JPH10164337A - Electronic mail transfer system for fax data - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To convert a FAX signal sent from a public line in a free form into FAX data for an electronic mail and to transfer the data via a LAN to a user. SOLUTION: An electronic mail transfer system for FAX data is connected to a public line 110 and a LAN 400 and has a mail transmission reception part 101 that recognizes a character from image data of which a FAX signal received via the public line 110 is decoded, extracts a transmission destination address by using an address extract part 106, adds an address to the electronic mail FAX data and sends the resulting data to the LAN 400. A mail server 200 connecting to the LAN 400 receives the electronic mail FAX data of an address registered by a mail address registration part 201 to store the data to a mail storage part 203, mail client terminal equipment 300 connecting to the LAN 400 accesses a mail addressed to one's own self to the mail server 200 and the received FAX data are displayed on a display device 304.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile data e-mail transfer system, and more particularly to a facsimile data e-mail transfer system for transferring facsimile data received via a public line to a user via a local area network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional FAX data e-mail transfer system of this type will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional FAX data e-mail transfer system.

In FIG. 2, this conventional example is disclosed in
No. 152830, the automatic distribution system for received facsimile data comprises a main workstation 1, a plurality of sub-workstations 2, and a network line 3 connecting these. FAX data supplied via the telephone line 4 is received and stored.
The destination is discriminated by character recognition of the destination portion in the data, and the received FAX data is transferred to the corresponding slave workstation 2 based on the result of the discrimination.

[0005] The main workstation 1 is connected to a telephone line 4, and when FAX data is transmitted via the telephone line 4, a FAX adapter 5 for receiving the FAX data and a FAX data received by the FAX adapter 5 , A character recognizing unit 7 for recognizing a destination portion in the received fax data,
A name list file 8 in which a large number of destination data (names and use workstation names) of the transfer destination of the AX data are stored and the names in the destination data are subjected to character recognition;
A destination discriminator 9 for judging the match between the name list data of the name list file 8 and the character-recognized destination data to extract the corresponding destination data, and a FAX in the data file to a workstation corresponding to the extracted destination data. And a transfer unit 10 for transferring data.

Each of the slave workstations 2 is connected to the network line 3, and each of the slave workstations 2 has an input unit 11 for inputting FAX data transferred through the network line 3, a data file 12 for storing the input FAX data, A monitoring unit 13 for monitoring whether or not facsimile data has been input to the input unit 11; a message output unit 14 for outputting a message to that effect if facsimile data has been input as a result of monitoring; Part 14
And a printer 16 for printing out FAX data stored in the data file 12 in response to a printout command. In the case of FAX reception and FAX data distribution, first, FAX data is supplied via the telephone line 4, and when the FAX adapter 5 of the main workstation 1 receives this, the received FAX data is stored in a data file. 6 is stored.

[0007] Thereafter, the character recognizing section 7 activates a character recognizing system registered as an application program, reads out the facsimile data stored in the data file 6, and stores the facsimile data in a preset letter paper. It is determined whether or not the format is.

[0008] The FAX data is stored in
When the format is 0, the character recognition unit 7 of the main workstation 1 uses the FAX data for the part 21 previously specified in the character recognition processing area.
And performs character recognition processing.
Then, the destination determining unit 9 checks whether any one of the destinations stored in the name list file 8 matches.

Here, if the destination obtained by character recognition of the image data matches the destination indicating the main workstation 1 among the destinations in the name list file 8, the main workstation 1 is determined to be The facsimile data is stored again in the data file 6 to notify the operator or the person in charge that the facsimile data is being received. When a print command or a display command is input in response to this, the facsimile data is stored in the data file 6. The read fax data is read out and printed out or displayed.

[0010]

In the conventional FAX data e-mail transfer system, the following problems occur.

The first problem is that, in the real world, the number of FAX senders is unspecified, so that the specific format shown in the conventional example cannot be distributed to all the FAX senders.

The reason is that the FAX sender specifies the FAX receiver from the format by writing the name of the FAX receiver in a specific format and performing FAX transmission.

A second problem is that a facsimile format that can be transferred to an electronic mail is determined, and a facsimile written in a free format cannot be transferred.

The reason is that when the character recognizing unit recognizes the FAX recipient, if all the FAX data is searched, an incorrect FAX recipient is detected from a portion other than the FAX address.

[0015] The third problem involves complicated setting work because the identity of the destination and the mail address must be manually performed on the FAX machine.

[0016] The reason is that the network administrator normally sets the e-mail address setting in the mail server so as not to overlap with other people. However, since it is necessary to send FAX data to the mail address of the FAX recipient who has recognized the characters, the same mail management address
It is necessary to set in X machine. Therefore, at the time of personnel change, it is necessary to rewrite both data to make them the same.

[0017]

The FAX data e-mail transfer system according to the present invention comprises a FAX machine connected to a public line and a local area network, and a mail server and a client terminal connected to the local area network. The facsimile machine receives a facsimile signal sent via the public line, decodes and stores the facsimile signal into image data, and then detects an address of a destination from the top sheet image data. Mail data transmitting means for converting the data into data for electronic mail, adding the destination address thereto and transmitting the data to the local area network, image data which cannot be transmitted to the local area network, and data for the electronic mail returned from the local area network of Printing means for printing the generated image data, wherein the mail server includes a data storage means for storing the e-mail data corresponding to a registered e-mail address of the client terminal connected to the local area network. The client terminal includes display means for accessing the mail server to access its own data, restoring the received e-mail data to the image data, and displaying the image data.

The FAX data e-mail transfer system of the present invention comprises a FAX machine connected to a public line and a local area network (LAN), and a mail server and a client terminal connected to the local area network (LAN). The fax machine transmits fax data of an electronic mail document converted for electronic mail transmission to the LAN and receives an error mail returned from the mail server; and An error mail restoring unit for restoring FAX data converted for e-mail of the error mail to image data, a FAX receiving unit for receiving a FAX signal from the public line, and a decoded image data of the FAX signal FAX data storage unit that stores A character recognition unit that performs character recognition on the top sheet in the image data stored in the data storage unit; an address extraction unit that extracts a mail address from the character-recognized data; An image data conversion unit for converting to a format for sending mail, and a mail address attachment for adding the mail address extracted by the address extracting unit to the FAX data converted for sending email and forming the email document And a facsimile printing unit for printing image data in the facsimile data storage unit or image data in which an error mail from the error mail restoring unit is restored, wherein the mail server is connected to the LAN. The e-mail sent from the FAX machine, storing the registered address of FAX data of the e-mail document is stored, the FAX data of the e-mail document is transferred, the error mail is returned to the FAX machine, and the client terminal is connected to the mail server. The e-mail document is sent to the terminal, the FAX data of the e-mail document is received, the image data is restored to the image data and displayed on the display, and the mail server is connected to the LAN. And a mail storage unit for storing FAX data of the e-mail transmitted from the FAX machine, and transmitting and receiving FAX data of the E-mail by connecting to the LAN via an interface. And a mail control unit for controlling the entire mail server, An image data restoration unit for restoring FAX data of the e-mail received via the LAN to the image data, and a viewer processing unit for converting the restored image data into a form that can be displayed on the display; The display for displaying the image data converted into the displayable form,
A mail control unit that connects to the AN via an interface, searches the mail server for mail addressed to itself, and controls the entire client terminal.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a facsimile data e-mail transfer system according to the present embodiment is connected to a public line 110 and a local area network (LAN) 400 via a local area network interface (LAN / IF) 11.
FAX machine 100 connected via LAN 1 and storage / management of mails connected to LAN 400 via LAN / IF 204 and addressed to a user in LAN 400, and transfer of mail of an address transmitted from mail client 300 connected to LAN 400 And a mail client terminal 300 connected to the LAN 400 via the LAN / IF 305 to retrieve an e-mail addressed to each user managed by the e-mail server 200 and send an e-mail. Is configured.

FAX machine 100 transmits a FAX data of a mail document converted for mail transmission to LAN 400 and receives an error mail returned from mail server 200. Error mail restoring unit 102 for restoring FAX data converted to image data to image data, and public line 1
A facsimile receiving unit 109 for receiving a facsimile signal from
A facsimile data storage unit 108 for directly storing image data of a facsimile signal, a character recognition unit 105 for performing character recognition on a top sheet in the stored image data,
An address extraction unit 106 for extracting a mail address from the character-recognized data, an image data conversion unit 103 for converting FAX data as image data into a format for sending mail, and an FAX data converted for mail sending. A mail address attaching unit 104 for adding a mail address to form a mail document, and an image data or error mail restoring unit 10 in a facsimile data storage unit 108
FAX printing unit 107 for printing the image data in which the error mail from the second server has been restored.

The mail server 200 includes a mail address registration unit 201 storing a registered mail address of a client connected to the LAN 400 and a fax machine 100
A mail storage unit 203 for storing the FAX data of the mail transmitted from the server, a mail control unit 20 connected to the LAN 400 via the LAN / IF 200 to control the transmission and reception of the FAX data of the mail and to control the entire mail server 200
And 2.

The mail client terminal 300 is a LAN
An image data restoring unit 302 for restoring the FAX data of the mail received via 400 to image data, a viewer processing unit 303 for transforming the restored image data into a form that can be displayed on the display 304, A display 304 for displaying the image data obtained by the user, and a mail for connecting to the LAN 400 via the LAN / IF 305 and searching for whether or not the mail addressed to the mail server 200 has arrived and controlling the entire mail client terminal 300. A control unit 301 is provided.

Next, the operation of mail transmission of FAX data according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The FAX signal received from the public line 110 is sent to the FAX data storage 1 through the FAX receiver 109.
08 is stored as image data. The character recognizing unit 105 performs character recognition on the top sheet of the stored data, and the address extracting unit 106 extracts a mail address from the result. Email address is WWWWW @ XX
XXX. YY. The format is ZZ (W, X, Y, and Z are alphanumeric and the number of characters is undefined).
And "." Are always included, and can be recognized separately from other FAX data.

Since the data stored in the FAX data storage unit 108 is a binary image file,
As it is, it cannot be sent by e-mail. Therefore, the image data is converted into data for electronic mail by the image data conversion unit 103, and the mail address extracted earlier is attached to the mail data by the mail address attachment unit 104. Thereafter, the e-mail created in the above procedure is transmitted from the mail transmitting / receiving unit 101.

If the address cannot be obtained by the address extracting unit 106, the FAX printing unit 107 prints FAX data to eliminate any FAX reception omission. Also, if there is an erroneous recognition of the mail address or a mistake in the entry on the transmission side, in a general mail environment, the mail server replies to the mail sender as an error mail.
Restores the error mail into image data by the error mail restoring unit 102 and prints it by the FAX printing unit 107.

In the mail server 200, the fax machine 100
Whether the email received from is a normal email address,
The mail control unit 202 determines based on the data registered in the mail address registration unit 201, and returns an error mail to the FAX machine 100 when the mail address is invalid. If the mail address is normal, it is stored in the mail storage unit 203.

The mail client terminal 300 accesses the mail server 200 through the mail control unit 301, and searches the mail storage unit 203 to determine whether a mail addressed to itself has arrived. When an e-mail addressed to the user is received, the e-mail is received from the mail server 200. At this time, the FAX sent from the FAX machine 100 of the present system is used.
Since data mails and ordinary e-mails are mixed, each user performs selection. For FAX data, FAX
The image data is reconstructed into image data by the image data restoring unit 302 because the image data is formed for electronic mail when the mail is transmitted by the device 100. After that, after converting the image data into a form to be displayed on the display by the viewer processing unit 303,
The information is displayed on the display 304.

[0031]

As described above, the present invention comprises a FAX machine connected to a public line and a local area network, and a mail server and a client terminal connected to the local area network, and the FAX machine is connected via the public line. After receiving the received fax signal and decoding it into image data and storing it, address detection means for detecting the destination address from the top sheet image data, and converting the image data into e-mail data and adding the destination address Mail data transmitting means for transmitting to the local area network, and printing means for printing image data that cannot be transmitted to the local area network and restored image data of e-mail data returned from the local area network,
The mail server has data storage means for storing e-mail data corresponding to the registered mail address of the client terminal connected to the local area network, and the client terminal accesses its own data to the mail server. The following effects can be obtained by providing the display means for displaying the received e-mail data after the data is restored to the image data.

When a fax signal in which a mail address is described on a top sheet sent in a free format without receiving a specific format is received, fax data is automatically distributed to each user, and a paper fax is distributed. This has the effect of reducing work.

Further, since the fax is transmitted by e-mail, the fax signal that has arrived at the fax machine is immediately delivered to the user, and the time required for the fax data to reach the fax receiver from the fax sender can be shortened.

Further, the FAX data can be displayed on the display means by handling the FAX data as display data.
This has the effect of reducing FAX printing paper.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional FAX data e-mail transfer system.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 facsimile machine 101 mail transmitting / receiving section 102 error mail restoring section 103 image data converting section 104 mail address attaching section 105 character recognizing section 106 address extracting section 107 facsimile printing section 108 facsimile data storage section 109 facsimile receiving section 110 public line 111 local area network Interface (LAN / IF) 200 Mail server 201 Mail address registration unit 202 Mail control unit 203 Mail storage unit 204 Local area network interface (LAN / IF) 300 Mail client terminal 301 Mail control unit 302 Image data restoration unit 303 Viewer processing unit 304 display 305 local area network interface (LAN / IF) 400 local area network (L N)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04N 1/00 107

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile machine connected to a public line and a local area network, and a mail server and a client terminal connected to the local area network, wherein the facsimile machine sends an FA sent via the public line.
After receiving the X signal, decoding it into image data and storing it, address detecting means for detecting the destination address from the image data of the top sheet, and converting the image data into e-mail data, adding the destination address, Mail data transmitting means for transmitting to the local area network, and printing means for printing image data that cannot be transmitted to the local area network and reconstructed image data of the e-mail data returned from the local area network, The mail server includes a data storage unit that stores the e-mail data that matches a registered mail address of the client terminal connected to the local area network. E-mail transfer system of the FAX data, characterized in that it comprises a display means for the electronic mail data to the display after restoring the image data received by accessing the his own data. 2. A fax machine connected to a public line and a local area network (LAN), and a mail server and a client terminal connected to the local area network (LAN). A mail transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting the converted fax document FAX data to the LAN and receiving the error mail returned from the mail server; and converting the error mail to an error mail when receiving the error mail. An error mail restoration unit for restoring existing FAX data to image data, a FAX reception unit for receiving a FAX signal from the public line,
A facsimile data storage unit for storing the decoded image data of the facsimile signal as it is, a character recognition unit for performing character recognition on a top sheet in the image data stored in the facsimile data storage unit, An address extraction unit for extracting a mail address from the image data; an image data conversion unit for converting FAX data, which is image data, into a format for sending the e-mail; An e-mail address attachment unit for adding the e-mail address extracted by the extraction unit to form the e-mail document;
A facsimile printing unit that prints the image data of the X data storage unit or the image data in which the error mail from the error mail restoring unit is restored, wherein the mail server is registered with the client terminal connected to the LAN. Store the address and fax
Storing the FAX data of the e-mail document sent from the machine, transferring the FAX data of the e-mail document after checking the address transmitted from the client terminal, returning the error mail to the FAX machine, A facsimile data e-mail transfer system, wherein the client terminal sends its own address to the mail server, receives the facsimile data of the e-mail document, restores the image data to the image data, and displays the image data on a display. . 3. The mail server stores a mail address registration unit storing a registered mail address of the client terminal connected to the LAN, and FAX data of the e-mail transmitted from the FAX machine. 3. The mail storage unit according to claim 2, further comprising a mail storage unit connected to the LAN via an interface, and a mail control unit that controls transmission and reception of FAX data of the electronic mail and controls the entire mail server. FAX data e-mail transfer system. 4. An image data restoration unit for restoring FAX data of the e-mail received via the LAN to the image data, the client terminal being capable of displaying the restored image data on the display. A viewer processing unit for converting, the display for displaying the image data converted to the displayable form, and a display for connecting to the LAN via an interface to determine whether or not mail addressed to itself has reached the mail server. 4. The system according to claim 2, further comprising a mail control unit for searching and controlling the entire client terminal.