JP4702339B2 - Network facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a network facsimile apparatus having a mail transmission function.

  In recent years, as a communication system for transferring image data, Internet facsimile (I-FAX) communication for transmitting image data as an attached file of an electronic mail is used in addition to conventional facsimile communication using a public line network. Yes.

  Network facsimile apparatuses that perform I-FAX communication include apparatuses that support a plurality of languages such as Japanese and English. The network facsimile apparatus displays a message or the like based on the display language set by the user on the display panel. Generally, the language that the user uses on a daily basis is set as the display language.

  In addition, the network facsimile apparatus describes a text message such as a cover letter described in the body of an electronic mail transmitted using I-FAX communication in English regardless of the display language. This is because if the text message is created based on the display language of the network facsimile apparatus, the recipient of the e-mail may not understand the content of the text message. For this reason, e-mail text messages are written in English, the most popular language used on the Internet.

  On the other hand, a network facsimile apparatus that creates an e-mail text message based on a language other than English is disclosed. The network facsimile apparatus according to Patent Document 1 creates an error notification mail that is returned when an error occurs in the received electronic mail based on the language used in the received electronic mail. Thereby, the recipient of the error notification mail can easily check the content of the error notification mail.

JP 2001-325198 A

  As described above, the network facsimile apparatus uses electronic mail when transmitting image data using I-FAX communication. There is also a network facsimile apparatus that creates an electronic mail (notification mail) for notifying the user of the operation status of the device and transmits the notification mail to a destination specified in advance. In either case, the network facsimile machine writes the e-mail text message in English.

  However, if the language that the operator uses on a daily basis is not English, the operator who has received the notification mail has a problem that it is difficult to understand the text message written in English. A similar problem has occurred for the recipients of e-mails sent as I-FAX communications.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a network facsimile apparatus that creates and transmits an e-mail that is easily understood by e-mail recipients.

In order to solve the above problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a display unit that displays character information according to a user operation, and a language of the character information displayed on the display unit is any one of a plurality of languages. When creating a new e-mail with a display information control unit to be set to one, it is determined based on the type of the e-mail whether the e-mail corresponds to a plurality of languages or a single language. When the electronic mail is made to correspond to a plurality of languages, the first message based on the first language set by the display information control unit and the second message based on the second language included in the plurality of languages creates and sends multiple languages mail including a message, when made to correspond to the e-mail to a single language, includes an electronic mail processing unit to create and send e-mail including the first message, the Wherein the first message and the second message, the same contents viewing including the e-mail processing unit, as the e-mail, a transmission report mail indicating the transmission result of the image data created by scanning a transmission original When it is created, the transmission certificate mail is made to correspond to a single language .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the network facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect, when the electronic mail is transmitted as an Internet facsimile, the electronic mail processing unit associates the electronic mail with a plurality of languages. Features.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the network facsimile apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the multilingual mail is received by the receiving device that receives the multilingual mail, the first message and the second message. It is a multi-part type e-mail that can select any one of the processes .

  The network facsimile apparatus according to the present invention includes two messages based on a first language set by the display information control unit and a second language included in a plurality of languages that can be set as the language of the character information. Create and send an email. At this time, the two messages contain the same content. Thereby, the e-mail recipient can select a message created in a language that is easy to understand and check the content of the message.

  The network facsimile apparatus according to the present invention creates a multipart mail indicating that a message based on the first language and a message based on the second language have the same content. Accordingly, the e-mail receiving apparatus can process a message based on the second language even when the message cannot be processed based on the first language.

  In addition, the network facsimile apparatus according to the present invention creates an e-mail for notifying the user of the operation state of the apparatus based on the language of the character information displayed on the display unit. Thereby, the user who operates the network facsimile apparatus according to the present invention can easily confirm the operation state of the apparatus based on the received electronic mail.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Here, a network complex machine will be described as an example of a network facsimile apparatus. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a network system including the configuration of the network multifunction peripheral 1 according to the present embodiment.

  The network system shown in FIG. 1 has a configuration in which a network multifunction device 1 and a plurality of personal computers (PC) 2, 2... Are connected to a local area network (LAN) 3. The LAN 3 is provided with a gateway (not shown) such as a router for connecting to the Internet.

  First, the configuration of the network multifunction device 1 will be described. The network multifunction device 1 includes a control unit 11, an operation unit 12, a touch panel display 13, a scanner unit 14, a printer unit 15, a storage unit 16, an e-mail processing unit 17, and a communication unit 18. . In the network multifunction peripheral 1 shown in FIG. 1, only functional units necessary for the description of the present embodiment are shown, and display of the facsimile communication unit and the like is omitted.

  The control unit 11 includes a microprocessor, a main memory (RAM), and the like, and performs overall control of the network multifunction device 1. The control unit 11 includes a user information management unit 111 and a display information control unit 112.

  The operation unit 12 includes a hardware key for inputting various instructions to the network MFP 1. The touch panel display 13 displays information related to the network multifunction peripheral 1 and various operation menus. The user can perform various operations of the network multifunction peripheral 1 using the operation unit 12 and the touch panel display 13 (hereinafter referred to as “main body operation unit”).

  The scanner unit 14 reads a document set on an auto document feeder (not shown) and outputs it as image data. The printer unit 15 functions as a network printer. That is, the printer unit 15 processes a print job transmitted from the PCs 2, 2,... And outputs a print document.

  The storage unit 16 is configured by, for example, a hard disk device (HDD). The storage unit 16 includes a Japanese data storage unit 161 and an English data storage unit 162. The Japanese data storage unit 161 holds a fixed sentence used as text information displayed on the touch panel display 13 or a text message of a notification mail, and the fixed sentence is described in Japanese. Similarly, the English data storage unit 162 holds fixed phrases written in English.

  The electronic mail processing unit 17 has an I-FAX communication function and a notification mail transmission function for transmitting a notification mail for notifying the user of the operation state of the network multifunction device 1.

  First, the I-FAX communication function in the e-mail processing unit 17 will be described. The e-mail processing unit 17 executes I-FAX transmission processing when the user operates the main body operation unit to instruct transmission of a document using I-FAX communication. That is, the e-mail processing unit 17 creates an e-mail (I-FAX mail) with the image data (original data) of the original read by the scanner unit 14 as an attached file, and the I-FAX mail via the communication unit 18. Send. In addition, when receiving the I-FAX mail via the communication unit 18, the e-mail processing unit 17 instructs the printer unit 15 to print the image data attached to the received I-FAX mail.

  Next, the notification mail transmission function in the e-mail processing unit 17 will be described. For example, the electronic mail processing unit 17 creates a transmission certificate mail that is one of the notification mails, and transmits the transmission certificate mail via the communication unit 18. The transmission certificate e-mail is a notification e-mail created based on an opening confirmation e-mail corresponding to the transmitted I-FAX mail, and notifies the user that the transmitted I-FAX mail has been processed by the receiving communication device. For e-mail.

  The communication unit 18 transmits and receives data to and from each computer connected to the LAN 3 or the Internet using a protocol such as TCP / IP.

  Next, each functional unit included in the control unit 11 will be described. The user information management unit 111 holds user management information for authenticating a user who uses the network MFP 1. In the user management information, the user ID, password, and mail address of each user are recorded. For example, when the user operates the main body operation unit to use the network multifunction device 1, the user information management unit 111 requests the user to input a user ID and password (authentication information). Thereby, the user information management unit 111 can manage users who use the network multifunction peripheral 1.

  The display information control unit 112 creates display information such as an operation menu displayed on the touch panel display 13 and controls the display state of the touch panel display 13. For this reason, the display information control unit 112 holds setting information (display language information) of a language used for creating display information. The display information control unit 112 creates character information included in an operation menu or the like based on the display language information. The user can set the language set as the display language information to either Japanese or English. The network multifunction device 1 is not limited to English and Japanese, and may support other languages.

  Next, PC2, 2, ... will be described. PC2, 2, ... are terminal devices used by the user. Mail software is installed in each of the PCs 2, 2,. The user can confirm the notification mail transmitted from the network multifunction device 1 from the PC 2 or the like. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the display language information is set to Japanese.

  Hereinafter, the operation at the time of transmission of an e-mail in the network MFP 1 having the configuration shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the network multifunction device 1 at the time of I-FAX mail transmission.

  First, the user logs in to the network multifunction device 1 by inputting authentication information via the main body operation unit of the network multifunction device 1. The user sets up I-FAX communication in order to send a document (step S11). Specifically, the user sets a document on the scanner unit 14 and sets transmission destination information of I-FAX mail and transmission destination information of a transmission certificate mail. For example, the destination information of the I-FAX mail is set based on a mail address recorded in a telephone book (not shown) held by the control unit 11. The transmission destination information of the transmission certificate mail is set based on the mail address recorded in the user management information held by the user information management unit 111.

  After setting the I-FAX communication, the user performs a transmission start operation, whereby the scanner unit 14 reads the document and creates image data (document data) of the document (step S12).

  The electronic mail processing unit 17 creates an I-FAX mail text message in English and Japanese set in the display language information (step S13). Specifically, the e-mail processing unit 17 acquires an English standard sentence corresponding to I-FAX mail from the English data storage unit 162, and changes the acquired standard sentence according to the set destination information and the like. Create an English text message.

  Further, the e-mail processing unit 17 creates a text message described in the display language information based on the display language information acquired from the display information control unit 112. Since Japanese is set as the display language information, the e-mail processing unit 17 acquires a Japanese standard sentence corresponding to the I-FAX mail from the Japanese data storage unit 161. The e-mail processing unit 17 creates a Japanese text message having the same content as the English text message.

  Next, the e-mail processing unit 17 creates an I-FAX mail 20 as shown in FIG. That is, the e-mail processing unit 17 creates a multi-part mail in which the body part is in the “multipart / alternative” format as I-FAX mail (step S14). The body part is composed of an English text message and a Japanese text message.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a body part of an I-FAX mail created by the electronic mail processing unit 17. The I-FAX mail 20 shown in FIG. 3 includes a header part 21, a body part 22, and a document data part 23. In the header portion 21, a mail address of a destination of I-FAX mail, a mail address of the network multifunction peripheral 1 that is a transmission source, and the like are described. In the manuscript data part 23, manuscript data is described as an attached file format.

  The text part 22 describes the text message created in step S13, and is composed of multipart setting information 221, an English part 222, and a Japanese part 223. In the multi-part setting information 221, “Content-Type: multipart / alternative” is described. From this, it is understood that the body part is described in the “multipart / alternative” format composed of a plurality of parts having the same content.

  The English part 222 is a part in which an English text message is described. From the description of “charset = US-ASCII” in the English part 222, the communication device on the receiving side that receives the I-FAX mail 20 describes the text message using US-ASCII as the character set in the English part 222. Make sure.

  The Japanese part 223 is a part in which a Japanese text message is described. From the description of “charset = ISO-2022-JP” in the Japanese part 223, the communication device on the receiving side indicates that a text message using ISO-2022-JP as a character set is described in the Japanese part 223. Check.

  After the processing shown in step S14, the e-mail processing unit 17 sets an open confirmation request based on Message Disposition Notification (MDN) and transmits the I-FAX mail 20 (step S15). The opening confirmation request based on the MDN is set by describing the mail address of the network MFP 1 in the “Disposition-Notification-To” field in the header portion 21 of the I-FAX mail 20.

  The communication device on the receiving side confirms that the body part 22 of the received I-FAX mail 20 is in the “multipart / alternative” format, and processes a processable part of the English part 222 and the Japanese part 223. For example, the communication device on the receiving side processes the English part 222 when it does not support Japanese character codes. On the other hand, the communication device on the receiving side processes the Japanese part 223 when the display language information is set to Japanese.

  Note that the recipient of the I-FAX mail 20 can confirm the content of the text message by selecting a text message written in a language that is easy to understand. The communication device on the receiving side confirms the opening confirmation request based on the MDN and transmits an opening confirmation mail to the network multifunction device 1.

  On the other hand, after transmitting the I-FAX mail 20, the network multifunction peripheral 1 checks whether or not an opening confirmation mail corresponding to the I-FAX mail 20 has been received (step S16). When the opening confirmation mail is received (Yes in step S16), the e-mail processing unit 17 creates and transmits a transmission certificate mail based on the display language information (step S17).

  Specifically, when creating the transmission certificate mail, the e-mail processing unit 17 acquires the display language information from the display information control unit 112 and confirms that the display language information is set to Japanese. The e-mail processing unit 17 acquires a standard text corresponding to the transmission certificate from the Japanese data storage unit 161 and creates a text message of the transmission certificate based on the acquired standard text and the received opening confirmation mail. The e-mail processing unit 17 creates an e-mail including a text message of the transmission certificate as a transmission certificate mail, and transmits the transmission certificate mail based on the destination information of the transmission certificate mail.

  Thus, the transmission certificate mail is created based only on the language set in the display language information. That is, the transmission certificate mail is created as a single-part mail instead of a multipart / alternative multi-part mail. The recipient of the transmission e-mail is a user who operates the network multifunction peripheral 1, and is considered to use the language set in the display language information on a daily basis. Accordingly, since it is less necessary to create an English transmission certificate, the e-mail processing unit 17 creates a transmission certificate using the language set in the display language information. Alternatively, a Japanese transmission certificate and an English transmission certificate may be created to create a transmission certificate mail in the “multipart / alternative” format.

  As described above, the network multifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment changes the language for describing an e-mail text message in accordance with the type of e-mail to be transmitted. That is, when transmitting an I-FAX mail, a text message described in the language set in the display language information and English is created, and the body part is transmitted as a multipart mail in the “multipart / alternative” format. For this reason, the recipient of the I-FAX mail can check the content of the text message by selecting a text message written in a language that is easy to understand. In addition, the network multifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment creates and transmits a transmission certificate mail in the language set in the display language information. For this reason, the recipient of the transmission certificate mail can confirm the contents of the transmission certificate based on the language used on a daily basis.

  In this embodiment, I-FAX mail has been described as an example of transmitting a multipart / alternative multipart mail, but the present invention is not limited to this. Another example includes a case where the e-mail processing unit 17 transmits an e-mail based on a user operation.

  In the present embodiment, the e-mail text message has been described as an example of describing an e-mail text message in the language set in the display language information. However, the present invention is not limited to this. When a notification mail for notifying the user of the operation status of the network MFP 1 is transmitted, the notification mail may be created using the language set in the display language information. For example, a case where the operation log of the network multifunction device 1 is transmitted to the administrator as a notification mail can be considered.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the example in which the body part 22 is composed of the English part 222 and the Japanese part 223 has been described. However, the body part may be composed of text messages created in three or more languages. The configuration of the text part 22 is not limited to a combination of Japanese and English, but may be a combination of English and another language, or a combination of other languages.

  In the present embodiment, an example has been described in which the e-mail processing unit 17 creates the text part of the I-FAX mail in the “multipart / alternative” format, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the body part may be in a single part format in which an English text message and a Japanese text message are written together. Further, the body part may be created not in the “multipart / alternative” format but in another multipart mail format.

  In the present embodiment, the e-mail processing unit 17 describes an example in which an English text message and a Japanese text message are described in the body part. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an English text message and a Japanese text message may be attached. Even in this case, the two attached files can be in the “multipart / alternative” format.

1 is a configuration diagram of a network system including a configuration of a network multifunction peripheral according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation at the time of I-FAX mail transmission in the network multifunction peripheral according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of I-FAX mail.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Network multifunction device 11 Control part 12 Operation part 13 Touch panel type display 14 Scanner part 16 Storage part 17 E-mail process part 111 User information management part 112 Display information control part

Claims (3)

A display unit for displaying character information according to a user operation;
A display information control unit that sets the language of the character information displayed on the display unit to any one of a plurality of languages;
When creating a new e-mail, it is determined based on the type of the e-mail whether the e-mail corresponds to a plurality of languages or a single language, and the e-mail is made to correspond to a plurality of languages. If, by creating multiple language mail including a first message based on the first language set by the display information control unit, and a second message based on the second language included in the plurality of languages An email processing unit that creates and sends an email containing a first message when sending and supporting the email in a single language ;
With
Wherein the first message and the second message, see contains the same content,
The e-mail processing unit, as the e-mail, when creating a transmission certificate mail indicating a transmission result of image data created by reading a transmission original, the transmission mail is made to correspond to a single language, Network facsimile machine. The network facsimile apparatus according to claim 1,
The network facsimile apparatus, wherein the electronic mail processing unit associates the electronic mail with a plurality of languages when the electronic mail is transmitted as an Internet facsimile . In the network facsimile apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The multilingual mail is a multi-part type e-mail that allows a receiving device that receives the multilingual mail to select one of the processing of the first message and the second message. Network facsimile machine.

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