JPH11136490A - Facsimile machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the need for an expensive personal computer and also to eliminate such operation as complicated startup of a personal computer by providing a facsimile machine with a function of receiving and sending an electronic mail. SOLUTION: An electronic mail system, which sends and receives an electronic mail through a telephone line with a center 104 that manages an electronic mail, is provided with a facsimile machine 201, which performs dial connection to the center 104, and confirms whether or not a self-mail exists in the center 104 and automatically receives the mail when it confirms that the self-mail exists. Also, this mail system performs a dial connection from the machine 201 to the center 104 in a prescribed timing and automatically sends a mail which is preliminarily set by character recognition and voice recognition.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus which is useful when applied to an electronic mail system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, e-mail systems for transmitting e-mail using the Internet have been constructed and spread.
This is generally called E-mail and can be transmitted and received worldwide.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a general electronic mail system used in a general household or the like.

In FIG. 1, a general-purpose personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a personal computer) 101 is connected to a telephone line 103 via a
1 and the outside can transmit and receive data. Telephone line 1
03 is connected to various networks, and is equipped with ordinary telephone services and ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network).
k) It is possible to use services and the like.

[0005] The center 104 is for connecting the personal computer 101 to various networks. That is, when using the Internet, the center 104
Is connected to the Internet through a dedicated line (not shown) or the like to provide services. In the case of a system such as personal computer communication, the center 104 performs centralized management and supplies services through the telephone line 103. In any case, the center 104 receives mail from each user and distributes the mail to its destination.

On the other hand, in order for the user to send and receive e-mail, the personal computer 101 is started once, an application for communication is started, and the modem 104 is sent to the center 104.
A dial-up operation for making a telephone connection via the O.02 is required. Through the series of operations described above, it is possible to know whether or not there is an e-mail addressed to the user. Further, the e-mail can be received and taken into the personal computer 101, and can be output to the printer 105 connected to the personal computer 101 if necessary.

[0007]

However, sending and receiving e-mails as described above requires an expensive personal computer or the like, and also requires starting up the personal computer and performing predetermined operations. . Therefore, mail cannot be easily handled, and it has not been easy to smoothly transmit information at home or the like.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile machine with an e-mail receiving and transmitting function, thereby eliminating the need for an expensive personal computer and eliminating complicated operations such as starting up a personal computer. .

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided an e-mail system for transmitting / receiving mail via a telephone line to / from a center for managing e-mail, a connecting means for making a dial connection to the center at a predetermined timing; The center has confirmation means for confirming whether or not its own mail exists, and receiving means for automatically receiving the mail when the confirmation means can confirm that the mail exists. Features.

Further, the present invention provides an electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving mail via a telephone line to and from a center for managing electronic mail. Transmitting means for automatically transmitting the mail to the center.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic mail system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The same components as those of the conventional example shown in FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Further, FIG.
Facsimile machine in the embodiment (hereinafter referred to as FAX)
6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, a telephone line 103 has
The FAX 201 and the center 104 are connected. When receiving an e-mail or the like, for example, the FAX 201 periodically sends the information to the center 10 via the telephone line 103.
4 is dialed.

The FAX 201 confirms a mail addressed to itself in the center 104 according to a protocol set in advance and receives the contents. The received contents are stored in the memory in the facsimile machine 201 and, if necessary, printed out.

In FIG. 2, first, in step 01 (S0
In 1), the FAX 201 automatically receives a request from a user or a center 10 via a telephone line at a predetermined time.
4 is dialed. At this time, confirmation of the user is performed according to a protocol set in advance. It is assumed that user registration has been performed in the center 104 in advance. And
If it is confirmed that the user is a user, step 02 (S02)
Proceed to. If not, the process ends.

In step 02 (S02), the mail status of the user, such as newly arrived mail or unread mail, is determined, the contents thereof are received, and the process proceeds to step 03 (S03). If there is no content to receive, the process ends.

In step 03 (S03), the contents of the mail and the like received in step 02 (S02) are printed out. Further, the content may be stored without being printed out.

With the above-described series of operations, the contents of the e-mail can be easily and promptly known by the facsimile machine. Therefore, the contents of the e-mail can be easily known, and high-speed information can be transmitted using the e-mail.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic mail system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the facsimile of the second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3, the FAX 401 and the center 104 are connected to the telephone line 103. Then, when sending an e-mail, a dial connection is made from the FAX 401 to the center 104 via the telephone line 103.

The FAX 401 connects to the center 104 according to a protocol set in advance and transmits an electronic mail or the like as its own mail. The mail transmitted by the FAX 401 can be realized by reading a document or the like by FAX in advance and performing character conversion by image processing. Further, data may be prepared by another input means.

In FIG. 4, data to be transmitted is input in step 11 (S11). For example, an image may be input using a scanner, and character recognition may be performed using OCR technology. Further, a voice recognition technology may be used. Step 1
In step 12 (S12), which proceeds to step 2 (S12), the data and format are converted so that the data input in step 11 (S11) can be transmitted to an e-mail.
Next, the process proceeds to step 13 (S13).

In step 13 (S13), the telephone line 1
Then, the connection to the center 104 is made via the network 03 and a dial connection is made with the center 104 according to a preset protocol.
At this time, if the connection fails, the process ends. Also, if successful, proceed to step 14 (S14).

In step 14 (S14), step 1
The transmission data prepared in 2 (S12) is transmitted to the center 104.

With the above-described series of operations, an electronic mail can be easily transmitted by facsimile without using a personal computer or the like.

Although the above embodiment has been described as an operation of software with reference to a flowchart, it is needless to say that a similar function may be constituted by hardware and a similar effect can be obtained. Also, the content of transmission / reception has been described as being limited to mail, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the same applies to content of forums and bulletin boards. In the claims of the present application, these are referred to as mail.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, electronic mail can be transmitted and received without using an expensive personal computer.
In addition, the facsimile can easily and easily realize the information, and has the effect of realizing high-speed transmission of information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic mail system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic mail system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

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

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional electronic mail system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 103: telephone line, 104: center, 201, 401: FAX.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving mail via a telephone line to and from a center for managing e-mail, a connection means for making a dial connection to the center at a predetermined timing, and an own mail in the center A facsimile apparatus comprising: a confirmation unit for confirming whether or not to perform the operation; and a receiving unit for automatically receiving the mail when the confirmation unit confirms that the mail exists. 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the received mail is stored in a storage unit and printed out. 3. An electronic mail system for sending and receiving e-mail via a telephone line to and from a center for managing e-mail, wherein a connection means for dial connection to the center at a predetermined timing; A facsimile apparatus, comprising: 4. The mail according to claim 3, further comprising a character recognizing means for reading an image set in the reading device and automatically recognizing a character included in the read image, and transmitting the data recognized by the character recognizing means to the mail. A facsimile machine characterized by transmitting as a fax. 5. The voice recognition device according to claim 3, further comprising: voice input means for inputting a voice message; and voice recognition means for automatically recognizing characters included in the input voice message by voice recognition. A facsimile apparatus for transmitting the converted data as the mail.