JPH1042068A - Communication terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To register a telephone number and an electronic mail address to an abbreviation dial or a one easy step key in a coexisting state by providing a function for automatically discriminating whether the one registered in the abbreviation dial or the one easy step key is the telephone number of an opposite party or the electronic mail address. SOLUTION: CPU 1 reads the telephone number of the opposite party or the electronic mail address which are designated by the abbreviation dial or the one easy step key of an operating part 5 from the opposite party table T1 of RAM 7. It is continuously checked whether or not read transmission destination data consists of only numerals or of marks being peculiar to the numerals and the telephone number so that whether the telephone number or the electronic mail address is judged and a processing for executing facsimile communication to the opposite party telephone number or the processing for transmitting the electronic mail to the opposite party electronic mail address is executed. Thus, the telephone number and the electronic mail address are registered in the abbreviation dial or one easy step key by coexisting.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication terminal device connectable to a computer communication network for transmitting electronic mail via the Internet or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional facsimile machines include a G3 machine connected to an analog line and a G4 machine connected to a digital line.
Machine and is widely used. 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a computer communication network that connects a local computer communication network with a communication line and distributes e-mail via a networked Internet or the like has become widespread. The computer communication network has an excellent error correction function, and can communicate with computers not only in Japan but also abroad simply by paying the communication cost to the nearest contract provider (connection company to the computer communication network).

[0003] The communication procedure and communication method of the conventional G3 and G4 facsimile are different from those of the computer communication network.
Cannot directly connect to computer communication network. However, even image data such as a transmission original can be transmitted to a computer communication network by converting the image data into an electronic mail format.

When transmitting image data converted into an electronic mail format to such a computer communication network, the destination of the electronic mail can be specified by, for example, "aaaa @ bbb".
b.co.jp ", enter and specify a user name (aaaa), a @ mark, and a domain name (bbbb.co.jp) for specifying a network group to which this user belongs.

[0005] Further, the communication terminal device is generally provided with keys called speed dials and one-touch keys, and the user registers the telephone number of the frequent communication partner or the like in the speed dial or one-touch keys in advance. By making it possible to call the other party with a small number of key inputs, it is possible to save time and effort for input and to avoid input errors.

[0006]

However, in the conventional communication terminal device, since the telephone number of the other party is registered in the speed dial or the one-touch key in principle,
When an e-mail address is registered, an operation of designating that the registered e-mail address is an electronic mail address is required in addition to the operation of the speed dial or the one-touch key.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and it is intended to determine whether the registered telephone number or the one-touch key is a telephone number of a destination or an e-mail address. By providing a function for automatically discriminating, it is possible to mix and register a telephone number and an e-mail address in a speed dial or a one-touch key. An object of the present invention is to provide a communication terminal device that does not require an operation.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal device capable of performing facsimile communication and transmitting an e-mail to a computer communication network, the communication terminal device comprising one of a telephone number and an e-mail address of a destination. A means for registering one in correspondence with the speed dial or one-touch key; and a means for communicating with the other party based on a telephone number or an e-mail address corresponding to the operated speed dial or one-touch key. I do.

A communication terminal device according to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect, further comprises means for specifying a telephone number or an e-mail address of each of a plurality of destinations by operating a speed dial or a one-touch key to perform broadcast communication. It is characterized in that a plurality of destinations to be broadcast can be designated by mixing telephone numbers and e-mail addresses.

[0010] A communication terminal device according to a third aspect of the present invention comprises the first or second communication terminal
In addition to the invention, it is determined whether or not a telephone number is registered in association with an operated speed dial or one-touch key, whether data corresponding to a telephone number or an e-mail address includes only numbers or It is characterized in that it is provided with means for judging whether it consists only of numbers and predetermined symbols.

According to the communication terminal device of the present invention, one of the telephone number and the e-mail address of the other party is registered in the speed dial or the one-touch key, and the transmission registered in the designated speed dial or the one-touch key is registered. First, for example, whether it is a telephone number or an e-mail address is determined based on whether or not it is only a number or whether it is only a number and a predetermined symbol, and if it is a telephone number, normal facsimile communication is performed. If it is an e-mail address, the e-mail is sent to the computer communication network. Thus, even when the telephone number and the e-mail address are registered in a mixed manner with the speed dial or the one-touch key, no operation other than the operation of selecting the speed dial or the one-touch key is required.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the embodiment of the present invention, image data is transmitted as electronic mail, and the Internet is used as a computer communication network. The hardware configuration of the communication terminal device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The communication terminal device is a conventional G3, G4
In addition to the facsimile communication function, it has a function to communicate with the Internet. The CPU 1 not only controls the hardware components of the communication terminal device via the bus 12 but also executes software such as encoding / decoding, image (TIFF) conversion, binary / text conversion, mail editing, and communication procedures, which will be described later. .

The reading section 2 reads an original by a CCD or the like,
Outputs black and white binary image data. The recording unit 3 includes a printer of an electrophotographic system or the like, and records image data received from another G3 or G4 facsimile machine or the Internet. The display unit 4 includes a liquid crystal display device and the like,
The operation status of the communication terminal device and image data are displayed.

The operation unit 5 includes various function keys required for operating the communication terminal device, such as numeric keypad, speed dial, one-touch key, telephone number to speed dial / one-touch key, and registration mode setting of an e-mail address. It has. The ROM 6 stores software necessary for the operation of the communication terminal device. RAM7 is SRA
M or a flash memory, and stores not only temporary data generated during execution of software but also various tables (described later). The image memory 8 is composed of a DRAM or the like, and stores image data.

DSU (Data Line Terminating Equipment: Digital Se
The rvice unit 9 converts transmission / reception data and voltage so that the digital line L1 using the baseband transmission method can be connected. The modem 10 has a data modem function in addition to a conventional fax modem function. NCU1
1 closes and opens the analog line L2.

FIG. 2 schematically shows a data flow in the communication terminal device of the present invention. Parts corresponding to those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Encoding / decoding unit 2 described later
1, image converter 22, binary / text converter 23,
The mail editing unit 24 and the auto dialer 25 are processed by the CPU 1 based on the software stored in the ROM 6 although the corresponding reference numerals do not exist in FIG.

The encoding / decoding section 21 encodes or decodes the image data according to an encoding system such as MH, MR, MMR or the like. Hereinafter, the image data encoded by these encoding methods is referred to as “G3 format image data”. The image memory 8 stores G3 format image data.

At the time of transmission, the image conversion unit 22 converts G3 format image data into TIFF (Tagged Image File), which is a general image format used in computers.
Format), and at the time of reception, the data is converted from TIFF to G3 format image data. TIFF is Adobe Syste
Published by ms, various classes that handle not only black and white binary but also black and white multi-valued, full color, etc. are defined. One of them, CLASS F, defines G3 format image data. Therefore, the file can be converted to TIFF by embedding the CLASS F Tag in the G3 format file. Below, Ta of CLASS F
g3 embedded image data in "TIF
F image data ".

The binary / text converter 23 converts binary data into text data when transmitting, and converts text data into binary data when receiving.
There are computers on the Internet that cannot handle binary data e-mail. When transmitting binary data such as TIFF image data to ensure that the e-mail reaches the destination, the data is once converted to text data. Text data handled on the Internet is IETF (Internet Engineering TaskForce)
RFC (Request For Com
ments) 822 is specified as a 7-bit code.

Therefore, MIME (Multipurpose Internet)
Conversion is performed using base64 of Mail Extensions). According to this, 6-bit binary data is 64 characters (uppercase, lowercase alphabet,
It is replaced with one of the numbers, +, /), and can be converted to text data. MIME is specified in RFC.

The mail editing unit 24 adds mail header information to the TIFF image data converted into text data at the time of transmission to edit the data into an electronic mail format, and removes the mail header information from the data of the electronic mail format at the time of reception. , And extracts only the TIFF image data converted to text data. Since it is specified that predetermined header information is added to Internet e-mails, at the time of transmission, the header of TIFF image data has
“From: (user's Internet e-mail address)”, “To: (user's Internet e-mail address)
"Address", "Subject: (title)", "cc: (Indicates that a copy of the letter will also be sent to the address specified in this line)", "Date: (Send date and time)" I do.

The auto dialer 25 has a destination table T.
1. In order to call the telephone number read from the provider table T3, the DSU 9, the modem 10 or the NCU 11
Send the other party's telephone number data to

Next, each table will be described. FIG.
As shown in (A), in the destination table T1, the destination name and either the Internet e-mai1 address or the facsimile number are registered for each abbreviated number or one-touch dial, and the facsimile number is registered. The facsimile type (G3 or G4) is also registered. As shown in FIG. 3B, the user (sender) table T2 includes a user name of the communication terminal device, an Internet e-mai1 address, a contracted provider type, a user ID for logging in to the Internet, and a password. Is registered. When a plurality of users share one communication terminal device at an office or the like, it is also possible to register for each user and select at the time of transmission.

As shown in FIG. 3C, the provider table T3 stores the telephone number, line type (analog or digital), provider name, and provider type of the provider used for connecting to the Internet. The provider type corresponds to the provider type in the user table T2, and identifies a different login procedure for each provider. For example, when one provider has a plurality of telephone lines or when a plurality of providers are used, it is possible to register for each telephone number and select it at the time of transmission.

A procedure for transmitting an electronic mail to the Internet will be described. The protocol used in Table 1 is used in each layer of the OSI reference modem.

[0026]

[Table 1]

First, the login procedure will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, when a line with a provider computer (hereinafter, referred to as a server) is set, the communication terminal device, for example, receives a PAP (Password Authentication Protocol).
According to l), keep sending the user ID and password until an Ack or Nack is received from the provider. Nack
After receiving, release the line and redial. Upon receiving the Ack, login to the server is completed.

After completing the log-in to the server, an e-mail is transmitted by SMTP as shown in FIG. First, the communication terminal device makes an SMTP connection request to the server. If the server can be connected, the server returns a response code 220 to the communication terminal device. Further, if the communication terminal device is "HEL
When the server recognizes the domain name of the communication terminal device, the response code 250 and the domain name of the server are returned. After that, the communication terminal device transmits the mail and completes. Then, "QUII
In response, the server returns a response code 221 and the SMTP is terminated. After the transmission of the e-mail is completed, the server logs in and opens the line.

Next, the operation of the communication terminal device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
A description will be given based on the flowchart of FIG. First, the user sets a document to be transmitted on a transmitting table (not shown) (S1).
. Next, the destination key is selected by pressing the start key or the one-touch key following the abbreviated number input by the speed dial from the operation unit 5 (S2). At this time, regardless of which of the telephone number and the e-mail address is registered, a plurality of destinations can be designated by mixing the telephone number and the e-mail address.

Further, the user himself / herself inputs a passcode for selecting a registered user name from the user table T2. The reason for specifying the user name by the passcode is to prevent unauthorized use by others. This passcode can also be used as a password for connecting to the Internet.

The communication terminal device reads the document on the platen one by one, and once encodes all the pages by the encoding / decoding unit 21 using the MMR.
The image data is encoded by the system and stored in the image memory 8 as G3 format image data (S3). The telephone number or e-mail address of the destination specified by the abbreviated number or one-touch key is read from the destination table T1.
Subsequently, it is determined whether the destination of the destination read from the destination table T1 is an e-mail address, whether the data of the destination is a numeral only or a numeral and a symbol unique to a telephone number such as a hyphen or a pause. It is determined by checking whether or not it is not (S4), and processing for facsimile communication to the telephone number of the other party or processing for transmitting an e-mail to the electronic mail address of the other party is performed.

If the result of determination in S4 is that the destination is not an e-mail address, a call is made to each telephone number of the destination (S4).
5) Normal facsimile transmission is performed (S6), and the line is released (S7). The above steps S4 to S7 are repeated for all transmission destinations selected as destinations (S4).
8).

As a result of the determination in S4, if the transmission destination is an e-mail address, G3 format image data cannot be directly transmitted on the Internet. Image converter 22
Is TIFF in the file of G3 format image data.
The tag “CLASS F” is embedded to create TIFF image data (S9). Since the TIFF image data is binary data, the binary / text converter 2
3 converts this into text data (S10).

Further, the mail editing unit 24 adds an e-mail header to the TIFF image data converted into the text data (S11). This header includes at least the items “From:”, “To:”, and “Subject:”. "From:" contains the Internet e-mai1 address of the user selected from the user table T2, "T
o: ”indicates the Internet e-mai1 address of the destination read from the destination table T1,“ Subjec
In this example, “TIFF (G3)” is set to “t:” which indicates that the electronic mail includes image data in TIFF format.
When a plurality of destinations are selected by the e-mail address, the e-mail addresses of the plurality of destinations are listed below “To:”.

When the data in the e-mail format is completed, a dial-up connection to the Internet is made. From the provider table T3, the type of line (analog / digital) of the provider to which the user is subscribed is determined. If the line is an analog line, the modem 10 is set. If the line is a digital line, the DSU 9 is set. Calls the provider's telephone number and waits for a response. When the telephone line with the provider is set, the user logs in according to the PAP described above (S1).
2). Send an e-mail by SMTP (S13),
After the transmission is completed, log out and open the telephone line (S1
4) The process proceeds to S8.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the case where the Internet is used as the computer communication network has been described. However, the computer communication network is not limited to the Internet, and may be another computer communication network. The effect of can be obtained.

In the embodiment of the present invention, whether the telephone number of the transmission destination is registered or the e-mail address is registered is determined by the fact that the characters of the data of the transmission destination are composed of numerals and symbols specific to the telephone number. Although the description has been given of the case where the determination is made based on whether the destination is registered, a flag indicating whether the registered transmission destination is a telephone number or an e-mail address may be provided.

[0038]

As described above, the communication terminal apparatus of the present invention automatically determines whether the registered telephone number or the one-touch key is the telephone number of the destination or the e-mail address. With the function, it is possible to mix and register phone numbers and e-mail addresses in speed dials or one-touch keys, and in that case, there is no need for operations other than speed dial or one-touch key selection It has an excellent effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a data flow in the communication terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a table stored in the communication terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a procedure for logging in to a server.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a procedure for transmitting an electronic mail to a server.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the operation of the communication terminal device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 5 Operation unit 6 ROM 7 RAM

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A communication terminal device capable of facsimile communication and electronic mail transmission to a computer communication network,
Means for registering either the telephone number or the e-mail address of the other party in association with the speed dial or the one-touch key; and the destination based on the telephone number or the e-mail address corresponding to the operated speed dial or the one-touch key. And a means for communicating with the communication terminal. 2. A system for performing a broadcast communication by designating a telephone number or an e-mail address of each of a plurality of destinations by operating a speed dial or a one-touch key. 2. The communication terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the communication terminal device can be specified by mixing the e-mail address and the e-mail address. 3. It is determined whether or not a telephone number is registered in association with an operated speed dial or one-touch key, by determining whether data corresponding to a telephone number or an e-mail address includes only numbers. 3. The communication terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising means for determining whether the communication terminal is composed of only a number and a predetermined symbol.