JPH043551A - Facsimile store and forward exchange - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the distribution highly efficient by obtaining a length of each sheet based on a counted scanning line number and a designated scanning line density, discriminating a control sheet and an original sheet, converting an image data corresponding to the control sheet into a code data and distributing an image data of the inputted mail. CONSTITUTION:An input output control section 21 reads a scanning line density designated by a facsimile terminal equipment and detects the scanning line number of each sheet in cooperation with a scanning line number counter 23 at the reception of an image data. A sheet discrimination section 24 calculates the length of an input sheet based on the scanning line number indicated by the scanning line number counter 23 and the line density stored in a line density storage memory 22 and discriminates a control sheet and an original sheet depending on the length of the sheet. Thus, the recognition processing converting an image data into a code data is executed only for the control sheet and the read processing of the distribution destination information or the like is simplified. Thus, the mail distribution is implemented efficiently.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Purpose of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) This invention relates to a facsimile storage and forwarding device, and in particular stores image data of e-mail sent from a facsimile terminal and sends the image data to a specified destination. The present invention relates to a facsimile storage and forwarding device that distributes facsimile.

(Prior Art) When inputting mail from a facsimile terminal to a facsimile storage and forwarding device, it is necessary to notify the facsimile storage and forwarding device of control information such as a delivery destination. As means for easily inputting this distribution destination information from a facsimile terminal, there are known methods such as using a control sheet and inputting via a PB-phone.

The control sheet is a sheet capable of optical character recognition (OCR) or optical mark recognition (OMR) (hereinafter referred to as OCR).
10MR sheet) is used, and the facsimile storage and forwarding device is notified of the delivery destination based on the delivery destination information written on the control sheet. O for such control
The CR10MR sheet is added to the beginning of the original sheet, and O
One mail is composed of the CR10MR sheet and the original sheet.

In order to input multiple emails like this one after another and deliver each email to the specified destination, you need to use OCR10 for each email.
It is necessary to recognize the distribution destination information of the MR sheet. For this reason, conventional facsimile storage and forwarding devices are unable to determine which sheet out of multiple input sheets of image data is selected by OCR.
In order to detect whether it is a 0MR sheet, all the contents of the sheet are recognized for each sheet when inputting an email, and it is determined whether it is an OCR10MR sheet or a manuscript sheet from the contents written on the recognized sheet. There is.

OCR10MR first detected by this judgment process
The sheet from the sheet to the previous sheet of the next detected OCR10MR sheet is considered as one mail. Then, that one email is delivered to a predetermined destination specified by the delivery sea information of the corresponding OCR 10MR route.

In this way, conventionally, in order to distinguish between OCR/OMR sheets and original sheets, a process is performed to recognize the contents of all input sheets. Such recognition processing involves conversion processing from image data to code data, and thus requires a relatively large amount of time. Therefore, the conventional facsimile storage and forwarding apparatus has the drawback that it takes time to read the delivery destination information and cannot efficiently carry out mail delivery work.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) In the conventional facsimile storage and forwarding device, OCR10MR
In order to distinguish between a sheet and a manuscript sheet, processing was performed to recognize the contents of all input sheets, so it took time to read the delivery address information, making it difficult to perform email delivery tasks efficiently. there were.

This invention was made in view of these points, and OCR
To provide a facsimile storage/exchange device that can easily distinguish between a 10MR sheet and a manuscript sheet and efficiently execute mail distribution work.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) A facsimile storage and forwarding device according to the present invention stores image data of a mail sheet configured by adding a control sheet having a sheet length different from that of a document sheet to the beginning of the document sheet. a receiving means for receiving image data from the facsimile terminal; a counting means for counting the number of scanning lines for each sheet when image data is received by the receiving means; and a counting means for counting the number of scanning lines counted by the counting means and from the facsimile terminal. determining a sheet length for each sheet based on a specified scanning line density, and determining the control sheet and the original sheet based on the sheet length, and controlling according to the determination result of the determining means, a recognition means for converting the image data corresponding to the control sheet into code data and recognizing the mail delivery destination written on the control sheet; and delivering the inputted mail image data to the delivery address recognized by the recognition means. It is characterized by comprising a distribution means.

(Function) In this facsimile storage and exchange device, the sheet length is determined for each sheet based on the number of scanning lines and the scanning line density, and the control sheet and the original sheet are discriminated based on the sheet length. Therefore, recognition processing for converting image data into code data is performed only on the control sheet and not on the original sheet. Therefore, compared to conventional facsimile storage and exchange devices, which required conversion processing from image data to code data for every sheet, reading the delivery destination information is simplified, which makes mail delivery work more efficient. It is possible to execute it well.

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

FIG. 1 shows a facsimile storage and forwarding device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This facsimile storage/exchange device 11 stores image data of e-mails sent from each facsimile terminal 13 and delivers the image data to a designated destination. It is connected.

This facsimile storage and forwarding device 11 has an input/output control section 2.
1, a line density storage memory 22, a scanning line number counter 23, a sheet determination section 24, a character recognition section 25, a distribution control section 26, and an image storage section 27.

The input/output control unit 21 is for transmitting and receiving image data to and from each facsimile terminal 13, and is configured to control the scanning line density (lines/mm
), and when image data is received, the number of scanning lines (lines) of each sheet is detected from the image data in cooperation with the scanning line number counter 23.

Normally, prior to transmitting image data from the facsimile terminal 13, some value of scanning line density (lines/mm
), the facsimile terminal 13 notifies the facsimile storage and forwarding device 11 whether the transmission is to be executed or not, so the line density (lines/mm) of the scanning lines can be easily recognized from the notified information. Further, the facsimile terminal 13 generates a signal indicating the end of transmission for each page, and also generates a synchronization signal for each scanning line. Therefore, the number of scanning lines (lines) can be detected by counting the number of synchronization signals included in one sheet.

Line density storage memory 22 stores line density information of scanning lines read by input/output control section 21 . The scanning line number counter 23 is incremented by the detection signal of the output signal from the input/output control section 21, and thereby the number of scanning lines corresponding to one sheet is counted up by the scanning line number counter 23. be instructed.

The sheet determining unit 24 calculates the sheet length of the input sheet based on the number of scanning lines specified by the scanning line counter 23 and the line density stored in the line density storage memory 22, and determines the value of the calculated sheet length. When the sheet length matches the sheet length of the control OCR10MR sheet, the input sheet is determined to be an OCR10MR sheet.

Also, the calculated sheet length value is determined by the control OCR10MR.
If the length does not match the sheet length of the sheet, the input sheet is determined to be an original sheet.

The image storage section 27 stores image data received by the input/output control section 21 from the facsimile terminal 13 in units of sheets.

The character recognition unit 25 is controlled in operation based on the determination result of the sheet determination unit 24, and converts the image data into code data only for the input sheet determined to be an OCR10MR sheet, and converts the image data into code data. Recognizes the delivery destination information and delivery time information entered on the sheet.

The distribution control section 27 distributes one mail to the destination recognized by the character recognition section 25 at the time when the corresponding one mail is recognized.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of a mail sent from the facsimile terminal 13. One email is composed of a plurality of original sheets St to Sn and one OCR10MR sheet So added to the beginning of these original sheets 5l to 8n. In this case, OCR10MR sheet S
o has a different sheet length from the original sheets 81 to Sn, for example, B5. The sheet length is set to be longer or shorter than the standard for A4, 84, etc. FIG. 2 shows an example in which an OCR10MR sheet SO having a shorter sheet length than normal standard original sheets 81 to Sn is used.

Next, the operation of the facsimile storage/exchange device 11 when a plurality of e-mails in which an OCR10MR sheet is added to the beginning of a document sheet is input from the facsimile terminal 13 in succession will be described.

The facsimile storage and forwarding device 11 has the first OCR1
0MR sheet, 1st original sheet, 2nd OCR1
Image data is input in the order of 0MR sheet, second original sheet, and so on. These image data are stored in the image storage section 22, and the input/output control section 21
The number of scanning lines and scanning line density are read for each sheet. Then, the sheet determining unit 24 calculates the sheet length from the number of scanning lines and the scanning line density, and determines the type of sheet depending on whether the calculated sheet length matches the predetermined sheet length of the OCR10MR sheet. It is determined.

If the calculated sheet length matches the predetermined sheet length of the OCR10MR sheet, the image storage unit 27
The corresponding image data stored in is converted into code data by the character recognition unit 25,
The delivery destination information and delivery time information written on the sheet are recognized. Then, the information from that OCR10MR sheet to the previous sheet of the next sheet determined to be an OCR10MR sheet is sent as one e-mail to the facsimile terminal 13 of the designated destination.

In this manner, in this embodiment, an OCR10MR sheet and a manuscript sheet are distinguished based on the sheet length rather than the content written on the sheet. Therefore, there is no need to recognize the contents of all sheets, and O
It is only necessary to convert image data into code data for sheets determined to be CR10MR sheets to recognize the delivery destination and delivery time. Therefore, compared to the conventional facsimile storage and exchange device, which requires converting image data into code data by converting all sheets to 6'ζ size, the process of reading delivery destination information, etc. is simplified.
This makes it possible to efficiently perform mail delivery work.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it becomes possible to easily distinguish between an OCR10MR sheet and a manuscript sheet, and it becomes possible to perform mail distribution work efficiently.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile storage and forwarding device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a mailsheet used in a facsimile terminal to which the facsimile storage and forwarding device of FIG. 1 is connected. FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Facsimile storage and exchange device, 12... Communication network, 13... Facsimile terminal, 21... Input/output control section, 22... Linear density storage memory, 23... Scanning line number counter, 24 . . . sheet determination section, 25 . . . character recognition section, 26 . . . distribution control section, 27 . . . image storage section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A receiving means receives from a facsimile terminal image data of a mail sheet that is configured by adding a control sheet having a sheet length different from that of the original sheet to the beginning of the original sheet, and a scanning line is used when the receiving means receives the image data. A sheet length is determined for each sheet based on the number of scanning lines counted by the counting means and the scanning line density specified from the facsimile terminal, and the sheet length is calculated based on the sheet length. a discriminating means for discriminating between the control sheet and the original sheet, and controlling according to the discriminating result of the discriminating means, converting image data corresponding to the control sheet into code data, and distributing mail written on the control sheet. A facsimile storage/exchange device comprising: recognition means for recognizing a destination; and distribution means for delivering image data of the inputted mail to the distribution destination recognized by the recognition means.