JPH1127496A - Facsimile server - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facsimile server in which illegal use of free ride to a facsimile system or the like is prevented in advance and smooth facsimile communication is secured. SOLUTION: An IP address of a legal user is stored in advance in a legal user storage section 10b, and in the case of receiving a FAX mail by a mail transmission reception section 10a, source data are extracted from the FAX mail and collated with contents of the legal user storage section 10b. When a user is a legal one, FAX data corresponding to the FAX mail are generated and sent to a destination terminal, but for an illegal user, the FAX mail is returned to the sender.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for generating facsimile data corresponding to a facsimile transmission mail when the facsimile transmission mail is posted to a predetermined mailbox of a mail server, and receiving the generated facsimile data. The present invention relates to a facsimile server for transmitting data to a terminal, and more particularly to a facsimile server that prevents unauthorized use of a facsimile system such as freeride and the like, thereby ensuring smooth facsimile communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, data-compressed facsimile (hereinafter referred to as "FAX") data transmitted / received by a special protocol has been positioned as completely independent of E-mail or the like on the Internet.

[0005] Therefore, in order for a user to perform FAX communication and mail communication using a predetermined client, FIG.
As shown in (1), the client had to accommodate two systems, a FAX system and a mail system.

[0004] However, recently, a FAX server for mutually converting between the data structure of FAX data and the data structure of mail data has appeared, so that each client who joins the network is equipped with only this mail system. FAX service and mail service are now available.

More specifically, when each client posts a fax mail (hereinafter referred to as "FAX mail") to a predetermined mailbox on the mail server, the fax mail is automatically transferred to the fax server. You.

The FAX server transmits the received FAX data to, for example, the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCI).
TT) is converted to the data structure of the FAX of the G3 standard, and the converted FAX data is transmitted to the destination terminal.

[0007] Therefore, each of the clients has the above FA
FAX communication can be performed using a mail system as long as the user understands the description of the X-mail and the mailbox assigned to the FAX server.

[0008]

However, when the mail server is connected to the Internet,
Unauthorized use such as free-ride on a FAX system using the FAX server (hereinafter referred to as "freeride") becomes possible, which poses a serious problem in security.

That is, a user who has not been permitted to transmit a facsimile (hereinafter referred to as an “illegal user”) receives the F.
If it is possible to know the description procedure of the AX mail and the mailbox corresponding to the FAX server, the unauthorized user creates an unauthorized mail conforming to the description procedure of the FAX mail and posts it to the mailbox to send the FAX.
Freeride to the system can be performed freely.

[0010] In particular, when the Internet which connects various networks all over the world is accommodated, since an unauthorized mail can be posted to the mailbox from any network subscriber terminal, a huge number of FAX
The unauthorized use of the system is expected.

As a result, a company or the like who has built this FAX system not only suffers a loss of money and consumables due to free ride, but also has a problem that legitimate FAX communication itself is hindered by an increase in illegal traffic. Occurs.

Therefore, in the case of using such a FAX server, an unauthorized user may use F
How to prevent AX-based freeride and the like is an extremely important issue.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-152639 discloses a method of transmitting a mail to a receiving terminal of a transmission partner after confirming a transmission partner by a PB signal or a voice response from a transmission destination telephone at the time of an incoming call notification. A facsimile server which is configured to maintain security of mail, improve convenience, and the like is disclosed.

[0014] However, since this conventional technique only keeps the security of the FAX mail itself, even if this conventional technique is used, the FAX mail is not used.
Unable to prevent unauthorized use such as system freeride.

In view of the above, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems and to provide a facsimile server capable of preventing unauthorized use of a facsimile system, such as freeride, and thereby ensuring smooth facsimile communication. Aim.

[0016]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention To achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a method for transmitting a facsimile transmission mail to a predetermined mail box of a mail server. In a facsimile server for generating corresponding facsimile data and transmitting the generated facsimile data to a receiving terminal, storage means for storing information relating to a valid user permitted to perform facsimile transmission, and user information included in the facsimile transmission mail. User discriminating means for comparing the information on the legitimate user stored in the storage means and discriminating whether or not the sending user of the facsimile transmission mail is a legitimate user; and Only when it is determined that the sending user of the credit mail is a legitimate user, Since it is configured to include a generating means for generating facsimile data corresponding to Akushimiri outgoing mail, effects can be obtained in the following.

1) It is possible to prevent unauthorized use such as free ride on a facsimile system.

2) It is possible to reduce billing due to unauthorized use of a facsimile system and reduce the cumulative increase of consumables.

3) Smooth facsimile communication by a valid user can be secured.

Further, the second invention is a mail return means for returning the facsimile transmission mail to the transmission user when the user determination means determines that the transmission user of the facsimile transmission mail is not a valid user. Therefore, it is possible to return the facsimile transmission e-mail of the legitimate user whose transmission has been rejected unintentionally to the originating user, thereby reducing the burden on the legitimate user involved in retransmission.

In a third aspect of the present invention, the storage means stores a network address of a valid user who is permitted to perform the facsimile transmission, and the user determination means is described in a header portion of the facsimile transmission mail. Since the network address is compared with the network address stored in the storage means to determine whether or not the sending user of the facsimile transmission mail is a valid user, the network address originally included in the facsimile transmission mail is determined. , The validity of the user can be efficiently verified.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, the storage means stores a password assigned to a valid user permitted to perform facsimile transmission in association with a network address of the valid user, and the user discriminating means stores Comparing the password included in the facsimile transmission mail with the password corresponding to the network address of the sender of the facsimile transmission mail stored in the storage unit,
Since the sender of the facsimile transmission mail is configured to determine whether or not the user is an authorized user, even if the unauthorized user improperly uses the network address of the authorized user to impersonate the authorized user, Can be determined.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the network system used in the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, this network system includes clients 21 and 22 and a mail server 2.
3 and the FAX server 10 have a system configuration in which they have joined the LAN 24, respectively.

Here, since the LAN 24 is connected to the Internet 25 via a router, users using the clients 21 and 22 transmit and receive E-mails to and from various subscriber terminals on the Internet 25. be able to.

The LAN 24 is connected to the FAX server 1
0 to the public telephone network 26,
The user who uses the clients 21 and 22
Specifically, in this system, FAX communication can be performed with the device 27 or the client 28 having a FAX modem. In this system, the FAX mailbox 23a of the mail server 23 is allocated as a mailbox dedicated to the FAX server 10. Therefore, the FAX mail posted to the FAX mail box 23a is
Automatically forwarded to

When the FAX server 10 receives the FAX mail from the client 21 or 22, the FAX server converts the FAX mail into FAX data, and then converts the converted FAX data at the destination terminal via the public telephone line network 26. It is transmitted to a certain FAX device 27 or client 28.

Therefore, when performing facsimile communication via the facsimile server 10, the client 2
It is sufficient for the user who operates 1 and 22 to post a FAX mail conforming to a predetermined format into the FAX mailbox 23a of the mail server 23.

By the way, the FAX server 10
Instead of transmitting all the FAX mails posted to the X mailbox 23a to the destination terminal, it is checked whether or not the sender of the FAX mails is a valid user who has received FAX transmission permission. Perform only transmission.

That is, in this embodiment, the FA
The X server 10 confirms the validity of the user and rejects the FAX service for the unauthorized user, thereby preventing the FAX-related free ride or the like by the unauthorized user without the FAX transmission right.

Next, the FAX server 10 shown in FIG. 2 will be specifically described.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the FAX server 10 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG.
Is a mail transmission / reception unit 10a and a valid user storage unit 10b
, A user determination unit 10c, and a fax mail return unit 10d
And a FAX data creation unit 10e and a FAX data transmission unit 10f.

The mail transmitting / receiving unit 10a is connected to the mail server 2
FAX mailed to FAX mailbox 23a
E-mail is received via LAN 24 and fax
The return mail received from the mail return unit 10d is sent to the LAN
24.

The valid user storage unit 10b is a storage unit for storing a valid user who has the authority to use the FAX server 10. Specifically, the valid user E-mail I
A P (Internet Protocol) address is stored.

The IP address stored in the valid user storage unit 10b does not necessarily need to be able to specify each user, and may be set to include a plurality of users by using a part of the IP address as a wild card. In such a case, the portion other than the wild card in the set IP address becomes a constraint condition for regarding the user as valid.

The user discriminating unit 10c includes the mail transmitting / receiving unit 1
The mail address of the fax mail received from 0a
The processing unit compares the IP address of the valid user stored in the valid user storage unit 10b with the IP address of the valid user, and determines whether the sender of the FAX mail is the valid user.

If it is determined that the sender of the fax mail is a valid user, the fax mail is
The fax mail is output to the data creation unit 10e, and if it is determined that the user is an unauthorized user, the fax mail is returned to the fax mail return unit 1.
Output to 0d.

In the user discriminating section 10c, the FA
The sender's e-mail address is extracted from the X-mail, but the destination (TO) is included in the header of the E-mail.
Data and source (FROM) data,
By referring to such a header portion, the mail address of the sender can be grasped very easily.

The FAX mail return section 10d is a processing section for creating a reply mail with the FAX mail source as the destination address so that the FAX mail received from the user determination section 10c can be returned to the source of the FAX mail. The created return mail is output to the mail transmitting / receiving unit 10a.

The facsimile data creation unit 10e performs facsimile based on the facsimile mail received from the user discrimination unit 10c.
A processing unit that creates data. For example, G of CCITT
When creating FAX data of three standards, FAX data is created by developing the content of a FAX mail into an area of 1728 pixels / 215 mm per line and encoding it by a one-dimensional MH method or a two-dimensional MR method.

The facsimile data transmitting section 10f transmits the FAX data generated by the FAX data generating section 10e based on the FAX mail.
X data is transmitted to the public telephone line network 26. The transmitted FAX data is transmitted via the public line network 26 to a facsimile device 27 or a client 28 as a destination terminal.
Received by

The facsimile data transmission section 10f
FAX data is queue-managed using a plurality of queues (not shown), and FAX data staying in each queue is sequentially read from the queue according to a predetermined priority.

Next, the processing procedure of the FAX server 10 shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the FAX server 10 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG.
First, when the mail transmitting / receiving unit 10a receives the FAX mail posted in the FAX mailbox 23a of the mail server 23 (step 301), the user discriminating unit 10c transmits data related to the sender from the FAX mail. (Sender data) is acquired (step 302), and the sender data is sequentially collated with each user data stored in the authorized user storage unit 10b to determine whether the sender of the fax mail is an authorized user. Confirm (Step 30
3).

As a result, if the sender of the fax mail is not a valid user (step 304), the fax mail returning unit 10d returns the fax mail to the sender (step 305). The FAX data creation unit 10e converts the FAX mail into FAX data (step 306), and converts the converted FAX data into FA data.
X data transmitting section 10f transmits the data to the destination terminal via public telephone line network 26 (step 307).

By performing the above-described series of processing, it is possible to perform a facsimile service when the received FAX mail is a valid user, and to reject the FAX service when the received FAX mail is not a valid user.

Next, the valid user storage unit 10b shown in FIG.
Registration of a valid user to the server will be described.

FIG. 4 shows the valid user storage unit 10 shown in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a window used when registering a valid user in “b”.

As shown in the figure, when an icon (not shown) is pointed by a mouse or the like, “FAXPRINT E-Mail GateWay setting” consisting of 7 pages such as “basic setting”, “error mail setting” and “permitted mail address setting” is performed. Window is displayed on the display of the FAX server 10.

When "allowed e-mail address setting" is further specified, "e-mail address list for which transmission is permitted" and "e-mail address addition" are displayed, and a state in which an authorized user can be added and deleted can be performed.

Here, "komatsu.co.jp", "taro @ ko
Since three e-mail addresses, “matsu.co.jp” and “co.jp”, are specified, if at least “co.jp” is at the end of the e-mail address, it is regarded as a valid user and does not have such an end. In this case, the user is regarded as an unauthorized user.
The reason is that when the IP address is a mail address as in this specific example, the width becomes wider toward the end.

In the case of "co.jp", ***** @ ****
Includes everything with an address of * .co.jp, "kom
In the case of “atsu.co.jp”, it includes all those having the address of *****@komatsu.co.jp and “taro@komatsu.co.jp”
"jp" indicates the only address specified. "****
“*” Indicates a wild card.

Here, "komatsu.co.jp" is associated with the user name "SUZUKI", "taro@komatsu.co.jp" is associated with the user name "WATANABE", and "co.jp" is the user. Since the fax data is associated with the name “YAMADA”, the fax data created by the fax data creating unit 10 e is queue-managed in the queue of the designated user.

Note that the user can successively add such valid users by pointing the addition field with a mouse or the like, and by pointing the deletion field with a mouse or the like.
The valid user can be deleted as appropriate.

As described above, in this embodiment,
The IP address of the authorized user is stored in advance in the authorized user storage unit 10b, and the mail transmitting / receiving unit 10a
When the X mail is received, the sender data is extracted from the FAX mail and compared with the contents of the valid user storage unit 10b. If the user is a valid user, FAX data corresponding to the FAX mail is created and the destination terminal is created. And if the user is not a valid user, the fax mail is returned to the sender, so that the following effects can be obtained.

1) It is possible to prevent unauthorized use such as a free ride on a facsimile system.

2) Smooth FAX communication can be secured.

3) A valid user can receive a FAX service by a FAX server from a remote place via the Internet.

By the way, in the present embodiment, a facsimile is performed based on the IP address stored in the authorized user storage unit 10b.
Although the validity of the mail sender is determined, the validity can be determined using a password or the like.

In this case, a password is given to a valid user who permits FAX transmission in advance, and the password is stored in the valid user storage unit 10b in association with the IP address. On the other hand, when a valid user transmits a FAX mail, a password is added to the FAX mail.

Then, the user discriminating unit 10 c
When the e-mail is received, the password included in the FAX e-mail is compared with the password stored in the valid user storage unit 10b to determine whether the FAX e-mail is from a valid user.

As described above, when user authentication based on a password is performed, even if an unauthorized user improperly uses the IP address of the authorized user to impersonate the authorized user, it is determined that the user is an unauthorized user. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a FAX server used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a network system used in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flowchart showing the processing procedure of the FAX server shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a window used when registering a valid user in a valid user storage unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a case where a facsimile system and a mail system are accommodated in a client by using a conventional technique. .

[Explanation of symbols]

10 FAX server 10a Mail transmission / reception unit 10
b: valid user storage unit, 10c: user discrimination unit, 10
d: FAX mail return unit, 10e: FAX data creation unit, 10f: FAX data transmission unit, 21, 22, client, 23: mail server, 23a: FAX mailbox, 24: LAN, 25: Internet, 26: public Telephone line network 27 FAX machine 28
…client

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile server for generating facsimile data corresponding to a facsimile transmission mail when the facsimile transmission mail is posted to a predetermined mailbox of the mail server, and transmitting the generated facsimile data to a receiving terminal. A storage unit for storing information relating to a valid user who is permitted to perform facsimile transmission; and collating user information included in the facsimile transmission mail with information relating to a valid user stored in the storage unit. User discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the sending user of the sending mail is a valid user; and only when the user discriminating means determines that the sending user of the facsimile sending mail is a valid user,
Generating means for generating facsimile data corresponding to the facsimile transmission mail. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a mail return unit that returns the facsimile transmission mail to the transmission user when the user determination unit determines that the transmission user of the facsimile transmission mail is not a valid user. The facsimile server according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The storage unit stores a network address of a valid user who is permitted to perform the facsimile transmission, and the user determination unit stores the network address described in a header portion of the facsimile transmission mail in the storage unit. 2. The facsimile server according to claim 1, wherein the facsimile server determines whether or not the sending user of the facsimile transmission mail is a valid user by checking the network address stored in the facsimile transmission mail. 4. The facsimile transmission mail, wherein the storage means stores a password given to the valid user permitted to transmit the facsimile in association with a network address of the valid user. Collating the received password with the password corresponding to the network address of the sender of the facsimile transmission mail stored in the storage unit to determine whether the user of the facsimile transmission mail is a valid user. The facsimile server according to claim 1, wherein: