JPH11150645A - Control method for facsimile communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve considerably the operating convenience of a network facsimile equipment by sending an electronic mail together with a registered browsing software in the case of transmission of image information received from a public network by the network facsimile equipment provided with an address conversion table to a destination with a network address. SOLUTION: A network facsimile equipment FX is provided with an electronic mail processing function that communicates image information via a local area network LAN in a form of an electronic mail, an image information transmission function that uses a connected public network (PSTN) for a transmission line by means of a group 3 facsimile protocol, and a distribution function of a browsing software or the like. Since the facsimile equipment can designates an image data format of image information to be distributed on request of the user, the facsimile equipment distributes proper image data in response to an image display capability of a terminal equipment used by the user. The distributed browsing software processes a format of the image data and the user can browse the image data properly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has a function of exchanging data on a local area network and the Internet, a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure through a public network, and a facsimile transmission procedure. It has an address conversion table that stores the received sub-address information and the network address corresponding to the sub-address information in association with each other, and converts the image information received via the public network into the sub-address information notified from the partner terminal at the time of receiving the image information. A network facsimile apparatus for transmitting via the local area network to the destination of the network address stored in the address conversion table correspondingly;
Further, the present invention relates to a control method for a facsimile communication system including a facsimile apparatus using a public network as a transmission path.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a function of exchanging data on a local area network and the Internet and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network have been provided.
A sub-address information received by a facsimile transmission procedure and an address conversion table storing a network address corresponding to the sub-address information in association with the sub-address information, the image information received via the public network is notified from the partner terminal when the image information is received. Facsimile communication system comprising: a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting a network address stored in the address conversion table corresponding to the sub-address information via a local area network; and a facsimile apparatus using a public network as a transmission path. Has been put to practical use.

The use of such a facsimile communication system is very convenient because image information can be transmitted from a facsimile apparatus connected to a public network to a destination connected to a local area network or the Internet. .

[0004]

When transmitting image information to a terminal device connected to a local area network or the Internet, a terminal device (for example, a workstation device or a personal computer device) used by a destination has a If there is no function of displaying the received image information, the destination user cannot browse the received image information, and such image information transmission is useless.

[0005] For this purpose, for example, this facsimile communication system is disclosed on the WWW (Wo) published on the Internet.
(ld wide web) server, etc., it is conceivable to distribute image information browsing software.
The destination user must receive the distribution of the viewing software each time, which is troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a control method of a facsimile communication system in which a destination user can easily obtain browsing software.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has a function of exchanging data on a local area network and the Internet, a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network, and a facsimile transmission. It has an address conversion table storing the sub-address information received by the procedure and the network address corresponding to the sub-address information, and stores the image information received via the public network from the sub-address notified by the partner terminal when the image information is received. A network facsimile apparatus that transmits a network address stored in the address conversion table corresponding to the information via a local area network, and a facsimile apparatus that uses a public network as a transmission path. In the method for controlling a simmig communication system, the network facsimile apparatus includes browsing software registration means for registering browsing software for browsing the image information on the destination side, and when transmitting the image information to the destination, The browsing software registered in the browsing software registration means is also transmitted.

An image data format corresponding to a destination is registered in the address conversion table. When image information is transmitted, the image data format is registered in the address conversion table corresponding to the destination at that time. The image information can be transmitted after converting the image information into an image data format.

[0009] A plurality of browsing software may be registered in the browsing software registration means, and browsing software capable of browsing an image data format to be transmitted to the destination may be selected and transmitted.

The browsing software registered in the browsing software registration means may be newly registered or updated via a local area network.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a facsimile communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a local area network LAN includes a plurality of workstations WS1 to WS1.
WSn, the mail server device SM, and the network facsimile device FX are connected.

Here, the mail server device SM collects well-known e-mails for users using the workstation devices WS1 to WSn connected to the local area network LAN and for the network network facsimile device FX. It provides distribution services.

The workstation devices WS1 to WSW
Various programs such as various software for exchanging various data via the local area network LAN are introduced in Sn,
By introducing new software (for example, viewer software (browsing software) described later), a new function can be realized and used by a specific user. Here, typically, the specific user may be one or more users.

A network facsimile machine FX
Is an e-mail processing function for exchanging image information as e-mail via a local area network LAN, is connected to a public network (PSTN), and uses the public network as a transmission path to transmit image information according to a group 3 facsimile transmission procedure. It has a transmission function for transmission, a distribution function for viewer software, and the like.

FIG. 2 shows a network facsimile machine F
3 shows an example of the configuration of X.

In FIG. 1, a system control unit 1 controls each unit of the network facsimile machine FX.
The system memory 2 stores various control processes such as a facsimile transmission control procedure process. The system memory 2 stores a control process program executed by the system control unit 1 and various data necessary for executing the process program. The parameter memory 3 stores various kinds of information unique to the network facsimile machine FX. The clock circuit 4 stores current time information. Is output.

The scanner 5 is for reading an original image at a predetermined resolution, the plotter 6 is for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution, and the operation display unit 7 is a network facsimile apparatus. It is used to operate the FX, and includes various operation keys and various display devices.

The encoding / decoding section 8 encodes and compresses the image signal and decodes the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal.
This is for storing a large number of image information in a coded and compressed state.

The group 3 facsimile modem 10 implements a group 3 facsimile modem function, and exchanges transmission procedure signals (a low-speed modem function (V.21 modem)) and mainly exchanges image information. High-speed modem function (V.17 modem,
V. 34 modem, V.34. 29 modem, V.29. 27ter modem etc.).

The network control device 11 is for connecting the facsimile machine to a public network (PSTN) and has an automatic transmission / reception function.

The local area network interface circuit 12 is connected to the network facsimile machine F
X is connected to the local area network LAN, and the local area network transmission control unit 13
This is for executing communication control processing of various predetermined protocol suites for exchanging various data with other data terminal devices.

The system control unit 1, system memory 2, parameter memory 3, clock circuit 4, scanner 5, plotter 6, operation display unit 7, encoding / decoding unit 8, image storage device 9, group 3 facsimile modem The network controller 10, the network controller 11, and the local area network transmission controller 13 are connected to an internal bus 14. Data exchange between these elements is mainly performed via the internal bus 14. I have.

Data exchange between the network controller 11 and the group 3 facsimile modem 10 is directly performed.

In this embodiment, basically, data exchange between terminals connected to the local area network LAN is based on TCP / IP.
This is performed by applying a combination (a so-called protocol suite) of a transmission protocol up to a transport layer called a transport layer and a communication protocol of a higher layer than that. For example, in the exchange of e-mail data, SMTP (Simple) is used as the upper layer communication protocol.
A communication protocol called Mail Transfer Protocol is applied.

However, the electronic mail cannot directly include binary data such as image information data and image data, and is readable by a predetermined conversion method (for example, Base64 encoding method). The character code is included in the electronic mail. The format of such an e-mail is MIME (Multipur
pose Internet Mail Extensions
ions (multipurpose mail); RFC (described later) 1521,
Refer to RFC 1522).

The protocol applied by each terminal to the mail server device SM for confirming the receipt of an e-mail addressed to the user and for requesting transmission is so-called POP.
(Post Office Protocol) or the like can be applied.

Communication protocols such as TCP / IP, SMTP, and POP, and data formats and data structures of e-mails are described in IETF (In).
ternet Engineering Task F
orce), an RFC (Request) issued by an organization that summarizes technical content related to the Internet.
st For Comments) document. For example, TCP is RFC793, IP is RFC
793, SMTP is RFC821, E-mail format is RFC822, RFC1521, RFC1522,
POP is specified in RFC1725.

The network facsimile machine FX
Has an address conversion table that stores sub-address information received by a facsimile transmission procedure and a mail address corresponding to the sub-address information,
The image information received via the public network is sent to the destination of the mail address stored in the address conversion table corresponding to the subaddress information notified from the partner terminal at the time of receiving the image information, to the local area network LAN (and the Internet). To send over. The received image information is converted into an image data format corresponding to the destination and sent.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an address conversion table for distributing such facsimile image information. The address conversion table indicates a sub address, a mail address, a format of image data to be transmitted to the destination, a name of viewer software to be distributed to the destination, and whether the viewer software has been distributed to the destination. Consists of attached information. The address conversion table can be constructed by directly operating the network facsimile machine FX, and via the local area network LAN, any one of the workstations WS1 to WSn or the mail connected to the local area network LAN. It can be appropriately configured by remote control from the server device SM.

Now, the network facsimile machine FX
When delivering the image information, if the attached information in the address conversion table is “present”, only the image information is delivered without attaching the viewer software. FIG. 4 shows an example of the electronic mail in this case. This email is
It is a non-multipart MIME format. Also, "Con
The file name of the transmitted image data is displayed by “name = Test.tif” in the subfield of the “tent-Type” field.

On the other hand, a network facsimile machine FX
When distributing the image information, if the attached information in the address conversion table is “none”, the image information is distributed with the viewer software attached. FIG. 5 shows an example of the e-mail in this case. This e-mail is a multi-part MIME format in which image information (image data) is arranged in the first MIME part, and viewer software is arranged (attached) in the second MIME part. In addition, the "Content-Type"
"e" field sub-name "name = Tes"
t. “fit”, the file name of the image data to be transmitted is displayed, and “X-attachmen” is displayed.
In the “ts” field, the file name of the attached viewer software is displayed.

The network facsimile machine FX
The viewer software stored in any one of the workstation devices WS1 to WSn or the mail server device S connected to the local area network LAN.
M, the data is transmitted to the network facsimile machine FX using an e-mail as shown in FIG. 6, and is stored in the network facsimile machine FX. In this case, in the “Subject” field of the e-mail, “NetFa” indicating that viewer software is to be added is displayed.
The character string “xView Add” is displayed, and “X
The file name of the attached viewer software is displayed in the “-attachments” field.

When such an e-mail is received, the network facsimile machine FX converts and retrieves the viewer software from the received e-mail, and stores the viewer software.

Then, as shown in FIG. 7, a reply mail indicating that the registration of the viewer software is completed is transmitted to the distribution source of the viewer software, and this is notified to the distribution source.

A network facsimile machine FX
You can also update the viewer software that is saved in. Such a situation occurs when the viewer software is upgraded. In this case, the “NetFaxView” indicating the update of the viewer software is displayed in the “Subject” field.
A character string "er Update" is displayed, and the upgraded viewer software is attached.

In this case, the network facsimile machine FX sends a reply mail indicating that the update of the viewer software has been completed to the distributor of the viewer software, and notifies the distributor of the reply mail.

On the other hand, the network facsimile machine FX
Then, when the viewer software is updated, the attached information corresponding to the e-mail address to which the viewer software is distributed is changed to "None" so that the updated viewer software can be attached when the next image information is distributed. Keep it. The attached information is changed to “present” after the distribution of the e-mail with the updated viewer software attached.

When the workstation device WS1 to WSn used by the destination user receives the image data distribution e-mail, if the viewer software is not attached to the e-mail, the e-mail body information The image data is extracted from the (MIME information) and stored in an appropriate storage means (for example, a mail spooler or the like) so that the viewer software can browse the image data.

Thus, when viewing the received image data, the destination user activates the viewer software, opens the image data file, and displays the contents, thereby displaying the image transmitted from the facsimile apparatus. You can browse the contents of the information.

When viewer software is attached to the received e-mail, image data and viewer software are respectively extracted from the body information (multi-part MIME information) of the e-mail, and the image data is stored in an appropriate storage means. (For example, a mail spooler), and the viewer software stores the application in an appropriate storage unit (for example, an application storage area or the like) for storing the application.

Thus, the destination user starts up the newly saved viewer software, opens the saved image data file, and displays the contents thereof.
The contents of the image information transmitted from the facsimile machine can be browsed.

As described above, in this embodiment, the e-mail attached with the viewer software for browsing the image data is transmitted to the destination user of the image information as necessary, so that the user obtains the viewer software one by one. There is no need to make an effort to do so, and usability is greatly improved.

Further, since the image data format of the image information to be distributed can be designated according to the user, appropriate image data can be distributed according to the image display capability of the terminal device used by the user, and the usability is greatly improved. To improve.
In addition, since the viewer software distributed to the user can process the format of the image data received by the user, the user can browse the image data received appropriately, and the degree of freedom in transmitting image information is increased. Very large and convenient.

Also, viewer software to be distributed to the user can be sent to the network facsimile machine FX from a user of another terminal device connected to the local area network or the Internet, and can be registered or updated. The viewer software can be registered in the network facsimile machine FX efficiently, which is very convenient.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a process performed by the network facsimile machine FX when an incoming call from the public network is detected.

When an incoming call is detected (the result of decision 101 is YE
S), responding to the incoming call (process 102), and
A facsimile reception accumulation process is executed (process 103),
Image information and various necessary information (for example,
Sub-address, etc.) and store it (Process 10
3). When the image information receiving operation is completed, the line is restored (process 104).

Next, the mail address, the image data format, and the attached information of the corresponding user are acquired by using the stored sub-address and referring to the sub-address conversion table (steps 105, 106, and 10).
7).

Here, it is checked whether or not the content of the attached information is "present" (determination 108). If the content of the attached information is "none" and the result of determination 108 is NO, the viewer name is further acquired (process 109), the stored viewer software is read, and the corresponding MIME is read. Convert to information (Process 1
10), the attached information is updated to “present” (process 11)
1).

Next, the stored facsimile image information is converted into image data of the acquired image format (process 112), and the image data is converted into corresponding MIME information (process 113). An e-mail to be transmitted is created (process 114). At this time, when the viewer software is not attached, a non-multipart MIME-format e-mail as shown in FIG. 4 is created, and when the viewer software is attached, FIG.
An electronic mail in a multi-part MIME format as shown in FIG.

Then, the created electronic mail is transmitted to the mail server device SM (process 115).

FIG. 9 shows an example of processing of the network facsimile machine FX executed when an electronic mail is received.

When the e-mail is received (the result of determination 201 is YES), “Sub” in the header information of the e-mail
Jedt ”field is analyzed (process 202),
It is checked whether the received e-mail is for a transfer request to a public network facsimile machine, for a viewer registration request, or for a viewer update request (decisions 203, 204, 205). .

If neither is the case, it means that the image information addressed to the own terminal has been received, so the MIME information of the body information is converted into the original facsimile image information (process 206), and the image information is recorded and output from the plotter 6. Then (process 207), the process returns to the determination 201.

If the received electronic mail is a request for transfer to a public network facsimile apparatus and the result of determination 203 is YES, the body information is converted to facsimile image information, and the designated public network A predetermined transfer process (process 208) to be transmitted to the facsimile machine is executed, and
Return to decision 201.

If the received e-mail is for a viewer registration request and the result of determination 204 is YES, viewer registration processing (processing for registering viewer software attached to the body information of the received e-mail) 209; described later), and returns to the determination 201.

If the received e-mail is for a viewer update request and the result of determination 205 is YES, a viewer update process for updating and registering viewer software attached to the body information of the received e-mail ( (Step 209; described later) to determine 201
Return to

FIG. 10 shows an example of the viewer registration process.

First, one registered viewer software is selected (process 301), and it is checked whether or not the viewer software has the same name as the received viewer software (determination 302). If the software with the same name as the received viewer software has already been registered,
If the result is YES, a reply mail notifying that the viewer software is already registered is created (step 303), and the reply mail is transmitted to the mail server device SM (step 304). The registration processing ends.

When the result of the judgment 302 is NO, it is checked whether or not the registered viewer software checked at that time is the last one (decision 305).
When the result of step 05 is NO, the process returns to step 301,
The same process is repeated for the remaining registered viewer software.

When the result of the determination 305 is YES, it means that the viewer software having the same name as the received viewer software is not registered, that is, the received viewer software is newly registered.

Therefore, in this case, the received viewer software is newly stored (step 306), and a reply mail notifying the sender of the new registration is created (step 3).
07), the reply mail is transmitted to the mail server device SM (process 308), and the viewer registration process ends.

FIG. 11 shows an example of the viewer updating process.

First, one registered viewer software is selected (process 401), and it is checked whether or not the viewer software has the same name as the received viewer software (decision 402). If the software having the same name as the received viewer software has already been registered,
When the result of (1) is YES, the viewer software is updated.

Therefore, the received viewer software is overwritten and saved (process 403), a reply mail for notifying the sender of the registration update is created (process 404), and the reply mail is transmitted to the mail server device SM (process 403). 40
5), the viewer update process ends.

When the result of the judgment 402 is NO, it is checked whether or not the registered viewer software checked at that time is the last one (decision 406).
When the result of step 06 is NO, the process returns to step 401,
The same process is repeated for the remaining registered viewer software.

When the result of the determination 406 is YES, it means that the software having the same name as the received viewer software is not registered, that is, the received viewer software is newly registered.

Therefore, in this case, the received viewer software is newly stored (process 407), and a reply mail notifying the sender of the new registration is created (process 4).
08), the reply mail is transmitted to the mail server SM (process 409), and the viewer update process ends.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a reply mail creation process.

First, the mail address of the own terminal is set in the “From” field (process 501), the value of the “From” field of the received mail is set in the “To” field (process 502), and the “Subject” field is set in the “Subject” field. Is "R" indicating that it is a reply mail at the top of the contents of the "Subject" field of the received mail.
E: ”is added and a character string is added (Process 50
3), arrange the created text information (process 504).

Therefore, the “Subject” of the received mail
In the “t” field, “NetFaxV” indicating that the viewer software is newly registered (ie, added)
When the character string "new Add" is displayed, the character string "RE: NetFaxViewer Add" is displayed in the "Subject" field of the reply mail.

Thus, the user who has received the reply mail can know that the viewer software specified by the user is a reply mail for new registration. The result appears in the text information.

If the new registration is successful, the message “Adde
d Viewer. The content such as “exe” is displayed in the text information, and the content such as “Failed” is displayed in the text information in case of failure.

[0075]

As described above, according to the present invention,
An e-mail attached with viewer software for viewing image data is sent to the destination user of the image information as necessary, so there is no need for the user to make efforts to acquire the viewer software each time, greatly improving usability. The effect is improved.

Further, since the image data format of the image information to be distributed can be designated according to the user, appropriate image data can be distributed according to the image display capability of the terminal device used by the user, and the usability is greatly improved. It also has the effect of improving.

Further, since the viewer software distributed to the user can process the format of the image data received by the user, the user can browse the image data received appropriately, and The effect that the degree of freedom is very large and convenient is also obtained.

Further, since viewer software to be distributed to users can be sent to a network facsimile machine FX from a user of another terminal device connected to a local area network or the Internet, and registered or updated, various types of viewer software can be used. The viewer software can be registered in the network facsimile machine FX efficiently, which is very convenient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a facsimile communication system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a network facsimile machine FX.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an address conversion table for distributing facsimile image information.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an electronic mail.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing another example of an electronic mail.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing still another example of an electronic mail.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram showing an example of a reply mail indicating that registration of the viewer software has been completed;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a process performed by the network facsimile machine FX when an incoming call from the public network is detected.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing of the network facsimile machine FX executed when an electronic mail is received.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a viewer registration process.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a viewer update process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a reply mail creation process.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A function of exchanging data on a local area network and the Internet, a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network, and sub-address information received by a facsimile transmission procedure. An address conversion table that stores a network address corresponding to the sub-address information in association with the sub-address information, and converts the image information received via the public network to the address conversion corresponding to the sub-address information notified from the partner terminal when the image information is received. Control of a facsimile communication system including a network facsimile machine transmitting to a destination of a network address stored in a table via a local area network and a facsimile machine using a public network as a transmission path In the method, the network facsimile apparatus includes a browsing software registration unit that registers browsing software for browsing the image information on the destination side, and when transmitting the image information to the destination, the browsing software registration unit A method for controlling a facsimile communication system, wherein registered browsing software is also transmitted. 2. An image data format corresponding to a destination is registered in the address conversion table. When transmitting image information, the image data format is registered in the address conversion table corresponding to the destination at that time. 2. A control method for a facsimile communication system according to claim 1, wherein the image information is transmitted after converting the image information into an existing image data format. 3. The browsing software registration unit registers a plurality of browsing software, and selects and transmits browsing software capable of browsing an image data format to be transmitted to the destination. Facsimile communication system control method. 4. The facsimile according to claim 1, wherein the browsing software registered in the browsing software registration means can be newly registered or updated via a local area network. A communication system control method.