JPH02205168A - Fax mail processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute fine operation control service in correspondence to the actual situation of a user by fetching image information designed by a mail caller together with control data. CONSTITUTION:A FAX original 37 (image data of sheet on which the mail caller inscribes control information in a mask area) inputted by a FAX input/ output device 2 is fetched. These image data are extended and restored. The area on the FAX original 37 corresponding to the mask area, which is instructed by mail slip data read from a slip file 14, is scanned and the bit train of the area is extracted. Further, the above mentioned bit train is collated with the bit image of the mask instructed by the mail slip data and unnecessary data are excluded. Then, a control image 40 is prepared. Continuously, the control image 40 is registered to a control image file 15c.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a FAX mail processing device, and particularly to a FAX mail processing device that can use a part of FAX image information as management image data.
It relates to a mail processing device.

[Conventional technology]

In recent office automation, not only independent OA equipment is introduced and used in each office, but also OA equipment is being used as an integrated system in which each OA equipment is organically connected via communication lines. In particular, FAX is becoming popular as the F'AX mail system, which is connected to PBXs and computers.

In conventional FAX mail systems, management data such as destination number 2 sender number 1 date and time of sending, number of sheets sent, and charges are generally used as system operation management information. All of these management data are information generated within the system when a FAX document is sent and received, and are not information (images) included in the FAX document provided by the mail sender. Therefore, with only the above management data, there is a drawback that detailed operational management and services such as specifying a specific FAX mail and preferential retrieval and deletion cannot be provided. In particular, conventional management data does not include necessary and sufficient information for the operational services expected of storage type FAX mail systems.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The problem to be solved by the present invention, in other words, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a FAX mail processing device that improves the above-mentioned drawbacks by capturing image information specified by a mail sender together with the above-mentioned management data. be.

[Means to solve the problem]

The FAX mail processing device according to the present invention includes a mail form registration means for scanning a mail form inputted by a FAX input/output device, detecting the position of a mask, creating a mask bit image and registering it in a form file, and the FAX input/output device The FAX document inputted by is compared with the position of the mask and the mask bit image, and the
A management image extracting means extracts an image on the AX document as a management image and registers it in a management image file, and edits the management data and the management image related to transmission and reception of the fax document, and edits the image information on the fax document. and e-mail information display means for creating FAX e-mail management reports.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A FAX mail processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the FAX mail processing device 1 includes a mail form registration mechanism 11 that captures and registers a mail form indicating a mask in which a mail sender has designated an area in which management information is to be written, and a mail form registration mechanism 11 that captures and registers a mail form indicating a mask in which a mail sender specifies an area in which management information is to be entered. A form file 14 to be stored, a FAX mail registration mechanism 12 to capture and register a FAX manuscript, a manuscript file 15a to store the above-mentioned FAX manuscript, and management data to store management data (code information) regarding the above-mentioned FAX manuscript. File 15b
The sender of the email refers to the form file 14 and sends a fax.
A management image extraction mechanism 13 that imports management information entered in a manuscript as a management image, a management image file 15c that stores the management image, a fax mail output mechanism 16 that sends the fax manuscript to the destination, and a It has a mail information display mechanism 17 that edits management data and management images and displays them on the display device 4. Note that the manuscript file 15a, management data file 15b, and management image file 15c constitute a mailbox 15. Then, the FAX mail processing device 1 transfers the FAX manuscript input by the FAX input/output device 2 to the FAX input/output device 3.
It is being sent to

FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the mail form registration mechanism 11 and an explanatory diagram showing an example of a mail form. In step 21 of FIG. 2A, the mail sender inputs from the FAX input/output device 2 a mail form showing a mask indicating an area in which management information is to be written. In the mail form, for example, as shown in FIG. 2(b), the area indicating the mask 26 on the form 25 is filled in.

Step 22 expands and restores the compressed image data of the entire input form. Then, in step 23, the restored image of the form is scanned to locate the mask (see Figure 2).
(see l1m in b)) and create a bit image of the mask area. Subsequently, in step 24, the position of the mask and the bit image described above are stored in the form file 14 as mail form data.

FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) show the management image extraction mechanism 13.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure and an explanatory diagram showing an example of the processing. In FIG. 3A, step 31 takes in a FAX manuscript (image data of a sheet on which the mail sender has written management information in the masked area) inputted by FAX input/output device 2. Then, step 32 expands and restores the above image data.

Step 33 reads the mail form data corresponding to the above-mentioned FAX document from the form file 14.

At this time, the form file 14 is searched using, for example, the form number as a key.

Step 34 is the above-mentioned FAX corresponding to the mask area indicated by the email form data read from the form file 14.
Scans an area on the document and extracts the bit string. Further, in step 35, the above bit string is compared with the mask bit image specified by the mail form data to eliminate unnecessary data and create a management image. Then step 36
registers the above management image in the management image file 15c.

In FIG. 3(b), in the area corresponding to the mask of the FAX document 37, for example, a title 38 of the FAX document is written. The above step 34 cuts out the extracted image 39 from the FAX original 37.

Then, in step 35, the extracted images 39 and 26 are compared to create a management image 40.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of the mail information display mechanism 17. In the same figure, the title list 41 is the destination 41a.
The title 41b of the FAX manuscript sent out is shown. Here, the title 41b is one of the management images stored in the management image file 15c. Also sending report 4
2 and the reception report 43 are the management data file 15b.
Edited based on management data (code information) stored in

Note that the FAX mail registration mechanism 12 and the FAX mail output mechanism 16 have the same functions as those of the conventional FAX mail system, so a description thereof will be omitted.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the image data stored in each file of the form file 14 and the mailbox 15 is compressed and stored, and then read out, expanded and restored. Note that this is not a matter that limits the scope of the claims.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above in detail, according to the FAX mail processing device of the present invention, data added to a FAX document by a mail sender can be imported as operation management information of the FAX mail system, so it can be adapted to the actual situation of the user. This has the advantage that it is possible to realize a FAX mail system that provides detailed operational management services.

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[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a FAX mail processing device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a) and (b) are a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the mail form registration mechanism and an explanatory diagram showing an example of a mail form. , FIGS. 3A and 3B are a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the management image extraction mechanism and an explanatory diagram showing a processing example, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a mail management report. l...Fax mail processing device, 2, 3...
...FAX input/output device, 11...Mail form registration mechanism, 13...Management image extraction mechanism, 14
....Form file, 15c..Management image file, 17..Mail information display mechanism. Agent: Patent Attorney Shin Uchihara (&)

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] Mail form registration means for scanning a mail form input by a FAX input/output device, detecting the position of a mask, creating a mask bit image, and registering the mask bit image in a form file; management image extracting means for comparing the FAX document with the position of the mask and the mask bit image, extracting an image on the FAX document corresponding to the area of the mask as a management image, and registering the image in a management image file; A FAX mail processing device comprising a mail information display means for editing management data related to transmission and reception of a document and the management image, and creating a FAX mail management report including image information on the FAX document. .