JPH10173890A - Remotely controllable facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the facsimile equipment that operates a facsimile transmission function based on an instruction from an external personal computer or the like. SOLUTION: A WWW browser 100 instructs a URL denoting a facsimile transmission service to call a FAX server 10. In the FAX server, a httpd 12 is in operation to play a role as a WWW server. The httpd12 sends an HTML denoting a facsimile transmission image based on an HTML file 14 to the WWW browser 100. In the transmission image denoted by the HTML, the user designates a transmission destination of the facsimile data and a document name being a transmission object or the like. Based on the designation, a CGI program 16 is started in the FAX server 10 to analyze parameters. Based on the result of analysis, a FAX format generation/transmission section 20 and a FAX communication section 22 send a desired document to a prescribed facsimile equipment 110 as facsimile data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus capable of extracting a file in the personal computer when the user is at a remote place from a personal computer or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It has been widely practiced that a document file created on a personal computer or the like is subjected to facsimile transmission by using a modem device connected to the personal computer. Such a modem used for facsimile transmission is often called a so-called FAX modem. For example,
JP-A-6-105059 discloses such a FAX.
A document transmission facsimile apparatus capable of transmitting a document file to a remote facsimile apparatus using a modem has been disclosed. The facsimile apparatus disclosed in the same publication is a facsimile apparatus capable of improving the quality of a received image of a facsimile and shortening the transmission time.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional facsimile apparatus, for example, when a user is away from a company's LAN or WAN while away from home, the user's A file stored in a company, for example, a personal computer or the like cannot be obtained using a facsimile machine outside the office. The same applies to a single-function facsimile apparatus and a facsimile apparatus using a FAX modem.

As described above, when a user wants to retrieve a file in a user's personal computer from a facsimile apparatus while away from home, for example, he first calls a person in the company of the user's company, and retrieves the file desired by the user. It is necessary to inform the person of the name and the facsimile number provided at the place where the user is located. Then, by having the person operate the user's personal computer, the contents of the desired file can be extracted from the facsimile machine at the place where the user is. In summary, the conventional facsimile machine has the following problems. First, in the facsimile apparatus (the same applies to a form in which a so-called FAX modem or the like is connected to a personal computer), the facsimile function cannot be operated from other devices. Specifically, a facsimile apparatus that can be remotely operated from another device has not been realized yet.

Therefore, it has not been possible to specify a facsimile number or a file name to be sent from another device such as a personal computer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a facsimile apparatus capable of operating a facsimile transmission function (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a facsimile transmission function) from another device such as a personal computer. It is to provide. Another object of the present invention is to enable a facsimile transmission function to be operated from another personal computer, a PDA, or the like. Is to provide a facsimile apparatus that can be transmitted to a user.

[0007]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the following functions are added to a server computer. First, a function part of the facsimile service is provided. This is necessary for operating the computer constituting the server as a facsimile machine. Further, a function of receiving a facsimile transmission request from a client, a function of receiving a facsimile transmission request, supplying a facsimile number and a file name to the facsimile function, and activating the function of the facsimile service are provided. In addition, a function is also provided for transmitting a predetermined file by facsimile transmission in accordance with a facsimile transmission request and then transmitting the result of the facsimile transmission to the client. These functions are preferably realized by a program on a computer on the server side which is a facsimile machine.

[0008] A part for receiving the facsimile transmission request can apply various protocols.
For example, ht between the client and this server
It is preferable to perform communication by tp (hypertext transport protocol). In this case, the function of receiving the facsimile transmission request is realized by a program of httpd (hypertext transport protocol daemon) on the server computer. In this case, the server computer constituting the facsimile apparatus is a so-called WWW (World Wide Web) server. When the WWW is used as the facsimile apparatus in the present invention, the UI (user interface) on the client side is HT
It is represented by the description of ML (hypertext markup language).

As described above, when the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention is implemented by a WWW server, the client accesses the server computer using a WWW browser.

Specifically, the present invention achieves the above object by taking the following measures. According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile request receiving means for receiving a facsimile transmission request output from a client, and analyzing the content of the facsimile transmission request received by the facsimile request receiving means, Analyzing means for specifying the document name of the document and the external facsimile machine as the transmission destination, and transmitting the contents of the document name specified by the analyzing means to the external facsimile apparatus specified by the analyzing means. Facsimile transmitting means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, further comprising: determining whether or not the facsimile transmission to the external facsimile apparatus is successful to the client. A facsimile apparatus including a transmission result notifying means for notifying the user.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the analyzing means includes: a file path name of the document name; presence or absence of a cover sheet in facsimile transmission; , Or the sender's comment for facsimile transmission
Parameter analysis means for analyzing one or more parameters, wherein the facsimile transmission means includes facsimile transmission control means for controlling facsimile transmission based on the parameters analyzed by the parameter analysis unit. It is a facsimile machine.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the facsimile request receiving means comprises a hypertext transport protocol daemon for configuring a world wide web server. Storage means for storing the program,
Processor means for executing the hypertext transport protocol daemon program.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a facsimile apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, wherein the analyzing means comprises a common gateway interface application program started by the hypertext transport protocol daemon program. And a processor for executing the common gateway interface application program.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall flow of providing a facsimile service by a facsimile server 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the facsimile server 1
0 is realized using a WWW server. As described above, in the present embodiment, since a facsimile apparatus which can be remotely operated by using the function of the WWW server is realized, a WWW browser can be used as a client.

As shown in FIG. 1, the FAX server 10 according to the present embodiment runs a program of a hypertext transport text daemon (httpd). When the httpd 12 is running, it functions as a WWW server.

As a client using the FAX server, any device having a WWW browser function can be used. For example, it is possible to access the FAX server 10 using the function of a WWW browser provided in a personal computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or the like. This WWW browser function of the client is simply referred to as a browser 100.

The client uses the browser 100 to make a connection request to the httpd 12 of the FAX server 10 (URL (uniform resource locator) instruction). Here, the client uses the URL of the FAX server 10 as the URL when making a connection request to the WWW server.
By instructing the RL, the function of the FAX server 10 can be used. According to the content of the URL specified via the browser 100, the httpd12
Transmits a FAX transmission screen to the browser 100 (running on the client). This fax transmission screen is H
It is described in TML (Hyper Text Markup Language). This FAX transmission screen is httpd1
2 is performed by extracting a file described in HTML from the HTML file 14 and returning it to the browser 100. Browser 1 running on client
00 displays a facsimile transmission screen for the user based on the returned HTML file. Such FA
An example of the X transmission screen is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the FAX server 10 according to the present embodiment
By using HTML, parameters such as a document name and a path name are set. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the user can display a document name, a path name,
It is possible to input a FAX number, the presence or absence of a cover sheet, the resolution, and a comment to be attached to the facsimile.

For example, in the example shown in FIG. 2, "Estimate" is input as a document name, and "C: \ temp \ mitsu.akd" is input as a (file) path name. FAX which is the destination of facsimile
The number has also been entered. Further, the presence or absence of a cover sheet in the facsimile is set by, for example, a radio button. In the example shown in FIG. 2, this cover sheet is set to “none”. Further, the resolution of the facsimile can also be designated by radio buttons. In the example shown in FIG. 2, "standard" is selected as the facsimile resolution. Further, in the example shown in FIG. 2, a column for inputting a facsimile comment is indicated by "", and a column for inputting a comment is provided at a position immediately to the right of "".

As shown in FIG. 2, after setting various parameters, the user can actually perform a facsimile transmission operation by pressing (clicking) the transmission button 30. The screen shown in FIG. 2 is also provided with a reset button 32,
When the user clicks the reset button 32, the values of various parameters such as the document name can be reset.

When the user clicks the send button 30, parameters such as the document name are transmitted from the browser 100 to ht.
It is transmitted to the FAX server 10 using tp. When the parameters are transmitted, the httpd 12 running on the FAX server 10 activates the FAX service, and sends the contents of the parameters transmitted from the browser 100 to the FAX service.

A feature of this embodiment is that the function of the facsimile service is realized by a CGI program. A CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program is a program activated and operated on the WWW, and may be called a standard program. This CGI program 16 is based on httpd12
Analyze the parameter contents (contents input by the user) sent from. Then, based on the content of the analysis, if there is a cover sheet, a document name,
Enter comments and specify facsimile resolution based on parameters. The presence or absence of these cover sheets and the resolution are sent to the FAX transmission section. FAX
The transmission section includes a FAX format generation / transmission unit 20 and a FAX communication unit 22 as shown in FIG. Existing software can be used for the FAX format generation / transmission unit 20 and the FAX communication unit 22 as they are.

The FAX format generation / transmission unit 20
A so-called FAX format is generated based on the designation of the resolution and the like from the CGI program 16. When generating the FAX format, a document to be transmitted is extracted from the document file 18 and used. The generated FAX format is transmitted to the FAX communication unit 22.
The facsimile communication unit 22 calls a facsimile machine to which a facsimile is to be transmitted via a telephone line, and transmits a facsimile. The result of FAX transmission is sent to FAX communication unit 22
To the FAX format generation / transmission unit 20. The FAX format generation / transmission unit 20 returns the transmission result of the facsimile to the CGI program 16.
This return of the transmission result is indicated by B in FIG.
The value of the FAX transmission result is “OK” or “NG”. If the fax transmission is successfully completed, the value is “OK” and the fax transmission destination is busy.
If the transmission fails, the value is “NG”. CGI
The program 16 reports the FAX transmission result to the browser 100 via HTML. The client can see whether or not the facsimile transmission is successful by looking at the screen of the browser 100.

FIG. 3 shows an example of display of such a facsimile transmission result. In the example shown in FIG. 3, it indicates that the facsimile transmission was successful. When facsimile transmission cannot be performed, such as when the facsimile transmission destination facsimile apparatus is busy, a message indicating that facsimile transmission has failed is displayed contrary to the example shown in FIG.

Next, the facsimile transmission will be described in detail with reference to a flowchart. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of the operation mainly of the FAX server 10 according to the present embodiment.

First, the browser 1 on the client side
00 is activated on a personal computer or the like.

The user can send a fax
The URL of the server 10 is specified. This URL is transmitted to the function of the WWW server in the FAX server 10. Specifically, the URL instruction is received by the httpd 12 of the FAX server 10.

On the other hand, the FAX server 10
The program of httpd12 has been activated to fulfill the function of the server (step S4-5).

In step S4-6, the httpd 12 waits for reception of the URL (step S4-1) transmitted from the browser 100. If the request has not been received, the step S4-6 loops itself, and if the request has been received, the process proceeds to the next step S4-7.

In step S4-7, it is checked whether or not HTML is requested from the browser, and if so, the process proceeds to step S4-9, and the process proceeds to step S4-9.
TML transmission is performed.

On the client browser 100, the HTML (S4) transmitted in step S4-2.
-9) has been received. And
On the browser 100 based on the received HTML, F
An AX transmission screen is displayed.

On the FAX transmission screen, the user
A transmission parameter is specified (step S4-3). The facsimile transmission parameter is, for example, a document name or a facsimile transmission destination facsimile number as described above. As described with reference to FIG.
By clicking “0”, the FAX transmission parameter input by the user is transmitted to the FAX server 10.

The httpd 12 running on the FAX server 10 receives the F
The AX transmission parameter is received in step S4-6. Then, in step S4-7, it is checked whether or not the content transmitted is a request for HTML. Since the data transmitted by the browser 100 in step S4-3 is not a request of HTML but a transmission parameter of FAX, the process proceeds to step S4-8.

In step S4-8, it is checked whether the CGI program requires activation. As described above, since the transmission of the facsimile transmission parameter in step S4-3 means that the facsimile transmission is requested based on this parameter, the CGI program is activated based on this request. . Therefore, it is determined in step S4-8 that the CGI program has been requested, and the CGI program is activated in step S4-10. If it is not determined that the activation of the CGI program is requested in step S4-8, other processing is performed in step S4-11, and then a request from the browser 100 is received again in step S4-6. The processing shifts to.

In step S4-10, the CGI program of the facsimile service is started.

The activated CGI program first analyzes the parameters sent from the httpd 12 in step S4-12.

Then, in step S4-13, various parameters for generating a FAX format are set based on the analysis result of the parameters.

Then, in step S4-14, actual fax transmission is performed. This transmission is performed using the existing FAX service function as described in FIG. Specifically, facsimile transmission is performed by sending the set parameters to the FAX format generation / transmission unit 20.

The facsimile format generating / transmitting unit 20 having received the parameters transmits the facsimile in the same manner as in the existing method.

In step S4-15, the result of facsimile transmission is confirmed. Then, in step S4-16, the facsimile transmission result is transmitted to the client. Specifically, a screen displaying the transmission result of the facsimile is described in HTML, and the HTML is transmitted to the browser 100 on the client side.

When the browser 100 receives the HTML as the facsimile transmission result (S4-4), the received HT
The facsimile transmission result is displayed based on the ML. FIG. 2 shows an example of the state of this screen.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a facsimile apparatus which can be remotely operated is replaced with an existing WWW.
This is realized by the mechanism described above. As a result, the existing W
A facsimile transmission instruction can be made from a WW browser. Further, as described with reference to FIG. 2 and the like, the facsimile transmission screen is described in HTML on the server, so even if a function to be processed is changed or a new processing function is added, the HTML on the server is used. Can be dealt with simply by changing the program, and there is no need to change the program on the client side.

Further, since the processing is executed on the server side,
This has the effect that there is no need to prepare high-performance equipment on the client side.

[0047]

As described above, first, according to the present invention, a predetermined document is transmitted to an external facsimile machine in response to a client's request. It is possible to perform facsimile transmission. In particular, by specifying a facsimile machine near the client, a desired document can be extracted from a facsimile machine near the user.

Second, according to the present invention, it is possible to know whether or not facsimile transmission has succeeded, so that a facsimile apparatus with improved convenience can be obtained.

Third, according to the present invention, since various parameters of facsimile transmission can be specified, a facsimile apparatus capable of performing facsimile transmission in which transmission parameters are finely specified can be obtained.

Fourth, according to the present invention, since a so-called WWW mechanism is used as the facsimile request receiving means, it is possible to access from a client using a WWW browser which is an existing technology.

Fifth, according to the present invention, since a so-called CGI program is used as a means for analyzing a document name or the like, a facsimile apparatus can be easily constructed using a WWW mechanism.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a flow of processing centered on a FAX server according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a facsimile transmission screen according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state of a facsimile transmission result screen according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an operation of facsimile transmission in the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 FAX server, 12 httpd, 14 HTM
L file, 16 CGI program, 18 document file, 20 FAX format generation / transmission unit, 22
FAX communication unit, 30 send button, 32 reset button, 100 browser, 110 facsimile machine.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile request receiving means for receiving a facsimile transmission request output by a client, analyzing the content of the facsimile transmission request received by the facsimile request receiving means, and a document name to be transmitted and a transmission destination An external facsimile device, and an analyzing unit that specifies the facsimile transmitting unit that transmits the content of the document name specified by the analyzing unit to the external facsimile device specified by the analyzing unit. Facsimile machine characterized. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a transmission result notifying unit that notifies the client whether or not the transmission of the facsimile to the external facsimile apparatus is successful. apparatus. 3. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said analyzing means includes: a file path name of said document name, presence or absence of a cover sheet in facsimile transmission, resolution, or a comment of a sender in facsimile transmission. Parameter analysis means for analyzing one or more parameters, wherein the facsimile transmission means includes facsimile transmission control means for controlling facsimile transmission based on the parameters analyzed by the parameter analysis unit. Facsimile machine. 4. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said facsimile request receiving means comprises: a storage means storing a hypertext transport protocol daemon program for configuring a world wide web server; and said hypertext transport. A facsimile apparatus, comprising: processor means for executing a protocol daemon program. 5. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said analysis means comprises: storage means storing a common gateway interface application program started by said hypertext transport protocol daemon program; and said common gateway interface application program. A facsimile apparatus comprising: