JPH06164645A - Communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transmit data from a facsimile equipment to a work station on a LAN as an electronic mail. CONSTITUTION:When a call is originated from a facsimile terminal connected to an ISDN 2 and terminated at a communication equipment 5, an incoming sub-address is detected and when the address is registered on the table of an address storage part 11, the call is terminated. After the call is terminated, data are received at an ISDN data communication sequence control part 7, and the electronic mail address of the LAN corresponding to the incoming sub-address is extracted by an address control part 12 while referring to the table of the address storage part 11. The ISDN data communication sequence control part 7 transmits the received message data through a LAN interface part 10 to a specified work station 3a on a LAN 4 based on the electronic mail address.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device, particularly a digital public network (ISDN) and a local area network (L).
AN) and a communication device that transmits and receives data to and from each other.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, for example, an integrated service digital network (ISDN) is becoming popular as a digital line capable of transmitting a large amount of data at high speed due to the development of a communication network.
On the other hand, a local area network (LAN) using, for example, Ethernet is widely used as a network within a limited area such as a company, and a printer or a personal computer connected to this is used. Data is exchanged between people.
However, this LAN is only a network within a limited area, and communication with remote areas and LA
When trying to connect Ns, it was necessary to use a cheap but slow telephone line or a fast but expensive private line.

By the way, at the present time when inexpensive and high-speed digital lines typified by ISDN have begun to spread, an environment where a wide area network including the LAN can be easily realized by using a public digital network is being prepared, and an existing LAN is being established. LAN of a remote place via wide area network (WAN: Wide Area Network) without changing the user environment.
Being able to communicate with is becoming important.

Therefore, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-44239, a document created / edited by a workstation (hereinafter, also referred to as WS) which is a communication terminal is transferred to another WS via a LAN. Transmission has been performed conventionally. This is called so-called e-mail, and in standard e-mail of UNIX workstations, the destination is designated using the account name and the domain name, and the e-mail is transmitted. The operation for sending an e-mail is performed using the domain name, but internally it has an IP (Internet Protocol) address corresponding to this, and the IP address is used in the actual communication procedure of the lower layer (layer). And send it to the destination.

The ISDN address plan is CCIT
It is specified in E164 (I.331) of T recommendation, and a specific terminal is selected from a plurality of terminals on a user-network interface connected to a bus to receive an incoming call.
Further, the LAN address plan is centrally determined by the IEEE standard, and is determined by the physical address and the internet address.

Further, a facsimile machine is a communication means developed using a PSTN line which is a public telephone network. Therefore, even if an attempt is made to send data to a WS user who is connected to a LAN at a remote location using a facsimile device, it is not possible to specify a specific individual and send the facsimile data. As for the operating system of WS, UNIX is currently the mainstream,
Since this UNIX standardly supports a LAN, data communication between workstations can be easily performed. For this reason, e-mail is well developed,
The communication data in the electronic mail is mainly character data (character data).

On the other hand, in the business world, the facsimile communication does not require keyboard input and can also send a chart, so that it is now very often used for document communication.

[0008]

As described above, in the conventional communication device, the wide area network such as ISDN and LA are used.
When communication is performed by connecting to a regional information communication network such as N, there is a problem that data cannot be exchanged as they are because the communication protocols and address systems are different.

Particularly, in the case of the above-mentioned publication example, CC. Since the extended address added to the incoming packet conforming to 25 is used, a special group 4 (G4) facsimile machine having the function is required, and a group 3 (G3) facsimile machine having a different communication protocol procedure is used. There was a problem that I could not communicate. The present invention is
The ISDN has been made in view of the above conventional problems.
In order to allow a specific user of the WS connected to the LAN to specify it by using the sub-address function of, the communication protocol of facsimile communication and electronic mail is provided.
An object of the present invention is to provide a communication device capable of transmitting facsimile data like an electronic mail from a facsimile device connected to N to a workstation on a LAN.

[0010]

The invention according to claim 1 is
In a communication device that is connected to an ISDN and a LAN and that transmits data sent via the ISDN to a communication terminal connected to the LAN, a receiving unit that receives the data sent via the ISDN, An address comparison storage means for storing the destination subaddress of the ISDN and the electronic mail address of the communication terminal connected to the LAN in a contrast manner, and an electronic reference of the destination subaddress of the received data from the ISDN by referring to the address comparison storage means. It is characterized by comprising address conversion means for converting to a mail address and transmission means for transmitting the received data from the ISDN to a communication terminal connected to a LAN based on the converted electronic mail address.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the communication apparatus according to the first aspect, the receiving means is a G3 facsimile. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the communication device according to the first aspect, the receiving means is a G4 facsimile. The invention according to claim 4 is the communication apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that it is provided with a data storage means for temporarily storing the data sent via the ISDN. Communication device.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the communication device according to the first aspect, the receiving means includes a G3 facsimile and a G4 facsimile.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the communication device according to the fifth aspect, after the data transmitted via the ISDN is received, a data accumulating unit that temporarily accumulates the data is provided.

[0013]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the data transmitted via the ISDN is received by the receiving means, and the ISD is received.
The destination address is converted into an e-mail address while referring to the address comparison storage means that compares and stores the destination address of N and the e-mail address of the communication terminal connected to the LAN, and the received data from the ISDN is transmitted to the LAN communication terminal. Since it is sent to the ISDN, the call from the communication terminal connected to the ISDN is connected, the user of the communication terminal connected to the LAN is specified, and the data is transmitted to a specific destination like the e-mail on the LAN. Can be sent to.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the G3 facsimile is used as the receiving means according to the first aspect, the facsimile data of the group 3 sent from the G3 facsimile terminal connected to the ISDN is specified to be connected to the LAN. Can be sent to the user of the communication terminal. According to the invention of claim 3, since the G4 facsimile is used as the receiving means of claim 1, the group 4 facsimile data sent from the G4 facsimile terminal connected to the ISDN is connected to the specific communication terminal connected to the LAN. Can be sent to users of.

In the invention described in claim 4, since the communication device according to claims 1 to 3 temporarily stores the data by the data storage means after receiving the data transmitted via the ISDN, the data is generally stored. It can be applied as a fax server or a facsimile mail system having an exchange function. According to the invention of claim 5, since the G3 facsimile and the G4 facsimile can be selectively used as the receiving means of the claim 1, the communication terminal is either the G3 facsimile or the G4 facsimile connected to the ISDN. The received data can be received, and the received data can be transmitted to the user of a specific communication terminal connected to the LAN.

According to the invention of claim 6, since the data is temporarily stored by the data storage means after the data transmitted via the ISDN by the communication device of claim 5 is received, the communication device is connected to the ISDN. It is possible to receive data sent from any communication terminal such as a G3 facsimile machine or a G4 facsimile machine, and it can be applied as a fax server or a facsimile mail system having a store and exchange function.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network configuration example connected via a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a facsimile terminal connected to ISDN2, 1a is a G4 facsimile terminal, 1b is a G3 / G4 facsimile terminal having both G3 and G4 facsimiles, and 1c is a G3 facsimile terminal. 3 is a workstation (W) of a communication terminal connected to a LAN (local area network) 4.
S). 5 connects ISDN2 and LAN4,
It is a communication device that exchanges data with each other.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration example of the communication device of FIG. In the figure, 6 is an ISDN interface unit which is connected to ISDN 2 and takes in data sent via ISDN and separates it into Dch data such as destination subaddress and Bch data such as message, and 7 from ISDN interface unit 6. Is an ISDN data communication procedure control unit that receives the Bch data of the above and performs communication protocol processing in facsimile communication. In the present embodiment, the ISDN data communication procedure control unit 7 uses the G3 facsimile, the G4 facsimile, or the G3 facsimile.
A 3 / G4 facsimile or the like is used. 8 is IS
A data storage unit that stores message data received via the DN, and an LA that performs communication protocol processing for a specific workstation connected to the LAN.
N data communication procedure control unit, 10 is a LAN interface unit connected to LAN 4 for exchanging data, 11
Is an address storage unit including a table for storing the ISDN destination address and the LAN electronic mail address in association with each other, and 12 is a Dch from the ISDN interface unit 6.
This is an address control unit that selects an e-mail address of the LAN corresponding to the destination sub-address and sends it to the LAN data communication procedure control unit 9 while referring to the address storage unit 11 based on the destination sub-address based on the control data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a comparison storage table of ISDN destination subaddresses and LAN electronic mail addresses stored in the address storage unit of FIG. Next, the operation will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 1, a facsimile data transmission operation is performed from the facsimile terminal 1 (1a, 1b, 1c) on the transmitting side. At that time, the ISDN number and the sub-address corresponding to the destination and the recipient of the facsimile data are input from the facsimile terminal 1.
Specifically, after the ISDN number is input, the sub address is input using the function keys of the facsimile terminal 1 to make a call.

Then, a call is made from the facsimile terminal 1 and an incoming call is made at the communication device 5 via the ISDN 2. At the time of this incoming call, the subaddress in the call setup message (SET UP) is registered in the table of FIG. Whether or not it is determined by the address storage unit 11 and the address control unit 12 in FIG. If registered, ISDN of communication device 5
The data communication procedure control unit 7 accepts an incoming call from the facsimile terminal 1, and at the same time, the sender facsimile terminal 1
Discriminates between the group 3 (G4) standard and the group 4 (G4) standard, and receives data according to each communication protocol.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the data received by the ISDN data communication procedure control unit 7 has the MH (Modified) in the case of G3 or G4 facsimile communication as the information of the sender or the attribute of the data. Huffman), MR (Modified
Read), MMR (Modified Modifed Read), and other types of code, and transmission paper size types such as A4 and B4 versions, along with these, the telegram data to be transmitted on the TCP / IP network. (Ssimple Mail Transfer)
In accordance with a procedure such as Protocol), the e-mail address corresponding to the sub-address input on the transmission side is read out with reference to the address storage section 11 described above, and the LAN data communication procedure control section 9 determines the LAN address based on this e-mail address. Data is sent to a particular recipient on the side.

The above-mentioned ISDN destination sub-address has been conventionally used to designate a desired terminal from a plurality of terminals on the ISDN bus wiring. However, wide area network (WA
When communicating with a specific workstation on the LAN via ISDN (N), it is impossible to directly communicate as it is because the communication protocol and the address main body are different. Therefore, in the present embodiment, first, the call setting operation is performed from the calling facsimile terminal 1 shown in FIG. 1 to the communication device 5. This call setup message contains the called subaddress. From ISDN2,
The destination subaddress received by the address control unit 12 via the ISDN interface unit 6 is stored in the address storage unit 1
1 is compared with the destination sub-address stored in advance. If the received sub-address is stored in the address storage unit 11, the incoming call is accepted. Also,
When an incoming sub-address not stored in the address storage unit 11 is received, the incoming call is rejected.

Then, by referring to the address storage unit 11 immediately after the incoming call or after the receiving operation is completed in the case of storing and transferring, a specific work corresponding to the incoming sub-address connected on the LAN 4 is obtained. Retrieve the email address of the station (eg 3a) and send the data to that workstation. At the workstation 3a that has received the data, a received mail for each user is created based on the account name. S
Delivery by MTP is performed up to the host name (domain name) of the workstation. Then, when the person having the login name (user name) who is the actual transmission destination actually views the transmission data, the user logs in to the workstation and retrieves the data by a mail command or the like.

Although the data communication procedure in the ISDN described above shows the example using the G3 facsimile terminal or the G4 facsimile terminal, the present invention is not limited to this, and file transfer by a personal computer (PC) or the like can be performed. . Further, as the communication protocol of the electronic mail on the LAN, SMTP is used in the above embodiment.
However, the present invention is not limited to this.

Further, when the communication device of this embodiment is used as a fax server, the received data is temporarily stored here by providing a data storage unit 8 in the communication device 5 as shown in FIG. Will be able to
It is also possible to deliver this accumulated data to other communication terminals.

[0027]

According to the invention of claim 1, the ISDN
Received data sent via, detects the destination subaddress of ISDN, converts it to the corresponding e-mail address, and receives the data from ISDN to a specific communication terminal connected on the LAN. The data sent via ISDN is sent to the LAN.
LAN for users of specific communication terminals connected to
You can send the data similar to the email above.

According to the invention of claim 2, since the G3 facsimile is used as the receiving means of claim 1, the G3 facsimile data sent from the G3 facsimile terminal connected to the ISDN is received, LAN
The data can be transmitted to the user of the specific communication terminal connected to. According to the third aspect of the invention, since the G4 facsimile is used as the receiving means of the first aspect, the G4 facsimile data sent from the G4 facsimile terminal connected to the ISDN is received, and L
Data can be sent to the user of a specific communication terminal connected to the AN.

According to the invention described in claim 4,
In the communication device described in No. 3, since the data stored via the ISDN is temporarily stored in the data storage means, it can be used as a fax server or a facsimile mail system. According to the invention described in claim 5, since the G3 facsimile and the G4 facsimile can be selectively used as the receiving means according to claim 1, the G3 facsimile connected to the ISDN or the G3 facsimile can be used.
Even if data is sent from any of the four facsimile communication terminals, the data can be received, and the received data can be reliably transmitted to the user of a specific communication terminal connected to the LAN.

According to the invention described in claim 6, the data sent to the communication device according to claim 5 via ISDN is temporarily stored by the data storage means.
When data is sent from either a G3 facsimile terminal or a G4 facsimile terminal connected to the DN, the data can be received and can be used as a fax server or a facsimile mail system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a network configuration connected via a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an internal configuration of the communication device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a comparison storage table of a destination sub-address of ISDN and an e-mail address of LAN stored in the address storage unit of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Facsimile Terminal 2 ISDN 3 Work Station (WS) 4 LAN 5 Communication Device 6 ISDN Interface Section 7 ISDN Data Communication Procedure Control Section 8 Data Storage Section 9 LAN Data Communication Procedure Control Section 10 LAN Interface Section 11 Address Storage Section 12 Address Control Section

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display location H04M 11/00 303 8627-5K H04N 1/00 104 Z 7046-5C

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An ISDN connected to an ISDN and a LAN.
In a communication device for transmitting data transmitted via a LAN to a communication terminal connected to a LAN, receiving means for receiving data transmitted via an ISDN, a destination subaddress of the ISDN and the LAN Address comparison storage means for storing the electronic mail address of the connected communication terminal in contrast, and address conversion means for referring to the address comparison storage means for converting a destination subaddress of the received data from the ISDN into an electronic mail address , The ISD based on the converted email address
A communication device comprising: a transmitting unit that transmits the received data from N to a communication terminal connected to a LAN. 2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit is a G3 facsimile. 3. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit is a G4 facsimile. 4. The communication device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein after receiving data transmitted via said ISDN,
A communication device comprising a data storage means for temporarily storing this. 5. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a G3 facsimile and a G4 facsimile as the receiving means. 6. The communication device according to claim 5, wherein after receiving the data transmitted via the ISDN,
A communication device comprising a data storage means for temporarily storing this.