JP3598451B2 - Control method for facsimile communication system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a facsimile server device having a function of exchanging data performed through a local area network or the Internet and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network, and a public network as a transmission path. When the facsimile server device receives transmission information addressed to the facsimile device via a local area network or the Internet, the facsimile device converts the transmission information into facsimile image information and stores it. When the facsimile server device accumulates facsimile image information of transmission information addressed to the facsimile device requested for polling reception, the facsimile server device Information relating to the control method of the facsimile communication system for polling transmission of.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, a facsimile server device having a function of exchanging data via a local area network or the Internet and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure via a public network, and using a public network as a transmission path When a facsimile server device receives transmission information addressed to a facsimile device via a local area network or the Internet, the facsimile device converts the transmission information into facsimile image information and stores it. A polling reception request is sent to the facsimile server device. When the facsimile server device stores facsimile image information of transmission information addressed to the facsimile device requested for polling reception, the facsimile server device Facsimile communication system for polling transmission information has been practically.
[0003]
Use of such a facsimile communication system is very convenient because various kinds of information can be transmitted from a host device connected to a local area network or the Internet to a facsimile device connected to a public network. .
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, such a conventional apparatus has the following disadvantages.
[0005]
In other words, unless the facsimile machine connected to the public network performs a polling reception request operation on the facsimile server device, transmission information addressed to the facsimile device cannot be obtained by the destination facsimile device. The time required from sending out the information to receiving the information at the destination becomes longer, resulting in an inconvenience that the delay time of the communication becomes very long.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a control method of a facsimile communication system that can significantly reduce a communication delay time.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention provides a facsimile server device having a function of exchanging data performed through a local area network or the Internet and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network, and a public network as a transmission path. When the facsimile server device receives transmission information addressed to the facsimile device via a local area network or the Internet, the facsimile device converts the transmission information into facsimile image information and stores it. When the facsimile server device accumulates facsimile image information of transmission information addressed to the facsimile device requested for polling reception, the facsimile server device In the control method for a facsimile communication system that polls and transmits information, the facsimile device is connected to a public network having a caller ID notification service, while the facsimile server device is addressed to the facsimile device via a local area network or the Internet. When the transmission information is received, the transmission information is converted into facsimile image information and stored. When the facsimile image information addressed to the facsimile device is stored in a predetermined number or more, the facsimile device of the destination is transmitted to the public network. On the other hand, if the caller number received from the network at the time of the incoming call corresponds to the facsimile server device, the facsimile device makes a polling reception request to the facsimile server device. apparatus , When they are accumulated facsimile image information of the transmission information addressed facsimile machine is polled receive request is obtained by all the facsimile image information to the accumulated so that polling transmission.
[0009]
Also, a facsimile server device having a function of exchanging data via a local area network or the Internet and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure via a public network, and a facsimile using a public network as a transmission path When the facsimile server device receives transmission information addressed to the facsimile device via the local area network or the Internet, the facsimile device converts the transmission information into facsimile image information and stores it. A polling reception request is sent to the facsimile server device, and the facsimile server device stores the facsimile image information of the transmission information addressed to the facsimile device requested to be polled. In the control method of the facsimile communication system for polling transmission, the facsimile apparatus is connected to a public network having a caller ID notification service, while the facsimile server apparatus is connected to the facsimile apparatus via a local area network or the Internet. When the transmission information is received, the transmission information is converted to facsimile image information and stored, and the facsimile image information addressed to the facsimile apparatus is stored in a number equal to or greater than a predetermined number, or the transmission information received at that time. If the value of the priority information set in the facsimile apparatus is higher than a predetermined value, a call is made to the destination facsimile apparatus via the public network, while the facsimile apparatus receives the caller ID received from the network at the time of the incoming call. Compatible with the above facsimile server In some cases, a polling request is sent to the facsimile server device, and when the facsimile server device stores the facsimile image information of the transmission information addressed to the facsimile device requested for polling reception, all of the stored facsimile image information is stored. The facsimile image information is transmitted by polling.
[0010]
In addition, an analog public network having a caller ID notification service or an ISDN can be applied as the public network. Further, the transmission information addressed to the facsimile device is transmitted to the facsimile server device by Internet electronic mail. Further, the facsimile server device has a mail server function, and has a table in which the number information of the facsimile device is registered corresponding to the user mail address assigned to the destination facsimile device. The number information of the destination facsimile machine may be obtained by referring to the table based on the destination information arranged in the header information of the mail.
[0011]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0012]
FIG. 1 shows an example of a facsimile communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0013]
In FIG. 1, a facsimile server device FS is connected to a local area network LAN, and is also connected to a digital public network ISDN and an analog public network PSTN.
[0014]
A plurality of workstation devices WS1 to WSn and a mail server device MS for controlling collection and delivery of electronic mail are connected to the local area network LAN. The local area network LAN is connected to the Internet (not shown) via a router RT.
[0015]
Further, the facsimile server device FS also has a mail server function equivalent to the mail server device MS, whereby the e-mail addressed to the user registered in the facsimile server device FS is directly received by the facsimile server device FS. I do.
[0016]
Further, the group 3 facsimile apparatus FXg exchanges image information with the facsimile server apparatus FS via the analog public network PSTN, and the group 4 facsimile apparatus FXf communicates via the digital public network ISDN. Exchanges image information and the like with the facsimile server device FS.
[0017]
Further, the group 3 facsimile machine FXg has a contract for a calling telephone number notification service with the analog network PSTN, and the group 3 facsimile machine FXg also has a modem function of a calling telephone number notification service and a call receiving procedure function thereof. ing. Thereby, the telephone number of the calling terminal is usually notified to the group 3 facsimile machine FXg.
[0018]
FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the facsimile server device FS.
[0019]
In FIG. 1, a system control unit 1 performs various control processes such as a control process of each unit of the facsimile server device FS, a group 3 facsimile transmission control procedure process, a mail server process, and the like. A control processing program to be executed by the unit 1 and various data required when executing the processing program are stored, and a work area of the system control unit 1 is configured. The clock circuit 4 is for storing various information unique to the device FS, and is for outputting current time information.
[0020]
The operation display unit 7 is for operating the facsimile server device FS, and includes various operation keys and various display devices.
[0021]
The image storage device 6 is for storing a large amount of image information in a state of being encoded and compressed. The encoding / decoding unit 7 encodes and compresses image data and encodes and compresses image information. Is decoded into the original image data.
[0022]
The image processing unit 8 is for converting the content of the body information (described later) received by the e-mail into the corresponding facsimile image data.
[0023]
The local area network interface circuit 9 is for connecting the facsimile server device FS to the local area network LAN, and the local area network transmission control unit 10 is connected to another local area network LAN and the Internet via the Internet. This is for executing communication control processing of a predetermined protocol suite for exchanging various data with the data terminal device.
[0024]
The ISDN interface circuit 11 is for connecting the facsimile server device FS to the digital public network ISDN, and the group 4 facsimile communication control unit 12 executes a group 4 facsimile communication control process, and performs communication with the group 4 facsimile device. It is for exchanging image information and the like between them.
[0025]
The network control device 13 is for connecting the facsimile server device FS to the analog public network PSTN. The group 3 facsimile modem 14 is for realizing the group 3 facsimile modem function. Low-speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging data and high-speed modem function (V.17 modem, V.34 modem, V.29 modem, V.27ter modem, etc.) mainly for exchanging image information It has.
[0026]
These include a system control unit 1, a system memory 2, a parameter memory 3, a clock circuit 4, an operation display unit 5, an image storage device 6, an encoding / decoding unit 7, a local area network transmission control unit 10, a group 4 facsimile communication control. The unit 12, the network controller 13, and the group 3 facsimile modem 14 are connected to an internal bus 15, and data exchange between these elements is mainly performed through the internal bus 15. .
[0027]
Data exchange between the network controller 13 and the group 3 facsimile modem 14 is directly performed.
[0028]
The facsimile server device FS receives an e-mail from a local area network LAN or another host device connected to the Internet or the like, and sends the contents of the e-mail to a destination facsimile device designated by the e-mail. Is transmitted via the digital public network ISDN or the analog public network PSTN.
[0029]
In addition, for this image information distribution service, a user registration table in which necessary information about the facsimile apparatus that receives the image information distribution service is stored, and an example thereof is shown in FIG.
[0030]
This user registration table contains, for each user, a destination number for distinguishing each user (facsimile machine), an e-mail address registered for the user, and a telephone number used when calling the user for an incoming call notification. A number and a line type indicating the type of line used when calling the user are registered. In this case, the host name of the facsimile server device FS is set to “fs”, and the domain name is set to “***. Co.jp”.
[0031]
On the other hand, in order to request the facsimile server device FS for an image information distribution service, e-mail is used as described above. One example is shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. Here, FIG. 4 shows a case where the text information is composed only of Japanese character codes, FIG. 5 shows a case where the text information is composed only of facsimile image information data, and FIG. This is a case where the information is composed of two pieces of part information of a Japanese character code and facsimile image information data.
[0032]
This e-mail basically includes header information and body information. The header information basically includes a "Date" field for setting transmission date and time information, and message identification information for identifying the e-mail. A "Message-ID" field, a "From" field for displaying a caller, a "To" field for displaying a destination address, and a "Subject" field used for displaying a title of a text and the like. Consists of
[0033]
In addition, in the case of FIGS. 4, 5, and 6, an “X-priority” field for specifying the urgency of an electronic mail is added as an extension field.
[0034]
Further, the e-mails shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are composed of binary data such as Japanese code which is non-ASCII code and / or facsimile image information data, so that the e-mails shown in FIGS. (“Mime-Version” field, “Content-Type” field, and “Content-Transfer-Encoding” field) are also added. In the case of FIG. 6, since it is a multi-part MIME format, a “boundary” field for displaying delimiter information for delimiting each part is also added.
[0035]
That is, although there is a restriction that the body information of an electronic mail must be basically readable information of a 7-bit code (ASCII code) (see RFC822), in this case, a Japanese code and a facsimile to be transmitted are used. The image information data is a 16-bit code and binary data, respectively, and is not readable information of a 7-bit code, and therefore cannot be directly transmitted. Therefore, a mechanism defined so that such data can be exchanged by e-mail is MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (multipurpose mail); RFC1521, RFC1522). In the following description, text information in MIME format is referred to as MIME information.
[0036]
Refer to each RFC document for details. Here, the RFC (Request For Comments) document is a document in which a communication protocol and a data structure to be used on the Internet are negotiated, and is issued by an organization that collects technical contents related to the Internet, ie, IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). Is what it is.
[0037]
Next, a caller ID notification service in the analog public network PSTN will be described.
[0038]
In the line receiving the calling number notification service, the local exchange performs a calling operation to the ID receiving terminal in a sequence as shown in FIG.
[0039]
That is, the local exchange firstly inverts the polarities of the lines L1 and L2 and then transmits a predetermined ID receiving terminal activation signal. Thereby, the ID receiving terminal forms a DC loop as a primary response signal.
[0040]
In this way, when the ID receiving terminal makes a primary response, the local exchange sends outgoing ID (caller telephone number) and the like by a modem signal (for example, a V.23 modem signal) in a predetermined signal format (described later), When receiving the modem signal, the ID receiving terminal breaks the DC loop as a reception completion signal.
[0041]
When the ID receiving terminal completes receiving the calling ID in this way, the subscriber line exchange sends a predetermined calling signal, and the ID receiving terminal forms a DC loop as a secondary response signal in response to the calling signal. As a result, the local exchange switches the lines L1 and L2 again, and thereafter, a normal telephone call (communication) operation is performed.
[0042]
FIG. 8 shows an example of a signal format of a modem signal when transmitting a calling ID or the like in such a calling sequence.
[0043]
This signal format includes a control signal SOH indicating the start of the heading of the information message, a header for transmitting information from the exchange to the terminal, a control signal STX indicating the start of the text and the end of the heading, and the contents of the transmission information are the calling party. A service type for notifying that the service is a notification service, a message content length for indicating the total number of bytes of the following parameters (1) to (n), and parameters (1) to ( n), a control signal ETX indicating the end of the text, and an error detection code CHK are sequentially arranged. A predetermined transmission mode control signal DLE is added immediately before each control signal.
[0044]
Each parameter is obtained from parameter type information indicating the type of the parameter, information content length information indicating the number of bytes of the information content, and information content length information indicating the information to be transmitted (in this case, the caller number). Become.
[0045]
Each control signal is composed of data having a length of 7 bits per word.
[0046]
Next, a call control procedure in the digital public network ISDN will be described.
[0047]
FIG. 9 shows an example of a call control procedure in the digital public network ISDN in the circuit switching mode.
[0048]
That is, the calling terminal first sets the circuit switching mode as the transfer mode, sends a call setup message SETUP designating the destination terminal to the destination to the digital public network ISDN, requests the call setup with the destination terminal, The public network ISDN sends a call by sending a call setup message SETUP to the designated destination terminal. Further, the digital public network ISDN sends a call setting acceptance message CALL_PROC for notifying the call setting status to the calling terminal.
[0049]
Upon detection of the incoming call, the called terminal sends a call message ALERT to the digital public network ISDN when the own terminal is ready to receive a call. Notify that the calling of has started.
[0050]
Upon receiving the incoming call, the called terminal sends a response message CONN to the digital public network ISDN, and the digital public network ISDN sends a response message CONN to the calling terminal to notify that the called terminal has accepted the call.
[0051]
The digital public network ISDN sends a response confirmation message CONN_ACK to the destination terminal to confirm the response of the destination terminal, and at that time, an information channel (B channel) for data transmission between the calling terminal and the destination terminal. Is established.
[0052]
As a result, data transmission using the information channel is performed between the calling terminal and the called terminal according to the transmission control procedure set for the transmission function of each terminal.
[0053]
When the data transmission is completed, the originating terminal sends a disconnect message DISC to the digital public network ISDN to request release of the information channel, and the digital public network ISDN sends a disconnect message DISC to the destination terminal to restore the information channel. Notify.
[0054]
As a result, when the destination terminal responds to the digital public network ISDN with a release message REL for notifying the completion of the channel disconnection, the digital public network ISDN sends the release message REL to the calling terminal. When the release of the channel is completed, the calling terminal sends a release completion message REL_COMP to the digital public network ISDN to notify that effect, whereby the digital public network ISDN sends a release completion message REL_COMP to the destination terminal to notify the information channel. Is released, and the information channel set between the calling terminal and the called terminal is completely released.
[0055]
In this way, an information channel is set between the calling terminal and the called terminal, data transmission is performed, and when the data transmission ends, the information channel is released.
[0056]
When the called terminal rejects the call from the calling terminal, a release completion message REL_COMP including the reason for the rejection is sent to the digital public network ISDN as shown in FIG. As a result, the digital public network ISDN sends a release completion message REL_COMP to the calling terminal, and releases the call.
[0057]
Now, as shown in FIG. 10A, each message for call setting is a protocol identifier for identifying a protocol specification (format, sequence, etc.) for defining a layer 3 call control message, and which call is the message. Call number to identify whether it is involved in the message, message type to identify the content of each message, required information elements that are always added to each message, and if necessary for each message It consists of additional information elements to be added. Note that 0, 1 or a plurality of essential information elements are set according to the message type, and 0, 1 or a plurality of additional information elements are arranged according to the situation.
[0058]
The call setup message SETUP has "transmission capability" as an essential information element as shown in FIG. 3B, and additional information elements include, for example, "calling number", "calling number", and "lower layer compatibility". And "higher layer consistency".
[0059]
The outline of these information elements will be described.
[0060]
The “transmission capability” information element is an information transfer capability indicating whether the content of information to be transmitted is voice, unrestricted digital information, restricted digital information, 3.1 KHz audio, 7 KHz audio, video, or the like. It consists of a transfer mode indicating whether the switching function to be used is a circuit switch or a packet switch, an information transfer speed indicating an information transfer speed, information indicating an information transfer mode, and information indicating a user information protocol. .
[0061]
The “calling number” information element indicates the ISDN address (telephone number) of the calling terminal, the “calling subaddress” indicates the subaddress set in the calling terminal, and the “calling number” information element indicates the ISDN address of the called terminal. In the expression, "destination sub-address" indicates a sub-address set in the destination terminal.
[0062]
The “lower layer compatibility” information element is used for a communication possibility test with the partner terminal, and has the same basic content as the “transmission capability” information element. Further, the "lower layer consistency" information element includes more detailed contents.
[0063]
The “higher layer compatibility” information element is for use in the consistency check with the partner terminal, and is used for group 2 / group 3 facsimile, group 4 facsimile, mixed mode, teletex, videotex, telex, or Displays which of the message handling system and the like is provided as a terminal function.
[0064]
With the above configuration, when the image information distribution service is requested by e-mail, the facsimile server device FS converts the body information of the received e-mail into facsimile image information and converts the facsimile image information to the destination user. After storing in the mailbox (storage area) provided in the image storage device 9, the e-mail address of the destination user set in the value of the “To” field of the header information of the e-mail is taken out, and the user registration table is obtained. And retrieve the corresponding telephone number and line type.
[0065]
If the line type is PSTN, a call is made to the analog public network PSTN using the extracted telephone number. Here, in this embodiment, among the facsimile users registered, the group 3 facsimile device FXg connected to the analog public network PSTN receives the caller ID notification service.
[0066]
Accordingly, the group 3 facsimile machine FXg of the destination user detects the incoming call and executes the calling number notification service incoming call procedure as described above to know the telephone number of the caller. Then, the telephone number is compared with the telephone number of the facsimile server device FS, and if they match, it is regarded as an incoming call notification from the facsimile server device FS, and the incoming call is temporarily terminated.
[0067]
At this time, the group 3 facsimile machine FXg of the destination user executes the calling number notification service receiving procedure, but performs the above-described comparison operation immediately after receiving the calling ID, and confirms that the calling source is the facsimile server apparatus FS. If so, interrupt the termination procedure at that point and do not establish a call. As a result, the facsimile server FS is not charged.
[0068]
As described above, upon detecting the incoming call notification from the facsimile server device FS, the group 3 facsimile device FXg calls the facsimile server device FS and executes the polling reception request operation.
[0069]
As a result, when the facsimile server apparatus FS receives a call from the analog public network PSTN, it starts a predetermined group 3 facsimile transmission procedure, and when a polling reception request is specified, the telephone number (facsimile transmission procedure) of the destination terminal at that time. The e-mail address of the user is recognized by referring to the user registration table based on the notification of the facsimile image information, and the facsimile image information is transmitted from the mailbox provided in the image storage device 9 corresponding to the e-mail address. The polling transmission operation for extracting the facsimile image information is performed.
[0070]
When the line type of the destination user is ISDN, a call is made to the digital public network ISDN using the extracted telephone number.
[0071]
Therefore, the group 4 facsimile machine FXf of the destination user receives the call setup message SETUP from the digital public network ISDN, detects the incoming call, and, based on the value of the “calling number” information element from the call setup message SETUP, the telephone number of the caller. Know.
[0072]
Then, the telephone number is compared with the telephone number of the facsimile server device FS, and if they match, it is regarded as an incoming notification from the facsimile server device FS, and a release completion message REL_COMP is received to reject the call connection. To the digital public network ISDN, and terminates its call control operation. Also in this case, since the call connection is not completed, the facsimile server FS is not charged.
[0073]
In this way, upon detecting the incoming call notification from the facsimile server device FS, the group 4 facsimile device FXf calls the facsimile server device FS and executes a polling reception request operation.
[0074]
Accordingly, when the facsimile server apparatus FS receives a call from the digital public network ISDN, it executes a call control procedure to establish an information channel, and then starts a predetermined group 4 facsimile transmission procedure on the information channel.
[0075]
At this time, since the polling reception request is specified, the user refers to the user registration table based on the telephone number (notified by the “calling number” information element of the call setup message SETUP) of the destination terminal at that time and refers to the user registration table. , The facsimile image information is extracted from the mailbox provided in the image storage device 9 corresponding to the e-mail address, and a polling transmission operation for transmitting the facsimile image information is performed.
[0076]
As a result, almost immediately after receiving the e-mail, the content of the document requested to be distributed by the e-mail is received by the facsimile machine of the destination user and recorded and output. Therefore, the delay time of distributing the text information of the electronic mail, which has been a problem in the past, is greatly reduced, and the usability and convenience of the facsimile communication system are greatly improved.
[0077]
In addition, since there is no charge for the incoming notification from the facsimile server device FS to the destination facsimile device, it is possible to avoid a situation where unnecessary charge is applied to the facsimile server device FS.
[0078]
FIGS. 11, 12 and 13 show an example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS.
[0079]
First, the facsimile server device FS monitors whether an electronic mail is received, an incoming call is detected from the analog public network PSTN, or an incoming call is detected from the digital public network ISDN (NO in determinations 101, 102, and 103). loop).
[0080]
If an e-mail is received and the result of the determination 101 is YES, the e-mail is saved (step 104), the mail address of the destination user is extracted (step 105), and the text processing is performed by the image processing unit 8. Is converted into facsimile image information, and the facsimile image information is stored in a mailbox provided in the image storage device 9 corresponding to the electronic mail address of the destination user (process 106).
[0081]
Here, when the body information of the received e-mail is composed of only the MIME information of the Japanese character code as shown in FIG. 4, the MIME information is decoded and the original Japanese character code data is decoded. Is generated, graphic character data corresponding to the Japanese character code data is generated, display information of the body information is created, and the display information is encoded and compressed by the encoding / decoding unit 7 to generate facsimile image information. Create
[0082]
When the text information is composed only of MIME information of the facsimile image information data as shown in FIG. 5, the original facsimile image information is generated by decoding the MIME information.
[0083]
When the text information is composed of two pieces of information of the Japanese character code and the facsimile image information data as shown in FIG. 6, the information of the first part is obtained by decoding the MIME information and obtaining the original information. Of the Japanese character code data, generates graphic character data corresponding to the Japanese character code data, creates display information of the body information, and encodes the display information by the encoding / decoding unit 7. The facsimile image information is created by compression, the facsimile image information is handled as the image information of the first page, and for the information of the next part, the MIME information is decoded to generate the original facsimile image information, and the facsimile image information is generated. The information is handled as image information of the second page. In this manner, for the body information in the multi-part MIME format, an independent page is assigned to each part.
[0084]
If image data in a format other than facsimile image information data (for example, BMP, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, etc.) is attached as the text information, the format of the image data is converted into facsimile image data. After that, it is encoded and compressed to create facsimile image information data. Such an image format conversion is performed by the image processing unit 8.
[0085]
Next, referring to the user registration table, the telephone number and the line type registered corresponding to the destination e-mail address are extracted (process 107), and it is checked whether or not the line type is ISDN (decision 108). ).
[0086]
If the line type is ISDN and the result of determination 108 is YES, a call is made to the digital public network ISDN using the telephone number taken out at that time (process 109). As a result, the destination group 4 facsimile machine FXf detects an incoming call, and in this case, as described above, after receiving the call setup message SETUP and confirming the source, it transmits a release complete message REL_COMP to operate the call setup procedure. Therefore, the process waits until a release completion message REL_COMP is received from the digital public network ISDN (NO loop of decision 110). When the release completion message REL_COMP is received from the digital public network ISDN and the result of decision 110 becomes YES, the destination user is Since the incoming call notification has been completed, the process returns to the determination 101.
[0087]
If the line type is PSTN and the result of determination 108 is NO, a call is made to the analog public network using the telephone number taken out at that time (process 111). As a result, the destination group 3 facsimile machine FXg detects the incoming call, and in this case, executes the calling number notification service receiving procedure as described above to restore the line after knowing the caller's telephone number. Wait until a predetermined time elapses after the call (NO loop of determination 112), and if the result of the determination 112 elapses after the predetermined time elapses after the calling, the notification of the incoming call to the destination user is terminated. Return to decision 101.
[0088]
If an incoming call is detected from the analog public network PSTN and the result of determination 102 is YES, the incoming call is answered, a predetermined group 3 facsimile transmission pre-procedure is executed (process 115), and the transmission function and the like at that time are set. I do.
[0089]
Here, it is checked whether or not a polling reception request is specified by the partner terminal (decision 116). If the result of decision 116 is NO, a normal incoming call process is executed (process 117) and the process returns to decision 101. .
[0090]
When the polling reception request is specified by the partner terminal and the result of the determination 116 is YES, the source telephone number is extracted from the transmitting terminal identification information TSI received in the pre-transmission procedure, and the telephone number corresponding to the source telephone number is extracted. Then, an e-mail address registered in the user registration table is taken out, and it is determined whether or not one or more facsimile image information is stored in a mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address (step 118, Decision 119).
[0091]
If one or more facsimile image information is stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address corresponding to the transmission source, and if the result of determination 119 is YES, the subsequent group 3 Continue the facsimile transmission procedure. That is, a modem speed to be used is determined by executing a modem training procedure (step 120), a predetermined image information transmission procedure is executed, and image information stored in a mailbox is transmitted (step 121). When the transmission is completed, after performing a predetermined post-transmission procedure (processing 122), the line is restored (processing 123), the image information that has been transmitted is deleted from the mailbox (processing 124), and this operation is terminated. Returning to the judgment 101.
[0092]
On the other hand, if one or more facsimile image information is not stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address corresponding to the sender, and if the result of determination 119 is NO, By executing the termination procedure, the group 3 facsimile transmission procedure is forcibly terminated (process 125), the line is restored (process 126), and the process returns to the judgment 101.
[0093]
When the incoming call is detected from the digital public network ISDN and the result of determination 103 is YES, a predetermined call setting procedure is executed (process 130), and an information channel is established (process 131). A predetermined group 4 facsimile transmission pre-procedure is executed on the information channel (process 132), and the transmission function and the like at that time are set.
[0094]
Here, it is checked whether or not a polling reception request has been designated by the partner terminal (decision 133). If the result of decision 133 is NO, a normal incoming call process is executed (process 134) and the process returns to decision 101. .
[0095]
If the result of the judgment 133 is YES when the polling reception request is specified by the partner terminal, the telephone number of the caller is extracted from the "calling number" information element included in the call setup message SETUP, and the telephone number is extracted. The e-mail address registered in the user registration table corresponding to the e-mail address is taken out, and it is checked whether or not one or more facsimile image information is stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address ( Processing 135, judgment 136).
[0096]
If one or more facsimile image information is stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address corresponding to the sender, and if the result of determination 136 is YES, a predetermined image information transmission After executing the procedure and transmitting the image information stored in the mailbox (process 137) and ending the image information transmission, after executing a predetermined information channel end procedure (process 138), the information channel is ended ( (Process 139), a call release procedure is executed to release the call (Process 140), the image information that has been transmitted is deleted from the mailbox (Process 141), and this operation ends, and the process returns to the judgment 101.
[0097]
On the other hand, if one or more facsimile image information is not stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address corresponding to the sender, and if the result of determination 136 is NO, a predetermined forced A termination procedure is executed to forcibly end the group 4 facsimile transmission procedure (processing 142), the information channel is terminated (processing 143), and a predetermined call release procedure is executed to release the call (processing 144). Return to 101.
[0098]
FIG. 14 shows a main part of a process executed by the group 4 facsimile machine FXf when an incoming call is received.
[0099]
When the incoming call is detected (the result of the determination 201 is YES), the group 4 facsimile apparatus FXf extracts the "calling number" information element from the received call setting message SETUP (processing 202), and the contents of the "calling number" information element Is checked whether it matches the telephone number of the facsimile server device FS (process 203, judgment 204).
[0100]
If the source at that time is other than the facsimile server apparatus FS and the result of the determination 204 is NO, a normal incoming call process is executed (process 205), and the process returns to the determination 201.
[0101]
If the transmission source at that time is the facsimile server apparatus FS and the result of determination 204 is YES, a release completion message REL_COMP is sent to the digital public network ISDN to reject the call setup (process 206).
[0102]
Next, a call is made to the facsimile server device FS (process 207), a predetermined call setting procedure process is executed (process 208), an information channel is established (process 209), and polling is performed using the established information channel. A group 4 facsimile procedure process in the reception mode is executed (process 210).
[0103]
As a result, the facsimile image information corresponding to the body information of the e-mail is received from the facsimile server device FS, and the facsimile image information is stored and recorded and output.
[0104]
When the image information communication is terminated, the information channel is terminated (process 211), the call is released by executing a predetermined call release procedure (process 212), and the process returns to the decision 201.
[0105]
FIG. 15 shows a main part of a process executed by the group 3 facsimile machine FXg when an incoming call is received.
[0106]
When the group 3 facsimile apparatus FXg receives the primary call signal from the analog public network PSTN and detects an incoming call (the result of the determination 301 is YES), it sends a primary response signal to the analog public network PSTN (process 302), When the calling ID is received from the public network PSTN (result of determination 303 is YES), the calling ID is received and stored (process 304), and it is checked whether or not the calling ID matches the telephone number of the facsimile server device FS. (Process 305, judgment 306).
[0107]
If the received calling ID matches the telephone number of the facsimile server device FS, and the result of the determination 306 is YES, the line is temporarily disconnected and restored (process 307).
[0108]
Next, a call is made to the facsimile server apparatus FS (process 308), a transmission pre-procedure in the polling reception mode is executed, and a transmission function (including polling reception) used at that time is set (process 309), and modem training is performed. The procedure is executed to determine the modem speed to be used (Step 310), and the image information receiving procedure is executed (Step 311).
[0109]
As a result, the facsimile image information corresponding to the body information of the electronic mail is received from the facsimile server device FS, and the facsimile image information is recorded and output.
[0110]
When the image information reception is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (process 312), the line is restored (process 313), and the process returns to the judgment 301.
[0111]
If the received calling ID does not match the telephone number of the facsimile server apparatus FS and the result of the determination 306 is NO, a reception completion signal is sent to the analog public network PSTN (process 315), and the analog public network PSTN When a call signal is received (result of determination 316 is YES), a secondary response signal is sent to analog public network PSTN (process 317), and a call is established (process 318). (Process 319), the line is restored (process 320), and the process returns to the determination 301.
[0112]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the content of the document requested to be delivered by e-mail to the facsimile server device FS is almost equal to the destination user's group 3 facsimile device FXg or group 4 facsimile device FXf immediately after receiving the e-mail. Will be received at. Therefore, the delay time of the delivery of the text information of the electronic mail, which has been a problem in the past, is greatly reduced, and the usability and convenience of the facsimile communication system are greatly improved.
[0113]
In addition, when the incoming call is notified from the facsimile server apparatus FS to the destination group 3 facsimile apparatus FXg or group 4 facsimile apparatus FXf, no charge is made, so that the facsimile server apparatus FS is charged unnecessarily. Can be avoided.
[0114]
By the way, in the above-described embodiment, an incoming call is notified to the group 3 facsimile machine FXg or the group 4 facsimile machine FXf of the destination user every time an e-mail is received. Although the effect is large, when an e-mail is frequently received, the frequency of the notification of the incoming call becomes high, and there is a possibility that a problem that the communication efficiency is deteriorated may occur.
[0115]
Therefore, the number of e-mails to be stored before the arrival notification is set for each destination, and a user setting table as shown in FIG. 16 is formed and stored, for example.
[0116]
Here, one element of the user setting table includes an address number for identifying each element, an e-mail address of a registered user, a received number for storing the number of stored e-mails, and It consists of the setting value of the number of receptions to be notified.
[0117]
In this case, an example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS is shown in FIGS. 17, 18 and 19. Note that the same processing as that of the above-described embodiment can be applied to the processing at the time of incoming of the group 3 facsimile apparatus FXg and the group 4 facsimile apparatus FXf in the case of this embodiment.
[0118]
First, the facsimile server apparatus FS monitors whether an electronic mail is received, an incoming call is detected from the analog public network PSTN, or an incoming call is detected from the digital public network ISDN (NO in determinations 401, 402, and 403). loop).
[0119]
When the e-mail is received and the result of the determination 401 is YES, the e-mail is saved (step 404), the mail address of the destination user is extracted (step 405), and the text processing is performed by the image processing unit 8. Is converted to facsimile image information, and the facsimile image information is stored in a mailbox provided in the image storage device 9 corresponding to the electronic mail address of the destination user (process 406).
[0120]
Here, when the body information of the received e-mail is composed of only the MIME information of the Japanese character code as shown in FIG. 4, the MIME information is decoded and the original Japanese character code data is decoded. Is generated, graphic character data corresponding to the Japanese character code data is generated, display information of the body information is created, and the display information is encoded and compressed by the encoding / decoding unit 7 to generate facsimile image information. Create
[0121]
When the text information is composed only of MIME information of the facsimile image information data as shown in FIG. 5, the original facsimile image information is generated by decoding the MIME information.
[0122]
When the text information is composed of two pieces of information of Japanese character code and facsimile image information data as shown in FIG. 6, the information of the first part is obtained by decoding the MIME information. Of the Japanese character code data, generates graphic character data corresponding to the Japanese character code data, creates display information of the text information, and encodes the display information by the encoding / decoding unit 7. The facsimile image information is created by compression, and the facsimile image information is treated as the image information of the first page. For the information of the next part, the MIME information is decoded to generate the original facsimile image information, and the facsimile image information is generated. The information is handled as image information of the second page. In this way, for the body information in the multi-part MIME format, an independent page is assigned to each part.
[0123]
If image data in a format other than facsimile image information data (for example, BMP, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, etc.) is attached as the text information, the format of the image data is converted into facsimile image data. After that, it is encoded and compressed to create facsimile image information data. Such an image format conversion is performed by the image processing unit 8.
[0124]
Next, with reference to the user setting table, the number of receptions and the number of settings registered corresponding to the destination e-mail address are read (step 407), and the number of receptions is incremented (step 408). The received number is stored in the user setting table (process 409).
[0125]
Further, it is checked whether the number of receptions is equal to or greater than the set value (decision 410). If the result of decision 410 is YES, the user registration table is referred to and registered corresponding to the destination e-mail address. The telephone number and the line type are retrieved (process 411), and it is checked whether the line type is ISDN (decision 412).
[0126]
If the line type is ISDN and the result of determination 412 is YES, a call is made to the digital public network ISDN using the telephone number taken out at that time (process 413). As a result, the destination group 4 facsimile machine FXf detects an incoming call, and in this case, as described above, after receiving the call setup message SETUP and confirming the source, it transmits a release complete message REL_COMP to operate the call setup procedure. Therefore, the process waits until a release completion message REL_COMP is received from the digital public network ISDN (NO loop of decision 414). When the release completion message REL_COMP is received from the digital public network ISDN and the result of the decision 414 becomes YES, the destination user is Since the incoming call notification has been completed, the process returns to the determination 401.
[0127]
When the line type is PSTN and the result of determination 412 is NO, a call is made to the analog public network using the telephone number taken out at that time (process 415). As a result, the destination group 3 facsimile machine FXg detects the incoming call, and in this case, executes the calling number notification service receiving procedure as described above to restore the line after knowing the caller's telephone number. Wait until a predetermined time elapses after the call (NO loop of judgment 416), and when a predetermined time elapses from the call and the result of judgment 416 becomes YES, the notification of the incoming call to the destination user is terminated. Return to decision 401.
[0128]
When the number of receptions is smaller than the set value and the result of the determination 410 is NO, the process returns to the determination 401 because it is not sufficient to notify the incoming call.
[0129]
When the incoming call is detected from the analog public network PSTN and the result of determination 402 is YES, the incoming call is answered, a predetermined group 3 facsimile pre-transmission procedure is executed (process 420), and the setting of the transmission function and the like at that time are performed. I do.
[0130]
Here, it is checked whether or not a polling reception request has been designated by the partner terminal (decision 421). If the result of decision 421 is NO, a normal incoming call process is executed (process 422) and the process returns to decision 401. .
[0131]
If the result of determination 421 is YES when the polling reception request is specified by the partner terminal, the source telephone number is extracted from the transmission terminal identification information TSI received in the pre-transmission procedure, and the telephone number corresponding to the source telephone number is extracted. Then, an e-mail address registered in the user registration table is taken out, and it is checked whether or not one or more facsimile image information is stored in a mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address (step 423). Decision 424).
[0132]
If one or more facsimile image information is stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the electronic mail address corresponding to the transmission source, and if the result of determination 424 is YES, the subsequent group 3 Continue the facsimile transmission procedure. That is, a modem speed to be used is determined by executing a modem training procedure (process 425), and a predetermined image information transmission procedure is executed to transmit all image information stored in the mailbox (process 426). When the image information transmission is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (process 427), the line is restored (process 428), and the image information that has been transmitted is deleted from the mailbox (process 429). The process ends, and the process returns to the determination 401.
[0133]
On the other hand, if one or more facsimile image information is not stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address corresponding to the sender, and if the result of determination 423 is NO, By executing the termination procedure, the group 3 facsimile transmission procedure is forcibly terminated (process 431), the line is restored (process 432), and the process returns to the judgment 401.
[0134]
If an incoming call is detected from the digital public network ISDN and the result of determination 403 is YES, a predetermined call setup procedure is executed (process 435), and an information channel is established (process 436). A predetermined group 4 facsimile transmission pre-procedure is executed on the information channel (process 437), and the transmission function and the like at that time are set.
[0135]
Here, it is checked whether or not a polling reception request has been designated by the partner terminal (decision 438). If the result of decision 438 is NO, normal incoming call processing is executed and the process returns to decision 401.
[0136]
If the result of determination 428 is YES when the polling reception request is specified by the partner terminal, the telephone number of the caller is extracted from the “calling number” information element included in the call setup message SETUP, and the telephone number is extracted. The e-mail address registered in the user registration table corresponding to the e-mail address is taken out, and it is checked whether or not one or more facsimile image information is stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address ( Process 440, judgment 441).
[0137]
If one or more facsimile image information is stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address corresponding to the sender, and if the result of determination 441 is YES, a predetermined image information transmission After executing the procedure and transmitting all the image information stored in the mailbox (process 442) and ending the image information transmission, a predetermined information channel end procedure is executed (process 443), and then the information channel is ended. Then, a call release procedure is executed to release the call (process 445).
[0138]
Next, the image information that has been transmitted is deleted from the mailbox (processing 446), the number of receptions in the user setting table is cleared to “0” (processing 447), and this operation ends, and the flow returns to the determination 401.
[0139]
On the other hand, if one or more facsimile image information is not stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address corresponding to the sender, and if the result of determination 441 is NO, The termination procedure is executed to forcibly end the group 4 facsimile transmission procedure (step 448), the information channel is terminated (step 449), and a predetermined call release procedure is executed to release the call (step 450). Return to 401.
[0140]
In this manner, in the present embodiment, a user setting table is set in which the number of e-mails to be stored until notification of an incoming call is set for each destination, and the destination is set when the number of received and stored e-mails matches the set value. Since the user is notified of the incoming call to the group 3 facsimile machine FXg or the group 4 facsimile machine FXf, when the e-mail is frequently received, the frequency of the incoming call notification becomes high, and the communication efficiency is deteriorated. Can be suppressed.
[0141]
By adjusting the number of settings in the user setting table as described above, it is possible to adjust the immediacy of communication and the communication efficiency.
[0142]
On the other hand, as described above, if e-mails are stored up to the set values registered in the user setting table, when an e-mail with high urgency is received, the time until the incoming call notification becomes too long, There is a possibility that a problem that a distribution service cannot be performed according to the urgency level set in the e-mail may occur.
[0143]
In order to solve such a problem, when an e-mail with high urgency, for example, an e-mail in which the value of “X-priority” is “1”, is received, regardless of the number of receptions at that time, the destination user is It is preferable to notify the incoming call to the group 3 facsimile machine FXg or the group 4 facsimile machine FXf.
[0144]
In this case, an example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS is shown in FIGS. 20, 21 and 22. Note that the same processing as that of the above-described embodiment can be applied to the processing at the time of incoming of the group 3 facsimile apparatus FXg and the group 4 facsimile apparatus FXf in the case of this embodiment.
[0145]
First, the facsimile server apparatus FS monitors whether an electronic mail is received, an incoming call is detected from the analog public network PSTN, or an incoming call is detected from the digital public network ISDN (NO in determinations 501, 502, and 503). loop).
[0146]
When the e-mail is received and the result of the determination 501 is YES, the e-mail is stored (processing 504), the mail address of the destination user is extracted (processing 505), and the text processing is performed by the image processing unit 8. Is converted into facsimile image information, and the facsimile image information is stored in a mailbox provided in the image storage device 9 corresponding to the electronic mail address of the destination user (process 506).
[0147]
Here, when the body information of the received e-mail is composed of only the MIME information of the Japanese character code as shown in FIG. 4, the MIME information is decoded and the original Japanese character code data is decoded. Is generated, graphic character data corresponding to the Japanese character code data is generated, display information of the body information is created, and the display information is encoded and compressed by the encoding / decoding unit 7 to generate facsimile image information. Create
[0148]
When the text information is composed only of MIME information of the facsimile image information data as shown in FIG. 5, the original facsimile image information is generated by decoding the MIME information.
[0149]
When the text information is composed of two pieces of information of the Japanese character code and the facsimile image information data as shown in FIG. 6, the information of the first part is obtained by decoding the MIME information and obtaining the original information. Of the Japanese character code data, generates graphic character data corresponding to the Japanese character code data, creates display information of the body information, and encodes the display information by the encoding / decoding unit 7. The facsimile image information is created by compression, the facsimile image information is handled as the image information of the first page, and for the information of the next part, the MIME information is decoded to generate the original facsimile image information, and the facsimile image information is generated. The information is handled as image information of the second page. In this manner, for the body information in the multi-part MIME format, an independent page is assigned to each part.
[0150]
If image data in a format other than facsimile image information data (for example, BMP, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, etc.) is attached as the text information, the format of the image data is converted into facsimile image data. After that, it is encoded and compressed to create facsimile image information data. Such an image format conversion is performed by the image processing unit 8.
[0151]
Next, referring to the user setting table, the number of receptions and the number of settings registered corresponding to the destination e-mail address are read (step 507), the number of receptions is incremented (step 508), and the The received number is stored in the user setting table (process 509).
[0152]
It is checked whether the number of receptions is equal to or greater than the set value (decision 510). If the result of decision 510 is YES, the user registration table is referred to and registered corresponding to the destination e-mail address. The telephone number and the line type are retrieved (process 511), and it is checked whether the line type is ISDN (decision 512).
[0153]
If the line type is ISDN and the result of determination 512 is YES, a call is made to the digital public network ISDN using the telephone number retrieved at that time (process 513). As a result, the destination group 4 facsimile machine FXf detects the incoming call, and in this case, after receiving the call setup message SETUP and confirming the source as described above, it sends out the release complete message REL_COMP to operate the call setup procedure. Therefore, the process waits until a release completion message REL_COMP is received from the digital public network ISDN (NO loop of decision 514), and a release completion message REL_COMP is received from the digital public network ISDN. Since the incoming call notification has been completed, the process returns to the judgment 501.
[0154]
If the line type is PSTN and the result of determination 512 is NO, a call is made to the analog public network using the telephone number taken out at that time (process 515). As a result, the destination group 3 facsimile machine FXg detects the incoming call, and in this case, executes the calling number notification service receiving procedure as described above to restore the line after knowing the caller's telephone number. Wait until a predetermined time elapses after the call (NO loop of decision 516). When a predetermined time elapses after the call and the result of decision 516 becomes YES, the notification of the incoming call to the destination user is terminated. Return to decision 501.
[0155]
If the number of receptions is smaller than the set value and the result of determination 510 is NO, whether the value of the “X-priority” field of the header information of the stored e-mail is “1” (Step 517, judgment 518), and when the result of judgment 518 is YES, the urgency of the e-mail is very large, so the processing proceeds to step 511 to execute an incoming call notification.
[0156]
When the result of the determination 518 is NO, the process returns to the determination 501 because it is not enough to notify the incoming call.
[0157]
When the incoming call is detected from the analog public network PSTN and the result of determination 502 is YES, the incoming call is answered, a predetermined group 3 facsimile pre-transmission procedure is executed (processing 520), and the setting of the transmission function at that time, etc. I do.
[0158]
Here, it is checked whether or not a polling reception request has been specified by the partner terminal (determination 521). If the result of determination 521 is NO, normal incoming call processing is executed (processing 522), and the process returns to determination 501. .
[0159]
If the result of the determination 521 is YES when the polling reception request is specified by the partner terminal, the source telephone number is extracted from the transmission terminal identification information TSI received in the pre-transmission procedure, and the telephone number corresponding to the source telephone number is extracted. Then, an e-mail address registered in the user registration table is taken out, and it is checked whether or not one or more facsimile image information is stored in a mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address (process 523, Decision 524).
[0160]
If one or more facsimile image information is stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the electronic mail address corresponding to the transmission source, and if the result of determination 524 is YES, the subsequent group 3 Continue the facsimile transmission procedure. That is, a modem speed to be used is determined by executing a modem training procedure (step 525), and a predetermined image information transmission procedure is executed to transmit all image information stored in the mailbox (step 526). When the image information transmission is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (step 527), and then the line is restored (step 528), and the image information that has been transmitted is deleted from the mailbox (step 529). The process ends, and the process returns to determination 501.
[0161]
On the other hand, if one or more facsimile image information is not stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address corresponding to the sender, and if the result of determination 523 is NO, a predetermined forced By executing the termination procedure, the group 3 facsimile transmission procedure is forcibly terminated (process 531), the line is restored (process 532), and the process returns to the judgment 501.
[0162]
When an incoming call is detected from the digital public network ISDN and the result of determination 503 is YES, a predetermined call setup procedure is executed (process 535), and an information channel is established (process 536). A predetermined group 4 facsimile transmission pre-procedure is executed on the information channel (processing 537), and the transmission function and the like at that time are set.
[0163]
Here, it is checked whether or not a polling reception request has been designated by the partner terminal (decision 538). If the result of decision 538 is NO, a normal incoming call process is executed and the process returns to decision 501.
[0164]
If the result of determination 528 is YES when the polling reception request is specified by the partner terminal, the telephone number of the caller is extracted from the “calling number” information element included in the call setting message SETUP, and the telephone number is extracted. The e-mail address registered in the user registration table corresponding to the e-mail address is taken out, and it is checked whether or not one or more facsimile image information is stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address ( Process 540, judgment 541).
[0165]
If one or more facsimile image information is stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address corresponding to the sender, and if the result of determination 441 is YES, a predetermined image information transmission When the image information stored in the mailbox is transmitted by executing the procedure (process 542) and the image information transmission is completed, a predetermined information channel end procedure is executed (process 543), and then the information channel is ended ( (Process 544) The call release procedure is executed to release the call (Process 545).
[0166]
Next, the image information that has been transmitted is deleted from the mailbox (step 546), the number of receptions in the user setting table is cleared to “0” (step 547), and this operation ends, and the process returns to the determination 501.
[0167]
On the other hand, if one or more facsimile image information is not stored in the mailbox provided corresponding to the e-mail address corresponding to the sender, and if the result of determination 541 is NO, a predetermined forced A termination procedure is executed to forcibly end the group 4 facsimile transmission procedure (step 548), the information channel is terminated (step 549), and a predetermined call release procedure is executed to release the call (step 550). Return to 501.
[0168]
In this manner, in the present embodiment, a user setting table is set in which the number of e-mails to be stored before receiving an incoming call is set for each destination, and whether the number of received and stored e-mails matches the set value is determined. Or, when the value of the “X-priority” field of the header information is “1” and an e-mail with a high degree of urgency is received, the destination user is sent to the group 3 facsimile machine FXg or the group 4 facsimile machine FXf. Since the notification of incoming calls is made, when e-mails are frequently received, it is possible to suppress the problem that the frequency of incoming notifications increases and the communication efficiency deteriorates, and it is also possible to reduce the urgency of e-mails. Time until delivery can be greatly reduced.
[0169]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the contents of a document requested to be delivered by e-mail to the facsimile server apparatus FS are almost identical to the destination user's group 3 facsimile apparatus FXg or group 4 facsimile immediately after receiving the e-mail. The received signal is received by the device FXf. Therefore, the delay time of distributing the text information of the electronic mail, which has been a problem in the past, is greatly reduced, and the effect that the usability and convenience of the facsimile communication system are greatly improved is obtained.
[0170]
In addition, when the incoming call is notified from the facsimile server apparatus FS to the destination group 3 facsimile apparatus FXg or group 4 facsimile apparatus FXf, no charge is made, so that the facsimile server apparatus FS is charged unnecessarily. There is also obtained an advantage that it can be avoided.
[0171]
In addition, a user setting table is formed in which the number of e-mails to be stored before receiving an incoming call is set for each destination. When the number of received and stored e-mails matches the set value, the destination user group 3 facsimile apparatus FXg or Since the group 4 facsimile machine FXf is notified of the incoming call, it is possible to suppress the problem that the frequency of the incoming call notification becomes high and the communication efficiency is deteriorated when the e-mail is frequently received. obtain.
[0172]
In addition, a user setting table is formed in which the number of e-mails to be stored before receiving an incoming call is set for each destination, and the number of e-mails received and stored matches the set value or the header information "X When the value of the “-priority” field is “1” and an e-mail with a high degree of urgency is received, an incoming call is notified to the group 3 facsimile machine FXg or the group 4 facsimile machine FXf of the destination user. As a result, when e-mails are frequently received, the frequency of incoming notification increases and communication efficiency deteriorates, and the time required to deliver urgent e-mails is greatly reduced. The effect that can be obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a facsimile communication system according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a user registration table.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the facsimile server device FS.
FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram showing an example of an e-mail for requesting an image information distribution service to the facsimile server device FS.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another example of an electronic mail for requesting the facsimile server device FS for an image information distribution service.
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing still another example of an e-mail for requesting the facsimile server device FS for an image information distribution service.
FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing an example of a calling operation sequence on a line receiving a calling number notification service.
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a signal format of a modem signal when transmitting a calling ID and the like.
FIG. 9 is a time chart showing an example of a call control procedure in the digital public network ISDN in the circuit switching mode.
FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining a signal format of a message for call setting in ISDN.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a part of an example of a main part of a process executed by the facsimile server device FS.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing another example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the remaining part of an example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a main part of a process executed by the group 4 facsimile machine FXf when receiving a call;
FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a main part of a process executed by the group 3 facsimile machine FXg when receiving a call;
FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a user setting table.
FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a part of another example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS.
FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing another part of another example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS.
FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the remaining part of another example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS.
FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a part of still another example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS.
FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing another part of still another example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS.
FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the remaining part of another example of the main part of the processing executed by the facsimile server device FS.

Claims (5)

A facsimile server device having a function of exchanging data through a local area network or the Internet and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network, and a facsimile device using a public network as a transmission path. When the facsimile server device receives transmission information addressed to the facsimile device via the local area network or the Internet, the facsimile device converts the transmission information into facsimile image information and accumulates the information, while the facsimile device transmits the facsimile server at an appropriate timing. When the facsimile server device stores the facsimile image information of the transmission information addressed to the facsimile device requested to perform the polling reception, the facsimile server device requests the polling reception. A method for controlling a facsimile communication system for the ring transmission,
The facsimile device is connected to a public network having a caller ID notification service,
When the facsimile server device receives transmission information addressed to the facsimile device via the local area network or the Internet, the facsimile server device converts the transmission information into facsimile image information and stores it, and the facsimile image information addressed to the facsimile device is specified in advance. When the number stored exceeds the specified number, a call is sent to the destination facsimile machine via the public network,
The facsimile device, when the caller number received from the network at the time of the incoming call corresponds to the facsimile server device, makes a polling reception request to the facsimile server device,
A facsimile communication system, wherein the facsimile server device polls and transmits all the stored facsimile image information when facsimile image information of transmission information addressed to the facsimile device requested to be polled is stored. Control method. A facsimile server device having a function of exchanging data through a local area network or the Internet and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network, and a facsimile device using a public network as a transmission path. When the facsimile server device receives transmission information addressed to the facsimile device via the local area network or the Internet, the facsimile device converts the transmission information into facsimile image information and accumulates the information, while the facsimile device transmits the facsimile server at an appropriate timing. When the facsimile server device stores the facsimile image information of the transmission information addressed to the facsimile device requested to perform the polling reception, the facsimile server device requests the polling reception. A method for controlling a facsimile communication system for the ring transmission,
The facsimile device is connected to a public network having a caller ID notification service,
When the facsimile server device receives transmission information addressed to the facsimile device via the local area network or the Internet, the facsimile server device converts the transmission information into facsimile image information and stores it, and the facsimile image information addressed to the facsimile device is specified in advance. If more than the specified number is stored, or if the value of the priority information set in the transmission information received at that time is higher than a predetermined value, transmission to the destination facsimile apparatus via the public network is performed. While calling
The facsimile device, when the caller number received from the network at the time of the incoming call corresponds to the facsimile server device, makes a polling reception request to the facsimile server device,
A facsimile communication system, wherein the facsimile server device polls and transmits all the stored facsimile image information when facsimile image information of transmission information addressed to the facsimile device requested to be polled is stored. Control method. 3. The control method for a facsimile communication system according to claim 1, wherein the public network is an analog public network provided with a caller ID notification service or an ISDN. 3. The control method for a facsimile communication system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission information addressed to the facsimile apparatus is transmitted to the facsimile server apparatus by Internet electronic mail. The facsimile server device has a mail server function, has a table in which the number information of the facsimile device is registered in correspondence with the user mail address assigned to the destination facsimile device, and receives the received Internet electronic mail. 5. The control method for a facsimile communication system according to claim 4, wherein the number information of the destination facsimile apparatus is obtained by referring to the table based on the destination information arranged in the header information.

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