JP3832375B2 - Internet facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an Internet facsimile machine that transmits and receives image data via the Internet using electronic mail.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an Internet facsimile communication system using an Internet facsimile apparatus that transmits and receives image data via the Internet using electronic mail is an ITU-T recommendation T.27. 37, etc. In this Internet facsimile apparatus, an e-mail including image data is transmitted to the mail server apparatus (gateway apparatus) on the transmission side and the mail server apparatus (gateway apparatus) on the reception side via the Internet by the SMTP method. The apparatus accesses the mail server apparatus on the receiving side using the POP3 method, receives an electronic mail including image data, and prints the received image data using an image recording unit.
[0003]
In general, in an Internet facsimile apparatus, in addition to a public telephone network, an Internet facsimile apparatus capable of performing facsimile communication via a LAN or the Internet, in addition to a print job by G3 or G4 facsimile reception, SMTP or POP is used. And a print job of image data by receiving an e-mail attached with image data via a LAN or the Internet. 37, a print job is generated by Internet facsimile reception.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In these Internet facsimile machines using e-mail, image data is sent and received as an e-mail attachment, and even if a text message is included in the body of the e-mail, it is printed out. Messages were also printed out, and a large amount of recording paper was wasted.
[0005]
The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide an Internet facsimile machine capable of limiting the waste of recording paper due to text messages.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An internet facsimile apparatus according to a first aspect of the invention is an internet facsimile apparatus that transmits and receives image data as an attached file of an e-mail, and includes a detecting means for detecting a predetermined unnecessary portion in a text message of the received e-mail. And generating means for generating a text message obtained by removing the detected unnecessary part as an omitted part from the text message.
[0007]
The Internet facsimile apparatus according to the second invention is an Internet facsimile apparatus that transmits and receives image data as an attached file of an e-mail, and the received e-mail text message is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold number of lines. And a generating means for generating a text message by excluding a portion exceeding the threshold line number from the text message as an omitted portion.
[0008]
Preferably, the Internet facsimile apparatus further includes control means for controlling to transfer or discard the omitted text message to a predetermined external apparatus.
[0009]
Furthermore, the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the third invention is an Internet facsimile apparatus that transmits and receives image data as an attached file of an e-mail, and the received e-mail text message has a predetermined threshold number of lines or more. And a control unit that controls to reduce the font size when printing the text message when it is detected that the text message exceeds a predetermined threshold number of lines. Means.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0011]
<Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an Internet facsimile machine 20 having functions such as an omission process in a print job according to an embodiment of the present invention. The Internet facsimile machine 20 is an Internet facsimile machine that transmits and receives image data as an attached file of an e-mail. The main control unit 1 includes, for example, a quoted part of a received e-mail text message as shown in FIG. A predetermined unnecessary part such as a document or original document is detected (YES in step S3), and a text message is generated by removing the detected unnecessary part as an omitted part from the text message (step S5). It is characterized in that control is performed such that a text message at a location is transferred to a client personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a client PC) 60-1 or 60-2, which is an external device registered in advance, or discarded (step S10). Yes.
[0012]
Further, the main control unit 1 detects that the body that is a text message of the received e-mail is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold line number (YES in step S6), and the threshold line number is determined from the text message. A text message is generated by omitting a portion exceeding the omitted portion (step S7), and a client personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a client PC) 60-1 or 60 that is an external device in which the text message at the omitted portion is registered in advance. -2 is transferred or discarded (step S10). Instead, when the main control unit 1 detects that the text message of the received e-mail is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold number of lines (YES in step S6), the font for printing the text message Control is performed to reduce the size and print (step S7).
[0013]
In FIG. 1, an Internet facsimile machine 20 has a conventional facsimile communication function such as a G3 system, and also a function such as an omission process in a print job. The main control unit 1 is specifically composed of a CPU, and is connected to the following hardware units via the bus 13 to control them, and executes various software functions to be described later. The image reading unit 2 reads a document with a scanner using a CCD or the like, and outputs dot image data converted into black and white binary. The image recording unit 3 is an electrophotographic printer or the like, and prints out image data received from another facsimile apparatus by facsimile communication as a hard copy and records it. The display unit 4 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a CRT display, and displays the operating state of the Internet facsimile machine 20 and displays image data of a document to be transmitted and received image data. Do.
[0014]
The operation unit 5 includes character keys necessary for operating the Internet facsimile machine 20, a numeric keypad for dialing, speed dial keys, one-touch dial keys, various function keys, and the like. In addition, you may comprise so that a part or all of the various keys of this operation part 5 may be substituted by making the above-mentioned display part 4 into a touch panel system.
[0015]
The ROM 6 stores in advance various software programs that are necessary for the operation of the Internet facsimile machine 20 and executed by the main control unit 1. Here, the ROM 6 is, for example, an Internet facsimile reception processing program of FIG. Is stored. These programs are recorded, for example, on a recording medium such as a floppy disk (floppy is a registered trademark), MO, DVD-RAM, etc., and loaded into the SRAM 7 via the drive device as necessary to execute the program. May be. The SRAM 7 is used as a working area of the main control unit 1 and stores temporary data generated when the program is executed. The compact flash (registered trademark) 8 serves as a so-called image memory and a memory as a program recording medium.
[0016]
The fax modem 10 is a modem that is connected to the public telephone network 50 via the public telephone line L and has a function of a fax modem for normal facsimile communication. An NCU (Network Control Unit) 11 is a hardware circuit that performs an operation of closing and opening a DC loop of an analog public telephone line L and having an automatic dial function. Is connected to the public telephone line L. Here, the NCU 11 detects the ID receiving terminal activation signal and the normal telephone call signal in the outgoing telephone number notification service, and transmits the primary response signal and the secondary response signal in the outgoing telephone number notification service as necessary. can do. The NCU 11 may be connected to a baseband transmission type digital line (for example, an ISDN line) via a predetermined terminal adapter and a DSU (Subscriber Line Termination Unit: Digital Service Unit).
[0017]
The interface circuit 12 is an interface circuit that performs signal and data signal conversion and protocol conversion in order to connect the Internet facsimile machine 20 to, for example, a LAN 30 such as Ethernet (registered trademark). 31, router device 32 and client personal computers 60-1, 60-2 are connected.
[0018]
Further, the router device 32 is connected to a mail server device (not shown) of the other party via the Internet 40. When the image data is sent from the Internet facsimile machine 20 by attaching it to the mail text, the mail data is sent from the LAN interface 12 to the mail server device 31 via the LAN 30, and then the mail server device 31 sends the Internet mail to the LAN 30. Then, the mail is transmitted to the destination facsimile apparatus via the router apparatus 32, the Internet 40, and the other party mail server apparatus (not shown). On the other hand, when Internet mail is received, it is received through the reverse route described above. Here, as a method of receiving Internet net mail from the mail server device 31, POP3 may be used, or may be received by SMTP. The line connection to the Internet 40 is not limited to a dedicated line, but may be a dial-up connection using a public telephone line L.
[0019]
The Internet facsimile machine 20 of the present embodiment configured as described above has functions such as an omission process in a print job in addition to a normal facsimile communication function such as the G3 method. In the facsimile communication function, the dot image data read by the image reading unit 2 is encoded by software in accordance with an encoding method such as MH, MR, or MMR defined in the facsimile communication standard, and then the counterpart facsimile machine On the other hand, the encoded data received from the facsimile machine of the other party is also decoded into image data by software and output from the image recording unit 3 as a hard copy.
[0020]
In the Internet facsimile machine 20, the following print job is generated.
(A) ITU-T Recommendation T. Print job by facsimile reception using 30 communication procedures.
(B) A print job of image data by receiving an e-mail attached with image data via the LAN 30 or the Internet 40 using SMTP or POP. Print job by Internet facsimile reception according to 37.
(C) A print job by a copy function using the scanner of its own machine.
(D) A print job called “network print” received from the client personal computer 60-1 or 60-2 via the LAN 30.
[0021]
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an Internet facsimile reception process executed by the main control unit 1 of FIG.
[0022]
In FIG. 2, first, in step S1, the mail server apparatus 31 is accessed using the POP3 procedure, an e-mail addressed to the e-mail address of the apparatus is received, and it is determined whether or not the print mode is set in step S2. If NO, the process is terminated as it is. If YES, the process proceeds to step S3. Next, in step S3, it is determined whether or not there is an unnecessary portion such as a quoted portion indicated by “>” or an original document transmitted by the own device in the body that is a text message of the e-mail. If YES, the process proceeds to step S6. If YES, the process proceeds to step S4. Further, it is determined whether or not a mode for omitting unnecessary portions is set in step S4. If YES, the process proceeds to step S5. If NO, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S5, an omission process is executed, a text message is generated by removing the unnecessary part from the body as a text message of the received e-mail, and the process proceeds to step S6.
[0023]
In step S6, it is determined whether or not the body of the text message of the e-mail is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold number of lines (for example, 50 lines). If YES, the process proceeds to step S7. If NO, step S8 is performed. Proceed to Next, font reduction or omission processing is executed in step S7, and any one of preset processing is executed out of these font reduction processing and omission processing. Here, in the font reduction process, the font size for printing the e-mail text message is set to be reduced from the original font size, and the e-mail print process by the image recording unit 3 is executed in step S8. . On the other hand, in the omission processing, a text message is generated by excluding the portion exceeding the threshold line number from the body of the text message of the e-mail as an omission, and in step S8, the print processing is performed on the processed text message. Execute.
[0024]
Further, in step S9, it is determined whether or not there is an omitted portion in the previous step S5 or S7. If YES, the process proceeds to step S10. If NO, the Internet facsimile reception process is terminated. In step S10, a preset process is executed among the following processes for the above-described omitted parts.
(A) The omitted data after processing is transferred to an external device such as another client PC 60-1 or 60-2.
(B) The data of the omitted portion after processing is stored in the CompactFlash (registered trademark) 8 with another file name.
(C) Discard the omitted data after processing.
After the process for the omitted portion in step S10, the Internet facsimile reception process ends.
[0025]
In the Internet facsimile machine 20, the received e-mail is usually printed out instead of being displayed on the screen like e-mail software (mailer) such as a personal computer. For this reason, even an electronic mail containing contents inappropriate for printing may be printed, and paper may be consumed wastefully. Particularly in the case of a normal text mail format, the conventional Internet facsimile machine has a problem because it prints unconditionally. Therefore, this book is equipped with a function to perform predetermined processing without printing the part or all of the e-mail when some or all of the text of the received e-mail is inappropriate for printing. An Internet facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment is provided. Inappropriate content for printing is, for example, a mailing list or other email that contains past exchanges in the body of the email, an unusually long text , or a non-delivery notification returned by the email server in the event of a delivery error, etc. In some cases, the contents of the mail sent by the user are quoted and pasted into the text. In a normal Internet facsimile machine 20, when printing on a cut sheet, the number of characters that can be printed on one line is fixed, so if these mails are printed as they are, the cut sheet is consumed more than necessary. In order to solve this, the following processing is executed in the present embodiment.
(1) If printing exceeds a certain number or number of lines, a predetermined process such as transfer, discard or storage is performed.
(2) When printing exceeds a certain number of sheets / lines, the font size to be printed is reduced.
(3) When an unnecessary part can be determined, the part is omitted and printed.
(4) When an unnecessary part can be determined, the part is omitted and printed, and the original e-mail or the omitted part is discarded, stored, transferred to another device, etc. Execute the process.
[0026]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the main control unit 1 selects predetermined unnecessary parts such as a quoted part and an original document from the received text message of the e-mail. Detected (YES in step S3), generates a text message by removing the detected unnecessary part as an omitted part from the text message (step S5), and the external device in which the text message of the omitted part is registered in advance Are transferred to the client personal computer (hereinafter referred to as client PC) 60-1 or 60-2 or discarded (step S10). Therefore, it is possible to limit the waste of the recording paper due to the text message and greatly prevent the waste of the recording paper due to the redundant text message.
[0027]
Further, the main control unit 1 detects that the body that is a text message of the received e-mail is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold line number (YES in step S6), and the threshold line number is determined from the text message. A text message is generated by omitting a portion exceeding the omitted portion (step S7), and a client personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a client PC) 60-1 or 60 that is an external device in which the text message at the omitted portion is registered in advance. -2 is transferred or discarded (step S10). Therefore, it is possible to limit the waste of the recording paper due to the text message and greatly prevent the waste of the recording paper due to the redundant text message.
[0028]
Furthermore, instead, when the main control unit 1 detects that the text message of the received e-mail is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold number of lines (YES in step S6), the main control unit 1 prints the text message. Is controlled to reduce the font size (step S7). Therefore, it is possible to limit the waste of the recording paper due to the text message and greatly prevent the waste of the recording paper due to the redundant text message.
[0029]
<Modification>
In the above embodiment, the Internet facsimile machine 20 receives an electronic mail by the POP3 procedure. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the Internet facsimile machine 20 may transmit it from the mail server device 31 to the Internet facsimile machine 20 by the SMTP procedure. Good.
[0030]
In the above embodiment, an example of the Internet facsimile machine 20 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a telephone set or a data communication apparatus connected to a public network such as a public telephone network or a public digital network. The present invention can be applied to communication terminal devices including the above.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, the Internet facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention is an Internet facsimile apparatus that transmits and receives image data as an attached file of an e-mail. Detection means for detecting a necessary portion and generation means for generating a text message by removing the detected unnecessary portion as an omitted portion from the text message. Further preferably, the information processing apparatus further includes control means for controlling to transfer or discard the text message at the omitted portion to a predetermined external device. Therefore, it is possible to limit the waste of the recording paper due to the text message and greatly prevent the waste of the recording paper due to the redundant text message.
[0032]
The Internet facsimile apparatus according to the second invention is an Internet facsimile apparatus that transmits and receives image data as an attached file of an e-mail, wherein the received e-mail text message is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold number of lines. Detection means for detecting the presence, and generation means for generating a text message by excluding a portion exceeding the threshold line number from the text message as an omitted portion. Further preferably, the information processing apparatus further includes control means for controlling to transfer or discard the text message at the omitted portion to a predetermined external device. Therefore, it is possible to limit the waste of the recording paper due to the text message and greatly prevent the waste of the recording paper due to the redundant text message.
[0033]
Further, according to the Internet facsimile apparatus of the third invention, the Internet facsimile apparatus transmits and receives image data as an attached file of an electronic mail, and the received text message of the electronic mail is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold number of lines. Detection means for detecting the presence and control to reduce the font size when printing the text message when it is detected that the text message is more than a predetermined threshold number of lines. Control means. Therefore, it is possible to limit the waste of the recording paper due to the text message and greatly prevent the waste of the recording paper due to the redundant text message.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an Internet facsimile machine 20 having functions such as print job omission processing according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing Internet facsimile reception processing executed by the main control unit 1 of FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 ... main control part,
3 ... image recording unit,
6 ... ROM,
7 ... RAM,
8 ... Compact Flash (registered trademark),
10. Fax modem,
11 ... NCU,
12 ... Interface circuit,
13 ... Bus
20 ... Internet facsimile machine,
30 ... LAN,
31 ... Mail server device,
32 ... Router device,
40 ... Internet,
50 ... public telephone network,
60-1, 60-2 ... Client personal computer,
L: Public telephone line.

Claims (3)

An internet facsimile machine that transmits and receives image data as an attached file of an email,
A detecting means for detecting that a part of the text message of the received e-mail contains inappropriate content for printing ;
E Bei and generating means for generating a text message, except as a shorthand places a portion of inappropriate content with the detected printing from the text message,
The Internet facsimile machine characterized in that the e-mail including contents inappropriate for printing is an e-mail of a mailing list, and includes an e-mail including a past e-mail as contents inappropriate for the printing. . An internet facsimile machine that transmits and receives image data as an attached file of an email,
A detecting means for detecting that a part of the text message of the received e-mail contains inappropriate content for printing ;
E Bei and generating means for generating a text message, except as a shorthand places a portion of inappropriate content with the detected printing from the text message,
The e-mail containing contents inappropriate for printing is quoted and pasted in the body of the e-mail sent by the user, and the contents of the e-mail sent by the user are not printed. An Internet facsimile machine characterized by being an electronic mail including appropriate contents . 3. The Internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising control means for controlling to transfer or discard a text message including contents inappropriate for printing to a predetermined external apparatus.

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