device 1-5 are the same as those in the first embodiment, a description thereof is omitted here.

A processing flow of the communication device 1-5 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.
Steps 5-1 to 5-5 are the same as steps 3-1 to 3-5 of the first embodiment, and a description thereof is omitted here.
In step 5-6, when all the image data to be transmitted has been converted into character string data, it is determined whether the data amount exceeds the upper limit set value.

If it is determined that the number is exceeded, the resolution (pixel density) of the converted image data stored in the storage memory 2-5 is coarsely converted by the pixel density conversion unit 2-11 to reduce the number of pixels. Reduce the amount of data (5-7).
Then, it is determined whether or not the dropped resolution is below the lower limit setting value (5-8). In this embodiment, it is assumed that the lower limit value (dpi) for reducing the resolution in step 5-7 can be set in advance by the operation unit 2-17 and stored in the RAM 2-4.
If the lower limit is exceeded, a message to that effect is displayed on the display unit of the operation unit 2-17 to notify the user (5-9), and a transmission method other than e-mail is also presented on the display unit. Since the communication device 1-5 has a transmission function of FAX (existing G3 / G4) and Internet FAX as a method of transmitting image data other than electronic mail, it displays that these can be selected. Of course, this is the case where the destination has their receiving function. The address book of the communication device 1-5 is grouped for each destination and associated with each transmission method. In this case, it is assumed that the Internet FAX and the electronic mail have a larger upper limit value for the Internet FAX.

  When another transmission method is selected by operating the operation unit 2-17 from the displayed user, the image data is reconverted according to the selected method (protocol) and transmitted to the same destination (5-12). ). The resolution at this time is based on a resolution that does not fall below the lower limit.

On the other hand, if it is determined that it is not below the lower limit set value, the processing is repeated again from step 5-4 based on the image data with the reduced resolution.
When the amount of data that can be transmitted by e-mail is reached, it is stored in the storage memory 2-5 as an e-mail attachment file (5-14).

  Next, an electronic mail header is added to the attached file to edit it into an electronic mail format. This format is as described above. Of course, items related to division are not included.

  Thereafter, in Steps 5-15 to 5-18, the electronic mail is transmitted in the same manner as Steps 3-14 to 3-17 described above, and the result is stored.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when the amount of data becomes too large when an e-mail attached with image data is transmitted, it is transmitted as one e-mail by reducing the amount of image data. Can do.

  In addition, it can be set as the system which improved usability by combining the process of the above-mentioned 1st and 2nd embodiment suitably as follows.

The operation unit 2-17 sets whether the processing of the first embodiment or the second embodiment (steps 5-7 to 5-12) is performed when the upper limit set value is exceeded (step 3-6).
Alternatively, when it is determined in step 5-8 of the second embodiment that the lower limit value is not reached, division is performed as in the first embodiment (step 3-8 and subsequent steps).
Alternatively, when it is determined in step 3-7 of the first embodiment that the number of pages does not exceed one page, the resolution is reduced as in step 5-7 of the second embodiment.
Alternatively, the processing of the first embodiment is also selected at the time when another transmission method is presented in step 5-11 of the second embodiment.
In addition, the processes of the first and second embodiments and other processes are appropriately combined according to the user's designation.

  The present invention can be applied to a system composed of a single device (for example, a copier or a facsimile machine having a communication function) even if it is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.). May be.

  In addition, in order to operate various devices to realize the functions of the above-described embodiment, a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is stored in an apparatus connected to the various devices or a computer in the system. What is implemented by operating various devices in accordance with a program stored in a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus supplied is also included in the scope of the present invention.

  In this case, the software program code itself realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer, for example, a storage storing the program code The medium constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for storing the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code supplied by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS (operating system) in which the program code is running on the computer, or other application software, etc. It goes without saying that the program code is also included in the embodiment of the present invention even when the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized in cooperation with the program.

  Further, the supplied program code is stored in the memory provided in the function expansion board of the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, and then the CPU provided in the function expansion board or function storage unit based on the instruction of the program code However, it is needless to say that the present invention also includes a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing.

Claims (1)

An input means for inputting image data including a plurality of pages;
Determining means for determining a division unit for dividing a plurality of pages included in the image data into a plurality of pages according to a predetermined condition;
Generating means for generating a plurality of e-mail data each including image files representing image data for the number of pages according to the division unit determined by the determining means;
Transmitting means for transmitting each of the plurality of e-mail data generated by the generating means to a specified destination;
The generation means includes a common part indicating that each image file included in each of the plurality of e-mail data is associated with each image file included in each of the plurality of e-mail data to be generated, and each image file And a file name including a part that can identify the page order of the plurality of pages.

Images