JP3013788B2 - Facsimile system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile system, and realizes transmission and reception of messages between individuals.
WWW to realize bulletin board function especially in Internet environment
Related to facsimile communication using a server.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a facsimile system has a LAN
It is possible to perform a facsimile transmission by designating an individual by the same operation as sending an e-mail directly from a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as a PC) on the same LAN assuming that the connection is established. In that case, use the sub-address and OCR function to identify the destination person,
For example, it is realized by adding routing information such as a LAN address. On the receiving side, the information is transferred from the facsimile apparatus to a PC managed by the individual via the LAN based on the information, and the facsimile message can be received in the same manner as other electronic mail messages (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-1995).
-288668).

[0003]

The first problem is that in order to perform facsimile communication via a LAN as described above, a device having the same routing algorithm on the transmitting side and the receiving side, or a routing rule is determined in advance. The facsimile message must be sent as it is.

The reason is that as long as the message is sent in the same manner as a normal facsimile transmission using the facsimile protocol, the final routing is controlled by the receiving facsimile system receiving the message. Since there is no way for the sender to confirm that the message has reached the designated individual,
It is necessary to know beforehand whether the routing means instructed by the transmitting side is valid on the receiving side, and even if it is known to be valid, the facsimile system on the receiving side normally operates at the moment of transmission. This is because it is not known whether or not it is operating.

Another method for realizing facsimile message exchange between individuals is disclosed in JP-A-7-3364.
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 72, the receipt of a message as a confidential document is restricted by accepting only browsing from a specific destination using the bulletin board function of the facsimile system on the transmitting side without actually transmitting the message. There is a system.

The problem in this case is that a document (bulletin board number) uniquely defined by the system is used to identify a document in the bulletin board, and whether a message actually posted for viewing is present. What you do not know until you access the bulletin board.

[0007] The reason is that when a new document is added to the bulletin board, it is necessary to notify the bulletin board number assigned for the document by some other means, and the viewer is automatically notified of the posting timing. This is because there is no notification mechanism, and the burden of viewing the bulletin board is imposed on the viewer side periodically, so that the system can be operated only with a certain limited system.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a WWW (World Wide Web; WWW) in an Internet environment.
The present invention provides a facsimile system which enables communication of facsimile messages between individuals using a function of an old wide web server.

That is, the facsimile system is
A line control unit (6 in FIG. 1) for controlling facsimile communication via a general public line, a system operation unit (8 in FIG. 1) for receiving a facsimile transmission operation from a user, and a document to be transmitted in accordance with an instruction of the transmission operation Input unit such as a scanner that captures image data as image data (7 in FIG. 1)
Facsimile control unit that manages the transmission request and receives image data from the data input unit (5 in FIG. 1)
And the image data from the facsimile control unit to WW
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language; Hypertext Mark) for posting on W server
up Language) A data conversion unit (2 in FIG. 1) for converting the document into a document, a data management unit (3 in FIG. 1) for managing the converted data as a file system, and a specific data management unit for the document. Save to a location and store the location in a URL (User Request Language; User Request)
and a WWW control unit (1 in FIG. 1) realizing a WWW server function, and a LAN i / f corresponding to an Internet environment for receiving access to the WWW server.
(I / f; input / output) unit (4 in FIG. 1).

The user performs an actual facsimile transmission operation from the system operation unit (8 in FIG. 1). At this time, as a method of specifying the destination, it is possible to specify the facsimile telephone number of the destination as in a conventional facsimile apparatus, or to specify the destination by an e-mail address. In response to the transmission operation instruction, the data input unit (7 in FIG. 1) captures the document to be transmitted as digitized image data. The data input unit is specifically a scanner or the like. The image data is temporarily stored / managed in the facsimile control unit (5 in FIG. 1) in units of documents.

Next, the data compiled as a document is sent from the facsimile control unit to the data conversion unit (2 in FIG. 1).
Handed over to The data conversion unit converts the data into WW
It is converted into a format handled by an HTML document that can be posted as a W server, for example, a TIFF format. The converted message is received by the WWW control unit (1 in FIG. 1), and the data management unit (3 in FIG. 1) that functions as a file system
To a specific location.

At this time, the WWW control unit sends information such as a specific transmission destination of the document data from the facsimile control unit and URL (user request language) information which is a location point in the data management unit as WWW. Manage by associating. It is the LAN i / f unit (4 in FIG. 1) that accepts access to the WWW server from the LAN, and specifically, a protocol stack of TCP / IP (Transfer Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) and HTTP (Hypertext). It has a server function of transfer protocol) and a client function of SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol). If the transmission destination is specified in the facsimile telephone number format, the WWW control unit notifies the facsimile control unit of the URL information in the data management unit as a new transmission request. Upon receiving the transmission request, the facsimile control unit converts the URL information into a format capable of facsimile communication, for example, converts the URL information into an image with a text font and then compresses and converts the image with MH / MR / MMR. More facsimile transmission is performed. Alternatively, if the transmission destination is specified in a mail address format, the WWW control unit transmits the URL information by mail via the LAN i / f unit.

On the other hand, when the receiving user who has received the URL information by facsimile communication or mail accesses the URL information from a WWW browser as a user interface, the LANi / f unit of the transmitting facsimile system of the transmitting side via the Internet. A connection is established as HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and then the WWW of the sending facsimile system
The control unit transmits a corresponding message in response to a request from the browser.

In particular, in the present invention, the WWW control unit, the data conversion unit, the data management unit, and the LAN i / f unit are collectively
When a WW subsystem is used and the remaining facsimile control unit, line control unit, data input unit, and system operation unit are collectively used as a facsimile subsystem, there are some tightly coupled forms in which the two subsystems exist in the same device system. For example, it is divided into two devices connected by a LAN, for example, a remote procedure call (RP
C) It also includes a loosely coupled system that communicates as in (C). Also, in the case of loose coupling, the coupling pair of the facsimile subsystem and the WWW subsystem has a function of n: n, that is, a function of accepting the existence of a plurality of other subsystems and identifying each subsystem. Shall be provided.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the facsimile system. In the figure, a facsimile subsystem 10 includes a line control unit 6 that controls facsimile communication via a general public line, a system operation unit 8 that receives a facsimile transmission operation from a user, and a document that is transmitted according to an instruction of the transmission operation. A data input unit 7 such as a scanner which takes in data, a facsimile control unit 5 which manages transmission requests, receives image data from the data input unit 7, encodes the data by MMR or the like, and stores it; A part 6. The WWW subsystem 11 includes a facsimile control unit 5
A data conversion unit 2 for converting the image data received and encoded by the facsimile control unit 5 into an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) document for posting on a World Wide Web server (hereinafter, a WWW server); Management unit 3 that manages the obtained data as a file system, and saves the document in a specific location of the data management unit 3 and stores the location in a URL.
(User requested language) information as well as WW
A WWW control unit 1 that realizes a W server function;
And a LAN i / f unit 4 compatible with the Internet environment for receiving access to the WW server.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the facsimile system when a destination is specified by a facsimile telephone number. In this case, when document data is input from the data input unit 7 by, for example, the MMR, as in the conventional facsimile apparatus (step 21), the facsimile control unit 5 is notified of the input. The facsimile control unit 5 first transmits the input data to the designated destination by ordinary facsimile communication,
Alternatively, a selection is made as to whether or not the data is to be browsed from the bulletin board of the WWW server (step 22). As a method of this selection, for example, a setting is made such that only a transmission to a specific destination is performed via a WWW server, or a facsimile control procedure defined by the ITU-T recommendation between a facsimile apparatus of the other party. There is also a method in which the transmission is determined in the phase B of the facsimile communication procedure by a unique capability notification by the signal NSS / NSF.

When the transmission is determined to be via the WWW server, the facsimile control unit 5 delivers the input data, for example, the data encoded by MMR, to the data conversion unit 2 in order to incorporate it into the HTML document. In the data conversion unit 2, the MMR
TIFF that handles HTML data in WWW server HTML documents
Or GIF format (step 23). If the conversion has failed, the data conversion unit 2 notifies the facsimile control unit 5 of the fact, and the facsimile control unit 5 switches to normal facsimile communication, not via the WWW server, and continues the transmission process ( Step 24).

The HTML converted in step 23
The document is stored from the data conversion unit 2 to the data management unit 3 under a specific directory via the WWW control unit.
At this time, the location in the data management unit 3 composed of a file system to be stored is determined by the WWW control unit 1. However, the WWW control unit 1 confirms that the LANi / f unit 4 is operating normally and the WWW control unit itself has successfully started the HTTP / daemon, and then accepts subsequent processing. I do. If any error is recognized, the WWW control unit 1 notifies the facsimile control unit 5 of the error, switches to normal facsimile communication, and continues the transmission process, as in the case of abnormal data conversion.

When there is no error, the WWW control unit 1 determines a position where the HTML document is stored in the data management unit 3 (step 25). For example, a sub-directory for each sequential number is provided under a directory for each transmission date and time, or a sub-directory for a facsimile telephone number indicating a destination is provided under a directory specific to a user who instructs transmission. The HTML document is saved at a position according to the rules. After saving, the location (address) saved at this time is notified as URL information from the WWW control unit 1 to the facsimile control unit 5, and the facsimile is transmitted to the actual transmission destination by facsimile. The control unit 5 converts the text information into an image using certain font data (step 26). When converting to an image, not only the URL information, but also the transmission date and time, sender name, recipient name, comment, and password, etc., as in the sending table that is added to the beginning of normal facsimile transmission It has a function that can be converted together. After the conversion, a facsimile message including the URL information is transmitted from the facsimile control unit 5 via the line control unit 6 as in the normal facsimile transmission (step 27).

If the transmission destination is specified by the Internet mail address instead of the facsimile telephone number from the data input section 7, the HTML document is stored in the data management section 3 so that the HTML document can be browsed from the WWW browser as described above. Is done. In this case, the UR containing the storage location
The L information is transmitted as a mail message instead of being transmitted by facsimile. Specifically, at this time, the WWW control unit 1 has an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) client function and controls transmission of mail from the LAN i / f unit 4.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the receiving user who received the URL information by facsimile message according to FIG. Here, it is assumed that a password is also added to the facsimile message in which the URL information is described. This password was obtained by the security processing module of the WWW control unit 1 when the WWW control unit 1 of the facsimile system of FIG. 1 on the transmission side was able to store the actual HTML data in the data management unit 3. This is imaged together with the URL information and notified to the receiving user. Here, first, the receiving user
Receiving facsimile message of RL information (step 3
1) Check the contents. Thereafter, at a convenient time, the receiving user activates a WWW browser from a personal computer connected to the Internet, for example (step 32), and refers to the specified URL (step 33). At this time, the facsimile system shown in FIG.
The LANi / f unit 4 receives the TCP / IP from the receiving user.
, And furthermore, the packet is
The connection is managed by the WWW control unit 1 as a (hypertext transfer protocol) connection. The WWW control unit 1
The corresponding information is returned by the command specified by http from the WWW browser of the receiving user. At this time, if the corresponding HTML information is concealed by the password by the WWW control unit 1, the program code for accepting the input of the password is sent instead of immediately delivering the information. With this code, a password input window is newly opened on the receiving browser, and the receiving user can directly input the password (step 34). The receiving user inputs a password from the keyboard, and the input result is sent to the WWW control unit 1 of the facsimile system of FIG. 1 again via the Internet. The WWW control unit 1 verifies the password and, if correct, the HT of the corresponding URL in the data management unit 3.
The data of the ML document is returned to the receiving WWW server via the LANi / f unit 4 (step 35). Only by this return will the receiving user browse, ie, receive, the facsimile message specified by the sender of the facsimile system of FIG. 1 on the WWW browser. Actually, in order to display data converted to TIFF or GIF on a browser, a display method is instructed using a MIME type. If the password is incorrect, of course, the HTML document is not returned, error information is returned instead, and the process returns to the password input waiting.

As a second embodiment, in the configuration of FIG.
Opening confirmation service for sent document
This will be described with reference to (C). First, the WWW control unit 1
RL: HTML stored in the data management unit 3 by Test
By incorporating a reading counter unit for each document, when a new document is created in the data management unit 3, the counter (“C_test” counter) of the document is set to 0 (FIG. 4).
(A)), every time the document is browsed, that is, every time the corresponding document is transmitted as http, a function of incrementing the counter by “+1” is added ((B) in FIG. 4). At this time, if the WWW control unit 1 is configured so that the counter information can be browsed from the WWW browser via http, the sender determines whether or not the receiver has actually browsed by itself after the transmission operation. By browsing the information from the browser, it is possible to confirm the opening status of the transmitted document (FIG. 4C).

[0025]

The effect of the present invention is that a message (document data) addressed to itself can be obtained by using the Internet environment.
Is notified in advance as a URL, and the actual message can be picked up from the browser.

The reason is that the actual message is automatically converted into a format that can be referred to as HTML in the facsimile system of the present invention, and the data is stored / managed in a location that can be specified as a unique URL.
This is because the URL information is automatically notified to the recipient, and the actual message corresponding to the URL can be transferred to the browser side by being able to control access by HTTP as a WWW server of the Internet.

For this reason, the recipient who has received the notification of the URL information can perform any time, as long as the environment allows the use of a browser.
At any location, the message can be received by facsimile communication or Internet mail.

Further, according to the first aspect , it is easy to select whether the document data is transmitted via a line by facsimile communication or transmitted by Internet mail.

According to the second aspect , even if the image data cannot be successfully converted into the HTML document data by the data conversion unit, it is possible to prevent the image data from being completely transmitted. However, this effect is effective when the destination is specified by a facsimile telephone number.

According to the third aspect , only the specific recipient who knows the password among the recipients notified of the transmission of the message (document data) by the URL information can receive the message, and the confidentiality of the information is maintained. Can be kept.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when a destination is specified in the facsimile system of FIG. 1;

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a receiving user who has received URL information from the facsimile system of FIG. 1 by a facsimile message.

FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C are diagrams for explaining an opening confirmation service as another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 WWW control part 2 Data conversion part 3 Data management part 4 LANi / f part 5 Facsimile control part 6 Line control part 7 Data input part 8 System operation part 10 Facsimile subsystem 11 WWW subsystem

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-7-212395 (JP, A) JP-A-1-227575 (JP, A) WO 97/38510 (WO, A1) Computer & Network LAN, No. Vol. 14, No. 4, p. 107-112, Shigeki Yokoi, "Internet Access by Phone and FAX ...", issued April 1, 1996, Ohmsha (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04L 12/54 H04L 12/58 G06F 13/00 351-357 H04N 1/00 H04N 1/32 JICST file (JOIS)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A line control unit that controls facsimile communication via a general public line, a system operation unit that receives a facsimile transmission operation from a user, a scanner that captures a document to be transmitted in accordance with an instruction of the transmission operation as image data, and the like. And a facsimile control unit that manages the transmission request and receives image data from the data input unit, and causes the facsimile control unit to post the image data to a World Wide Web server (hereinafter, a WWW server). A data conversion unit for converting the converted data into a hypertext markup language (HTML) document, a data management unit for managing the converted data as a file system, and a specific location of the data management unit for the converted data. And save it as document data in It has a WWW control unit that manages URL information and realizes a WWW server function, and an interface unit compatible with the Internet environment that accepts access to this WWW server. And the W
The WW control unit notifies the URL information to the facsimile control unit, converts the URL information into a format that allows facsimile communication, and transmits the URL information to a specific viewing destination from the line control unit, or the WW control unit URL information including a storage location of the document data stored in the data management unit for a user connected to the Internet by either notifying the URL information to the reading destination as Internet mail by the interface unit. And then sends the document data stored in the storage location to the WWW server in response to a response from the receiving side.
The browsing destination is faxed by the system operation unit.
When specified by Simili telephone number, the URL information is
Sent by facsimile communication from the line control unit,
Internet mail address by the system operation unit
Interface, when specified by the interface
A facsimile system that is notified as Internet mail . 2. The data conversion section according to claim 1, wherein
If the data could not be properly converted to the HTML document
Notification to the facsimile control unit,
The facsimile control unit precedes the image data.
Not via the WWW server , but from the line control unit
2. The transmission according to claim 1, wherein the transmission is performed by a csimili communication.
Facsimile system described in 3. The WWW control unit has a password for the document data to be transmitted, and when the password is received from the receiving side after transmitting the URL information, the WWW control unit collates the password and matches the password. 2. The facsimile system according to claim 1, wherein the document data stored in the data management unit is transmitted to the receiving side.