JP4207162B2 - Communication apparatus and program thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device and a program thereof, and more particularly to transmission of image data to an external terminal device.

It is known that in an Internet facsimile apparatus, it is necessary to perform transmission processing at least once in order to obtain reception capability information of a partner terminal apparatus (Patent Document 1). Alternatively, when transmitting image data or the like to an external terminal device, it is necessary for the user to manually register or set capability information of the transmission destination device in advance.
JP 2003-324575 A

An object of the present invention is to facilitate generation of transmission data in accordance with a display capability of a display of a destination terminal device when transmitting image data to the terminal device, so that the terminal device side is easy to see and handle. Image data can be received (claims 1 to 4 ).

According to the present invention, in a communication device that transmits / receives image data to / from an external terminal device, the capability information related to the display capability of the external terminal device from the column of the user agent in the HTTP header when accessing from the external terminal device using the HTTP protocol means for obtaining, means for creating a capability information table registering the acquired capability information in correspondence with the external terminal unit, at another time than the time of the access, the image data from the communication device to the external terminal unit A means is provided for obtaining capability information of a destination external terminal device from the table at the time of transmission, and generating transmission data based on the capability information (claim 1).

Preferably, the image data to be transmitted to the external terminal device is image data read by the communication device or image data received and transferred from the outside.

More preferably, it means for generating the transmission data, using the capability information of the destination terminal device, by setting the image reading parameters, reading of the image data (claim 3).

The present invention is a communication device program for transmitting and receiving image data to and from an external terminal device. When accessing from the external terminal device using the HTTP protocol , the display of the external terminal device is displayed from the user agent column in the HTTP header. A command for acquiring capability information related to capability, a command for creating a capability information table in which the acquired capability information is registered in association with an external terminal device, and a communication device at a time different from the time of access When transmitting image data from an external terminal device to the external terminal device, a command for obtaining the capability information of the destination external terminal device from the table and generating transmission data based on the capability information is provided. ( Claim 4 ).

In the communication device according to the present invention, the capability information of the terminal device is acquired in advance and registered in the table. Therefore, the transmission device suitable for the capability of the transmission destination device can be obtained simply by selecting the transmission destination terminal device when transmitting the image data. Data can be easily generated and transmitted. Since the terminal device side can receive image data according to the capability of its own device, it is easy and convenient for the user ( claims 1 to 4 ).

In this invention, when accessing from an external terminal device, the capability information of the device is acquired and registered in the table, so that information on the terminal device can be easily obtained at the time of transmission. Moreover, since capability information is acquired from an HTTP header, there is no need to inquire about capability information.

According to the present invention, image data matched to the display capability of the transmission destination device can be transmitted, so that a clear image can be obtained for the user of the terminal device. In particular, image data matching the display capability can be transmitted to a portable terminal device having a small display.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the reading parameter of the image data is set using the information of the transmission destination obtained from the capability information table, it is not necessary for the user to set the reading parameter every time the data is transmitted. Further, the image data can be read under optimum conditions according to the terminal device of the transmission destination.

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the invention will be shown.

  An example is shown in FIGS. FIG. 1 shows the relationship between the configuration of the Internet facsimile apparatus 2 as a communication apparatus and an external terminal apparatus. In the embodiment, an external terminal device outside the LAN 8 is assumed to be a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) 4, a mobile phone 6, etc., and data transmission / reception with these mobile terminal devices will be described. The Internet facsimile machine 2 is connected to the mail server 10 and the router 12 via the LAN 8 and connected to the Internet 14 via the mail server 10 and the router 12 to send and receive e-mails and the like with the PDA 4 and the mobile phone 6. . Reference numeral 16 denotes a communication terminal device such as a personal computer connected to the LAN 8.

  Note that mobile terminal devices such as the PDA 4 and the mobile phone 6 employ different communication methods, image formats, display capabilities, etc., depending on the carrier provided by the communication carrier. In the Internet facsimile apparatus 2 according to the embodiment, for example, image data such as a document created by the personal computer 12 or a scanned document is transmitted to the PDA 4 or the mobile phone 6.

  In the figure, 20 is a main control unit, 22 is a LAN interface, and 24 is a G3 facsimile function processing unit, which performs transmission / reception of G3 facsimile and the like via a public telephone network (PSTN). Reference numeral 26 denotes an Internet facsimile function processing unit which processes transmission / reception of an Internet facsimile in an e-mail format, for example. 28 is a network scanner function processing unit, 30 is a copy function processing unit, and 32 is a network printer function processing unit. Reference numeral 34 denotes a display unit such as an LCD, and 36 denotes an operation unit such as a keyboard or a touch panel.

  The RAM 38 stores a table 48 in which terminal capability information is registered, received and captured image data, and other data. The ROM 40 stores a program necessary for the Internet facsimile machine 2 and creates a table for acquiring the capability information of the terminal device and registering the acquired capability information particularly when accessing from the mobile terminal devices 4 and 6. Or a transmission image data generation program 60 necessary for generating and transmitting the image data according to the capability of the mobile terminal device 4 or 6 that is the transmission destination of the image data.

  Reference numeral 42 denotes a receiving unit that receives access from the mobile terminal devices 4 and 6 and receives data using a protocol such as HTTP or SMTP. Reference numeral 44 denotes an image format of the mobile terminal devices 4 and 6, display capability on the display, The terminal capability information acquisition unit for acquiring the capability information for each terminal acquires capability information for each terminal from the HTTP header included in the access request from the mobile terminal devices 4 and 6. Reference numeral 46 denotes a creation unit for the terminal capability information table 48, which registers and manages the acquired capability information for each terminal. Reference numeral 50 denotes a transmission data generation unit, which transmits terminal image data from the Internet facsimile apparatus 2 to the portable terminal apparatuses 4 and 6 as, for example, HTTP data. Information is selected from table 48. Then, image data to be transmitted is generated according to the parameter of the selected terminal capability information.

  When image data is read by the scanner 28 and transmitted, the selected terminal capability information is set as a reading parameter, and reading processing is performed. The image data stored in the RAM 38 may be processed and transmitted using the terminal capability information. The generated image data is given an HTTP header or the like, or is transmitted as an e-mail or the like. A transmission unit 54 uses a protocol such as HTTP or SMTP.

  FIG. 2 shows an outline of the transmission image data generation program 60. The transmission image data generation program 60 is stored in the Internet facsimile apparatus, and generates and transmits image data that matches the capability of the destination mobile terminal apparatus. This program 60 has an instruction 61 for acquiring the capability information at the time of access from the portable terminal device, and an instruction 62 for registering the acquired capability information for each terminal type and model and creating a terminal capability information table. When the terminal data capability of the transmission destination terminal of the image data is selected from the terminal capability information table and the command 63 for reading the image data according to the capability information parameter and the image data that has been read or saved are transmitted And an instruction 64 for processing the image data according to the selected capability parameter and generating transmission data.

  FIG. 3 shows an HTTP header 70 at the time of access from the mobile terminal devices 4 and 6, and it is assumed that appropriate body data is attached. FIG. 4 shows the terminal capability information table 48. In the embodiment, when the access from the mobile terminal devices 4 and 6 is HTTP, the terminal capability information is obtained from the “User-Agent” column of the HTTP header. In the figure, the display display capability of the terminal “ABC-1234” is “240 × 320 px”, the image format is “bmp”, the terminal ID is “ID1234”, and the carrier is “abc”. The terminal capability information obtained from the HTTP header is registered in the table 48 shown in FIG. In the table 48 of FIG. 4, information on three types of portable terminal devices, one type of PDA, and two notebook personal computers is registered. In the embodiment, the display capability of the terminal device on the display is represented by the pixel size.

  In the terminal capability information table 48 of FIG. 4, a display size, an image format, a terminal ID, and a carrier are registered for each terminal name. The terminal name here is the type or model of the mobile terminal device. In the table 48, a plurality of terminal devices can be registered for the same terminal name, and the IDs of the individual terminal devices are registered. Therefore, in the case of transmitting collectively for the same terminal type and model, if a terminal name is specified, a transmission destination can be selected in a lump, and there is no need to specify a terminal device for each transmission destination. Moreover, what is necessary is just to select applicable terminal ID, when specifying a specific transmission destination. Specifically, when all employees in a certain department have a mobile terminal of the carrier “abc”, the same image data can be transmitted to the employees in that department by selecting from the carrier. When it is desired to transmit image data only to a specific employee, the terminal ID of the employee's portable terminal may be selected. As described above, the mobile terminal device can be classified into display size, image format, carrier, and the like, and can be registered for each arbitrary category. Further, if the registration is made for each type and model of the terminal device, the capacity of the table 48 becomes small. Note that a FAX number, a manufacturing number, or the like may be used as an ID assigned to each terminal device.

  FIG. 5 shows processing in the transmission data generation unit 50. The transmission data generation unit 50 acquires the transmission destination capability information from the terminal capability information table 48 using the terminal type or the like (step S70), and sets the image data reading condition according to the transmission destination display size or the like (step S71). ). Then, reading is performed according to the number of displayable pixels of the transmission destination terminal device (step S72), an image file is created and stored in the image format of the transmission destination terminal device (step S73), and transmission is performed according to the communication procedure for each carrier. Processing is performed (step S74).

  In the embodiment, the transmission destination is, for example, a mobile terminal device, and processing that considers the size of image data and the display size of the transmission destination device is shown. That is, the display size of the mobile terminal device is often smaller than the size of the image data, and it is difficult to display the received image data as it is. On the other hand, if the image data is reduced in accordance with the display size of the transmission destination, the display image often becomes too small.

  Therefore, the document is read and processed according to the display size of the transmission destination. For example, processing such as reducing the image data according to the display size or reducing the number of pixels is performed.

  FIG. 6A shows a case where image data is reduced and transmitted. The reduction ratio of the image data is set so that the reduced image size becomes a vertical / multiple multiple of the display size of the terminal device. For example, if the display size is 240 × 320 px and the number of divisions is 3 × 4 in the vertical and horizontal directions, the reduction rate is determined so that the image data of the transmission source is 720 × 1280 px, and reduction processing is performed. If the image data of the transmission source is 1440 × 2560 px, in this case, the image data of 720 × 1280 px can be obtained with a reduction ratio of 1/2, and by transmitting this, the image on the receiving side can be scrolled or paged. The entire data can be displayed. The number of divisions here may be determined using the table 480 shown in FIG. In the table 480 of FIG. 7, the number of divisions of image data is registered according to the display size of the terminal device and the document size of the image data of the transmission source. For example, if the display size is 240 × 320 px and the document size is a postcard size, the original image data is reduced and transmitted so that the division number is 1 × 2 and 480 × 640 px. Also, when reading and transmitting image data of an A4 size document to the terminal “ABC-1234”, the display size of the terminal device is 240 × 320 px and the number of divisions is 3 × 4, so the size is reduced to 720 × 1280 px. The terminal device displays 12 pages of 240 × 320 px by scrolling or page breaks. In FIG. 6A, when the display size is expressed as one cell, the image data is divided into 12 parts, and the receiving side displays from A to L sequentially.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6 (b), when the display size is large, the number of divisions is set to 1. For example, a reduction rate is determined in advance for each size of image data, and a reduction process is performed in accordance with the reduction rate. You may make it display. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6C, a blank area with no data is deleted to generate an effective image data area, and the generated image data is further reduced to match the required size. You may do it.

  Furthermore, character recognition is performed by an OCR (Optical Character Reader) conversion process, and a character portion included in the read image data can be extracted and transmitted separately from the image file. For example, in a slip or the like, it is only necessary to read the character portion below the headline, and only information necessary for the transmission destination can be transmitted. When the character data is transmitted, even if the display of the image data is unclear on the terminal screen, the outline of the image data can be grasped from these character data.

  Note that the processing on the image data in the embodiment can be performed and transmitted on the image data stored in the RAM 38 or the like in addition to the read image data as described above. Also, when transferring the received document, if the information of the transfer destination terminal device is registered in the table 48, image data matching the capability information of the transfer destination device can be generated and transferred.

  FIG. 8 shows processing at the time of obtaining terminal capability information in the Internet facsimile apparatus, and FIG. 9 shows processing for reading a document and transmitting image data. First, if there is an access request from an external terminal device or the like to the Internet facsimile machine (step S100), and this is HTTP access (step S110) and it includes the User-Agent field of the HTTP header (step S120), the user-agent field Get terminal capability information. If the access is not HTTP, other processing is performed (step S130).

  If the information of the terminal device that has requested access is not registered in the terminal capability information table, the capability information of the terminal device is acquired (steps S140 and S150) and registered in the terminal capability information table (step S160). And the response process to a terminal device is performed (step S170).

  In FIG. 9, when a document is read and transmitted by an Internet facsimile machine, the user designates a destination (step S200). If the destination is in the terminal capability information table and a terminal device is selected (step S210), Device capability information is obtained from a table. Then, using this capability information, reading parameters are set (step S220). If the destination is not registered in the table, reading processing is performed according to the reading parameters set by the user (steps S210 and S230). Then, the image data is read in accordance with the set reading parameters (step S240), transmission data is generated, and transmitted to the selected terminal device (step S250).

  As described above, in the embodiment, when transmitting image data from an Internet facsimile machine or the like, the image data is read and the transmission data is generated by using the parameters of the capability information such as the display size and image format of the transmission destination apparatus registered in advance. . The user does not need to set the capability information of the terminal device in advance every time transmission is performed, and sets the reading parameters and the like only by designating the transmission destination terminal device.

  Since the capability information of the terminal device can be obtained from the HTTP header at the time of access from the terminal device, it is not necessary to perform transmission / reception with the terminal device in order to acquire the capability information.

  Since the information of the destination terminal device is registered for each item such as terminal type, model, carrier, etc., the terminal type, model, etc. can be selected at once, and individual terminal devices can also be selected individually. Convenient for the user.

  Since the image data is reduced in accordance with the display capability of the terminal device, and processing such as cutting of margins is performed, image data suitable for the display capability can be generated. Further, since the reduction rate and the number of divisions of the image data are determined by the document size and the display capability of the terminal device, image processing can be performed under optimum conditions.

  In particular, even when the transmission destination is a mobile terminal device and there is a difference between the document size of the image data and the display size of the terminal device, the image is read according to an integral multiple of the display size, and the image is reduced. Transmission etc. are possible.

  On the receiving side, image data matching the display size of the own device can be displayed, and depending on the size of the image data, it can be displayed by scrolling or page break. Further, since image data from which margins are deleted, character information subjected to OCR conversion, and the like are transmitted, the user can easily read from the display screen.

The image data is read image data, image data of a received document or a stored document, and generates and transmits image data that matches the capability of the terminal device.

The figure which shows the structure of the internet facsimile apparatus of an Example, and the connection of an internet facsimile apparatus, a portable terminal device, etc. The block diagram which shows the structure of the transmission image data generation program of the internet facsimile apparatus of an Example The figure which shows the HTTP header at the time of the access from the terminal device in an Example The figure which shows the table which registered the capability information of the terminal device in an Example. The block diagram which shows the algorithm of the processing of the image data of execution example The figure which shows the process of the image data of an Example typically The figure which shows the table which registered the division | segmentation number of the image data transmitted to the terminal device of an Example. The flowchart which shows the algorithm of the terminal information acquisition processing in the Internet facsimile machine of the execution example Flowchart showing an algorithm for reading and transmitting image data in the Internet facsimile machine of the embodiment

Explanation of symbols

2 Internet facsimile machine 4 PDA (Personal Digital Assistance)
6 Mobile phone 8 LAN
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Mail server 12 Router 14 Internet network 16 Personal computer 20 Main control part 22 LAN interface 24 G3 facsimile function processing part 26 Internet facsimile function processing part 28 Scanner function processing part 30 Copy function processing part 32 Printer function processing part 34 Display part 36 Operation Part 38 RAM
40 ROM
42 Reception Unit 44 Terminal Capability Information Acquisition Unit 46 Terminal Capability Information Table Generation Unit 48, 480 Terminal Capability Information Table 50 Transmission Data Generation Unit 54 Transmission Unit 60 Transmission Image Data Generation Program 70 HTTP Header

Claims (4)

In a communication device that transmits and receives image data to and from an external terminal device,
Means for acquiring capability information relating to the display capability of the external terminal device from the user agent column in the HTTP header when accessing from the external terminal device using the HTTP protocol ;
Means for creating a capability information table in which the acquired capability information is registered in association with an external terminal device ;
When transmitting image data from the communication device to the external terminal device at a time different from the time of the access, the capability information of the destination external terminal device is obtained from the table, and transmission data is generated based on the capability information. And a communication device. 2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the image data to be transmitted to the external terminal device is image data read by the communication device or image data received and transferred from the outside . The transmission data generation means includes:
The communication apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein image data is read by setting image reading parameters using capability information of the destination terminal device. A communication device program for transmitting and receiving image data to and from an external terminal device,
A command for acquiring capability information related to the display capability of the external terminal device from the user agent column in the HTTP header when accessing from the external terminal device using the HTTP protocol ;
An instruction for creating a capability information table in which the acquired capability information is registered in association with an external terminal device ;
When transmitting image data from the communication device to the external terminal device at a time different from the time of the access, the capability information of the destination external terminal device is obtained from the table, and transmission data is generated based on the capability information. And a command for the communication device.

Images