JPH10107842A - Communication equipment for recognizing and transmitting identifier of remote equipment corresponding to recognized identifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transmit and receive data corresponding to facsimile and electronic mail transmission protocols by providing a mechanism used for effectively transmitting information to another equipment. SOLUTION: A controller 214 receives input from a scanner 204, a keyboard 206 and a microphone 218, performs output to a display 208, a printer 210 and a speaker 216, transmits and receives commands and data between a modem 212 so as to control the operation of this communication equipment and controls respective operations. That is, in this case, a destination specified by a telephone number is recognized so as to transmit digital data to a facsimile equipment specified by the telephone number corresponding to the facsimile transmission protocol and responding is performed to the destination specified by an electronic mail address so as to transmit the digital data to an electronic mail box specified by the electronic mail address corresponding to the electronic mail transmission protocol.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application is filed on Feb. 6, 1996 and filed with U.S. Pat.
This is a continuation application of No. 95,911.

[0002] The present invention relates generally to the field of electronic communication devices, and more particularly to devices for transmitting and receiving data according to facsimile and electronic mail transmission protocols.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Facsimile (fax) devices are a common mechanism for transmitting information. This device is relatively easy to use and its transmission is quick and inexpensive. In addition, the paper input and output to most fax machines is attractive to those who prefer documents copied on paper and do not want to send and receive information by computer. For those who prefer computers more,
Electronic mail (e-mail) is considered to be an even faster and cheaper way of transmitting information. If compatible viewing software is available, documents created on a computer (like most documents) can be sent, received, and reviewed without generating paper copies. The increased use of wide area personal networking organizations, ie, the access of wide area public networks (WANs) such as the Internet, has made e-mail better by allowing it to be sent to a wider group of users. Make it more profitable.

[0004] To date, facsimile and e-mail devices are for the most part separated, with fax communications being performed by a particular fax machine and e-mail communications being performed by a general purpose desktop computer. I have. Users who want to send documents via e-mail must have access to a desktop computer, and users who want to fax documents must use a separate fax machine. When a general purpose computer is suitably configured with a fax / data modem that receives and sends according to both facsimile and data communication protocols, it can send and receive documents according to fax or e-mail protocols. However, such operations are not always easy and often require a general knowledge of the operating environment of a computer.

[0005] For example, desktop computers having the necessary hardware for sending and receiving e-mail and fax messages are also equipped with programs that can send and receive e-mail messages and programs that can send and receive fax messages. Must be loaded. Local area networks (LAs) such as those found in many office environments
N) If the desktop computer sends and receives e-mail and fax messages to and from a modem connected to the computer in N), access to the network is typically obtained by entering an appropriate username and password. Must be done. In other environments, such as a home environment, because the desktop computer is not connected to a LAN, access to the network may be limited to a private provider or a private provider for e-mail access to a public WAN, such as the Internet. Obtained by telephone connection. In any environment, the user must interact with the computer's operating system and the programs required to send and receive fax and e-mail messages. further,
If the user wishes to send a paper document, the document must first be converted to a digital format via a scanner. In such situations, fax /
To generate a file containing digital data representing the scanned image in a format recognizable by the software controlling the operation of the modem, the user must interact with the software controlling the operation of the scanner. .

As can be seen from the above description, properly configuring a computer requires a number of steps, including interacting with programs on the computer, to achieve the desired communication.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a first object of the present invention to facilitate the use of a communication device for transmitting and receiving information according to both facsimile and electronic mail communication protocols. According to this purpose, a destination identifier for identifying a remote communication device such as a facsimile device or an e-mail device can be recognized and the document can be transmitted according to the communication protocol used for the identified device. An easy-to-use communication device is disclosed herein. The communication device is made to effectively and easily use the interface with a limited number of required inputs to send the document, allowing the user to access a specific program, such as is required in the case of a desktop computer. And / or no need to have knowledge of the use of the operating system. When the user wants to send a document, he places the paper document to be sent in the scanner, enters a destination identifier, either a telephone number or an email address, and presses the send button. The communication device determines whether the destination identifier is a telephone number or an email address and sends the document according to a communication protocol corresponding to the type of device identified.

In accordance with another object of the present invention, a communication device can retrieve mail messages stored in a remote electronic mailbox. The user inputs a mail address for a message to be searched, and presses an e-mail search button. The communication device starts communication with the post office corresponding to the input e-mail address and transmits an e-mail message stored in a specific mailbox. In this communication device, the user can effectively select to search all messages in the mailbox and to search a list of all messages in the mailbox. When either is selected, the retrieved information is printed for review by the user. If a list is selected, the printed list contains a unique identifier for each mail message. Thus, the user can enter the identifier of each message that he or she wants to search. The communication device responds by retrieving and printing each selected message.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A communication device, described generally above and described in more detail below, is preferably contained within a single housing and effectively transmits information to another device. To provide a flexible mechanism that is easy to use. By allowing the user to select the form of receiving the transmitted document, the communication device can be tailored to the communication form of the receiving device.

[0010] These and other features and advantages of the present invention can be better understood in consideration of the following detailed description of certain preferred embodiments of the invention. The embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, it is operative to transmit information contained within document 101 and to receive the information at a plurality of remotely located communication devices indicated at 102-105. The communication device 100 transmits and receives information at the facsimile devices 102 to 103 according to the facsimile communication protocol, and transmits and receives information at the electronic mailboxes 104 to 105 according to the electronic mail communication protocol. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication device 100 has a CCI
It communicates according to a facsimile communication protocol in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) 106 as defined by TT Group III. E-mail communication may be performed by a serial line Internet protocol (SLIP) or point-to-point protocol (PPP) at the PSTN 106 by a router 107 that connects to the high-speed backbone of the Internet to send and receive information between the communication device 100 and the Internet. PSTN10 in the form of
6 by setting up a communication link (both protocols are referred to as SLIP / PPP). Routers are typically TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol /
A simple mail transfer protocol (SMT) used by a set of protocols called the Internet Protocol
Send and receive e-mail messages according to P). As recognized by those skilled in the art, the TCP / IP group of protocols is a widely used set of communication protocols. The overall structure and characteristics of TCP / IP can be found in the literature (Tim Parker, 1985, Ch. 12, Q
ue Corporation (Indianapolis, IN 46290)). As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art in light of this disclosure, the term router refers to a module that makes a connection between two networks that both operate according to the same type of protocol, in this case TCP / IP.
Used to indicate the function performed by 107.
The functions performed by the routers 107-109 may be performed by communication services that access the Internet via a dial-up connection. Remote mail servers, indicated by 110 and 111, respectively, receive e-mail messages 104 and 105
An e-mail box indicated by is provided.

The configuration of FIG. 1 merely illustrates one method of coupling the communication device 100 to a remote electronic mailbox. The connection between the communication device 100 and the Internet 112 can take several forms. For example, the communication device 100 is connected to the router 107 by a LAN,
STN 106 can be bypassed. PSTN106
If one is used to communicate with the router 107, more permanent connections can be used in one of several forms, including a dial-up line or in the form of a leased line.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the main hardware elements 204 to 214 of the communication device 100. Element 204
Through 214 are preferably housed in a single housing 202. Scanner 204 receives document 101, and receives document 101.
Generates digital data indicating the information contained in the.
Scanner 204 is a Hewlett-Packard ScanJet4Si
It may be. ScanJet 4Si is a monochrome scanner that produces resolutions up to 300 dots per inch (dpi). Other types of scanners producing more or less than 300 dpi resolution can also be used.
For example, 200 dpi can be used to reduce the amount of data transmitted, while maintaining acceptable resolution. Still referring to FIG.
In some embodiments, the communication device may further include an information output speaker 216 and an information input microphone 218.

The keyboard 206, shown in more detail in FIG. 3A with the display 208, includes a QWERTY-type keypad 230 for inputting alphanumeric and punctuation symbols.
, Telephone-type keypad 232 with 12 keys for entering numbers
, And 234 and 236. Button 234 facilitates entry of destination identification information. The "Erase" button deletes the last quoted character, and the "@" button and ".com"
The button shortens by entering the characters "@" and ".com" respectively, and the "Redial" button makes the previously entered telephone number or e-mail address reusable. Button 236 allows input of commands for controlling operation of the device. The “Start” button clears display 208 and allows entry of destination identification information via keypad 230. The "Send" button, when pressed after destination identification information has been entered, initiates the transmission as described in more detail in FIG. The "Stop" button stops the current operation of the device. The “S / D” button switches between a standard scanning resolution and a detailed scanning resolution.

By selecting a standard resolution, 200 dpi in the horizontal direction and 100 dpi in the vertical direction for scanning the image, and selecting a fine resolution, the horizontal resolution when scanning the image by the scanner 204 is selected. Produces higher resolution, such as 200 dpi, in both direction and vertical. Especially in email transmission,
Higher resolutions, such as 300 dpi, can be used for more detailed and accurate generation of the transmitted image.
The "E-mail" button initiates an e-mail search from a remote mailbox in the manner described in more detail in FIG. The "Print" button allows the printing of a particular retrieved message and a list of retrieved messages.

The QWERTY type keypad 230 receives the voice input through the microphone 218, recognizes each alphanumeric character individually broadcast in the form of a human voice, and recognizes the next character on the display 208 as the next character. Can be exchanged for a single text-to-speech recognition module for inputting characters. The "erase" button can be used to erase incorrectly recognized characters. An example of such a keyboard and display is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3b, it is useful to have a telephone-type keypad 232 and additional buttons 234 and 236 to facilitate telephone number entry and repeat dialing. However, such buttons can be eliminated to reduce costs, but speech recognition alone is considered to be an effective means for inputting destination identifiers and motion commands. Maximum flexibility can be achieved by combining the speech recognition module with the embodiment of FIG. 3a, which allows entry of destination identification information by voice or pressing the appropriate key / button.

[0017] Other types of speech recognition can also be used to process the input. For example, 234 and 23
The buttons found in 6 are "Start", "Send", "Print", "at" (for the @ button), and ".
m "is replaced or used in conjunction with a speech recognition module that recognizes complete spoken word commands such as m".
-Can be used to recognize email addresses.

A display 208 is a liquid crystal display (LC) that displays alphanumeric characters for visually displaying commands input through the keyboard 206 and destination identification.
It can take the form of D). LCD display
208 is also "connected" to indicate a connection to the remote communication device, "sends" to indicate transmission of information to the remote communication device, and is not connected to the remote communication device. Provide status information for the communication device, such as "not connected" to indicate that Printer
210 may take the form of a plain paper printer, such as a laser or ink jet printer. Printers include, for example, Hewlett-Packard (PaloAlto, Cali)
fornia) laser jet printer. Printer 210 operates to print facsimile and e-mail communications received by the communication device. Fax / data modem 212 operates according to the CCITT Group III protocol for transmitting and receiving information by facsimile. Fax / data modem 212 also sends and receives data according to SMTP for sending and receiving email messages. Fax / data modem 21
2 typically communicate on a pair of twisted pairs connected to the modem by an RJ11 connector. In other embodiments, modems or similar types of devices capable of communicating on different types of lines, such as coaxial or fiber optic cables, can be used.

The controller 214 includes an associated random access memory (RAM) for temporary storage, a read-only memory (ROM) for storage of control programs, and a non-volatile memory for storage of changeable parameters. Takes the form of a microprocessor having a random access memory (NOVRAM). One example of such a microprocessor is the 804 from Intel (Santa Clara, California).
86 processor. The control device 214 includes elements 204, 206,
And 218 and receive inputs from elements 208, 210, and 216.
To control the operation of elements 204, 206, 208, 210, 212, and 216 by transmitting and receiving commands and data to and from modem 212 to control the operation of the communication device.

The communication device, when connected to an electrical energy source, sets itself in a state ready to begin (1) sending information in a facsimile or e-mail format, or (2) retrieving an e-mail message. It is preferable to reset. Any of these functions can be started by pressing the "Start" button and entering the destination identifier. Transmission of information is performed by pressing a "Send" button, and retrieval of information is performed by pressing an "E-mail" button. Prior to transmitting the information, "S / S" is selected to select the desired resolution for the scan.
The "D" button can be pressed, and the transmission or retrieval of information can be terminated at any time by pressing the "Stop" button.

The function performed by the communication device is a ROM
, And is preferably executed by the controller 214. Such a routine is a domain name service (DNS) customer routine that obtains a numeric Internet Protocol (IP) address from an alphanumeric address entered by a user in an e-mail communication, sends an e-mail message and Receive SMTP mail customer routine, and DNS and SMTP routines and modem 212
The execution of a TCP / IP stack that transfers information to and from the lower level physical interface performed by the Tx. In facsimile communication, image compression and decompression routines are used to compress transmitted images and decompress received images. The file encoding and decoding routines are
Operate to encode and decode information transmitted and received according to UENCODE / UUDCODE and MIME formats. The fax protocol stack handles the transfer of information between the physical interface configured by the modem 212 and the higher levels that perform the encoding / decoding and compression / decompression routines. The communication device further includes a print formatter routine for formatting the information to be printed, and displaying the information on a display 208 and input devices
Use a user interface routine that accepts input entered via 0,232,234, or 236.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating functions performed by a communication device that transmits a document 101 according to a fax or e-mail transmission protocol.
When the user wants to send a document via the communication device, he properly places the document in the scanner 204, presses the "Start" button, enters a destination identifier via the keyboard 206, and presses the "Send" button. If the document is to be sent to a remote fax machine, the destination identifier is in the form of a telephone number identifying the telephone number to be dialed for transmission to the remote fax machine. If the document is to be sent to a remote e-mail box, the destination identifier is in the form of an Internet e-mail address to identify the e-mail box. As is known, such addresses typically take the following form: Mailbox Name—Domain Name Here, the mailbox name identifies the user's electronic mailbox, and the domain name identifies an area or device associated with the user's login account. The user's e-mail box performs e-mail send, receive, and store functions to perform the functions of an e-post office associated with the user having the mailbox rights identified by the mailbox name. .

When the "Send" button is pressed, at 302, the communication device 100 begins scanning the document 101 and reads the destination identifier entered by the user. At 304,
The communication device analyzes the destination identifier to determine whether it is in the form of a telephone number or an email address. This is accomplished by performing the steps shown in FIG. 6 which execute a destination identifier determination routine.

As shown in FIG. 6, the routine is entered in step 502, and if an English or $ character is found in the destination identifier at 504, the destination identifier is parsed and at 506 it is parsed. The e-mail address is determined and at 512 the routine is output. Otherwise, it is determined in step 508 that the destination is a telephone number, and in step 510 dashes, dots,
Characters unrelated to the identifier, such as parentheses or slashes, are ignored in determining the telephone number identified by the destination identifier. Thereafter, at step 512, the routine is output. The communication device 100 can be programmed with a region code and a country code, where applicable, the region code and the country code corresponding to the stored region code and the country code are ignored in determining the destination identifier. .

If the destination identifier is in the form of a telephone number, the document 101 is sent according to the facsimile communication protocol.
To send the information contained in the remote facsimile machine identified by the entered destination identifier,
The communication device performs the functions shown at 306, 308, and 310. If the destination identifier is in the form of an e-mail address, a communication device is provided to transmit the information contained in the document 101 to a remote e-mail box identified by the input destination identifier according to an e-mail protocol. Performs the functions shown at 312, 314, and 316.

If it is determined at 304 that the destination identifier is a telephone number, at 306 the communication device dials the number. If the connection cannot be successful at 308, an appropriate message is generated on the display 208, the failure is indicated by display at 318, and at 311 the mode returns to initiating a new send or receive function. Upon successful connection setup,
The communication device transmits the information in document 101 to the remote facsimile device at 310 according to the facsimile communication protocol. Thereafter, at 311, the communication device returns to being ready to receive a new document and destination identifier.

If it is determined at 304 that the destination identifier is an e-mail address, the communication device
, The connection between the SLIP / PPP and the router 107 is set. If the connection is successful (block 314), the information in document 101 is sent 316 to the remote mailbox identified by the destination identifier according to the STP. If the connection with the router 107 is not successful at 314, the failure is indicated on the display 208 at 318, and at 311 it returns to a state where it can accept new send or receive commands. At 316, the digitized information generated by the scanner 204 for transmission is encoded according to the UUENCODE standard, or the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) protocol. The uuencode protocol / converter operates to convert a binary data stream to 7-bit ASCII characters over the Internet for transmission. The MIME protocol uses a binary attachment as e
-Operate to encapsulate into a mail message.
The e-mail message is then sent to a remote mailbox according to STMP. When sent, 311
At, the communication device returns to accepting new documents and destination identifiers.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the functions performed by the communication device to retrieve e-mail stored in a remote mailbox. As shown in FIG.
The functions described below are performed using functions performed by Post Office Protocol No. 3 (POP3). A description of the functions performed by POP3
Internet Engineering Task Force (IE
Internet Activity Committee (Internet A)
Requests for Comments (RFC) 1460-POP3 protocol maintained by the Ctivities Board.

The user can access e-mail from a remote mailbox.
When you want to search mail, press the "Start" button,
At 402, enter a destination identifier via the keyboard 206 to identify the remote mailbox and press the "E-mail" button on the keyboard. In step 402, the communication device reads the destination identifier and performs SLIP / PP
To set up a P-type connection, it responds by attempting to connect to a predetermined Internet access provider implementing router 107 of FIG. If the connection is not successful at 406, then at 408 a failure in setting up the connection is indicated on the display 208 and control returns at 420 to perform the next send and retrieve function. When the connection between the router 107 and the SLIP / PPP is set, the communication device establishes a domain name system (DN).
Use S) to locate the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the post office number corresponding to the mailbox identified at 402. If a password is required by the mailbox identified by the destination identifier, at step 414 the communication device displays a message on the display to prompt the user to enter a password. The password is sent to the mailbox, and if it is correct, the appropriate message is sent by the mailbox.

Upon receipt of such a message, at step 416 the communication device obtains data from the remote mailbox, indicating the e-mail message stored in the mailbox, according to the POP3 transfer protocol, and displays the data on the display. Display such data. For example, the data may include the number of e-mail messages stored in the mailbox, and the total number of characters included in the e-mail message. The data may further include additional information, such as the description of the printed list display below. The communication device can then enter a number to search for the mail message,
Or prompt the user to enter the letter "a" to retrieve all mail messages. The user can print a list of the messages contained in the mailbox to supply the copied paper that can be referenced when selecting the message to search. e
-The printed list of mail messages can include the message date, sender identification, recipient identification, and identification of the content of the message, such as the information contained in the "Re" field of many messages. .

In step 418, the communication device receives the user's selection, retrieves the selected e-mail message or all of the e-mail messages according to the POP3 transfer protocol, and prints the retrieved e-mail message to the printer. Print at 210 to inform the user if the message should be deleted. "T
o, "From", "cc", "bc", and "R".
The content of the e-mail message containing the information in the field such as E "is retrieved. As long as the additions to the e-mail message are in text or TIFF (tag image file format) format, they are also retrieved. If the e-mail message has an addition that is not in the text or TIFF, that addition is not searched and the rest of the message is searched.

If the user has searched for individual messages and has chosen to delete the retrieved message in step 418, the communication device sends a command to the mailbox to delete the particular message. Similarly,
If the user retrieves all of the messages in a single selection, then at 418, the user selects to delete all of the messages, and the communication device enters the mailbox to delete all the messages stored in the mailbox. Send a command. In step 422, if the user retrieves a single message in step 418 and other messages remain in the mailbox, step 41
Returning to step 6, the communication device obtains and displays a new list of messages in the mailbox from the mailbox. Otherwise, at step 418, for an individual search, if all of the messages are retrieved or if no messages remain in the mailbox, step 420
In, the communication device returns to a state where a new transmission or search operation can be started.

As will be apparent from the foregoing description, communication devices provide the functionality and ease of operation that allow use in a variety of locations, including office environments, home environments, and public places such as airports. . It will be understood that the specific features and techniques described are merely illustrative of one application of the principles of the present invention. Many modifications may be made to the described methods and apparatus without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a preferred communication device connected to communicate with a remote communication device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main hardware elements of the preferred embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing details of a keypad shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the preferred embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the preferred embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing further details of the flowchart of FIG. 4;

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification FI H04M 11/00 303 H04N 1/32 Z H04N 1/00 107 H04L 13/00 307Z 1/32 (72) Inventor William Agderro United States of America St. Brook Road 12 Arlington, Mass. Old Coach Road, Nashua, New Hampshire 03062 25

Claims (40)

[Claims] A modem for transmitting data in accordance with a facsimile transmission protocol and an e-mail protocol; a scanner for generating digital data indicative of information in a printed medium including information to be transmitted to a remote communication device; An information input device for inputting information indicating a destination for transmitting the information contained in the recorded medium, and transmitting the digital data to a facsimile device specified by a telephone number according to a facsimile transmission protocol. Specified by an e-mail address to transmit the digital data to an e-mail box specified by the e-mail address according to an e-mail transmission protocol programmed to recognize the destination specified by the telephone number Said destination And a control device programmed to respond to the communication device. 2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the modem receives the data according to a facsimile reception protocol and an electronic mail protocol. 3. The control device according to claim 1, further comprising: transmitting the information corresponding to the requested e-mail from an e-mail box corresponding to the specified e-mail address. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the communication device responds to a command requesting a search for an electronic mail from the specified electronic mail address by starting communication with a remote communication device. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to transmit the information corresponding to the selected e-mail from an e-mail box corresponding to the specified e-mail address. 3. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the communication device responds to a command requesting retrieval of an electronic mail selected from the specified electronic mail address by starting communication with a remote communication device. 5. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the control device further comprises: a remote communication device corresponding to the specified e-mail for transmitting information corresponding to the e-mail from an e-mail box corresponding to the specified e-mail address. 3. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the communication device responds to a command requesting retrieval of all of the electronic mails from the specified electronic mail address by starting communication. 6. The communication device according to claim 3, further comprising a printer for printing information received by the communication device from a remote communication device. 7. The communication device according to claim 4, further comprising a printer that prints information received by the communication device from a remote communication device. 8. The communication device according to claim 5, further comprising a printer for printing information received by the communication device from a remote communication device. 9. The controller responds to the indication of the destination by analyzing the destination to determine whether the destination is a telephone number or an e-mail address. The communication device as described. 10. Determining a post office name and a user name from said e-mail address, placing an Internet Protocol address corresponding to said post office name according to a domain name system protocol, and according to an e-mail encoding protocol. By encoding the digital data and causing the transmission of the digital data to the specified email address according to a simple mail transfer protocol, the control device transmits the digital data according to an email transmission protocol. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication device performs the operation. 11. The communication device according to claim 10, further comprising a display for displaying information input through the information input device and status information generated by the communication device. 12. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein said information input device is a keypad. 13. The communication device according to claim 12, further comprising a display for displaying information input via the information input device and status information generated by the communication device. 14. The communication device according to claim 2, further comprising a display for displaying information input via the information input device and status information generated by the communication device. 15. A first means for inputting a communication command including destination information for specifying a remote communication device; a data transmitting means for transmitting data in accordance with a facsimile transmission protocol and an electronic mail protocol; Transmission information input means for receiving information to be transmitted to the communication device; identifying the destination information corresponding to a telephone number or an e-mail address; and a facsimile transmission protocol if the destination information corresponds to a telephone number. Transmitting the information to be transmitted to the remote communication device in accordance with, and transmitting the information to be transmitted to the remote communication device in accordance with an email protocol if the destination information corresponds to an email address. A communication device comprising: 16. The communication device according to claim 15, wherein the data communication means receives data according to a facsimile reception protocol and an electronic mail protocol. 17. The communication apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the transmission information input means is a scanner that generates the information to be transmitted in response to a printed medium including information indicating the information to be transmitted. . 18. The communication device according to claim 17, further comprising a printer that prints information received by the communication device according to the facsimile reception protocol. 19. The communication device according to claim 18, wherein the printer prints information received by the communication device according to the electronic mail protocol. 20. The communication device according to claim 15, further comprising: a unit that responds to the destination information to identify whether the destination information is a telephone number or an e-mail address. 21. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising: searching means responsive to a search command to search for an e-mail message stored in a remote mailbox identified by an identifier entered via said first means. 20. The communication device according to item 19. 22. A means for retrieving all messages stored in the remote mailbox, a means for retrieving selected messages stored in the remote mailbox, and in the remote mailbox Means for retrieving a list identifying stored messages. 23. The search means further comprising means for responding to a request by the remote mailbox for password entry to cause transmission of a password entered via the first means. The communication device as described. 24. The communication device according to claim 23, wherein the information transmitted according to the electronic mail protocol is transmitted according to a simple mail transfer protocol. 25. The communication device according to claim 23, wherein the information transmitted according to the e-mail protocol is encoded according to a UUENCODE protocol. 26. The communication device according to claim 24, wherein the information transmitted according to the electronic mail protocol is encoded according to a MIME protocol. 27. The communication device according to claim 20, wherein the device is contained in a single housing. 28. The communication device according to claim 15, wherein the first means includes a QWERTY-type keyboard and a plurality of additional keys for inputting an operation command to start operation of the communication device. 29. The method according to claim 29, wherein the first means comprises a telephone-type keypad, a plurality of additional keys for inputting an operation command for starting operation of the communication device, a microphone, and a recognized voice character. The communication device according to claim 15, further comprising a voice recognition module that recognizes voice characters to generate ground information. 30. Remote device identification means for receiving, within a single housing, a destination identifier identifying a remote communication device, and a telephone for transmitting information contained on a paper input medium according to a facsimile protocol. Means for responding to the destination identifier in the form of a number; means for responding to the destination identifier in the form of an e-mail address for transmitting the information contained in the paper input medium according to an e-mail protocol; Responds to a search command that initiates communication with a remote e-mail box identified by a destination identifier input via the identification means and transmits e-mail stored in the remote e-mail box to the communication device. Sending and receiving data in accordance with facsimile and e-mail protocols, including Incoming operable communication device. 31. The communication apparatus according to claim 30, further comprising printing means for printing the electronic mail retrieved from the remote electronic mail box. 32. The search means retrieves details of a particular e-mail message to be searched, ie, a list of e-mail messages stored in the remote e-mail box and stored in the remote e-mail box. Providing a plurality of selectable options, including searching for all email messages, selecting the details of a particular email message to be retrieved by causing the identified email message to be transmitted; and Selecting the search of a list of email message options by causing the transmission of a list identifying the email messages stored in the remote email box and all the emails stored in the remote email box Sending an e-mail message causes all e-mail messages The communication device of claim 31, further comprising: means for responding to a search for a message option. 33. A means for identifying each retrieved electronic mail message having the unique identifier, and an electronic corresponding to the unique identifier by the remote electronic mailbox in response to input of one of the unique identifiers. 33. The communication device according to claim 32, further comprising: means for transmitting a mail message. 34. The communication device of claim 33, wherein the printing means prints the list of email messages stored in the remote email box with the unique identifier. 35. The search means further responds to a request for a password from the remote e-mail box, displays the request for the password on a display, and displays the request for the password on the remote e-mail box.
31. The communication device according to claim 30, further comprising: means for transmitting a password input to said means. 36. The communication device according to claim 30, wherein the information transmitted according to the e-mail protocol is encoded in a UUENCODE format. 37. The communication device according to claim 30, wherein the information transmitted according to the email protocol is encoded in a MIME format. 38. The search means further comprises means for providing first and second selectable options, wherein the first selectable options are used to perform a search for a specified email message. Means for responding to the selection of the identified email message, wherein the second selectable option is to select all of the messages to perform a search of all the messages stored in the remote email box. And means responsive to the selection of the identified e-mail message in response to the first selectable option to enable selection of additional e-mail messages for retrieval. 32. The communication device according to claim 31. 39. The communication device according to claim 38, wherein the first means includes a QWERTY-type keypad and a plurality of additional keys for inputting an operation command for starting operation of the communication device. 40. The destination information from a telephone-type keypad, a plurality of additional keys for inputting an operation command for starting operation of the communication device, a microphone, and recognized speech characters. 39. The communication device according to claim 38, further comprising a voice recognition module for recognizing voice characters to generate.