JPH11205378A - Communication terminal equipment with electronic mail function and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform normal transmission and reception without manual intervention and to perform normal read-out by sending an original based on information obtained from a storage device inside a network for storing the information for indicating the communication function of opposite equipment. SOLUTION: A main control. part 1 reads URL inside a ROM 6. The URL is obtained beforehand by using a telephone or the like from a user of facsimile equipment FAX1 and indicates a WWW page corresponding to a data base DB1 for storing the functional information of the facsimile equipment FAX1. Then, the read URL is sent out to a provider PR2. The main control part 1 downloads the function information of the facsimile equipment FA1 from the data base DB1 corresponding to the WWW page accompanying a response from the provider PR2 and stores it in a RAM 7. Based on the functional information, dot image data read in a read part 2 and stored in an image memory 8 are converted, re-encoded and sent out to the facsimile equipment FAX1 and log out is performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a communication terminal device with an e-mail function such as a facsimile device having an e-mail transmission / reception function and a recording medium readable by the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a computer communication network which 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 is excellent in error correction function, and the user only has to pay the communication cost (line usage fee and connection cost to the provider) to the nearest provider (connection company to the computer communication network) in Japan. Not only can it communicate with computers all over the world.

[0003] The conventional facsimile communication procedure is different from that of the computer communication using the computer communication network as described above, so that the facsimile apparatus cannot directly communicate with the computer communication network. However, even for image data such as a manuscript (facsimile message) normally transmitted / received by facsimile communication,
By converting to the e-mail format, it can be transmitted and received via a computer communication network.

[0004] Under such circumstances, facsimile messages can be transmitted and received as electronic mail via Internet communication, and communication terminals with an electronic mail function, particularly facsimile apparatuses, used for such purposes have been developed. .

[0005] When a facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function receives an e-mail, it logs in to a network and checks a mailbox assigned to each mail address in a mail server for storing transmitted mail. If there is an e-mail such as a facsimile message that can be received, it is downloaded.

[0006] From the downloaded e-mail, a mail header including a transmission date and time, a sender, a destination, a title, and the like is separated, and the remaining message part (mail body) is determined by facsimile communication standards such as MH, MR, and MMR. Is converted into dot-format image data by a computer program in accordance with the encoding method of (1). The converted image data is stored in the image memory and output as needed.

[0007]

However, if a facsimile apparatus having an e-mail communication function does not have a decoding function corresponding to an encoding method of a received e-mail, the e-mail is decoded. Can not do it. In order to avoid such a problem, in the past, for example, a user on the transmitting side previously made a direct call to the user on the receiving side and verbally confirmed the function of the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side before transmitting. This operation becomes complicated particularly when there are many transmission destinations.

[0008] The same problem occurs not only with the above-described encoding / decoding method but also depending on, for example, the size of paper handled by a facsimile apparatus, image quality (also referred to as image quality, resolution), and the like. Therefore, development of a facsimile machine which does not cause a problem such as not being able to receive or not being able to read normally even if it can be received due to the functional difference between the facsimile machine on the transmitting side and the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side has been awaited. Was.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and a transmitting side acquires this information from a storage device in a network in which information indicating a communication function of a receiving device is stored. By transmitting a facsimile message based on the above, even if the facsimile apparatus between the transmitting side and the receiving side has a difference in the communication function as described above, it is possible to perform normal transmission and reception without human intervention and read normally. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication terminal device with an e-mail function, such as a facsimile device, and a recording medium readable by the device.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal with an e-mail function, comprising: an acquisition unit for acquiring the information from a storage device in a network in which information indicating a communication function of a partner device is stored; Sending means for sending a document based on the information acquired by the acquiring means.

[0011] A communication terminal device with an e-mail function according to a second aspect of the present invention stores information indicating the communication function of its own device, and sends out the information stored in the storage device to be stored in a storage device in a network. Transmission means.

[0012] A recording medium according to a third aspect of the present invention is a recording medium, comprising: program code means for acquiring the information from a storage device in a network in which information indicating a communication function of a partner device is stored;
A program including program code means for sending a document based on the acquired information is recorded.

According to the communication terminal device with an e-mail function and the recording medium readable by the device according to the first and third aspects of the present invention, information indicating the communication function of the communication terminal device on the other end (reception side) is stored in advance. Information indicating the communication function of the communication terminal device of the other party (reception side) is acquired from the storage device in the network that has been set, and the document is sent out based on the acquired information. Normal transmission / reception is possible, and the transmission side does not send a transmission document that cannot be read by the reception side, so that the reception side can always read the document normally.

According to the communication terminal device with an e-mail function according to the second invention, information indicating the communication function of the communication terminal device on its own side (reception side) is stored, and this communication information is stored in the network as described above. The communication function of the self side (reception side) can be registered in advance before the transmission side in the first invention acquires the information indicating the communication function.

In the above three inventions, the information indicating the communication function includes, for example, NSF (Non Standard F
acilities: Non-standard functions), CSI (Called Subscriber)
Identification: Identification of the called terminal, DIS (Digital Iden)
tification Signal: digital identification signal), information such as an encoding method of electronic mail, and a combination thereof. Here, CSI and DIS are ITU (Intern
a. Telecommunication Union's Recommendation T.30 (ITU-T Recommendation) that specifies facsimile communication.

The NSF is user information outside the range defined by the above-mentioned T.30 recommendation, such as an e-mail address ("abc@network.or.jp") and a user name ("ABC company").
Etc.), and information such as whether or not e-mail can be received. CSI is an international telephone number that includes the "+" character, country code, region code, and subscriber number.
234567 "or the like. DIS
Paper size (recording paper width, recording paper length), availability of long paper (restriction of maximum recording paper length), resolution (fine, normal, etc.), minimum scanning line time, facsimile communication class (G
3, G4, etc.) and information such as coding methods (MH, MR, MMR, etc.). Email encoding is MIM
E-mail encoding methods such as E and uuencode (Base64, 7bi
t, 8 bits, binary, etc.).

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of facsimile apparatuses FAX1 and FAX2 as communication terminal apparatuses with an e-mail function according to Embodiment 1, and a computer communication network NTW to which these facsimile apparatuses FAX1 and FAX2 are connected. It is.

In FIG. 1, NTW is the Internet as a part of a computer communication network (network).
Although a number of providers PR1 and PR2, which are service providers, are connected, this embodiment shows a configuration in which two providers PR1 and PR2 are connected to simplify the description.

The providers PR1 and PR2 provide servers SV that provide various information to clients who have contracted with them.
1, SV2, and databases DB1 and DB2 as storage devices for storing such information.

The server SV of the providers PR1 and PR2
1 and SV2 are connected to facsimile machines FAX1 and FAX2 as clients via routers RT1 and RT2. Note that a public telephone line exchange (exchange office) may be used instead of the routers RT1 and RT2.

Each of the facsimile machines FAX1 and FAX2 has an e-mail transmission / reception function, and has a main control unit 1, a reading unit 2,
It comprises a recording unit 3, a display unit 4, an operation unit 5, a ROM 6, a RAM 7, an image memory 8, a modem 9, an NCU 11, an external storage reading unit 16, and the like.

The main control unit 1 is composed of an MPU and controls not only the hardware units of the facsimile machines FAX1 and FAX2 through the bus 13 but also an image of the original based on a computer program stored in the ROM 6. Encoding / decoding that encodes or decodes data using encoding methods such as MH, MR, MMR, etc., and images (TIFF: Tagged Image Fil)
e Format) Executes computer programs such as communication procedures including conversion, binary text conversion, mail editing, modem switching, control of RS232C by AT commands, etc.

The reading section 2 reads an original with a scanner using a CCD or the like, and outputs dot image data converted into binary black and white. The recording unit 3 includes a printer device of an electrophotographic system or the like, and prints out image data received from other facsimile devices FAX1 and FAX2 by facsimile communication or image data received by Internet communication as a hard copy and records it.

The display unit 4 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a CR.
Display device such as T-display, facsimile machine
It displays the operation status of FAX1 and FAX2, and displays the image data of the original to be transmitted and the received image data.

The operation unit 5 is a facsimile machine FAX1, FAX
Character keys, numeric keys (numerical keys), speed dial keys, one-touch dial keys,
It has various function keys. In addition, by using the touch panel type as the display unit 4, some or all of the various keys of the operation unit 5 can be substituted.

The ROM 6 stores the facsimile machines FAX1 and FAX
In addition to preliminarily storing various computer programs necessary for the operation of 2, the device stores information indicating the communication function of its own device (hereinafter, referred to as function information). This function information is provided by NSF (Non Standard Facilities).
It consists of CSI (Called Subscriber Identification: called terminal identification), DIS (Digital Identification Signal: digital identification signal), and FORMAT (e-mail encoding method). CSI and DIS are based on ITU (I
Recommendation T.30 (ITU-T Recommendation) for facsimile communications of the nternational Telecommunication Union
It is specified in.

The NSF is user information outside the range defined in the above T.30 recommendation, and includes an e-mail address (for example, "abc@network.or.jp") and a user name (for example, "ABC ") And information such as whether or not e-mail can be received. CSI is a “+” character, country code,
This is an international telephone number including a region code and a subscriber number, and is composed of a facsimile number such as "+81751234567". DIS is the paper size (recording paper width, recording paper length),
Encoding method (MH, M) according to whether long paper is possible (whether or not the maximum recording paper length is restricted), resolution (fine, normal, etc.), minimum scanning line time, and facsimile communication class (G3, G4, etc.)
R, MMR, etc.). FORMAT is MIME, uuenc
E-mail encoding method such as ode (Base64, 7bit, 8bi
t, binary, etc.).

The RAM 7 is composed of an SRAM, a flash memory, or the like, and stores temporary data generated when a computer program is executed. If a flash memory is used as the RAM 7, a power failure, a facsimile
Even if the power is cut off due to movement of AX1 or FAX2, the stored contents are not lost.

The image memory 8 is constituted by using a DRAM or the like, and receives the encoded image data, the image data obtained by decoding the encoded image data, the image data read and encoded by the reading unit 2 and the image data of the partner device. Conversion according to communication function (paper size, encoding method, etc.)
The stored image data is stored.

The modem 9 is connected to the bus 13 and has a function as a FAX modem capable of performing normal facsimile communication and also functions as a data communication modem capable of performing Internet communication. The modem 9 also has an NCU (Network Control Unit) 11 connected to the bus 13.
Is connected to The NCU 11 is hardware that performs operations for closing and opening the analog line L, and connects the modem 9 to the analog line L as necessary.

It should be noted that a DSU (Digital Service Unit: subscriber line termination device) may be provided to connect to a digital line of a baseband transmission system.

Also, an external storage reading unit such as a card reader
16 is a recording medium M such as an IC card using a mask ROM.
The computer program is read from the recording medium M inserted in the insertion slot,
Store in M7.

Facsimile machine F in the present embodiment
AX1 and FAX2 have the hardware configuration as described above, and have a function to send and receive image data mainly converted into TIFF files as e-mail, as well as facsimile communication functions such as general G3 system. ing. In other words, it is possible to convert the original image data of a document to be transmitted by facsimile into a TIFF file (text) and transmit / receive it as e-mail via the Internet.

Further, the facsimile apparatuses FAX1 and FAX2 according to the present embodiment are configured to receive the facsimile message by the above-mentioned general facsimile communication or receive the e-mail as the facsimile message by the Internet communication. The function information of the own device is sent to the providers PR1 and PR2 who have a contract with the Internet NTW in advance. However, since such communication-related functions are stored in the ROM 6 as a computer program, such functions will be described below. In the following description, one facsimile machine FAX1 is a receiving side,
The other facsimile apparatus FAX2 will be described as the transmitting side, but any of the facsimile apparatuses FAX1 and FAX2 can perform the same processing.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the main controller 1 of the facsimile machine FAX1 when one of the facsimile machines FAX1 registers its function information. First, the provider whose own device (fax machine FAX1) has contracted to connect to the Internet NTW
Login to PR1 (Step 1). Login is to connect to the provider PR1 by dialing the telephone number specified by the provider PR1 and sending out the user ID, password, etc., supplied in advance from the provider PR1. Dial-up IP connection (or disconnection) processing is used.

Next, a predetermined URL stored in the ROM 6 in advance
(Uniform Resource Locator) is read (step 2). In addition, this URL is the provider that has a connection contract
It is obtained in advance from PR1, and here indicates a predetermined WWW (World Wide Web) page provided by the provider PR1. Then, the URL read in step 2 is transmitted (step 3). Note that the provider PR1 uses this URL
As a result, the information of the corresponding WWW page is returned to the facsimile machine FAX1, so that the facsimile machine FAX1
Access to the WWW page.

The main control unit 1 reads the function information of its own device from the ROM 6 in response to the response from the provider PR1 (step 4), and sends the function information to the provider PR1 (step 5). When the transmission of all the function information is completed, the user logs out (step 6) and ends. Note that the provider PR1 stores the function information from the facsimile machine FAX1 in, for example, a preset storage area of the database DB1.

FIG. 3 shows a main control unit 1 associated with the other facsimile apparatus FAX2 transmitting a facsimile message.
5 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of FIG. When transmitting a facsimile message for the registration of the function information described above, first, the provider whose facsimile machine (fax machine FAX2) has contracted to connect to the Internet NTW
Login to PR2 is performed in the same manner as in step 1 of FIG. 2 (step 1).

Next, a predetermined URL stored in the ROM 6 in advance
Is read (step 2). Note that this URL is obtained in advance from the user of the partner device (fax machine FAX1) using another communication means such as a telephone, and is stored in the database DB1 in which the function information of the facsimile machine FAX1 is stored as described above. This shows the associated WWW page. Then, the URL read in step 2 is sent to the provider PR2 (step 3). Provider P
R2 receives the URL, acquires the information of the corresponding WWW page from the provider PR1, and returns it to the facsimile machine FAX2.

In response to the response from the provider PR2, the main control unit 1 downloads the function information of the partner apparatus (the facsimile apparatus FAX1) from the database DB1 associated with the WWW page (step 4), and stores the function information. RAM
7 is stored. And, based on this function information,
The reading unit 2 converts the dot image data stored in the read image memory 8 (paper size, resolution, etc.), re-encodes, sends (uploads) to the facsimile machine FAX1 (upload) (step 5), logs out (step 6),
It ends. In step 5, the dot image data read by the reading unit 2 may be directly converted and re-encoded without storing it in the image memory 8.

In the above embodiment, the configuration is such that the function information of the own device is registered with the provider. However, the communication terminal device with the e-mail function according to the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, a maker of a facsimile machine functions as one of the providers PR1 and PR2, stores DIS information for each model of the facsimile machine FAX1 and FAX2 on a maker's homepage (or an index page thereof), and Registers the function information excluding the DIS information on the homepage of the maker, and transmits the information to the facsimile apparatuses FAX1 and FAX1.
When sending a facsimile message from another facsimile machine FAX1 or FAX2 to FAX2, it is needless to say that the facsimile message can be transmitted after accessing this homepage and acquiring the function information. In addition to reducing the load when registering the URL, for example, by making the URL of the manufacturer's homepage searched by the Internet search engine, the sender can easily obtain the URL of the receiver, and This eliminates the need to notify users of URLs.

Embodiment 2 Next, an embodiment in which the communication terminal device with an e-mail function according to the present invention has a configuration like a personal computer will be described in detail with reference to the drawings shown below. FIG. 4 shows personal computers PC1 and PC2 as communication terminal devices with an e-mail function according to the second embodiment and personal computers PC1 and PC2.
1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example with a computer communication network NTW to which PC2 is connected.

In FIG. 4, NTW is the Internet as a part of a computer communication network (network).
Although a number of providers PR1 and PR2, which are service providers, are connected, this embodiment shows a configuration in which two providers PR1 and PR2 are connected to simplify the description.

The providers PR1 and PR2 provide a server SV that provides various information to clients who have contracted with them.
1, SV2, and databases DB1 and DB2 as storage devices for storing such information.

Also, the server SV of the providers PR1 and PR2
1, personal computers PC1 and PC2 as clients are connected to SV2 via routers RT1 and RT2. Note that a public telephone line exchange (exchange office) may be used instead of the routers RT1 and RT2.

Each of the personal computers PC1 and PC2 is
It has an e-mail transmission / reception function and includes a main control unit 1, a recording unit 3, a display unit 4, an operation unit 5, a storage unit 10, a modem 9, an external storage reading unit 16, and the like.

The main control unit 1 is constituted by an MPU, and not only controls each hardware unit of the personal computers PC1 and PC2 through the bus 13 but also outputs the original based on a computer program stored in the storage unit 10. Encoding / decoding that encodes / decodes image data using encoding methods such as MH, MR, MMR, etc., image (TIFF) conversion, binary / text conversion, mail editing, modem switching, control of RS232C by AT command, etc. And executes a computer program such as a communication procedure.

The recording section 3 includes a printer device of an electrophotographic system or the like, and prints out and records image data received from other personal computers PC1 and PC2 by Internet communication as a hard copy.

The display unit 4 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a CR.
T A display device such as a display, which displays the operation status of the personal computers PC1 and PC2, and displays image data of a document to be transmitted and received image data.

The operation unit 5 is a personal computer PC
1. Equipped with a keyboard required to operate PC2. In addition, by using the touch panel type as the display unit 4, part or all of the key operations of the operation unit 5 can be substituted.

The storage unit 10 is composed of a readable and writable magnetic disk, stores various computer programs necessary for the operation of the personal computers PC1 and PC2 in advance, and stores information indicating the communication function of its own device (hereinafter, referred to as a personal computer). Function information), received encoded image data, image data obtained by decoding the encoded image data, and conversion according to the encoded image data and the communication function of the partner device (paper size, encoding method, etc.) The stored image data is stored.

The function information is stored in NSF (Non Standard F)
acilities: Non-standard functions), CSI (Called Subscriber)
Identification: Identification of the called terminal, DIS (Digital Iden)
tification Signal: digital identification signal) and FORM
It is composed of AT (E-mail encoding method). CSI and DIS are based on ITU (International Telecommunic
ation Union) Recommendation T.30 for facsimile communication
(ITU-T Recommendation).

The modem 9 is a data communication modem for performing Internet communication. The modem 9 is connected to the bus 13 and performs an operation of closing and opening the analog line L.
It should be noted that a data facsimile modem capable of performing normal facsimile communication may be used as the modem 9.

A DSU (subscriber line termination device: Digital)
Service Unit) to connect to a digital line of the baseband transmission system.

The external storage reading section 16 is a disk drive of a recording medium M such as a flexible disk, a CD-ROM, etc., reads a computer program from the recording medium M inserted in the disk drive, and stores the computer program in the storage section 10. .

Each of the personal computers PC1 and PC2 in the second embodiment has the above-described hardware configuration, and has a function of transmitting and receiving electronic mail coded by various methods. Therefore, the e-mail can be received in the same procedure as that of the facsimile apparatuses FAX1 and FAX2 of the first embodiment, and the parts corresponding to those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

[0057]

As described above in detail, according to the communication terminal device with the e-mail function and the recording medium readable by the device according to the present invention, the information indicating the communication function of the communication terminal device of the other party (reception side). By acquiring information indicating the communication function of the communication terminal device of the other party (reception side) from a storage device in the network in which is stored in advance, and sending a document based on the acquired information, Since the transmission side does not send a document that cannot be read by the receiving side, the receiving side can always read normally.

Also, by storing information indicating the communication function of the communication terminal device on its own side (reception side), and transmitting this stored information to the storage device in the network as described above, The present invention has excellent effects, for example, such that information indicating the communication function of the own side (reception side) can be registered in advance before the acquisition of the information indicating the communication function according to the present invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a facsimile device as a communication terminal device with an e-mail function according to Embodiment 1, and a computer communication network to which the facsimile device is connected.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing contents of a main control unit of the facsimile apparatus when one facsimile apparatus registers its function information.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of a main control unit when the other facsimile apparatus transmits a facsimile message.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a personal computer as a communication terminal device with an e-mail function according to Embodiment 2 and a computer communication network to which the personal computer is connected.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main control part 2 Reading part 3 Recording part 6 ROM 7 RAM 8 Image memory 9 Modem 10 Storage part 16 External storage reading part FAX1, FAX2 Facsimile machine M Recording medium PC1, PC2 Personal computer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04N 1/32

Claims (3)

[Claims] An acquisition unit that acquires the information from a storage device in a network in which information indicating a communication function of a partner device is stored; and a sending unit that sends a document based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit. A communication terminal device with an e-mail function, comprising: 2. An electronic mail, comprising: storage means for storing information indicating a communication function of the apparatus; and transmission means for transmitting the storage information of the storage means to a storage device in a network. Communication terminal device with functions. 3. Program code means for acquiring the information from a storage device in a network in which information indicating a communication function of a partner device is stored, and program code means for sending a document based on the acquired information. A communication medium readable by a communication terminal device with an e-mail function, characterized by recording a program including the program.