JPH10173806A - Media conversion device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily control and set a media conversion device by storing the picture images of an original and detecting the areas where the transmission destination address and other information are written to convert these detected areas into the contents which can be added to an electronic mail or a netnews. SOLUTION: An original is supplied via a transmitting original input means 11, and the picture images of the original are stored in an image storage means 12. A character recognition means 13 detects the areas where the transmission destination address and other information are written out of the stored picture images and recognizes the contents of this detection. An electronic mail/netnews processing means 14 converts the stored picture images into the contents which can be added to an electronic mail or a netnews and also extracts the picture images and a text from the contents added to the electronic mail or the netnews. Then a signal transmission means 15 transmits the picture images and the electronic mail to the detected address and news group.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a media converter, and more particularly, to automatic control of a media converter.

[0002]

[Prior art]

(1) For example, according to the latest G4 facsimile, Japan Management Association, Japan Management Association Research Institute, current facsimile machines not only send and receive text but also have the following functions.

[Abbreviated dial function] and [One-touch key function] for registering a fixed number of destinations and sending by one-touch, [Auto redial function] for recalling, [Communication log, etc.] "Communication management report function" ・ The "Memory function" that automatically stores the sent document in the memory and then sends it automatically ・ Sends it to multiple destinations in one operation "Sequential broadcast function" ・ Send If there is more than one destination,
A "relay function" that automatically broadcasts to each destination.-If you want to send confidential text etc. to a specific person, use a password for both transmission and reception, store the received manuscript in a confidential box, and send the fax to the recipient. "Mailbox function", in which the original is deleted from the confidential box after receiving the contents of "Mailbox function" .- "BBS function", which allows the information provider to register the sentence in the memory so that any user can retrieve the sentence when necessary. "Receiving program function" for automatically transferring received manuscripts to another preset destination (2) For example, according to OPEN DESIGN No. 8 e-mail system perfect master CQ publisher, currently 150 3000 countries or more
With more than 10,000 users and 2.5 million users in Japan, LA
As of 1994, N's connection rate was 65% in the US and 15% in Japan
It is certain that it will increase dramatically in the future. In addition, products such as e-mail software and groupware have been announced one after another, and TCP / I
Communication software that implements the P protocol has been installed as standard. Under these circumstances, companies are calling for a review of their organizations and increasing the efficiency of their management, and the search for new organizations by introducing e-mail is being sought.

An electronic mail can deliver a letter to a transmission destination at a very low cost at a very low cost as compared with a normal letter. By introducing this e-mail system, the pyramid-type organization in the company was destroyed,
The top management will be able to make quick decisions and build a more flexible organization. In addition, it has become possible to easily exchange e-mails with people all over the world via the Internet, and more recently, mutual entry between the Internet and a commercial personal computer network has become a common sense. In addition, a business using e-mail is starting, and the followings are currently available.

[0005] ・ Product information service ・ E-mail order ・ User support ・ Information providing service (3) For example, Internet User's Guide Ed
According to International Thomson Publishing Japan, Net News (Net
News) is an important means of communication on the Internet alongside e-mail. Netnews is a group of hobbies, science, and personal computers.
It will be distributed worldwide via the Internet. It is currently said that there are about 10,000 newsgroups on the Internet. When the user takes in the news using a news taking program called a news reader, and the news reader displays a list of items on each topic, the user can read the net news by selecting a favorite item from the list. Or, if you want to look back at what you've seen before, you can search for the article based on the author, the case, or the subject of the author's news.

[0006]

In the method (1), various functions are added to the facsimile transmission / reception system. However, the procedure of "calling" which is the most basic operation in the facsimile apparatus is omitted. Can not.

In the method (1), when performing various settings of the facsimile, the user of the facsimile machine needs to operate the operation panel of the complicated facsimile machine, and the user of the facsimile machine has sufficient functions of the facsimile machine. There is a problem that can not be used.

In the methods (2) and (3), transmission and reception of electronic mails and net news use information of computerized media (texts, graphics, etc.). Therefore, when a user wants to use e-mail or net news, the user must send and receive information by himself / herself by handling a device for digitizing information (such as a personal computer). Generally, a device for digitizing information is difficult to operate, and it is difficult for a general user without specialized knowledge to receive such an electronic mail or net news service.

[0009] Further, the method (3) has a problem that the amount of information of the net news is so enormous that it is difficult for the user to extract only necessary news.

In the present invention, control and setting of the media conversion device are performed by inputting a document in which control and setting information has been entered from the transmission document input means of the media conversion device.

According to the present invention, a call destination address is described in a transmission original to be transmitted by the media conversion apparatus, so that the media conversion apparatus automatically makes a call to the address and transmits the contents of the original. .

Also, in the present invention, an e-mail address is described in a transmission original transmitted by the media conversion device, so that the media conversion device automatically makes a call to a provider which performs mail transfer, and converts the input original into an electronic mail. Send the contents of the manuscript converted to the mail format.

According to the present invention, the net newsgroup name is described in the transmission original transmitted by the media conversion device, so that the media conversion device automatically makes a call to a provider which performs news transfer, and outputs the news. Send the converted content.

Further, in the present invention, the media conversion device manually or automatically makes a call to a provider which transfers the e-mail, and outputs the e-mail addressed to the user of the media conversion device from the media conversion device.

Further, in the present invention, the media conversion device calls, manually or automatically, a provider that transfers the net news, and outputs the news required by the user of the media conversion device from the media conversion device.

According to the present invention, a media conversion apparatus having no means of the present invention accesses a media conversion server apparatus having the above means and transmits / receives information to / from the apparatus. To achieve the function.

[0017]

The media conversion device of the present invention can be achieved by providing the following means.

(1) Means for inputting transmission originals (2) Means for storing image images, contents, and other information (3) Means for recognizing characters from image images (4) Contents of image data for e-mail or net news Means to convert the information to necessary information,
Or means for extracting an image from the contents of an e-mail or net news (5) means for transmitting information by calling (6) means for receiving information upon calling (7) means for outputting an image to paper ( 8) Means for acquiring control information and controlling and setting the device

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(Embodiment 1) In the following embodiment, an embodiment using a facsimile machine will be described as an example of a media conversion apparatus.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to this embodiment. A document to be transmitted from the facsimile apparatus is inserted from the transmission document input unit 11 and the image storage unit 12 is inserted.
To store the image of the original. Character recognition means 1
In step 3, a location where a destination address and other information are written is detected from the stored image, and the contents are recognized. E-mail / net news processing means 14
Then, the image image stored by the means 12 is converted into a content that can be mounted on an e-mail or net news, or an image image or text is extracted from the sent e-mail or net news content. The signal transmitting unit 15 transmits the image image stored by the unit 12 and the e-mail created by the unit 14 to the address or newsgroup detected by the unit 13. The signal receiving means 16 receives a signal sent from another facsimile machine or another machine. The received document output unit 17 outputs the data stored in the unit 12 from the image data of the image obtained in the processes 14 and 16. The device control unit 18 controls and sets the device using the information obtained from the unit 13.

FIG. 2 shows each function shown in the block of FIG.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of hardware when the hardware is realized by using a CPU. The transmission line input means 11 is connected to the bus line 20.
A document input device 24, a received document output device 25 as a received document output unit 17, a switch, a button, a keyboard for allowing a user of the facsimile device to perform a facsimile operation manually, and inform the user of the facsimile device of the operation result. Facsimile operating device 2 with display
6. Signal transmission means 15 Signal transmission / reception device 27 which is signal reception means 16, RAM 23 which stores image storage means 12 and other data, address recognition means 13 E-mail processing means 14 Signal transmission means 15 Signal reception means 16 Device control ROM 2 for storing means 17 and other programs
2, the CPU 21 and the like. CPU 21
Controls each device according to programs and data stored in the ROM 22 and the RAM 23.

FIG. 3 shows software stored in the ROM 22. Character recognition software 31 is RAM
Address from the image data of the image stored in
Find the place where the title, newsgroup name and other information are entered and recognize its address. The e-mail processing software 32 converts the image data of the image stored in the RAM 23 into appropriate data and mounts the data on the e-mail content, or converts the image data or text data mounted on the e-mail content into an image. In addition to developing it into image data and storing it in the RAM 23, it also controls transmission and reception of e-mail. The facsimile processing software 33 compresses and decompresses the image data of the image stored in the RAM 23 by a method according to the fax standard protocol. The net news processing software 36 converts the image data of the image stored in the RAM 23 into appropriate data and mounts it on the net news content, or converts the image image data or text data mounted on the net news content into an image. RAM 23
In addition to storing in the Internet news transmission and reception. The dial-up protocol software 34 is software for establishing a communication connection according to a protocol for exchanging e-mail between a facsimile apparatus and an electronic mail server or between a facsimile apparatus and an electronic news server. The facsimile communication protocol software 35 is software for establishing a communication connection with another facsimile machine.

FIG. 4 shows a procedure when the facsimile apparatus automatically makes a call and performs facsimile transmission, e-mail transmission and net news transmission in this embodiment.

When a user of the facsimile apparatus inputs a document as shown in FIG. 8, FIG. 9 or FIG. 10 from a document input device in a process 411 of FIG. 4, an image of the document is processed in a process 412 of FIG. The data is stored in the RAM 23.

FIG. 5 shows a template sheet of a document to be inserted into the document input device 24. The image data of the template paper is stored in the ROM 22, and the template paper is output from the received document output device 25 when the user of the facsimile apparatus operates the facsimile operation device 26. This paper may be a copy.

Referring to FIG. 5, reference numeral 501 denotes a space in which the user of the facsimile apparatus writes image information desired to be sent, and reference numeral 502 denotes a space in which the user of the facsimile apparatus writes control information.

A title indicating the content of this information is entered in 5021, but may be omitted. In 5022, a telephone number, a mail address, or a news group name of a transmission destination is entered. Based on the content entered here, the signal transmitting / receiving device 27 selects a transmission destination and makes a call. This item 5022 cannot be omitted. Reference numeral 5023 indicates a range in which news is distributed. For example, if "fj" is designated, this news is delivered to a news server subscribed to the fj group. This is used for net news only.

FIG. 7 shows a document for initial setting of the facsimile machine. The image data of the template sheet is stored in the ROM 22. The template sheet is received by the user of the facsimile apparatus by operating the facsimile operation device 26, thereby receiving the document output device 25.
Output. This paper may be a copy. When the user of the facsimile apparatus fills in the template sheet through the document input device 24, the registered telephone number 5041, the mail service provider telephone number 5042, the mail provider dial-up service user name 5043, the mail provider dial-up user password 5044, a user password 5045 of the mail provider service. Mail provider service password 5046, news service provider telephone number 5047, news provider dial-up service user name 5048, news provider dial-up user password 5049, news provider service user password 505.
0 and the password of the news provider service 50
51 is input. The input contents are displayed on the display unit of the facsimile operation device 26 and confirmed by the user of the facsimile device. If the user of the facsimile apparatus determines that the input is correct, the input content is stored in the RAM 2
3 is registered.

A user of the facsimile apparatus can obtain a template sheet in which addresses are previously written in an address writing space as shown in FIG. Here, the telephone number input from 5041 in FIG.
03 is entered.

FIG. 8 shows an original written on the template sheet by the user of the facsimile machine. In this case, the user of the facsimile apparatus writes the address by hand in the space 5022 in FIG.

In a process 413 in FIG. 4, characters written in the address entry space 506 in FIG. 8 are read, and in a process 414 in FIG.
6 shows the address. In the process 415 of FIG. 4, the user of the facsimile machine operates the facsimile operation device 26 to input whether the displayed address is correct or not. If the user of the facsimile apparatus inputs "incorrect" in the process 416 in FIG. 4, the image image data stored in the RAM 23 is cleared in the process 421 in FIG. In process 416 of FIG.
If the user of the facsimile apparatus inputs "correct", it is checked in step 417 in FIG. 4 whether the address is a telephone number. If it is a telephone number, a call is made to that telephone number in process 431 of FIG.
At 32, a communication connection is established with the facsimile of the call destination. The contents of the transmission original stored in the RAM 23 are transmitted in the process 433 of FIG. 4, and the communication connection is released in the process 434 of FIG. Note that, in the transmission original to be transmitted, the portion of the entry space (the portion below the dotted line in FIG. 8) including 506 in FIG. 8 is not transmitted. In the process 418 of FIG.
Check if the address is an email address. If it is a mail address, the process 44 of FIG.
In step 1, an e-mail is created from the image data.

The image 507 in FIG.
After extracting a mail address from the address entry space of 508, an e-mail as shown in FIG. 11 is created.

Reference numeral 511 in FIG. 11 denotes a message ID that describes a reference to a mail. Reference numeral 512 indicates the date and time when this mail was created. 513 indicates a sender of the mail. 51
Reference numeral 4 denotes a destination mail address read from the user entry space in FIG. 515 indicates the title of the mail read from the user entry space in FIG. 516 indicates the version of the Internet Extended Message Standard (hereinafter referred to as MIME). 517 indicates the application that created the mail and its version. 518 is
Indicates that the message body is made up of multiple blocks. Here, the block boundary is described using the common required parameter boundary. 519 indicates that the content of the block is text (however, an empty sentence here). 520 indicates that the content of the block data is binary data. name indicates the name used when saving as a file. 521 indicates the format of the data included in the message body. Here BA
The SE64 conversion method has been selected. Reference numeral 522 denotes a message body obtained by compressing image data and converting the image data into text using the BASE64 conversion method. In FIG.
The e-mail displayed on the mail viewer of the user who has received the e-mail.

In a process 442 in FIG. 4, a call is made to a mail provider that provides an electronic mail delivery service, and in a process 443 in FIG. 4, a communication connection is established with the server of the provider of the call destination using a protocol used by the provider. FIG.
In the process 444, the user IDs and passwords of the above-described 5043 and 5044 in FIG. 7 are transmitted so that the mail service of the server can be received. Therefore, in order to receive the mail service, it is necessary to make a contract with a mail service provider in advance, and have the mail server create an account and a mailbox of the user of the facsimile machine.

The e-mail created in step 441 in FIG. 4 is transmitted in step 445 in FIG. 4, and the connection is released in step 456 in FIG. In the contents of the transmitted original,
The entry space (portion below the dotted line in FIG. 9) including 508 in FIG. 9 is not transmitted.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a system for sending and receiving electronic mail to and from the mail server 6 of the provider that provides the mail service. After a connection is established between the facsimile machine and the mail service provider by the same protocol in the process 443 of FIG. 4, the mail transfer client (hereinafter referred to as SMTP) of the mail processing software 32
The client 321 sends an e-mail to the mail server 6 in FIG. 13 using the STMP protocol.
Transfer to the MTP server 61. The SMTP server 61
The address of the sent mail is read, and the mail is transmitted to a predetermined mail server on the Internet, or stored in the mailbox 63 of the own server. The mail sent to the Internet is delivered to a target mail server via an appropriate server, router, or commercial network.

In the process 419 of FIG. 4, if the address is determined to be a news group name, net news is created in the process 451 of FIG. FIG. 10 shows the document input device 24.
This shows the net news manuscript to be input. here,
The title is "fax problem", the destination newsgroup name is "fj.net.fax", and the delivery range is "
fj ". The created net news is shown in FIG.
This is almost the same as the e-mail form. The changes are that the destination address of 514 is the newsgroup name, the mailer of 517 is displayed on the newsreader, and the delivery range is entered.

In process 452 in FIG. 4, a call is made to a news provider that provides a delivery service of net news using the telephone number 5047 in FIG. 7, and in process 453 in FIG. Establish a communication connection for the protocol to be used. Processing 454 of FIG.
Then, the user IDs and passwords of 5048 and 5049 in FIG. 7 are transmitted so that the news service of the server can be received. Therefore, in order to receive the news service, it is necessary to make a contract with a news service provider in advance and have the news server create an account of the user of the facsimile apparatus and a news box.

In step 455 of FIG. 4, the net news created in step 451 of FIG. 4 is transmitted, and in step 456 of FIG. 4, the connection is released. In the contents of the transmission original to be transmitted, the part of the space for entry by the user in FIG. 10 (the part below the dotted line in FIG. 10) is not transmitted.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a system for transmitting and receiving news to and from a news server 7 of a provider that provides a news service for net news. After establishing a connection between the facsimile machine and the news service provider by the same protocol in the process 453 of FIG. 4, the news transfer protocol client (hereinafter referred to as NNTP client) 361 of the news processing software 36 of FIG. Against NNT
The network news is transferred to the NNTP server process 71 using the P protocol. NNTP server process 71
Sends the sent news to a predetermined mail server on the Internet, and sends the news box 72 of its own server.
To be stored. News sent to the Internet
It is delivered to a news server in a specified area via an appropriate server, router, or commercial network.

In the process 420 of FIG. 4, the transmission failure and the cause of the error are displayed on the facsimile operation device 26. Also, in each of the processing flows in FIG. 4, when the normal processing is not performed, the same processing is performed in the processing 420 in FIG. In the process 421 in FIG. 4, the image data of the image is cleared from the RAM 23, and the process ends.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a flyer advertisement using the template shown in FIG. Since the address has already been entered in this flyer when it was distributed to the user of the facsimile machine, the user of the facsimile machine who reads the advertisement and wishes to purchase the product can mark the advertisement and put it on the facsimile machine. Just by inserting the document, the contents of the document can be transmitted to a predetermined address.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a procedure for receiving an electronic mail by the facsimile apparatus of the present invention. In step 601, when the user of the facsimile apparatus gives an instruction to receive the mail from the facsimile operation apparatus 26 to the facsimile apparatus, in step 602, the facsimile apparatus registers 5042 registered in the initial setting list of FIG.
Make a call to the telephone number of your email service provider.

When a connection is established in process 603,
In step 604, the facsimile apparatus sends the user ID registered in the mail service server according to the initial setting list shown in FIG.
5043 and the password 5044 are transmitted. If access permission is obtained from the mail service server, then process 6
05, the post office protocol shown in FIG.
The user ID of 5045 and the user password of 5046 in FIG. When the POP server 62 authenticates the user based on the transmitted password, the POP server 62 gives access permission to the facsimile. Process 606
Then, the facsimile apparatus inquires of the POP server 62 about the state of the user's mailbox 63. P in process 607
If the OP server 62 replies that there is no mail, the process 621 displays that there is no mail on the display panel of the facsimile operating device 26, and in a process 622, transmits an end message to the POP server 62, and a process 623. To release the connection and end the process.

If the POP server 62 responds that there is a mail in the process 607, the process receives the mail sent from the mailbox 63 of the mail service server 6 in FIG. After the data is stored in the RAM 23, an end message is transmitted to the POP server in step 609, and the connection is released in step 610.
In processing 611, the contents of the mail as shown in FIG. 11 stored in the RAM 23 are analyzed by the e-mail processing software 32, and the contents of the e-mail are converted into image data, and then written in the RAM 23 in processing 612. In step 613, after the image data is output from the receiving document output device 25, the above-described mail and image data are deleted from the RAM 23 in step 614, and the process ends. In each of the processes shown in FIG. 15, when the normal process is not performed, the failure and the cause of the error are displayed on the display unit of the facsimile operation device 26 to notify the user of the facsimile device.

In the present embodiment, a series of processes is started by the user of the facsimile machine operating the facsimile operating device 26 in the process 601. However, a certain interval is used by using the clock inside the facsimile machine. It is possible to automatically start processing at a time, or when a mail arrives at the mail service provider, the mail service provider makes a call at step 602 so that the user of the facsimile apparatus can provide the service to the provider. Immediately after the mail arrives, the mail can be received by the facsimile machine.

Alternatively, after the mail is transmitted in the process 455 in FIG. 4 of the first embodiment, by executing the processes in and after the process 605 in FIG. 15, the mail can be received simultaneously with the mail transmission.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a procedure in which a facsimile apparatus receives net news. In the process 641, the user of the facsimile apparatus checks FIG.
When a news title, news creator name, news group name, designated date, and the like are entered in the news receiving search template shown in (1) and input to the manuscript input device 24, this image is stored in the RAM 23, This content is read by the character recognition software 31, and the input content is displayed on the display unit of the facsimile operation device 26 in process 643. In process 644, the user of the facsimile apparatus inputs whether or not the displayed contents are correct from the operation panel of the facsimile operation apparatus 26. If the input is incorrect, the process ends.

If the input is correct, process 645
Then, a call is made to the telephone number of the news service provider already set in 5047 of the initial setting list in FIG. When the connection is established with the news server 7 in FIG. 13 in the process 646, the facsimile apparatus transmits the user ID set in 5048 and the password set in 5049 in the initial setting list in FIG. After transmitting the user ID 5050 and password 5051 for the NNTP server shown in FIG. 7 to the NNTP server at 648, the news service can be received from the news server. In processing 649, a news list in which the date and time of creation of the news, the creator, the subject name and the like are described from the news box 72 of the news server 7 is stored in the RAM 2
3 is retrieved from the news box 72 for news corresponding to the conditions described on the template sheet of FIG. If the corresponding news is not found in the process 650, the facsimile operating device 26
Indicates that no news was found on the display section. If found, the corresponding news is fetched from the news box 72 of the news server 7 to the RAM 23 of the facsimile machine in a process 651. After all the relevant news have been fetched, NNTP is performed in process 652.
A termination message is transmitted to the server, and the connection is released in step 653. In step 654, the news content is analyzed by the electronic news processing software 36, and the image data analyzed in step 655 is written in the RAM 23. After the image data is output from the receiving document output device 25 in the process 656, the data used in the series of processes is deleted from the RAM in the process 657, and the process ends.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 17 shows a configuration diagram of a system in which a part of the functions of the present invention is mounted on a mail server 6 and a news server 7. In the present embodiment, a general facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving an image and a sheet of FIGS. 9 and 10 in which a user of the facsimile apparatus describes matters necessary for the template sheet of FIG. The user of the facsimile machine calls the papers of FIGS. 9 and 10 to the mail server 6 and the news server 7, respectively, and transmits the image data. Facsimile processing software 3
The mail server 6 and the news server 7, which have received the image data in step 3, read the mail address, the title, the news group name, and the distribution range from the user entry space in FIGS. 9 and 10 by using the character recognition software 31. Thereafter, the electronic mail processing software 32 and the electronic news processing software 36 create the contents of the electronic mail and the net news as shown in FIG. Then the SMTP client 321 and NN
The TP client 361 transmits the content, and S
After the MTP server 61 and the NNTP server 71 perform reception, each server delivers the content to a necessary place.

When the mail server 6 and the news server 7 receive an electronic mail or net news addressed to the user of the facsimile machine, the POP server 62 and the N
NTP server 71 sends mail and news content to P
OP client 322 and NNTP client 36
The content is converted into an image by the electronic mail processing software 32 and the electronic news processing software 36. Thereafter, the facsimile software 33 transmits the image to the user's facsimile machine, so that the user of the facsimile machine can receive an e-mail or net news.

[0052]

According to the present invention, the media conversion device can be controlled and set by inputting a document in which control and setting information is entered from the transmission document input means of the media conversion device. This eliminates the need for the user of the conversion device to make settings using the operation panel of the complicated media conversion device.

According to the present invention, the call destination address is described in the transmission original transmitted by the media conversion apparatus, so that the media conversion apparatus automatically makes a call to the address and transmits the contents of the original. This eliminates the need for the user of the media conversion device to make a call.

Also, according to the present invention, an e-mail address is described in a transmission original transmitted by the media conversion device, so that the media conversion device automatically makes a call to a mail service provider which performs mail transfer, and It is possible to transmit the contents of the manuscript converted into the mail format. Similarly, by describing the newsgroup name, the media conversion apparatus can automatically call the news service provider that performs news transfer, and transmit the contents of the manuscript converted into the net news format. .

Also, in the present invention, manually or automatically,
It is possible to call an Internet mail transfer provider and retrieve the e-mail addressed to the user of the media conversion device from the media conversion device, and manually or automatically call the network news transfer provider. Then, the news required by the user of the media conversion device can be output from the media conversion device.

As described above, there is no need for a general user who is difficult to operate and has no specialized knowledge to transmit or receive information by himself / herself by handling a device for digitizing information (such as a personal computer). With a simpler operation than the transmission procedure of the conversion device, it becomes possible to receive services of e-mail and net news on the Internet and commercial nets.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to extract only information necessary for the user of the media conversion apparatus from a vast amount of net news information.

According to the present invention, even a media conversion apparatus having no means of the present invention accesses a media conversion server apparatus having the means of the present invention to transmit / receive information to / from the apparatus. Thereby, the above-described operation can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of hardware of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of software of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention for automatically calling.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an original template input to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a certifier as an example of a transmission document input to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a document for initial processing setting input to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a transmission document input to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transmission document input to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transmission document input to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an electronic mail created by the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of displaying an e-mail created by the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a system including a facsimile apparatus, a news server, and a mail server according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a transmission document input to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an operation of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention for acquiring a mail.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the news acquisition operation of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a news acquisition setting document input to the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a system configuration example in which the functions of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention are mounted on the facsimile transmission / reception server side.

[Explanation of symbols]

 MIME: Internet extended message standard, SMTP: E-mail transfer protocol, NNTP: Net news transfer protocol, POP: Post office protocol.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04N 1/32 H04N 1/387 1/387 H04L 13/00 305B

Claims (6)

[Claims] A media converting apparatus having means for reading an image of a document, means for storing the read image in a storage device, and means for transmitting converted data. A media conversion device for converting data into data of another medium. 2. A media conversion apparatus, comprising: means for receiving data; means for storing received data of at least one type of media in a storage device; and means for outputting an image image. A media conversion device for converting an image into an image. 3. A media conversion apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said apparatus converts the image and controls the apparatus in accordance with the analysis result. 4. A media conversion apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a destination address is read from the image stored in the storage device, and the image image data is transmitted to a device at the address or a device for transferring to the device at the address. . 5. A media conversion apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the setting of the apparatus itself is performed using the image stored in the storage device. 6. The method according to claim 3, wherein:
Media conversion device that outputs template paper for documents to be inserted.