JP3682861B2 - Facsimile server and its program - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Field of the Invention]
The present invention relates to generation of structured documents.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Standards for structured documents such as XML (Extensible Markup Language), SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language), and VoiceXML (Voice Extensible Markup Language) have been proposed. A typical example of these standards is XML, SVG is a standard obtained by extending this to graphic vector data, XHTML is a standard in which HTML is redefined in XML, and VoiceXML applies XML to audio data. It is a standard. In these standards, the data is character data, which is structured with tags or the like so that the information processing apparatus can understand and handle the semantic content of the data. XML or the like is a markup language, but is different from HTML for the purpose of data representation (designation of tabs, line feeds, fonts, etc.) in that it aims at structuring data.
[0003]
A feature such as XML is that attribute names can be newly defined for structured data. An attribute is a set of the name of data and the data itself. If the name corresponds to the meaning and content of the data, the data can be interpreted and processed / processed by the name. For convenience of data processing and processing, the data that can be handled is limited to character data. In particular, XML can handle only non-numeric character data, that is, text data.
[0004]
Even in the standard for structured documents, SVG can handle vector data. Therefore, if the image data is converted from the raster format to the vector format, the image data can be structured. Since the image data is vector data, it is easy to reduce, enlarge, deform, delete, add, and modify graphics. VoiceXML can handle audio data. However, these standards are standards aimed at structuring image data and audio data itself. Apart from SVG and VoiceXML, speech and image recognition are being studied. For example, understanding the meaning of voice or image, extracting features, extracting an object from an image, extracting a motion of an object or a person from a moving image, and the like.
[0005]
[Problems of the Invention]
A basic object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily generate a structured document associated with received facsimile data (claims 1 to 10).
An additional problem of the inventions of claims 4 and 9 is to determine and transfer a data destination client from the extracted information.
An additional problem of the inventions of claims 5 and 10 is to convert the extracted information so that it can be structured flexibly.
[0006]
[Structure of the invention]
The facsimile server according to the present invention includes means for transmitting / receiving facsimile data, means for transmitting / receiving structured documents using a markup language, and data other than image data in data obtained by facsimile reception. A data extraction / conversion unit for extracting what should be an attribute of a structured document from information about the communication itself , converting a part thereof as attribute data and converting the remaining part into other information, and converting it into attribute data; Means for generating a structured document using a markup language by using attribute data from the data extraction / conversion unit as an attribute and associating it with the received facsimile data is provided.
[0007]
Preferably, the image data in the facsimile data is character-converted to make the attribute of the structured document, and the structured document is generated using at least the character conversion method and the encoding method in the information relating to the communication itself as attributes. (Claim 2).
[0008]
Preferably, the information relating to the communication itself is extracted from the received information relating to the own device, the information relating to the communication path, and the information transmitted based on the communication protocol. As other additional attributes, information on the transmission source may be used as the attribute. Note that information related to the communication itself is basic control data, and is therefore considered character data. The transmission source address includes the transmission source network address, the transmission source facsimile number and its sub-address, and the received information about the own device includes a device number in the case of a device including a plurality of reception devices. The information on the communication path includes the result of communication quality, the amount of data, the time used for communication, and the communication time. Information transmitted based on the communication protocol includes image resolution, data compression and encoding rules, communication number confidential communication, specification of communication mode such as polling communication, number of pages, annotation data such as page breaks, etc. is there. The boundaries between the information based on the communication protocol, the information related to the transmission source address, the received information related to the own device, and the information related to the communication path are ambiguous, and these are collectively referred to as information related to the communication itself.
[0009]
Preferably, a client for the generated structured document is determined from the extracted information and transferred to a predetermined transfer destination (claim 4).
Particularly preferably, a table for determining whether the extracted information is to be used as attribute data or converted to other information and used as attribute data is provided with reference to the extracted information. (Claim 5).
[0010]
The structured document generation program of the present invention comprises means for transmitting / receiving facsimile data and means for transmitting / receiving structured documents using a markup language, and is readable and executable by reading the program. A program for a facsimile server, which extracts data to be attributed to a structured document from information related to communication itself other than image data from data obtained by facsimile reception , and a part of the extracted data is used as attribute data as it is. an extraction instruction to the attribute data after converting the remaining portion to the other information, the attribute data from the extracted instruction as an attribute, and in association with the facsimile data, generates a structured document using a markup language And an instruction for performing the operation (claim 6).
Regarding the structured document generation program, the items related to the structured document generation apparatus and generation procedure, transfer after generation, processing, and processing apply to the generation program as they are, except for items that are not applicable to the generation program.
[0011]
Preferably, the structure is obtained by using an instruction for character-converting image data in facsimile data to be an attribute of the structured document, at least a character conversion method, and an encoding method in information relating to the communication itself. And a command for generating a digitized document (Claim 7).
Preferably, in the extraction command, information related to the communication itself is extracted from the received information related to the own device, information related to the communication path, and information transmitted based on the communication protocol. In addition to this, information regarding the source address may be used as an additional attribute.
Preferably, a transfer command for determining a client for the generated structured document from the extracted information and transferring it to a predetermined transfer destination is provided.
Particularly preferably, in the extraction command, the extracted information is determined as attribute data as it is and converted into other information as attribute data with reference to a table. ).
[0012]
[Operation and effect of the invention]
In the present invention, information related to the communication itself is added to the attribute to generate a structured document associated with the facsimile data and using the markup language (claims 1 to 10). Hereinafter, “structured document” means “structured document using a markup language”.
Linking means linking in the form of an attached file or the like, or image data in facsimile data is character-converted and included in a structured document. Information on the communication itself includes, for example, information on the scale of the data such as the address of the sender, the type of data, the date and time of communication, the amount of communication, the communication time, etc. A considerable arrangement of types and contents. This facilitates processing, storage and maintenance of facsimile data.
[0013]
Here, the image data in the facsimile data is converted into the character of the structured document and the structured document is generated using at least the character conversion method and the encoding method in the information related to the communication itself as an attribute. Since the image data is integrally stored in the structured document as character data, the data can be handled easily (claims 2 and 7).
The information regarding the communication itself is the information regarding the received own device, the information regarding the communication path, and the information transmitted based on the communication protocol. These are information obtained naturally at the time of reception and can be easily added to the attribute ( Claims 3 and 8).
[0014]
If the client that needs the data is determined from the information about the communication itself and transferred to a predetermined transfer destination, the necessary data can be provided to the required client.
[0015]
In the present invention, part of the extracted information relating to the communication itself is directly used as attribute data, and the rest is converted into attribute data, so that document management is further facilitated. For example, when the document type can be estimated from the source address, it is easier to handle because the document type can be an attribute than the source address (claims 1 to 10).
[0016]
【Example】
1 to 7 show an embodiment and its modifications. FIG. 1 shows a basic embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 2 denotes a structured document generation apparatus which can send and receive facsimile data and can send and receive structured documents associated with them. The structured document generation apparatus 2 reads and executes a structured document generation program from an appropriate storage medium. The structured document generation apparatus 2 is connected to the LAN 4 and performs transmission / reception of non-character data and transmission / reception of a structured document. In addition to this, it is connected to a public telephone network (PSTN), and transmits and receives facsimile data and the like. Further, it is connected to a network such as the Internet, and transmits / receives an Internet facsimile or the like.
[0017]
The structured document generation apparatus 2 has a data extraction / conversion unit 6 that extracts information to be used as attributes of the structured document from information related to the communication itself, and converts some of the data into easier-to-handle data for structuring. It converts into the attribute of a document, and the remainder is converted into the attribute of a structured document as it is. The character conversion unit 8 may not be provided, and converts the main body of the non-character data received by communication into character data. The structured document generation apparatus 2 reads the structured document generation program stored in the storage medium 9 such as a DVD or CD-ROM, and assigns its own resources to the data extraction / conversion unit 6 and the like accordingly, and the structured document is generated. 10 can be generated. The structured document 10 is transferred from the structured document generating apparatus 2 to a predetermined destination such as the structured document processing apparatus 12 through the LAN 4 together with the non-character data attachment file 11 and the like. In addition, when converting non-character data to a character, the structured data is transmitted including the character data. In FIG. 1, for the convenience of illustration, it is displayed as if it is not via the LAN 4.
[0018]
The structured document processing apparatus 12 performs processing such as processing, printing, display, storage, and distribution (transfer) using the attribute of the structured document, and stores the structured document processing program such as a DVD or a CD-ROM. Read from the medium 13. In order to determine processing contents such as processing, printing, display, storage, and distribution, the data extraction unit 14 extracts attributes that are structured information related to the communication itself, and uses the extracted data for the processing condition storage unit 16. The processing conditions that have been transferred are searched, and the processing of the structured document transferred according to the processing conditions is determined. The non-character converting unit 18 is for re-converting the characterized data in the structured document into non-character data, and may not be provided. The storage unit 20 stores the structured document itself, its processing, main attributes, and the like.
[0019]
An example in which the embodiment of FIG. 1 is specifically expressed as the relationship between the facsimile server 22 and the document management server 24 is shown in FIG. The facsimile server 22 and the document management server 24 are connected via the LAN 4, and facsimile data is transmitted to the facsimile server 22 from the Internet or a public telephone line network. For facsimile data, in addition to the image data that is the data body, the transmission mode in the case of a special mode transmission such as the transmission source address and resolution, encoding method, paper size, number of data, confidential transmission and polling transmission Data relating to the communication itself is added. The facsimile server 22 that has received the facsimile data generates information that is known on the receiving device side, such as the date and time of reception, the number of the receiving device when there are a plurality of receiving devices, the communication time, and the communication result. Information on the communication itself received by the facsimile server 22 and information on the communication itself that can be generated by the facsimile server 22 are information on the communication itself. Data is extracted from the information related to the communication itself by the data extraction / conversion unit 6, and some of them are handled as titles of documents such as design drawings and accounting documents, related client names, circulation, distribution of all members, secret class 2, etc. Convert to conditions. Further, as described above, the character conversion unit 8 converts the image data which is the main body of the facsimile data into character data. Then, the image data converted into the character data by the character conversion unit 8 is added to the data extracted and converted as attributes by the data extraction / conversion unit 6 to create a structured document 10.
[0020]
The structured document 10 is transferred to the document management server 24, and processing conditions, classification search keywords, and the like are extracted by the data extraction unit 14 from a portion where information related to communication itself is structured. Corresponding processing conditions are determined from the extracted data by referring to the data in the processing condition storage unit 16, stored in the storage unit 20, distributed to predetermined clients 26 to 28, and printed out.
[0021]
FIG. 3 shows a received data structuring algorithm by taking the case of FIG. 2 as an example. When the facsimile data is received in step 1, information relating to the communication path including the own machine and information relating to the communication method are extracted. The information regarding the communication path includes the number of the receiving device, the communication time, the reception date and time, the communication result, the transmission source number, the transmission source subaddress, and the like. Information relating to the communication method includes the resolution of the facsimile data, the encoding method, the paper size, and the like (step 2). Next, referring to the structured condition table stored in the facsimile server , the extracted information to be used as an attribute as it is, the attribute to be converted and attributed, and the portion to be discarded are determined. Add a tag. Also, the transfer destination of the structured document is determined (step 3). Next, for example, the image data is converted into character data, and the conversion method used is added to the attribute (step 4). When this processing is not performed, the image data is used as an attached file of the structured document. Then, the structured document and the attached file are transferred, and the data used for structuring, the transfer destination, and the transfer result are stored (step 5).
[0022]
FIG. 4 schematically shows the relationship between the structured document generation apparatus 2 and the structured document processing apparatus 12 in FIG. The structured document generation apparatus 2 receives the image data 40 and information 42 related to the communication itself regarding the communication path and the communication method. Then, data is extracted from information relating to the communication itself, a part of the data is converted into a keyword or the like by the data conversion unit 44, and a tag or the like is attached to the structuring unit 46 to be structured. Also, the image data is converted into character data by the character conversion unit 8 or is used as an attached file.
[0023]
The structured document file 10 is transferred to the structured document processing apparatus 12, and the data extraction unit 14 determines processing conditions or extracts keywords for storage and retrieval, and the processing condition storage unit 16 according to the extracted data. Determine processing and processing conditions. Then, a predetermined process is performed by the processing unit 48 as non-character data or as character data and output. As processing, a summary version such as only the first page is stored when the database is stored under a predetermined condition in the storage unit, transferred to a predetermined client, a database is created using information on communication itself, or restored to image data or the like. For example, a keyword that is created or extracted from image data is displayed.
[0024]
FIG. 5 shows an example of converting facsimile data into a structured document according to the SVG standard. Information about the communication itself is structured by generating a tag and described in the column of the document attribute, for example, the document number received as a title is described, the method of facsimile communication, the address of the receiving device, the received date, the communication result, The number of pages, communication time, facsimile number of the receiving device and the facsimile number of the sender are described. In addition to this, the original image data is binary data, which is received in TIFF (tagged image file format proposed by Adobe), the resolution is 400 dpi, and the resolution is the same in both the scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction. A4 paper is used, and it is described that the coding to the image data was performed by MMR.
[0025]
In the column below the document attribute, data obtained by vectorizing the image data is described. As shown in FIG. 5, the document management apparatus can determine processing such as document processing, processing, storage, and distribution by using document attributes, and image data is stored in the structured document integrally as character data. Data handling becomes easier.
[0026]
FIG. 6 shows an example in which TIFF data is structured according to the XML standard. The upper left side of FIG. 6 shows TIFF data, which is converted to text data using BASE64 as a character conversion method for image data. Data that the original data was in TIFF format, that TIFF data was converted to character data by BASE64, and that information obtained from communication itself was attributed as keywords, and other data that was converted to text data by BASE64 Is described.
[0027]
The effect of an Example is shown. In the embodiment, a structured document associated with facsimile data can be generated with a keyword extracted and converted from information relating to communication itself. These keywords can be automatically generated, and it is not necessary to interpret the meaning of the facsimile data itself or extract features. If information related to the communication itself is extracted and converted into keywords, the meaning and content of the data can be specified to a considerable extent based on the transmission source and the date and time of communication and the type of data. In addition, if a simple rule such as data transmitted by facsimile from a source is a design book can be input to the extraction / conversion unit, the content of the document itself can be specified to a considerable extent.
[0028]
FIG. 7 shows a reference example applied to data transfer from the home security system. Reference numeral 50 denotes a home security system, which is provided in an individual home, for example, and checks the status of fire, door shut, gas, water supply, electricity, and the like. The home security system 50 is provided with a large number of sensors, and data input from the sensors is transmitted as non-character raw data to the center 52 through a PHS line or the like. The center 52 generates a structured document 60 using the structured condition table 54 from the address of the transmission source and the contents of the transferred data. For example, in the structured document 60, the title is a notification from the security center, the destination, date and time, and the item <leakage>, and the processing taken by the home security system 50 <close the main plug> and the processing result <processing end> Are transmitted to a terminal 56 such as a mobile phone or a personal computer at work.
[0029]
The user having the terminal 56 does not like being called from the center 52 by telephone except in special cases such as fire. However, it is not preferable not to notify at all when the window is open, or there is a simple water leak but it is restored. Therefore, when such a minor problem and a processing result for it are notified by the structured document 60, the user can easily check when there is time.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing structuring, transfer and processing of non-character data in an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example in which the embodiment of FIG. 1 is applied to facsimile data processing. Flowchart explaining data structuring program [FIG. 4] A diagram showing a model of facsimile data structuring and processing at a transfer destination [FIG. 5] A diagram showing an example of structuring facsimile data into an SVG document [FIG. 6] Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of structured facsimile data in an XML document. Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing a reference example used for transferring sensor signals.
2 Structured document generator 4 LAN
6 Data Extraction / Conversion Unit 8 Character Conversion Units 9 and 13 Storage Medium 10 Structured Document 12 Structured Document Processing Device 14 Data Extraction Unit 16 Processing Condition Storage Unit 18 Non-Character Conversion Unit 20 Storage Unit 22 Facsimile Server 24 Document Management Server 26 ~ 28 Client 40 Image data 42 Information on communication itself 44 Data conversion unit 46 Structured unit 48 Processing unit 50 Home security system 52 Center 54 Structured condition table 56 Terminal 60 Structured document

Claims (10)

Means for sending and receiving facsimile data;
Means for sending and receiving structured documents using a markup language;
Extracting what should be the attribute of the structured document from the information related to the communication itself other than the image data from the data obtained by facsimile reception , converting the part as attribute data as it is and converting the rest to other information A data extraction / conversion unit for attribute data;
A facsimile server provided with means for generating a structured document using a markup language by using the attribute data from the data extraction / conversion unit as an attribute and associating with the received facsimile data.   Image data in facsimile data is character-converted into attributes of the structured document, and the structured document is generated using at least the character conversion method and the encoding method in the information related to the communication itself as attributes. The facsimile server according to claim 1, wherein   2. The facsimile server according to claim 1, wherein the information relating to the communication itself is extracted from the received information relating to the own machine, the information relating to the communication path, and the information transmitted based on the communication protocol.   4. The facsimile server according to claim 3, wherein a client for the generated structured document is determined from the extracted information and transferred to a predetermined transfer destination. The extracted information is provided with a table for determining what is used as attribute data as it is and what is converted into other information to be used as attribute data so that the extracted information can be referred to. The facsimile server according to claim 1. A program for a facsimile server that includes means for sending and receiving facsimile data and means for sending and receiving structured documents using a markup language, and that can be read and executed by a program,
Extract data that should be attributed to a structured document from information related to communication itself other than image data from the data obtained by facsimile reception, convert that part as attribute data as it is, and convert the rest to other information An extraction command for attribute data;
A structured document generation program comprising: an instruction for generating a structured document using a markup language by using attribute data from the extraction instruction as an attribute and associating with the facsimile data. An instruction for character-converting image data in the facsimile data to be an attribute of the structured document;
7. The structured document generation program according to claim 6, further comprising: an instruction for generating the structured document using at least a character conversion method and an encoding method in information relating to the communication itself. .   7. The structured document according to claim 6, wherein in the extraction command, information on the communication itself is extracted from the received information on the own device, information on the communication path, and information transmitted based on the communication protocol. Generation program.   9. The structured document generation program according to claim 8, further comprising a transfer instruction for determining a client for the generated structured document from the extracted information and transferring the client to a predetermined transfer destination. In the extraction command, the extracted information is determined as attribute data as it is and converted into other information as attribute data by referring to a table. The structured document generation program according to any one of claims 6 to 9.

Images