JP3780869B2 - Network facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a network facsimile apparatus having a function of transmitting and receiving facsimile data using an electronic mail system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, a network facsimile apparatus having a function of transmitting and receiving facsimile data using an electronic mail system (typically, an ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication standerdization sector defined as an extension of an electronic mail system). (For example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 10-308766 and 11-215177).
[0003]
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a conventional network facsimile apparatus that transmits and receives facsimile data using an electronic mail system.
A network facsimile apparatus is a LAN controller that performs physical connection with a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) and transmission / reception processing of a low-level network protocol (for example, TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol)). 101, a mail receiving unit 102 that communicates with an e-mail server (not shown) and receives an e-mail; a received mail analyzing unit 103 that determines whether the received mail is a network facsimile document; A format conversion unit that extracts an image image (for example, a TIFF (Tag Image File Format) compressed by the MH method) from a facsimile document from an e-mail text format (for example, MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) format). 104, compressed image image The image expansion unit 105 that decompresses the uncompressed bitmap to the uncompressed bitmap, the printer unit 106 that prints the uncompressed bitmap on the recording paper, and the reading mechanism unit 112, which will be described later, operate in cooperation with the uncompressed bitmap. An image reading unit 107 for converting, an image compressing unit 108 for converting an uncompressed bitmap into a compressed image image (for example, a TIFF format compressed by the MH method), and the compressed image image can be attached to an e-mail Format conversion unit 109 for converting to a simple text format (for example, MIME format, etc.), an operation unit 114 for an operator to input an e-mail address of the other party and instructing the start of the device operation, and a reading mechanism unit upon receiving the device operation start instruction 112, a mechanism control unit 113 that controls scanning of an original, and a mechanism for image reading (for example, reading Generated by a reading mechanism unit 112 configured to feed a document in accordance with the document), a header generation unit 115 that generates an e-mail header from a destination e-mail address or the like input from the operation unit 114, and a format conversion unit 109. A mail generation unit 110 that generates an e-mail from the text format data and the e-mail header generated by the header generation unit 115, and a mail transmission unit 111 that communicates with the e-mail server and transmits the generated e-mail. Has been.
[0004]
In the network facsimile apparatus configured as described above, when the mail reception unit 102 receives the network facsimile document, the received mail analysis unit 103 checks “MIME-Version” and “Content-Type” in the mail header unit 301, Further, the received mail analysis unit 103 analyzes that “Content-Type” of the header in the body is “image / tiff”, and confirms that the received mail is a network facsimile document in the Internet facsimile format.
[0005]
If it is confirmed that the format is the Internet facsimile format, the format conversion unit stores the TIFF-F stored in the body in the MIME format (format defined in RFC (Request For Comments) 2045 to 2049). A file of a format (format prescribed in RFC2301 and RFC2302) is extracted, and the extracted file is converted from the TIFF-F format to an uncompressed bitmap file by the image expansion unit 105 and recorded by the printer unit 106 Print on paper.
[0006]
On the other hand, when transmitting a facsimile document via a network, an operator inputs information on a destination (such as a destination mail address) by the operation unit 114 and issues a transmission command.
The header generation unit 115 generates an email header from transmission destination information such as a destination email address input from the operation unit 114, and outputs the header to the mail generation unit 110.
[0007]
Upon receiving the transmission command, the mechanism control unit 113 drives the reading mechanism unit 112, and the reading mechanism 112 feeds the transmission document. At the same time, the image reading unit 107 reads the original, converts it into an uncompressed bitmap, and outputs it to the image compression unit 108. The image compression unit 108 converts the uncompressed bitmap into a compressed image image (for example, a TIFF format compressed by the MH method) and outputs the converted image to the format conversion unit 109. The format conversion unit 109 converts the compressed image image into a text format (for example, MIME format) that can be attached to an e-mail and outputs the converted text image to the mail generation unit 110.
[0008]
The mail generation unit 110 generates an electronic mail from the text format data generated by the format conversion unit 109 and the electronic mail header generated by the header generation unit 115 and outputs the electronic mail to the mail transmission unit 111. The mail transmission unit 111 communicates with an electronic mail server provided on the network, and transmits the generated electronic mail. As described above, facsimile documents can be transmitted and received using the electronic mail system.
[0009]
On the other hand, since conventional facsimile machines that use analog / digital lines are usually shared by multiple people in offices, etc., whether communication with the receiving facsimile machine has been performed normally using a communication management report, etc. Can be confirmed, but as a result, whether or not the document output to the facsimile machine on the receiving side has finally arrived at the other party (individual) to be delivered must be contacted directly. There is no problem. This problem is the same not only in a facsimile apparatus using a normal telephone line but also in a network facsimile apparatus using the above-described electronic mail system.
Also, in a network facsimile machine using an e-mail system, unlike the facsimile machine using an analog / digital line, the e-mail system itself does not connect to the partner terminal in real time, so whether it has reached the partner machine. There is a problem that it cannot be easily confirmed.
[0010]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
For this latter problem, as shown in JP-A-11-252164, JP-A-2000-270185, and JP-A-2000-295404, it is automatically delivered to a received network facsimile document. It has been proposed to create a confirmation email and send it to the caller.
However, in these methods, since the delivery confirmation mail is transmitted to the document received by the network facsimile apparatus on the receiving side regardless of whether or not the final recipient confirms the document, the final confirmation is made. In order to check whether the document has arrived at the recipient's hand, it is necessary to contact the other party directly, and the former disadvantage remains.
[0011]
For the former problem and the problem remaining in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-252164, a unique reception ID is generated when the received document is printed out as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-215126. At the same time as printing, the generated reception ID and the header of the original document are memorized, the original recipient is input by entering the number, the original header is searched, and the delivery confirmation mail is generated and transmitted. I am trying.
However, in this method, since a unique reception ID is used as a key for specifying a document, there is a problem that a device that prints a received document and a device that transmits a delivery confirmation must be the same device.
[0012]
Since the unique reception ID is used as a key for specifying a document, the correspondence between the reception ID and the mail header at the time of reception is actually stored in an auxiliary storage mechanism that retains the contents even when the power is turned off, or once There is a problem that if the power is turned off, the delivery confirmation must be given up.
Furthermore, since the delivery confirmation mail is composed only of the header information of the original mail and the mechanically generated text, there is a problem that it is difficult for the recipient to know which delivery confirmation is for which document.
Furthermore, in order to add something to the received document and send it, it is necessary to send it again, not as a delivery confirmation, so there is a problem that the operation becomes complicated.
[0013]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a network facsimile apparatus that improves these problems and allows a receiver to notify a sender of receipt of a document conveniently with an easy operation.
[0014]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the present invention, in a network facsimile apparatus which transmits image data obtained by reading a document to a network by e-mail, and converts the e-mail received via the network into image data and prints it, Mail receiving means for receiving an e-mail via a network, and information indicating that there is a delivery confirmation request when a delivery confirmation request is detected in the e-mail received by the mail receiving means and the sender of the e-mail Output means for adding additional information including an address to the image information in the received mail and outputting it together with the image information; printing means for printing the output of the output means; and reading a document including the additional information. E-mail generating means for generating an e-mail header and generating e-mail, and the e-mail generating means The network facsimile apparatus is provided which is characterized by comprising the generated e-mail and a mail transmission unit for transmitting.
[0015]
The mail receiving means receives electronic mail via the network. When the output means detects a delivery confirmation request in the email received by the mail receiving means, the output means adds additional information including information indicating that there is a delivery confirmation request and a source address of the email. It is added to the information of the image inside and outputted together with the information of the image. The printing means prints the output of the output means. The e-mail generation means reads an original including the additional information and generates an e-mail header, and generates an e-mail. The mail transmission means transmits the electronic mail generated by the electronic mail generation means.
[0016]
Here, the output means includes a delivery confirmation detection means for detecting a delivery confirmation request in the received electronic mail, and when the delivery confirmation detection means detects a delivery confirmation request, the additional information is included in the received mail. It may be configured to include header information additional means for adding information to the image information and outputting the information together with the image information.
Further, the e-mail generating unit reads the original including the additional information, a reading unit that receives the source address read by the reading unit and generates an e-mail header, and the reading unit reads An e-mail may be configured to be generated based on the image data and the header generated by the header generation means, and output to the mail transmission means.
[0017]
The reading means reads an original including the additional information and outputs corresponding image data, a character recognition means for reading the additional information from the image data as character information, and the image data from the image data. Header information deleting means for deleting additional information, and reply guide inserting means for adding and outputting a reply guide indicating that an e-mail has been received in a portion other than the information deleted by the header information deleting means. It may be configured.
The additional information may include an identification number unique to the e-mail, a source address of the e-mail, and a destination address of the e-mail.
[0018]
The output means includes received mail analyzing means for determining whether or not the received electronic mail is a network facsimile document, and the delivery confirmation detecting means receives the electronic mail received by the received mail analyzing means. When it is determined as a network facsimile document, a delivery confirmation request in the electronic mail may be detected.
Further, an operation means for performing a reception confirmation operation may be provided.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A network facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG.
[0020]
In FIG. 1, a network facsimile apparatus includes a LAN control unit 101 serving as a network control unit that performs physical connection with a network such as a LAN and transmission / reception processing (for example, TCP / IP) of a low-level network protocol, e-mail A mail receiving unit 102 as a mail receiving unit that communicates with a server (not shown) and receives an e-mail, and a received mail analysis unit as a received mail analyzing unit that determines whether the received mail is a network facsimile document Unit 103 as a first format conversion means for extracting an image image (for example, a TIFF format compressed by the MH method) obtained by compressing a facsimile document in the received mail from a text format (for example, MIME format) of the e-mail Format converter 1 4. an image expansion unit 105 as an image expansion unit that expands a compressed image image into an uncompressed bitmap, a printer unit 106 as a printing unit that prints an uncompressed bitmap on a recording sheet, a reading mechanism unit 112 described later, An image reading unit 107 that constitutes an image reading unit that converts a document to be transmitted by cooperative operation into an uncompressed bitmap; an image image obtained by compressing an uncompressed bitmap (for example, a TIFF format compressed by the MH method) An image compression unit 108 as an image compression unit that converts the compressed image into a text format (for example, MIME format) that can be attached to an e-mail. , The operator enters the other party's e-mail address, etc. An operation unit 208 as an operation unit to be displayed, a mechanism control unit 113 that constitutes an image reading unit that controls scanning of an original on the reading mechanism unit 112 in response to an instruction to start apparatus operation, and a mechanism for image reading (for example, for reading) And a header generation unit serving as a header generation unit that generates a header of an e-mail from a destination e-mail address or the like input from the operation unit 208. 209, a mail generation unit 110 serving as a mail generation unit that generates an e-mail from the text format data generated by the format conversion unit 109 and the e-mail header generated by the header generation unit 115, and performs communication with the e-mail server. A mail transmission unit 111 is provided as mail transmission means for transmitting the received electronic mail.
[0021]
In addition, the network facsimile apparatus according to the present embodiment has a delivery confirmation detection unit 201 as a delivery confirmation unit that detects a delivery confirmation request in a received mail. When a delivery confirmation request is detected, a delivery confirmation request is issued to the received document. From the read image, a header information adding unit 202 as a header information adding unit for adding a message to the effect and a reply, a character recognition unit 203 as a character recognizing unit for reading information added by the header information adding unit 202 from the read image, A header information deleting unit 204 as a header information deleting unit that deletes an image added by the header information adding unit 202, and a transmission guide inserting unit for additionally adding a receipt confirmation to the remaining part of the image deleted by the header information deleting unit A reply guide insertion unit 205 is provided. Further, the operation unit 208 has a reception confirmation operation function, and the header generation unit 209 is necessary for a receipt confirmation mail such as a destination mail address from the character recognition unit 203 instead of the operation unit 208 in the case of receipt confirmation. Configured to receive such information and generate an email header.
[0022]
The delivery confirmation detecting unit 201 and the header information adding unit 202 constitute an output unit. Also, the image reading unit 107, the image compression unit 108, the format conversion unit 109, the mail generation unit 110, the reading mechanism unit 112, the mechanism control unit 113, the character recognition unit 203, the header information deletion unit 204, the reply guide insertion unit 205, the header The generation unit 209 constitutes an e-mail generation unit.
[0023]
FIG. 2 shows a typical example of a network facsimile apparatus using an electronic mail system, which is an ITU-T T.264 defined as an extension of the electronic mail system. This is an example of an electronic mail (network facsimile document) in the case of a 37-system Internet facsimile apparatus (a network facsimile apparatus that transmits and receives electronic mail using the Internet), and an Internet mail (Internet) including information for requesting delivery confirmation Shows an example of email). The received e-mail as shown in FIG. 2 includes a header 301 indicating e-mail document information and a first body 302 and a second body 303 which are e-mail documents themselves. In the case of the example of FIG. It is described that an Internet facsimile document in the TIFF-F format is attached to the second body 303 in a normal text format in the first body 302.
[0024]
3 is a diagram showing an example of printing an e-mail including information for requesting delivery confirmation, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a facsimile document (original) to be read for delivery confirmation, and FIG. 5 is for delivery confirmation. FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a TIFF format image attached to the e-mail, and FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of an e-mail for delivery confirmation.
The operation of the network facsimile apparatus according to this embodiment configured as shown in FIG. 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS.
[0025]
First, the operation when a network facsimile document with a delivery confirmation request is received will be described.
When the mail receiving unit 102 receives the network facsimile document (mail) of FIG. 2, the received mail analyzing unit 103 confirms “MIME-Version” 304 and “Content-Type” 305 in the mail header unit 301, and further the second The received mail analysis unit 103 analyzes that “Content-Type” of the header 306 in the body 303 is “image / tiff”, and confirms that the received mail is a network facsimile document in the Internet facsimile format. . Each information is information indicating that the e-mail is a network facsimile document.
[0026]
When it is confirmed that the format is the Internet facsimile format, the format conversion unit 104 stores the TIFF-F format (format specified in RFC 2045 to 2049) in the second body 303 in the TIFF-F format ( RFC2301 and RFC2302), and the extracted file is converted from the TIFF-F format to an uncompressed bitmap file by the image expansion unit 105.
[0027]
Further, the delivery confirmation detecting unit 201 analyzes the mail header part 301, and “Return-Receipt-To:” 307 (“Return-Recept-To”, which is reply destination information, is adopted as the Internet standard in the mail header part 301. Although it is not used, it is often used for delivery confirmation.), It is further detected that “Message-ID:” (identification information unique to the received email) and “To: ”(Recipient information) is extracted and transmitted to the header information appending unit 202. The reply destination information is delivery confirmation request information indicating a delivery confirmation request.
[0028]
As indicated by 401 in FIG. 3, the header information appending unit 202 responds to the fact that there is a delivery confirmation request from the delivery confirmation detection unit 201 with respect to the uncompressed bitmap file output from the image decompression unit 105. The received information, that is, “reception confirmation (delivery confirmation) destination (item of“ Return-Receipt-To: ”)” and “recipient (“ To: ”) necessary for transmitting the delivery confirmation. ) ”And“ Item of “Message-ID:” ”are added. Here, the identification information unique to the received electronic mail and the recipient information are additional information necessary for returning a delivery confirmation mail.
[0029]
If “Return-Receipt-To:” 307 is not included, the delivery confirmation detection unit 201 determines that there is no request for delivery confirmation, and is output from the image decompression unit 105 to the header information appending unit 202. Indicates that no operation is to be performed on an uncompressed bitmap file.
The uncompressed bitmap file obtained in this way is printed on the recording paper by the printer unit 106. As a result, when there is a request for delivery confirmation, an output as shown in FIG. 3 is obtained. On the other hand, when there is no request for delivery confirmation, only a document from a sender having no portion 401 in FIG. 3 is printed and output.
[0030]
Next, an operation when a delivery confirmation is transmitted using a document received and printed as described above will be described.
By performing an operation of transmitting a delivery confirmation by the operation unit 208, the operation unit 208 transmits information instructing the mechanism control unit 113 to start a document reading operation. The mechanism control unit 113 outputs a control signal for the reading mechanism unit 112 in response to the instruction. The reading mechanism unit 112 performs a document reading operation in response to the control signal.
[0031]
At this time, the original to be read is a printout of a network facsimile document with a previous delivery confirmation request (see FIG. 3). However, in practice, as shown in FIG. 4, there may be a case where an additional note 502 indicating receipt by a reception stamp or the like is added, which will be described below with reference to the example of FIG. 4.
The image (see FIG. 4) that has been bitmapped by the image reading unit 107 is transmitted to the character recognition unit 203 and the header information deletion unit 204. The character recognizing unit 203 reads the header information described in the header information 501 in FIG. 4 using an existing character recognition technique, and transmits it to the header generating unit 209.
[0032]
In the example of FIG. 4, the transmission destination of the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) is “sender@abc.co.jp”, the recipient of the original document is “foo@fax1.xyz.co.jp”, and the original document is included. It is read that the Message-ID of the e-mail is “sender-01234456789ABCDEF@abc.co.jp”.
Of course, these contents do not necessarily have to be in a human-readable form, and are recorded with a known barcode or the like in the header information appending unit 202, and the character recognition unit 203 is replaced with a functional block that performs barcode recognition. Realization at a lower cost is possible.
[0033]
The header generation unit 209 transmits the reception confirmation (delivery confirmation) transmission destination (shown in FIG. 4) acquired by the character recognition unit 203 as a destination instead of the destination address information 206 from the operation unit 208 used for normal document transmission. In this case, sender@abc.co.jp) is used, and the delivery confirmation is performed using the destination of the recipient (in the case of FIG. 4, foo@fax1.xyz.co.jp) acquired by the character recognition unit 203 as the sender. A header 701 (see FIG. 6) of mail (acknowledgment confirmation mail) is generated.
[0034]
At this time, in order to clarify the reception confirmation (delivery confirmation) for which received network facsimile document, in the header 701, in the case of mail normally exchanged on the Internet, as defined in RFC2076 and RFC822, “ The Message-ID (sender-01234456789ABCDEF@abc.co.jp in the case of FIG. 4) acquired by the character recognition unit 203 is added to the lines “In-reply-to:” and “References:”.
[0035]
On the other hand, for the image read by the image reading unit 107, the header information deleting unit 204 removes the header information 501 added by the header information adding unit 202 at the time of reception. The reply guide insertion unit 205 generates a bitmap reply guide 601 as shown in FIG. 5 based on the reply destination information input from the character recognition unit 203, and inserts it into the mail, as shown in FIG. This is a receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) document of a correct bitmap structure.
[0036]
The bitmap of the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) document of FIG. 5 output from the reply guide insertion unit 205 is compressed into TIFF-F format image data by the image compression unit 108 and compressed TIFF-F format image data. Is converted into a MIME format by the format conversion unit 109 and synthesized as a mail as shown in FIG. 6 by the mail generation unit 110.
The combined receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail is transmitted from the LAN control unit 101 by the mail transmission unit 111 to the electronic mail server via the network in the same manner as a normal network facsimile document.
[0037]
If the terminal receiving this mail is a network facsimile apparatus, a document as shown in FIG. 5 is printed out, and if it is a personal computer terminal capable of receiving normal mail, it is received as a mail in the form of FIG. 5 can be confirmed as long as the terminal can handle the attached file and can view the TIFF-F format.
[0038]
On the other hand, when a normal facsimile document is transmitted via the network, the same operation as described in FIG. 7 is performed.
In other words, the operator inputs transmission destination information (destination mail address or the like) through the operation unit 208 and issues a transmission command.
The header generation unit 209 generates an email header from transmission destination information such as a destination email address input from the operation unit 208, and outputs the header to the email generation unit 110.
[0039]
Upon receiving a transmission command from the operation unit 208, the mechanism control unit 113 drives the reading mechanism unit 112, and the reading mechanism 112 feeds a transmission document. At the same time, the image reading unit 107 reads the original, converts it into an uncompressed bitmap, and outputs it to the image compression unit 108. The output of the image compression unit 108 is input to the image compression unit 108 via the header information deletion unit 204 and the reply guide insertion unit 205. At this time, since the header information deletion unit 204 and the reply guide insertion unit 205 have received the transmission command from the operation unit 208, the image is directly received without performing any processing on the input signals. The data is transmitted to the image compression unit 100 via the compression unit 108.
[0040]
The image compression unit 108 converts the uncompressed bitmap into a compressed image image (for example, a TIFF format compressed by the MH method) and outputs the converted image to the format conversion unit 109. The format conversion unit 109 converts the compressed image image into a text format (for example, MIME format) that can be attached to an e-mail and outputs the converted text image to the mail generation unit 110.
[0041]
The mail generation unit 110 generates an electronic mail from the text format data generated by the format conversion unit 109 and the electronic mail header generated by the header generation unit 115 and outputs the electronic mail to the mail transmission unit 111. The mail transmission unit 111 communicates with an electronic mail server provided on the network, and transmits the generated electronic mail. As described above, facsimile documents can be transmitted and received using the electronic mail system.
[0042]
As described above, the network facsimile apparatus according to the present embodiment particularly transmits image data obtained by reading a document to a network by e-mail, and converts the e-mail received via the network to image data. In the network facsimile apparatus converted and printed, when a mail receiving means for receiving an electronic mail via the network and a delivery confirmation request in the electronic mail received by the mail receiving means are detected, a delivery confirmation is received. Output means for adding additional information including information indicating that there is a request and the sender address of the e-mail to the image information in the received mail and outputting the information together with the image information; and printing the output of the output means Printing means that reads the original including the additional information, generates an e-mail header, and Since the e-mail generation means for generating the e-mail and the e-mail transmission means for transmitting the e-mail generated by the e-mail generation means, the receiver can be conveniently sent to the sender by an easy operation. On the other hand, it is possible to provide a network facsimile apparatus capable of notifying receipt of a document.
[0043]
Further, since the original received document recorded on the recording sheet is read by the image reading unit 107 when the delivery confirmation mail is transmitted, a memo or the like added to the received document on the recording sheet by the receiver (see FIG. 4 of 502 illustrates a handwritten additional note and a confirmation mark.) Can also be attached to a receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail as a network facsimile document. For this reason, it is possible to improve the convenience in the case of performing some kind of notification when transmitting the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation).
[0044]
In addition, for the recipient of the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation), the transmitted document (sometimes added to it) is sent together with the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation), so it is possible to confirm the receipt of which document at a glance. (Delivery confirmation) can be confirmed, and further, it is possible to provide convenience that communication can be performed according to the content of additional writing made on the document.
[0045]
Also, the header information appending unit 202 outputs information necessary for the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail to the recording sheet itself of the received document, and is necessary for the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail recorded in the received document by the character recognition unit 203. The other party's e-mail address is re-entered when sending the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail, or the recipient stored in the network facsimile machine that sends the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation). There is an advantage that it is not necessary to perform an operation for specifying the prior information. As a result, it is possible to reduce operations when the receiver transmits a receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail, and the convenience can be improved.
[0046]
Also, the header information appending unit 202 outputs information necessary for the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail to the recording sheet itself of the received document, and is necessary for the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail recorded in the received document by the character recognition unit 203. Therefore, there is an advantage that it is not necessary to store information necessary for a receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail in the apparatus. For this reason, it is not necessary to have a mechanism (semiconductor memory, magnetic disk device, etc.) for storing information necessary for receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail in the device. There are no restrictions. In addition, since it is not necessary to store the information required for the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail in the device, if the device has the same function, the receipt confirmation (delivery) is not required even if the device has received and recorded the output. Confirmation) has the advantage of being able to send mail.
[0047]
It should be noted that, as described in the above embodiment, embedding of information necessary for the receipt confirmation (delivery confirmation) mail by the combination of the header information appending unit 202 and the character recognizing unit 203 is performed as a barcode and a barcode reading function. It can be replaced by a mechanism for appending / reading machine-readable characters such as.
[0048]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the receiver can conveniently notify the sender of the receipt of the document with an easy operation.
In addition, it is possible to attach a memo or the like added to the received manuscript on the recording sheet by the receiver as a network facsimile document to the receipt confirmation mail, and it is convenient when performing some notification when sending the receipt confirmation. Can be improved.
In addition, it is possible to confirm which document the receipt is confirmed at a glance, and further, it becomes possible to communicate based on the additional contents made on the document, so that convenience is improved.
Also, when sending the receipt confirmation mail, there is no need to input the recipient's email address again or specify the recipient information stored in the network facsimile machine, and the recipient can confirm the receipt. Can be reduced, and convenience can be improved.
In addition, since it is not necessary to store the information necessary for the receipt confirmation mail in the network facsimile machine, a storage device for storing the information necessary for the receipt confirmation mail becomes unnecessary. We are not subject to any restrictions. In addition, since it is not necessary to store information necessary for the receipt confirmation mail in the device, the delivery confirmation email can be transmitted even if the device has the same function, even if it is not the device that has received and recorded the output. It has the effect of being able to.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an e-mail used in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a print example of an e-mail used in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an e-mail document used in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an attached image of an e-mail used in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an electronic mail used in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a conventional network facsimile apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
101 ... LAN controller
102: Mail receiving unit as mail receiving means
103 ... Received mail analysis unit as received mail analysis means
104: Format conversion unit as first format conversion means
105: Image expansion unit as image expansion means
106: Printer unit as printing means
107: Image reading section as image reading means
108: Image compression unit as image compression means
109 ... Format conversion unit as second format conversion means
110: Mail generating unit as mail generating means
111... Mail transmission unit as mail transmission means
112... Reading mechanism part constituting image reading means
113... Mechanism control unit constituting image reading means
201: Delivery confirmation unit as delivery confirmation detection means
202... Header information additional section as header information additional means
203 ... Character recognition unit as character recognition means
204... Header information deleting unit as header information deleting means
205 ... Reply guide insertion part as reply guide insert means
208: Operation unit as operation means
209 ... Header generation unit as header generation means

Claims (13)

In a network facsimile apparatus which transmits image data obtained by reading a document to a network by e-mail, and converts the e-mail received via the network into image data and prints it,
Mail receiving means for receiving an e-mail via a network, and receiving additional information including information indicating that there is a request for delivery confirmation when detecting a delivery confirmation request in the e-mail received by the mail receiving means A network facsimile apparatus comprising: output means for adding to image information in mail and outputting together with the image information; and printing means for printing output from the output means .   The output means includes a delivery confirmation detection means for detecting a delivery confirmation request in the received e-mail, and when the delivery confirmation detection means detects a delivery confirmation request, the additional information is added to the image in the received mail. 2. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising header information appending means for appending to information and outputting together with the image information.   The postscript information includes a source address of the email,
  It comprises an e-mail generating means for generating an e-mail header by reading an original including the additional information, and an e-mail generating means for transmitting the e-mail generated by the e-mail generating means. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,   The e-mail generating unit is a reading unit that reads a document including the additional information, a header generating unit that receives a source address read by the reading unit and generates a header of an e-mail, and an image read by the reading unit 4. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: a mail generation unit that generates an electronic mail based on the data and the header generated by the header generation unit and outputs the generated electronic mail to the mail transmission unit.   The reading means reads an original including the additional information and outputs corresponding image data, character recognition means for reading the additional information from the image data as character information, and the additional information from the image data Header information deleting means, and a reply guide inserting means for adding and outputting a reply guide indicating that an e-mail has been received in a portion other than the information deleted by the header information deleting means. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 4.   6. The postscript information includes an identification number unique to an email, a source address of the email, and a destination address of the email. Network facsimile machine.   The output means includes received mail analyzing means for determining whether or not the received electronic mail is a network facsimile document, and the delivery confirmation detecting means converts the electronic mail received by the received mail analyzing means to a network facsimile. 7. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a delivery confirmation request in the electronic mail is detected when it is determined as a document.   A method for notifying receipt of a document by a network facsimile apparatus in which image data obtained by reading a document is transmitted to a network by e-mail, and e-mail received via the network is converted into image data and printed. In
  The mail receiving means receives the email via the network,
  When the output means detects a delivery confirmation request in the email received by the mail receiving means In this case, additional information including information indicating that there is a request for delivery confirmation and the transmission source address of the e-mail is added to the image information in the received mail and output together with the image information,
  Printing means prints the output of the output means;
  The e-mail generating means reads the manuscript including the additional information and generates an e-mail header to generate an e-mail,
  A method for notifying receipt of a document by a network facsimile apparatus, wherein the mail transmission means transmits the electronic mail generated by the electronic mail generation means.   A delivery confirmation detecting means provided in the output means detects a delivery confirmation request in the received e-mail;
  When the delivery confirmation detecting means detects a delivery confirmation request, the header information appending means included in the output means appends the additional information to the image information in the received mail and outputs the information together with the image information. 9. The method of notifying receipt of a document by a network facsimile apparatus according to claim 8, wherein   The reading means included in the e-mail generation means reads a document including the additional information,
  The header generation means included in the e-mail generation means receives the source address read by the reading means and generates an e-mail header,
  The mail generation means included in the electronic mail generation means generates an electronic mail based on the image data read by the reading means and the header generated by the header generation means, and outputs the electronic mail to the mail transmission means. 10. A method for notifying receipt of a document by a network facsimile apparatus according to claim 8 or 9.   The image reading means included in the reading means reads a document including the additional information and outputs corresponding image data,
  Character recognition means provided in the reading means reads the additional information from the image data as character information,
  The header information deleting means included in the reading means deletes the additional information from the image data,
  The reply guide insertion means included in the reading means is configured to add and output a reply guide indicating that an e-mail has been received in a portion other than the information deleted by the header information deletion means. 10. A method for notifying receipt of a document by the network facsimile apparatus according to 10.   12. The postscript information includes an identification number unique to an email, a source address of the email, and a destination address of the email. A method of notifying receipt of a document by a network facsimile machine.   The received mail analysis means included in the output means determines whether the received email is a network facsimile document,
  10. The delivery confirmation detection unit is configured to detect a delivery confirmation request in the email when the received email analysis unit determines that the received email is a network facsimile document. A method for notifying receipt of a document by the network facsimile apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

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