JPH114316A - Control method for network facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To exclude limitation of a facsimile equipment that is able to use a relay function of the network facsimile equipment by storing a table that denotes cross-reference between prescribed values of telephone numbers of transmission facsimile equipments and network addresses of corresponding users. SOLUTION: The network facsimile equipment FX is provided with an address conversion table that stores country numbers in transmission terminal identification information received by using a facsimile transmission protocol in cross reference with mail addresses of a destination user corresponding to each destination user. Then image information received via a public network is distributed to a destination terminal with a mail address stored in the address conversion table corresponding to the country number in the transmission terminal identification information reported from the transmission terminal at the reception of the image information via a local area network LAN. The address conversion table stores each country number of each transmission terminal identification information in pairs with each mail address of each destination user.

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, a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure through a public network, and a public network by a facsimile transmission procedure. The present invention relates to a method for controlling a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting image information received via a network to a user at a specified network address.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed over a public network have been provided, and a function of receiving data via a public network by a facsimile transmission procedure has been provided. There has been proposed a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting image information to a user having a designated network address.

When such a network facsimile apparatus is used, image information from a facsimile apparatus connected to a public network can be delivered to a work station apparatus connected to a local area network. It can be greatly expanded, and is very convenient.

[0004] When the connected local area network is connected to the Internet, it is also possible to perform an image information transmitting operation to a terminal device connected to another local area network via the Internet. You can do it.

[0005]

However, a facsimile apparatus that requests such a network facsimile apparatus to relay image information via a local area network or the Internet requires, for example, It is necessary to specify a mail address on the Internet, and unless this mail address input means is provided, a situation occurs in which the image information relay function of this network facsimile apparatus cannot be used.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling a network facsimile apparatus which can eliminate the limitation of a facsimile apparatus that can use a relay function of the network facsimile apparatus.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has a function of exchanging data on a local area network, a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network, and a facsimile transmission procedure. Image information received via the public network,
In a method for controlling a network facsimile apparatus to transmit to a user having a specified network address, a table representing a relationship between a value of a predetermined part of a telephone number of a facsimile apparatus on a transmitting side and a network address of a corresponding user is stored. When the image information is received via the network, the network address stored in the above table is retrieved for the value of the predetermined part of the telephone number of the facsimile number of the transmitting side at that time, and the received image information is retrieved from the extracted network. The address is transmitted to the user via the local area network.

[0008] Further, a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network are provided, and an image received via a public network by a facsimile transmission procedure is provided. In a method of controlling a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting information to a user having a specified network address, a table representing a relationship between a value of a predetermined part of a telephone number of a facsimile apparatus on a transmission side and a network address of a corresponding user is stored. And
When the image information is received via the public network, the network address stored in the above table is retrieved for the value of the predetermined part of the telephone number of the facsimile number on the transmitting side at that time, and the reception notification of the image information is retrieved. The network address is transmitted to the user of the network address via the local area network.

[0009] Further, it has a function of exchanging data on the local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data according to a facsimile transmission procedure performed through the public network, and has a function of transmitting and receiving images via the public network according to the facsimile transmission procedure. In a method of controlling a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting information to a user having a specified network address, a table representing a relationship between a value of a predetermined part of a telephone number of a facsimile apparatus on a transmission side and a network address of a corresponding user is stored. And
When the image information is received via the public network, the network address stored in the above table is retrieved for the value of the predetermined part of the telephone number of the facsimile number on the transmitting side at that time, and the reception notification of the image information is retrieved. Is transmitted to the user having the network address via the local area network, and when there is a transmission request for image information from the user, the received image information is transmitted to the user via the local area network. It was made.

[0010] In addition, a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network are provided, and an image received via a public network by a facsimile transmission procedure is provided. In a method of controlling a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting information to a user having a specified network address, a table representing a relationship between a value of a predetermined part of a telephone number of a facsimile apparatus on a transmission side and a network address of a corresponding user is stored. And
When the image information is received via the public network, the network address stored in the above table is retrieved for the value of the predetermined part of the telephone number of the facsimile number on the transmitting side at that time, and the reception notification of the image information is retrieved. To the user at the network address, the image information is transmitted via the local area network, and when the image information is requested by the user before a predetermined time elapses from the transmission of the reception notification, the received image information is transmitted. , Send to the user via the local area network,
Even if a predetermined time has elapsed from the transmission of the reception notification, if there is no request for transmission of image information from the user, the received image information is recorded and output.

[0011] Further, a country code can be used as the predetermined part of the telephone number. The predetermined part of the telephone number may be a toll number.

[0012]

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

FIG. 1 shows a network 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 electronic mail (described later) for users using the workstation devices WS1 to WSn connected to the local area network LAN and for the network network facsimile device FX. And distribution services.

The workstation devices WS1 to WSW
Sn includes application software (e.g., e-mail transmission / reception processing) for exchanging various data via the local area network LAN, and application software for processing image information contained in e-mail received from the network facsimile machine FX. Various programs have been introduced and are used by specific users. Here, the specific user may be one or more users.

Further, the network facsimile machine FX
Has a transmission / reception function of an e-mail in a local area network LAN and a transmission function of connecting to a public network (PSTN) and transmitting image information according to a group 3 facsimile transmission procedure using the public network as a transmission path.

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.

Further, in this embodiment, the electronic mail is transmitted in a storage-delivery type transmission form in which the electronic mail is temporarily stored in the mail server device SM and then delivered to the destination.

That is, for example, an electronic mail from the network facsimile machine FX to the user of the workstation WS1 is temporarily stored in the mail server SM.

On the other hand, the workstation devices WS1 to WS
The Sn and the network facsimile machine FX make an inquiry to the mail server apparatus SM at an appropriate cycle to receive an e-mail addressed to the user of the own terminal, and when the e-mail addressed to the user is stored in the mail server apparatus SM. Then, the e-mail is received from the mail server device SM, and the terminal user is notified of the fact.

Therefore, in this case, when the workstation device WS1 makes an inquiry to the mail server device SM about the reception of the electronic mail addressed to the user of the own terminal, the workstation device WS1
E-mail addressed to the user of the own terminal is a mail server device SM
The e-mail is received, and the user is notified by an appropriate method.

Then, the user who has received the notification reads the content of the e-mail and confirms the content.

Here, as a protocol applied by each terminal to the mail server device SM for confirming reception of an e-mail addressed to the user and for requesting transmission, a so-called PO is used.
P (Post Office Protocol) or the like can be applied.

In this embodiment, the network facsimile machine FX transmits the information to the workstation devices WS1 to WSW.
E-mail is applied to the distribution of the received image information to each user of Sn.

The e-mail applied to the distribution of the received image information is MIME (Multipurpose).
Internet Mail Extensions
(Multi-purpose mail); see RFC1521, RFC1522).

Here, TCP / IP, SMTP, PO
Regarding communication protocols such as P and HTTP, the definition of URL, and the data format and data structure of electronic mail, respectively, IETF (Internet Engi).
RFC (Request For Comm) issued by an organization that compiles technical contents related to the Internet called "neering Task Force".
ents) document. For example, TCP
Is RFC793, IP is RFC793, SMTP is RF
C821, E-mail format is RFC822, RFC
1521, RFC1522, and POP are specified in RFC1725, respectively.

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

In FIG. 1, a system control unit 1 performs various control processes such as a control process of each unit of the network facsimile apparatus and a facsimile transmission control procedure process. The control facsimile apparatus stores a control processing program to be executed, various data necessary for executing the processing program, and the like, and forms a work area of the system control unit 1. The parameter memory 3 is provided in the network facsimile apparatus. The clock circuit 4 is for storing various kinds of unique information, and outputs current time information.

The scanner 5 is for reading a document 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 facsimile apparatus. To operate,
It consists of various operation keys and various indicators.

The encoding / decoding unit 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 is for realizing a group 3 facsimile modem function. The group 3 facsimile modem 10 has a low-speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging transmission procedure signals 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 unit 11 is for connecting the facsimile apparatus to the international telephone network PSTN, and has an automatic transmission / reception function.

The local area network interface circuit 12 is for connecting the Internet facsimile apparatus to the local area network LAN.
Numeral 3 is for executing communication control processing (e-mail transmission / reception processing, etc.) of various predetermined protocol suites for exchanging various data with other data terminal devices via the local area network LAN. It is.

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.

Now, the network facsimile machine FX
Is provided with an address conversion table storing the country code of the transmission terminal identification information TSI received by the facsimile transmission procedure and the mail address of the destination user corresponding to the country code in association with each other. The information is transmitted to the destination terminal of the mail address stored in the address conversion table corresponding to the country code of the transmission terminal identification information TSI notified from the transmission terminal at the time of receiving the image information via the local area network LAN. To deliver.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an address conversion table for distributing such facsimile image information.

This address conversion table stores, for each country code of the transmission terminal identification information TSI, the mail address of the user of the distribution destination as a set.

With the above configuration, the network facsimile machine FX performs the operation shown in FIG. 4 when receiving image information.

First, when an incoming call is detected from the public network, an incoming call is answered (process 101), a predetermined pre-transmission procedure is executed (process 102), and image information transmission and the like are set. Execute (process 103) to determine the modem speed to be used at that time.

Next, a predetermined image information receiving procedure is executed at the determined modem speed, and the received image information is stored in the image storage device 9 (process 104).
A predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (process 105) to restore the line (process 106).

At that time, the transmitting terminal identification information T
It is checked whether or not SI has been received (decision 107).
If the transmitting terminal identification information TSI has been received,
If the result of step 07 is YES, a country code is extracted from the transmission terminal identification information TSI (process 108), and it is checked whether or not the extracted country code is registered in the address conversion table (determination 109).

If the country code extracted from the transmitting terminal identification information TSI is registered in the address conversion table and the result of determination 109 is YES, the received image information stored in the image storage device 9 at that time is transmitted. Then, an image information distribution mail for creating the image information is created, and the image information distribution mail is transmitted to the mail address registered in the address conversion table for the country code (process 110).

When the transmitting terminal identification information TSI has not been received and the result of the determination 107 is NO, or when the country code extracted from the transmitting terminal identification information TSI is not registered in the address conversion table. So, judgment 1
When the result of step 09 is NO, the received image information stored in the image storage device 9 at that time is converted into the original image data by the encoding / decoding unit 8, and the image data formed thereby is transferred to the plotter 6. Then, the received document is recorded and output (process 111).

As described above, in this embodiment, the destination user is registered in accordance with the country code of the transmitting terminal identification information TSI notified from the transmitting side. There is no need to provide a means for operating and inputting the user's mail address, and a general-purpose facsimile apparatus can be used to utilize the image information distribution function of the network facsimile apparatus FX to local area network users.

Further, the transmitting terminal transmits the transmitting terminal identification information TSI.
Is not notified, or if the country code of the transmitting terminal identification information TSI notified at that time is not registered in the address conversion table, the document of the received image information is locally recorded and output. Therefore, even in such a case, distribution of image information to the destination user can be realized.

In the above-described embodiment, the mail address of the destination user is registered for the country code of the transmission terminal identification information TSI, and registered in correspondence with the country code of the transmission terminal identification information TSI notified from the transmission side. Although the received image information is distributed to the destination user, the situation may arise where the e-mail address registered as the destination user is not always appropriate. , A problem occurs that image information is distributed.

To solve this problem, prior to image information distribution, a reception notification e-mail notifying that image information has been received is transmitted to a registered e-mail address, and an e-mail requesting distribution from the user is sent. The received image information may be delivered to the user of the mail address only when the information is received.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the body information of the reception notification mail in this case.

Here, the [user name] of the body information of the reception notification mail includes the delimiter code "" in the contents of the mail address registered in the address conversion table for the country code of the received transmission terminal identification information TSI. A character string located on the left side of “＠” is arranged, the value of the received transmission terminal identification information TSI is arranged in [TSI], and the country code of the received transmission terminal identification information TSI is arranged in [country code]. Are arranged and [F. No. ], The value of the file number assigned when the received image information is stored in the image storage device 9 is arranged, and the value of the mail address set in the network facsimile device FX is stored in [own terminal mail address]. Be placed.

The user who has received such a reception notification mail is notified by the reception notification mail in the “Subject” field of the header information of the electronic mail [F. N
O. Is transmitted to the network facsimile machine FX. in this case,
The body information of the delivery request mail does not need to include any significant information.

The network facsimile machine FX
Is "Subject" in the header information of the received e-mail.
t "field, the notification [F. NO. ], The e-mail is determined as the distribution request mail, and the user may include appropriate significant information in the body information of the distribution request mail. However, the text information is ignored by the network facsimile machine FX without being properly interpreted.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a process executed by the network facsimile machine FX when receiving image information.

First, when an incoming call is detected from the public network, an incoming call is answered (process 201), a predetermined pre-transmission procedure is executed (process 202), and image information transmission and the like are set. This is executed (step 203) to determine the modem speed to be used at that time.

Next, a predetermined image information receiving procedure is executed at the determined modem speed, and the received image information is stored in the image storage device 9 (step 204).
A predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (process 205) to restore the line (process 206).

At that time, the transmission terminal identification information T
It is checked whether SI has been received (decision 207).
If the transmission terminal identification information TSI has been received,
If the result of step 07 is YES, a country code is extracted from the transmission terminal identification information TSI (step 208), and it is checked whether or not the extracted country code is registered in the address conversion table (step 209).

If the country code extracted from the transmitting terminal identification information TSI is registered in the address conversion table and the result of determination 109 is YES, the above-described reception notification mail is created and the country code Is transmitted to the mail address registered in the address conversion table (step 210), and the "Subject" field of the header information is transmitted from the time of transmission until a predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes) elapses. [F. NO. ] Is received, or the [F. N
O. ] Is monitored (NO loop of determinations 211, 212, and 213).

When the distribution request mail is received during a period from the transmission of the reception notification mail until a predetermined time has elapsed, and the result of determination 211 is YES, the reception stored in the image storage device 9 at that time. An image information distribution mail for transmitting the image information is created, and the image information distribution mail is transmitted to the mail address registered in the address conversion table for the country code (process 21).
4).

In addition, a notice is sent by the reception notice mail until a predetermined time elapses from the transmission of the reception notice mail [F. NO. When the output of the image information is instructed from the operation input unit 7 and the result of the determination 212 is YES, the received image information stored in the image storage device 9 at that time is encoded and decoded. The image data is converted into the original image data by the converting unit 8, the image data formed thereby is transferred to the plotter 6, and the received document is recorded and output (process 215).

Also, the distribution request mail was not received or the notification was sent by the reception notification mail until a predetermined time elapses after the transmission of the reception notification mail [F. N
O. When the output of the image information is not instructed from the operation input unit 7 and the result of the determination 213 is YES, or
If the transmission terminal identification information TSI has not been received and the result of the determination 207 is NO, or if the country code extracted from the transmission terminal identification information TSI is not registered in the address translation table, If the result is NO, the process proceeds to step 215, in which the received image information stored in the image storage device 9 is converted into the original image data by the encoding / decoding section 8, and the image data formed thereby is converted into the plotter 6 And the received original is recorded and output.

As described above, in this embodiment, prior to the image information distribution, the reception notification mail for notifying that the image information has been received is transmitted to the registered e-mail address. Only when an e-mail is received, the received image information is distributed to the user of the e-mail address. Therefore, the image information is distributed to an appropriate user.

When the user who has received the reception notification mail directly goes to the network facsimile machine FX and designates the recording output of the received image, the original of the received image information is recorded and output locally at that time. The destination user can quickly and safely take out the received document.

In addition, when the delivery request mail is not received in response to the reception notification mail, or when the transmitting terminal identification information TSI is not notified from the transmitting side, or when the transmitting side is notified by the transmitting side at that time. Terminal identification information TSI
If the country code of the received image information is not registered in the address conversion table, the original of the received image information is recorded and output locally. In such a case, the image information can be delivered to the destination user. it can.

In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which image information is distributed only to the user of the workstation device connected to the local area network LAN. However, this local area network LAN is transmitted via a device such as a router. If the user is connected to the Internet, the image information can be distributed to the user of the workstation device connected to the Internet.

In the above-described embodiment, the mail address of the destination user of the image information is registered for the country code of the transmission terminal identification information TSI. It is also possible to register the mail address of the destination user to whom the image information is distributed.

[0067]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the destination user is registered according to the country code of the transmitting terminal identification information TSI notified from the transmitting side, the facsimile apparatus on the transmitting side is provided with, for example, means for inputting the mail address of the destination user. There is no need to use a general-purpose facsimile machine, so that the function of distributing image information to the local area network user of the network facsimile machine FX can be used.

Also, the transmitting terminal sends the transmitting terminal identification information TSI
Is not notified, or if the country code of the transmitting terminal identification information TSI notified at that time is not registered in the address conversion table, the document of the received image information is locally recorded and output. Therefore, in such a case, an effect is also obtained that the image information can be distributed to the destination user.

Prior to image information distribution, a reception notification mail notifying that image information has been received is transmitted to the registered mail address, and only when a distribution request e-mail is received from the user, Since the received image information is distributed to the user of the mail address, the effect that the image information is distributed to an appropriate user is also obtained.

When the user who has received the reception notification mail goes directly to the network facsimile machine FX and designates the recording output of the received image, the original of the received image information is recorded and output locally at that time. The destination user can also quickly and safely take out the received document.

Also, when the delivery request mail is not received in response to the reception notification mail, or when the transmission terminal identification information TSI is not notified from the transmission side, or when the transmission side is notified by the transmission side at that time. Terminal identification information TSI
If the country code of the received image information is not registered in the address conversion table, the original of the received image information is recorded and output locally. In such a case, the image information can be delivered to the destination user. There is also an effect that it can be done.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network 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.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed by the network facsimile machine FX when receiving image information.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of body information of a reception notification mail.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a process performed by the network facsimile machine FX when receiving image information.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network, and an image received via a public network by a facsimile transmission procedure. In a method for controlling a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting information to a user having a specified network address, a table representing a relationship between a value of a predetermined part of a telephone number of a facsimile apparatus on a transmission side and a network address of a corresponding user is stored. Then, when the image information is received via the public network, the network address stored in the above table is extracted for the value of the predetermined part of the telephone number of the facsimile number of the transmitting side at that time, and the received image information is Of the extracted network address Control method for a network facsimile apparatus and transmits through the local area network to The. 2. It has a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network, and an image received via a public network by a facsimile transmission procedure. In a method for controlling a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting information to a user having a specified network address, a table representing a relationship between a value of a predetermined part of a telephone number of a facsimile apparatus on a transmission side and a network address of a corresponding user is stored. Then, when receiving the image information via the public network, for the value of the predetermined part of the telephone number of the facsimile number of the transmitting side at that time, the network address stored in the above table is extracted, and the reception notification of the image information is Of the extracted network address To The method of controlling a network facsimile apparatus and transmits through the local area network. 3. A function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data according to a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network, and an image received via a public network by a facsimile transmission procedure. In a method for controlling a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting information to a user having a specified network address, a table representing a relationship between a value of a predetermined part of a telephone number of a facsimile apparatus on a transmission side and a network address of a corresponding user is stored. Then, when receiving the image information via the public network, for the value of the predetermined part of the telephone number of the facsimile number of the transmitting side at that time, the network address stored in the above table is extracted, and the reception notification of the image information is Of the extracted network address Transmitting the image information to the user via the local area network, and transmitting the received image information to the user via the local area network when there is a transmission request of the image information from the user. A method for controlling a network facsimile machine. 4. A function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data according to a facsimile transmission procedure performed through a public network, and an image received via a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure. In a method for controlling a network facsimile apparatus for transmitting information to a user having a specified network address, a table representing a relationship between a value of a predetermined part of a telephone number of a facsimile apparatus on a transmission side and a network address of a corresponding user is stored. Then, when receiving the image information via the public network, for the value of the predetermined part of the telephone number of the facsimile number of the transmitting side at that time, the network address stored in the above table is extracted, and the reception notification of the image information is Of the extracted network address If the image information is transmitted from the user before a predetermined time has elapsed from the transmission of the reception notification, the received image information is transmitted to the user. On the other hand, if the user transmits via the local area network and there is no request for transmission of image information from the user even if a predetermined time has elapsed from the transmission of the reception notification, the received image information is recorded and output. A method for controlling a network facsimile apparatus. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined part of the telephone number is a country code. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined part of the telephone number is an area code.