JPH03289756A - Facsimile server - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically connect the reception information of facsimile equipment to a LAN by issuing the transmission request of an individual identification number from an individual identification information discriminator, and transmitting an electronic mail setting an address for electronic mail held with an electronic mail outgoing device as a destination when the request is received. CONSTITUTION:The individual identification information discriminator 13 outputs the transmission request of the individual identification signal to a telephone line when receiving facsimile, and also, sends reception image data to memory 14 when receiving the individual identification number via a bus 20, while, sends the reception image data to a printer controller 15 via the bus 20 when receiving no individual identification number. The electronic mail outgoing device 19 always monitors the bus 20, and when the reception image data is sent to the memory 14 via the bus 20, the address for electronic mail is found from an address conversion table for individual identification information- electronic mail, and sends out the reception image data to the LAN by converting to a format for electronic mail. In such a way, the reception information of the facsimile equipment can automatically be connected to the LAN.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a facsimile server, and particularly to a facsimile server for connecting a facsimile to a local area network (LAN).

(Prior Art) In recent years, more and more workplace environments are equipped with LANs. On the other hand, placing a facsimile machine in the workplace environment
Nowadays, it is very common that LAN and facsimile machines are used independently in such workplaces.

In conventional facsimile communication, as is well known, a calling facsimile calls a receiving facsimile using a telephone number, and once a protocol is established between the two, document information is transmitted. When the facsimile machine on the receiving side receives the document information, it prints it out using a printer, or if it has a confidential function, stores the received information in its memory, enters an ID code or password, and then prints it out. When this happens, the printer is activated and printed out.

Therefore, in order for the recipient to receive the document information, the recipient must either visit the location where the facsimile machine is installed or ask someone to bring it to them, which is inconvenient.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) Therefore, it is conceivable to connect the document information sent from the calling side facsimile to a LAN and receive it at a printer server connected to the LAN, but conventionally, Print out the information on the receiving side's facsimile machine and send it to the recipient.
The data can be entered into a workstation connected to the AN using a keyboard, etc., digitized, and then sent to the desired recipient via regular e-mail, or stored in the memory of the recipient's facsimile machine as described above. All that was considered was a method of attaching an e-mail address to the information and sending it over the LAN.

However, these methods require operations such as digitizing the document information received by the operator or facsimile and adding an e-mail address, which requires a large amount of effort and is not practical. There was a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile server that eliminates the problems of the conventional devices and can automatically connect information received by a facsimile machine to a LAN.

(Means and Effects for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim (1) provides for transmitting a request to send a personal identification number to the telephone line when a facsimile is received via the telephone line. At the same time as outputting the personal identification number, when the personal identification number is received, the received image data is sent to the memory via the bus,
On the other hand, when the personal identification number is not received, the personal identification information discriminating device sends the received image data to the printer control device via the bus; When sent to that memory,
The present invention is characterized in that it includes an e-mail sending device that obtains an e-mail address from a personal identification information-email address conversion table, converts the received image data into an e-mail format, and sends it to the LAN.

Further, the invention of claim (2) sends the received image data to the memory via the bus when the confidential box number is received;
On the other hand, when the confidential box number is not received, the personal identification information discriminating device sends the received image data to the printer control device via the bus, and the personal identification information discriminating device constantly monitors the bus and sends the received image data to the printer control device via the bus. and an e-mail sending device that obtains an e-mail address from a confidential box number-e-mail address conversion table when the received image data is sent to the memory, converts the received image data into an e-mail format, and sends it to the LAN. It is characterized by the fact that

According to the invention of claim (1), when a facsimile is received via a telephone line, communication according to a predetermined protocol is performed, and when communication conditions are established, the personal identification information discriminating device issues a request to send a personal identification number. Output to the telephone line. Next, the personal identification information discriminating device determines whether or not the personal identification number has been received, and if so, stores the received image data in the memory via the bus. On the other hand, if the personal identification number is not received, the received image data is sent to the printer control device and printed out.

The e-mail sending device always monitors the bus, and when the received image data is sent to the memory via the bus, the e-mail sending device converts the personal identification information to the e-mail address conversion table. It calculates an e-mail address from , converts the received image data into an e-mail format, and sends it to the LAN.

Through the above operations, the facsimile-transmitted image data can be directly connected to the LAN, and the LAN subscriber can directly receive the facsimile-transmitted image data from the workstation.

According to the invention of claim (2), when a facsimile is received via a telephone line, communication according to a predetermined protocol is performed, and when communication conditions are established, the personal identification information discriminating device issues a request to send a confidential box number. is output to the telephone line. Next, the personal identification information discriminating device determines whether or not the confidential box number has been received, and if so, stores the received image data in the memory via the bus. On the other hand, if the confidential box number is not received, the received image data is sent to the printer control device and printed out.

The e-mail sending device operates in the same manner as in claim (1) above, except that it obtains an e-mail address from the confidential box number-e-mail address conversion table.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of the invention.

In the figure, 1 is a facsimile server. The facsimile server 1 is configured with the following structural requirements 11 to 19.

11 is a facsimile network control unit (NCU) connected to a telephone line, 12 is a modem, and 13 is a personal identification information determination device. The personal identification information discriminating device 13 is composed of a CPU, a ROM, a speech synthesizer, etc. in terms of hardware. 14 is a memory.

Further, 15 is a printer control device, and 16 is a printer, which is used when outputting received image information as a hard copy or copying original information.

17 is an image input device, and 18 is a scanner, which is used when reading document information.

Reference numeral 19 denotes an e-mail sending device, which in terms of the /X-code includes a bus control unit connected to the bus 20, a workstation connected to the Ethernet 2, and a bus connecting the bus control unit and the workstation. It consists of

3 to 6 are workstations connected to the Ethernet 2, respectively.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

(1) Calling side facsimile device and facsimile server 1
First, an outline of the operation will be explained with reference to FIG. 2. When the facsimile server 1 is called by the telephone number of the calling facsimile device, the calling facsimile device, the facsimile network control device 11 of the facsimile server 1, the modem 12, and the personal identification information identification bag F11 are called.
Communication using a prescribed protocol is performed with the line control device consisting of 3. This determines the transmission procedure (for example, compression method, communication speed, etc.) between the two parties.

Next, the facsimile server 1 issues a request to send a personal identification number. For example, a message such as "Yes, this is ○○○O. Please enter your personal identification number." is sent to the calling party's facsimile machine via the telephone line. The message can be obtained by reproducing the message data stored in the ROM of the personal identification information discriminating device 13 into voice using a voice synthesis circuit.

When the operator of the calling facsimile machine receives the message, he inputs his personal identification number using the telephone's tone signal. When the personal identification information discriminating device 13 receives the personal identification number, it outputs a request to send image data. Then, the calling side facsimile machine responds to this by transmitting image data. The personal identification information discriminating device 13 receives the image data and thereafter operates as explained in the flowchart of FIG.

(2) Operation of the personal identification information discriminating device 13 FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the personal identifying information discriminating device 13.

First, it is determined whether or not there is human power from the telephone line (step Sl). If the determination is affirmative, communication parameters such as communication speed, compression method, etc. are set (step S2), and then a message requesting transmission of the personal identification number is sent (step S3).

Next, it is determined whether the personal identification number has been received within a predetermined time (steps S4 and S7), and if the answer is yes, the personal identification number is sent to the memory 14 (step S5).
, further sends image data (step S6). On the other hand, if the personal identification number is not received within the predetermined time, the image data is sent to the printer control device 15 (step S8).
).

As a result, if the personal identification number is input, the image data is temporarily stored in the memory 14, whereas if the personal identification number is not input, the image data is sent to the printer control device 15, and the image data is sent to the printer 16. It will be printed out immediately.

FIG. 4 shows a conceptual diagram of data stored in the memory 14. As shown in FIG. 2B, image data 14a and index 14b are stored in the memory.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the index 14b has registered therein an image data number, start and end addresses, and a personal identification number.

In the example shown in FIG.
It is shown that the personal identification number "2" is attached to the data.

(3) Operation of the e-mail sending device 19 The e-mail sending device 19 stores a correspondence table between personal identification numbers and e-mail addresses as shown in FIG. 5, for example. According to the table, the personal identification number rOJ corresponds to the address with the group name rRsTJ. Further, the personal identification numbers "1", "2", . . . correspond to addresses of personal names such as "rAbe", rKumaJ, . . . , respectively.

Next, the operation of the e-mail sending device 19 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The e-mail sending device 19 constantly monitors the bus 20 (step 511) and determines whether data has appeared on the bus 20 (step 512). When data appears on the bus 20 (step S12 is affirmative), it is determined whether the data has been sent to the memory 14 or the printer control device 15 (step 513).

When the determination in step S13 is affirmative, that is, when it is determined that the data has been sent to the memory 14, an operation is performed to read the data from the memory 14 (step 514). As described with reference to FIG. 4, the memory 14 stores the image data and the personal identification number, so the image data and the personal identification number are read out in step S14. Therefore, the e-mail sending device 19
In step 51, the image data and personal identification number are separated.
5), then converting the image data into an e-mail format (step 816). Note that the details of this conversion will be explained later.

Next, the e-mail address corresponding to the personal identification number is obtained from the table shown in FIG. 5, and the converted image data is sent to the e-mail address (step 5).
17).

As a result, the facsimile received information will be delivered to the workstation corresponding to the address.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S13 that the data has been sent to the printer control device 15 (step S13 is negative), the process proceeds to step S1g and the personal identification number "0" is determined.
For example, an rFAX was sent to the e-mail address corresponding to ". ” Send an email with the content. As mentioned above, the address is the name of the workplace group, so
The message is delivered to all workstations used by the group at the workplace. As a result, it can be seen that all members of the group receive the information by facsimile, and the received information is printed out as a hard copy from the printer 16 of the facsimile server 1.

Next, the details of the operation in step S16 will be explained in the seventh section.
This will be explained with reference to the figures.

Now, suppose that the bitmap data obtained when the document information read by the calling party's facsimile machine is digitized by the scanner is as shown in FIG.
The calling facsimile machine rearranges the bit data byte by byte in reverse order and transmits the rearranged bit data. Therefore, the bit data is stored in the memory 14 of the facsimile server 1 in the order shown in FIG.

For example, the first byte of the bitmap data of the document information read by the calling side facsimile machine is rl 1
There is 111100J, and the next 1 note is rollll
lllJ, the bytes are rearranged in the reverse order, ie, roolllllllJrl 1111100J, and sent from the calling facsimile machine.

Therefore, the bit data will be stored in the memory 14 in the order shown in FIG. 2(b).

Therefore, the e-mail sending device E19 rearranges the bit data read from the memory 14 to return to the original order, and further performs an operation of adding header information to the bit data. This operation forms the form shown in FIG. Note that "type", "width of bitmap", etc. are registered as the header information. The types include mail sheet, document, folder, mail folder, to campus, etc. In the case of this embodiment,
"Campus" is registered. Furthermore, the width of the bitmap is 11.5 mm in the main scanning direction. Alternatively, the width 11 in the main scanning direction and the width 12 in the sub-scanning direction are registered.

Next, mail information as shown in FIG. 3(d) is attached to the form. As the mail information, the destination, copy, date and time, etc. are registered.

Note that the e-mail address converted according to the table of FIG. 5 is entered in the destination.

With the above steps, the operation of step S16 is completed.

As is clear from the above description, according to this embodiment, the document information read by the calling side facsimile machine is automatically connected to the LAN without any human intervention such as an operator, and sent to the destination workstation. It will arrive.

FIG. 8 shows a modification of the one shown in FIG. 3. A feature of this modification is that a conventionally used confidential box signal is used as the personal identification number. That is, as shown in step S3-, it is determined whether the confidential box number has been received or not, and if the confidential box number has been received, the process is performed in step S4''.
Proceed to , and send the mailbox number to memory.

Note that when the personal identification information discriminating device 13 has the function shown in FIG.
Naturally, it is necessary to use a confidential box number instead of the personal identification number in the table shown in the figure.

(Effect of the invention) According to the facsimile server of the invention of claim (1), when the personal identification information discriminating device issues a request to send a personal identification number and receives the personal identification number, the e-mail sending device retains the personal identification number. An e-mail address is obtained from the personal identification number - e-mail address correspondence table, and an e-mail is sent using this address as the destination. This has the advantage that image data that has been received can be obtained from the workstation.

Furthermore, the workstation operator does not have to go to the location where the printer of the facsimile machine is installed to pick up the received papers, which is convenient.

According to the invention of claim (2), in addition to the above-mentioned effects, it is possible to use the conventionally used confidential box number.
This has the effect of making the device easy to design.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of communication between the calling side facsimile machine and the facsimile server according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an explanation of the operation of the personal identification information discriminating device. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of data stored in the memory, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a table for converting a personal identification number into an e-mail address, and FIG. 6 is a flow chart explaining the operation of the e-mail sending device. , FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an e-mail format creation method, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a modification of FIG. 3. 13...Personal identification information discrimination device, 14...Memory,
15...Printer control device, 19...E-mail sending device

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) When receiving a facsimile via a telephone line, a request to send a personal identification number is output to the telephone line, and
Personal identification information determination that sends the received image data to the memory via the bus when the personal identification number is received, and sends the received image data to the printer control device via the bus when the personal identification number is not received. a device that constantly monitors the bus, and when the received image data is sent to the memory via the bus, obtains an e-mail address from a personal identification information-email address conversion table, and converts the received image data 1. A facsimile server comprising an e-mail transmitting device that converts an e-mail into an e-mail format and sends the converted e-mail to a LAN. (2) When receiving a facsimile via a telephone line, it is determined whether or not a confidential box number has been received, and when the confidential box number is received, the received image data is sent to the memory via the bus, while the confidential box a personal identification information discriminator that sends the received image data to the printer control device via the bus when the number is not received; and a personal identification information discriminator that constantly monitors the bus and sends the received image data to the memory via the bus. When you receive a message, please enter your confidential box number -
A facsimile server comprising an e-mail sending device that obtains an e-mail address from an e-mail address conversion table, converts the received image data into an e-mail format, and sends it to a LAN. (3) When the received image data is sent to the printer control device via the bus, the received image data is output from the printer, and the e-mail sending device sends a facsimile to a predetermined e-mail address. 3. The facsimile server according to claim 1, wherein a message indicating that the facsimile has been received is sent to the LAN.