JPH1141277A - Communication terminal equipment having electronic mail function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To omit each input of plural opposite party addresses after a log-in operation by registering plural mail addresses in a memory as a common group to log them in a network and then registering the mail addresses in a network as a group. SOLUTION: A registering operation program is started to a communication terminal equipment when a button is operated at an operation part 5. Thus, a single group address is registered in the terminal equipment in response to a single group button by a button operation and with plural opposite parties defined as a common group. An original is set at a reading part 2, and the original reading, image conversion, binary text conversion and mail editing are carried out by operations of group buttons included in a one-action button group to produce the electronic mails having the destinations of group addresses corresponding to the group buttons. Then a log-in operation, the transmission of electronic mails and a log-out operation are carried out to finish the processing. Thus, the sequential input of plural opposite party addresses can be omitted and the input of a group address can also be omitted, and the depression of only a single group button suffices.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication terminal device such as a facsimile device with an electronic mail function, and more particularly to a communication terminal device with an electronic mail function having a grouping function and easy operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a wide range of computer communication networks configured by connecting a LAN or individual personal computers to a communication line such as a telephone line has become widespread. The computer communication network includes the Internet and a personal computer communication service network. The PC communication service network has NI
FTY-Serve (hereinafter referred to as Nifty), PC-
VAN and the like. Hereinafter, each of these computer communication networks is referred to as a network type. Communication between heterogeneous networks having different network types is also possible.

In the case of using a computer communication network, there are a plurality of providers (providers) that provide services such as connection to a computer communication network, rather than directly communicating from a user to a destination. The person communicates via the computer (server) of this provider. In a personal computer communication service network, there is a host that controls services, and users communicate through this host computer. When using a computer communication network, a user connects a line to an access point of a provider or a host, and then performs a procedure called login in order to be authenticated as a subscriber. For login, it is necessary to input a user name (user ID) and a password known only to the user. By this login, the own communication terminal device is logically connected to the computer communication network.

[0004] There are various contents of the service. Here, electronic mail on the Internet will be described. The user stores data to be communicated in an e-mail having a predetermined format, and transmits the e-mail. The e-mail includes the e-mail address (e-mai) of the sending user.
l address) and the electronic mail address of the destination. These e-mail addresses include information indicating each provider. The e-mail is stored in the mailbox of the provider contracted by the other user. The recipient user, who is the recipient, can retrieve the electronic mail from this mailbox in a timely manner. Note that a user name (user ID) represented by a character string based on a domain name system (DNS) is used for the e-mail address instead of an IP (Internet Protocol) address represented only by a numerical value.

An advantage of the computer communication network is that it employs a communication system having an excellent error correction function, and allows a user to pay a communication fee to a nearest contract provider or access point and to communicate with a remote partner. Communication is possible.

On the other hand, facsimile communication for communicating image data using a telephone line has been widely used.
Communication procedures and communication methods for this have been established. Since the communication procedure and communication method of facsimile communication are different from those of a computer communication network, a conventional facsimile device cannot be connected to the computer communication network. Therefore, the present applicant has proposed a facsimile apparatus with an e-mail function in which a facsimile apparatus has a function of converting image data into an e-mail format and performing communication.

[0007]

Some computer communication networks have a grouping function. For example, in personal computer communication, if several e-mail addresses are set in a network so that they belong to a certain common group, and an e-mail is sent to this group, the network sends e-mails to all e-mail addresses belonging to the group. Will relay. Therefore, there is no need to input a plurality of destinations, which is convenient.

A conventional facsimile apparatus has a similar function of transmitting a document of the same content to a number of destinations. However, in this case, even if the document is read once, the facsimile transmission requires the number of transmissions corresponding to the number of destinations. In group transmission in a computer communication network, only one transmission is required, which is advantageous in that the number of lines used is small. Therefore, a grouping function is also desired for a facsimile apparatus with an electronic mail function.

However, in a computer communication network, groups are managed by the network. Therefore, in order to perform grouping, information indicating which mail address belongs to which group must be registered in the network. The operator of the facsimile machine does not adapt to the complicated operation as compared with the personal computer user. Therefore, when a facsimile apparatus is provided with a grouping function, it is necessary to simplify operations such as automating a registration operation for a network.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a communication terminal device with an e-mail function which has a grouping function and is easy to operate.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a means for registering a plurality of e-mail addresses in a memory as a common group, logging in to a network when the registration is performed, Means for registering these e-mail addresses as a group in the network.

A button assigned to the group,
Means for transmitting an e-mail to the group when this button is operated.

Means for logging in to the network in response to the operation of the list request to obtain a list of mail addresses registered in the network; and means for displaying or printing each of the obtained mail addresses in association with the buttons of the group. May be provided.

[0014]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the communication terminal device is a facsimile device with an e-mail function having a G3, G4 facsimile communication function and an e-mail function. FIG. 1 shows a flow of the operation of the facsimile apparatus. That is, FIG. 1A shows a flow of a registration operation for registering a group, and FIG. 1B shows a flow of a group list printing operation. FIG. 2 shows an operation panel of the facsimile machine. However, FIG.
It is the elements on larger scale of (a). FIG. 3 shows a circuit configuration of the facsimile apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 3, the facsimile apparatus includes a main control unit 1, a reading unit 2, a recording unit 3, a display unit 4, an operation unit 5, a ROM 7, a RAM 8, an image memory 9, and a modem 1.
0, NCU 11, and data modem 12.

The main control unit (CPU) 1 controls each part of the hardware through a bus 13 and encodes / demultiplexes.
Software (program) such as image (TIFF) conversion, binary text conversion, mail editing, and auto dialer communication procedures can be executed. Further, a program for a group registration operation, a group transmission operation, and a group list printing operation according to the present invention can be executed.

The reading section 2 reads an original with an image pickup device such as a CCD and can generate binary black and white image data.

The recording unit 3 includes a printer of an electrophotographic system or the like, and can record (print out) image data received by facsimile communication from another G3 or G4 facsimile apparatus or image data obtained by e-mail. . Also, a list of e-mail addresses obtained from the network can be printed.

The display unit 4 includes a display such as an LCD display, and operates the facsimile apparatus, image data, and the like.
It is possible to display registered contents, operation instructions, and the like. Also, a list of e-mail addresses obtained from the network can be displayed.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the operation section 5 includes a display section 4 on an operation panel and a large number of buttons arranged generally in sections for different purposes.
That is, a group of buttons 21 for image adjustment used for adjusting the resolution / shade of an image, a group of buttons 22 for mode setting used for setting a communication method, calling a function, etc., and used for entering numbers, dialing, abbreviated dialing, etc. A group of buttons 23 for inputting numbers, a group 24 of buttons for manipulating originals used to start reading a manuscript, etc., and a group 25 of buttons for one touch used for one-touch operations and the like are arranged. Each of the number input button group 23 and the one-touch button group 25 also has a function of inputting characters such as alphabets and symbols.

The one-touch button group 25 is shown in FIG.
, 26 character buttons corresponding to the 26 letters of the alphabet and also 26 symbols,
It consists of a plurality of switching buttons for switching between uppercase / lowercase characters / symbols, and a plurality of group buttons 26 and 27 assigned to groups. Each group button has a button name such as “P1”, “P2”,... Hereinafter, each character button is an A button,
B button ..., each group button is P1 button 26, P2
Let's call it button 27.

The character button is used for one-touch transmission. For example, if the other party is registered in One Touch A,
When the A button is pressed, the operations from reading the original, logging in, sending an e-mail to the destination, and logging out are performed. On the other hand, the group button is used for group transmission. For example, if a plurality of destinations are registered as a group in the one-touch P1, if the P1 button 26 is pressed, the steps from reading the document to logging in, sending an e-mail to the group corresponding to the one-touch P1, and logging out are performed. I have.

The ROM 7 stores a program executed by the main control unit to operate the facsimile apparatus, that is, a program recording medium.

The RAM 8 is composed of an SRAM, a flash memory or the like, and stores temporary data generated when a program is executed, and also stores various registered data in a table format.

The image memory 9 comprises a DRAM and stores image data.

The modem 10 has a fax modem function and is used when performing facsimile communication of image data.

An NCU (Network Control Unit) 11 can close and open an analog line. However,
In G4 communication, a DSU (data line terminator) not shown
Is connected to the ISDN line.

The data modem 12 has a data modem function and is used when communicating image data by electronic mail. The data modem 12 is connected to an external telephone terminal of the NCU, and is connected to a serial port of the external interface 15 by RS232C.

Next, a program executed by the main control unit will be described.

In encoding / decoding, image data is
Encoding and decoding are performed by encoding methods such as H, MR, and MMR. Hereinafter, the image data encoded by these encoding methods will be referred to as G3 format image data. The image memory stores the G3 format image data.

In image conversion, at the time of transmission, G3 format image data is converted to a TIFF format used by a general computer.
(Tagged Image File Format)
At the time of reception, it converts the TIFF image data into G3 format image data. In addition, TIFF is Adobe System
It is a format released by the company, black and white binary,
Various CLASSes that handle black and white multivalued, full color, and the like are defined. CLASS F, one of them
Defines G3 format image data, which is image data of a document encoded by an encoding method such as MH, MR, or MMR. Therefore, the image data in G3 format can be converted into TIFF image data by adding TIFF header information of CLASS F to the head of the image data.

In the binary text conversion, at the time of transmission,
Converts binary data to text data, and upon reception,
Convert text data to binary data. There are computers on the Internet that cannot handle binary data e-mail. When transmitting binary data such as TIFF image data so as to ensure that the e-mail reaches the destination, the data is temporarily converted to text data. The text data handled on the Internet is RFC (Request For Comments) which is a document issued by the IETF (Intenet Engineering Task Force).
822, it is defined as a 7-bit code. Here, MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail)
Extensions) using base64 or the like. According to this, 6-bit binary data consists of 64 characters (upper and lower case alphabets, numbers,
+, /) And converted to text data. MIME is specified in RFC1521, etc.

In the mail editing, at the time of transmission, mail header information is added to the TIFF image data converted into text data to edit the data into an e-mail format. At the time of reception, the mail header information is removed from the data in the e-mail format, Only the TIFF image data converted into data is extracted. Since it is specified that predetermined header information is added to electronic mail on the Internet as management information of the electronic mail, at the time of transmission, "F" is added to the head of the TIFF image data converted to text data.
rom: (user address) "," To: (destination address) "," Subject: (title) ", etc. In the case of group transmission according to the present invention, the group address is used as the destination address. I do.

The auto dialer sends telephone number data to the NCU to call the telephone number read from the table.

The data stored in the RAM 8 in the form of a table includes a user code number, a user's user ID and password, a network type, a destination name, a destination e-mail address, a network type, and an access point telephone number. , User's personal name, destination abbreviated number, destination one-touch, facsimile telephone number, facsimile type, provider name, and the like. The correspondence between the group button and the group address is also stored in the RAM 8.

Next, the program according to the present invention will be described in detail.

First, the operation of group registration will be described with reference to FIG. By a button operation of the operation unit 5, a program (step S1) of a registration operation to the facsimile machine is started. The registration operation is for registering a plurality of destinations as a common group in the facsimile apparatus in accordance with the button operation of the operator. At this time, one group address is registered in correspondence with one group button. For example, the group address “G1” is assigned to the P1 button 26, and the group address “G” is assigned to the P2 button 27.
2 ". When registration with the facsimile apparatus is completed, in step S2, the facsimile apparatus automatically logs in to the network and shifts to a group registration service supported by the network. The address of a plurality of destinations registered in the facsimile apparatus and the group address to which they belong are registered in the network, and when the group registration service is completed, the facsimile apparatus automatically logs out (S2). A common group address of a plurality of destinations registered in the device is registered in the network, and thereafter, an e-mail addressed to the group address is transmitted to each destination by the operation of the network.

Next, although the group transmission operation is not shown,
When the group buttons 26 and 27 in the one-touch button group 25 are operated with the original set on the reading unit 2,
Original reading, image conversion, binary text conversion, and mail editing are performed, and an e-mail addressed to the group address corresponding to the group button is formed. For example,
When the P1 button 26 is pressed, the group address “G1” is stored in the destination field of the e-mail. Subsequently, login and e-mail transmission are performed, and logout ends. As described above, when the operator wants to send the same e-mail to a plurality of destinations, the operator does not need to input the addresses of the plurality of destinations one by one, and further does not need to input the group address. You only have to press one.

Next, the group list printing operation will be described with reference to FIG. When a list request operation is performed by operating a button on the operation unit 5, a program for a group list printing operation is started. In step S3, the facsimile apparatus automatically logs in to the network, shifts to a group list display service supported by the network, and requests a mail address list from the network. When the list is received from the network, the list is text data, so that a text receiving process is performed. Log out after receiving the list. Next, in step S4, the received list is printed. Although not shown, the display unit 4 displays the received list.

As shown in FIG. 4, the printed contents include a one-touch alphabet 41 for each destination, an e-mail address 42 of the corresponding destination, a group address 43 of the group to which the destination belongs, and This is the name 44 of the group button assigned to the group.
Therefore, the operator can check the information of the groups registered in the network by looking at the output sheet, and also can check which group button can be pressed to transmit to which group.

[0041]

The present invention exhibits the following excellent effects.

(1) After registration in the own device, registration to the network is automatically performed, so that it is not necessary to input addresses of a plurality of destinations one after another after logging in.

(2) The group can be designated by operating one button, so that the operation is simplified.

(3) Since the mail address is displayed or printed in association with the button, it is easy for the operator to see.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a registration and e-mail transmission operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an operation panel of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a circuit configuration diagram of the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a list output by the facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main control part 2 Reading part 3 Recording part 4 Display part 5 Operation part 7 ROM (program recording medium) 8 RAM 9 Image memory 10 Modem 11 NCU 12 Data modem 26, 27 Group button S1 Registering group in facsimile machine S2 Step of registering a group in the network S3 Step of obtaining a list of e-mail addresses from the network S4 Step of printing a list

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Means for registering a plurality of mail addresses as a common group in a memory, and means for logging in to a network when the registration is performed, and registering these mail addresses as a group in the network. A communication terminal device with an e-mail function. 2. The communication terminal with an e-mail function according to claim 1, further comprising a button assigned to the group, and a unit for transmitting an e-mail to the group when the button is operated. apparatus. 3. A means for logging in to a network in response to an operation of a list request and obtaining a list of mail addresses registered in the network, and displaying or printing each obtained mail address in association with a button of the group. 3. A communication terminal device with an electronic mail function according to claim 2, comprising: