JPS63276651A - Data file communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate an address designation and a file designation to a transmission origin, and to shorten the work time by linking and storing a data file identifier and the transmission origin address. CONSTITUTION:A CPU 1 reads in all receiving information from a receiving information memory RIM 4 and displays 'transmitter's name', 'receiver's name', 'dial number', and 'document name' on a screen of a CRT 11. Subsequently, when a transmission key is depressed by a keyboard 6, the receiving information corresponding to a position of a cursor on the screen of the CRT 11 is read out of the RIM 4, is copied to a transmitting information area 3a of a RAM 3, then the dial number of the area 3a is saved in a transmission destination dial number area 3b, the contents of its own terminal number area 3c are set, and by clearly indicating the transmission origin, the contents of the transmitter's name and the receiver's name are interchanged, and dialing is executed to the send-back origin through a communication controller 14. After the normal connection, all the information which is set to the area 3a is transmitted to a terminal of the other party through a line interface 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a data file communication device that transmits and receives data files such as document information via a communication line or the like.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in a communication device that communicates document information etc. via a communication line etc., by specifying the destination terminal number and the document to be sent, the document is automatically sent to the other party's terminal. There are things that can be sent.

[Problem to be solved by the invention, 1] However, in daily office work, one-way document transmission is rather rare, and it is common for documents to be exchanged several times. Furthermore, in these exchanges, it is often the case that the document sent by the other party is slightly modified and then sent back as is.

If you want to return this document to the sender, you can register the destination number in advance and display a list of destinations.
Then, the destination number must be designated or inputted using a keypad or the like. Furthermore, there is an inconvenience in that at the same time, it is necessary to specify at least which document to send back.

This ignores the uniqueness of the task of simply sending a document back to the sender, and is a problem that is not limited to communication of documents but also occurs in communication of image data.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.When returning a data file such as a document to the sender's terminal, it is possible to easily specify the destination and file, thereby significantly reducing the work time. The purpose of the present invention is to propose a data file communication device that can achieve shortening.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The configuration of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned problems includes a receiving means for receiving one or more data files together with a file identifier and a source address of the data files; storage means for storing files by linking their file identifiers and source addresses; identification means for identifying one or more data files from among the data files stored in the storage means; and transmitting means for transmitting the transmitted data file back to the transmission source.

[Operation] In the above configuration, since the file name stamp and the sender address are received from the sender, the data file can be returned to the sender simply by specifying the data file to be returned.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the present invention is applicable to any communicable data file, the embodiments described below will focus on embodiments in which the present invention is applied to document communication, particularly e-mail.

That is, in the e-mail system of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of terminals are connected to a public communication line or LAN (Local Area Network). Each terminal has a unique line address or telephone number, and a single terminal can send multiple senders (and therefore multiple documents); There may be multiple recipients. In this embodiment, the terminal is identified by the telephone number, and the sender is identified by the telephone number.

Identify recipients by name.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, there are four communication devices (101 to 104).
The terminal phone number is Fl 111J~'44441.For convenience of explanation, the terminal phone number is F44444.
The configuration/operation of an embodiment of the present invention will be explained using the communication device 104.

When a receiver on the terminal 104 receives a document from a sender on the terminal 103 and the receiver sends a reply back to the sender, in this embodiment, the receiver first receives a document from the sender. Edit or process any document. This edit/
Processing is performed as necessary. After the g collection/processing, the recipient displays the document parameters of the received document (for example, document name, sender, recipient, sender's telephone number, etc.) on the display screen of the terminal 104. This display is
This is done using the "received information list display function" (see FIG. 6) that displays the parameters of all received documents received by the terminal 104. Therefore, since a plurality of documents are displayed on the display screen of the terminal 104, the user uses a cursor or the like to specify the document to be returned, and then instructs the terminal 104 to return the document. This return instruction is sent to the terminal 104.
This is done using the "Send (SD) key" (Figure 3).

Since this return is sent back to the sender of the terminal 103, the sender of this return document is the original recipient, the sending terminal is the terminal 104, and the receiving terminal is the original sender terminal. 103, and the recipient is the original sender. In other words, the number etc. of the sending terminal 103 of the light sender 1 was sent to the receiving side together with this sent document when the original document was sent, so it remains on the sending side. The purpose of this embodiment is to use this information effectively to save time and effort during return shipping.

<Description of document communication device (FIG. 1)> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the data file communication device of this embodiment.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a CPU such as a microprocessor, which controls the entire device, performs calculations, etc. 2 is ROM, CPU
It stores i control programs, various data, character patterns, etc. 3 is a RAM. The storage area includes an area 3a for storing transmission information consisting of transmission parameters and transmission data (see Fig. 7, hereinafter abbreviated as SDT), an area 3b for storing the dial number of the transmission destination, and an area 3b for storing the dial number of the transmission destination. In addition to being used as an area 3c for storing the own terminal number (hereinafter abbreviated as MTN), it is also used for temporary storage of document information, or as a work memory for CPUI calculations and logical judgments.

In the present embodiment, the telephone number [r4444J] of the terminal 104 is stored in the MTN3c. 4 is a reception information memory (hereinafter referred to as R) consisting of reception parameters and reception data.
(abbreviated as IM), and a communication controller (CO), which will be described later.
C) 14 and the received information received through the line interface (LIF) 15. The details of the structure of the received information are shown in FIG.

5 is a keyboard controller (KBC), which receives input signals from a keyboard (KB) 6, which will be described later, for example
Executes key code conversion processing to convert into S code, ASCII code, etc. 7 is the printer controller (PRC)
and controls the printer PR8. 8 is a printer (
PR), which prints a created or edited document or a document received through a line interface (LIF) on paper under the control of a printer controller (PRC) 7.

9 is CRT: + controller (CRT C) with te,
Character code data stored in the RAM 3 or other memory is converted to pattern data by referring to a character generator, developed in the video memory (VM) 10, and displayed as characters or symbols on the display device (CRT) it, which will be described later. Display as a pattern. 11 is a display device (CRT)
, and the characters entered from the keyboard (KB) 6,
It displays a reception/listening menu, etc., and also makes it possible to specify a position on the screen using a cursor or the like. A floppy disk controller (FDC) 12 controls a floppy disk drive (FDD) 13. Reference numeral 13 denotes a floppy disk drive device (FDD), which stores created and edited documents and received documents on a floppy disk, and reads them out. 14 is a communication controller (COC)
), which stores transmission/reception information and control information necessary for transmission/reception control, and is connected to the line interface (LIF) described later.
Data transfer is performed via 15. Reference numeral 15 denotes a line interface (LIF) for inputting data from the line 16 and outputting data to the line (LINE) 16.

A system bus (BUS) 17 includes an address bus for transferring addresses, a control path for transferring control signals, and a data bus for transferring various data.

<Configuration of Keyboard (FIG. 3)> With reference to FIG. 3, the configuration of the keyboard for issuing transmission instructions and the like in the data file communication device will be described.

The keyboard (KB) 6 includes a group of keys 20 for character input and a group of keys for function input. A group of keys for character input (
The CH) 20 has a keyboard arrangement according to the JIS standard, for example, and can input alphanumeric characters, kana characters, etc.

The group of function keys includes a "receive" key (RV) 21 that instructs to shift to receive mode, and a "receive list display" key (RM) 22 that instructs to display a list of reception parameters of received data. , a "send" key (SD) 23 that instructs to send a document, a "cursor up" key (CU) 24 that moves the cursor upward, and a "cursor down" key (C) that moves the cursor downward.
D) 25, and an "edit" key (ED) for instructing to shift to an editing mode in order to edit a received document or the like.

The operation of the data file communication terminal device of this embodiment having the above-mentioned configuration will be explained below.

Reception Information Memory Format> FIG. 4 shows an example of the format of the reception information stored in the reception information memory (RIM) 4 of FIG. These received information are sent to other terminals (101 to 101 in FIG. 2).
103), this communication device 10
4. Information about the document created in 4 is also stored.

As shown in Fig. 4, the reception information is the reception parameter (31
34) and received data 35.

The received information number area 30 represents the total number of received information that has already been received.

In the reception parameters, the "sender name" area 31 is the name of the sender, and represents the name given by the operator when the sender sends the message. The "recipient name" area 32 is the name of the recipient, and represents the name given by the transmitting operator when specifying the recipient. "Dial number" area 3
3 is the sender's telephone number. Document name area 34 represents the name of the received document. The document data area 35 represents the data of the received document.

Note that (1) to (n) in FIG. 4 indicate the reception order of received information.

FIG. 5 shows a specific example of the received information memory RIM4 shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, the received information number area 30 is “34
Therefore, it can be seen that a total of three reception reports are stored. That is, the document received from the terminal 101 is placed in 36, the document received from the terminal 102 is placed in 37, and the document received from the terminal 10
The number is 38, which is the received document from 3.

In the reception information area 36 from the terminal 101, "sender name"
Area 31 is r Takahashi j, and “recipient name j area 32 r
On Suzuki J, the sender's "dial number" area 33 is fl.
111JI, document name area 34 is r internal bulletin J,
The document data area 35 is "Internal breaking news...j.

Similarly, in the next area 37, the "sender name" is written as "
In the next area 38, there is received information in which the "sender name" is rGeneral Affairs Division J.

Format of transmission information area SDT> FIG. 6 shows an example of the format of transmission information area 5DT3a. This transmission information area serves as a buffer for storing transmitted data when a communication device transmits a document or the like to another terminal.

53 indicates the name of the document to be transmitted, and 54 indicates the document data. The "sender name" area 50 shows the sender's name, the "recipient name" area 51 shows the receiver's name,
The "dial number" area 52 indicates the sender's telephone number (that is, the own terminal's telephone number). For example, when the terminal 104 transmits, F44444 is set.

As can be seen by comparing FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, the format of each received information of the RIM 4 and the format of the 5DT 3a are similar. In this example, in order to easily return documents, by making the format the same,
This is made possible by simply transferring part of the contents of the RIM 4 to the 5DT 3a (see FIG. 8).

List of Received Information > When the operator presses the "List of Received Information" key (RM) 22 when the received information memory (RIM) 4 stores specific received information as shown in FIG. An example of the display is shown in FIG.

When this key 22 is pressed, the received information is read out from the received information memory RIM4 and displayed on the CRTll shown in FIG. The numbers at the left end of FIG. 7 are the numbers when the data in the RIM 4 are displayed in the order in which they are stored.

<Returning the received document> Now, the "sender name" from the terminal 103 is rGeneral Affairs Division J, and the "Notice J sent to Personnel Division J" on the receiving terminal 104 is
Consider the case where a document is partially edited/processed and the edited document is sent back to the original sender, General Affairs Division J.

In Figure 7, if the cursor happened to point to the first number of FIJ, ``Sender Name'', ``Takahashi J.''
Press the cursor down key (CD) 25 to move the cursor 40 to the number 1r3 where the "sender name" points to rGeneral Affairs Division J.
Move to position J. When the cursor 40 is at the number "34" and the "edit JED key 26 is pressed, the document data with the document name r notice J is converted to a pit pattern by the CRTC9 and expanded to VMlo.VMlo
The upper bit data is displayed on the CRTll. An operator who wishes to return a document makes necessary edits while looking at this display screen.

In addition, in a communication device where the document data 35 is not stored in the RAM 3, but is stored in the floppy disk FD 13, when the above-mentioned "edit" key 26 is pressed, the FD
The designated document may be read from 13 and expanded into RAMB. Advantageously, such an embodiment preserves the original received document even after editing.

Now, as a result of this editing, r company travel announcement...
・J document data is “Questionnaire answers...
”.

In FIG. 7, either press the "send" key 23 immediately after moving the cursor to r number 32 (in other words, if there is no editing), or press the "list display" key 22 again after the above editing, and move the cursor to r. When the "Send" key 23 is pressed after moving to "No. 3", the "Sender name" is changed to "General Affairs Division J's reception information (38 in Figure 5) is read out from the reception information memory RIM4 and moved to the transmission information area. 5DT3a (FIG. 6). This situation is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

Since returning is an operation in the opposite direction of sending, R is sent to 5DT3a.
After the content of the IM reception information is copied, it is necessary to exchange the "sender name" 50 and the "recipient name" 51. In addition, the “sender dial number” 52 contains the original transmitting terminal (second
In the example shown in the figure, the number of the terminal 103) is stored, but
It is necessary to correct the dial number of your own terminal. "Document name"
53° "Document data" 54 etc. do not need to be changed.

The contents of the transmission information after copying shown in FIG. 9 are shown in FIG. 10 by replacing the contents of ``sender name J50'' and ``receiver name'' 51, and further modifying ``sender dial number'' 52. show.

Now, in FIG. 9, the number stored in the area 52 immediately after copying is the dial number of the return destination terminal (in this case, f3333J of the terminal 103). Therefore, the dial number of the return destination stored in this area 52 is temporarily changed to DN before this area 52 is rewritten with the own terminal number.
The document is saved in the S area 3b (FIG. 1) and the saved number is sent to the C0C 14 to realize the return of the document.

The actual transmission for return is performed when the contents of the transmission information area are communicated by the communication controller C0C14 and the line interface LI.
It is sent to the destination via Fl 5.

<Control Procedure> Main Routine FIG. 11 shows the processing procedure of the CPUI when a key on the keyboard (KB) 6 is pressed. Incidentally, this program shown in the flowcharts shown in FIG. 11 and subsequent figures is stored in the ROM 2 in advance.

First, in step S1, it is determined whether or not there is any key input from the keyboard (KB) 6. If there is manual key power, the process proceeds to step S2, where key data from the keyboard 6 is taken in.

Next, in step S3, if the input key is the "receive" key (RV) 21, the process proceeds to step S4, and the 12th
A reception process, which will be described later in the figure, is performed.

After performing the reception process in step S4, the process returns to step S1.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S3 that the "receive" key (RV) 21 is not manually operated, the process proceeds to step S5, and it is determined whether the above-mentioned input key is the "receive list" key (RM) 22. do. When the "reception list" key (RM) 22 is pressed, the process advances to step S6, and a reception information list process, which will be described later with reference to FIG. 13, is executed.

If it is determined in step S5 that the key is any other key, the process proceeds to step S7, and processing corresponding to the human power of those keys is performed.

Control procedure>...The flowchart of reception processing in FIG. 12 is based on step S4 in FIG.
The details of the reception processing shown in are shown below.

This process consists of the destination information sent from the other party's terminal (i.e.,
communication controller (C
OC) 14 and stores the received information in the received information memory RIM4.

First, in step S8, data received from the line is fetched and the process advances to step S9. In step S9, it is determined whether the received data is the last data, and if it is the last data, the process advances to step S10. If not, the process returns to step S8 to receive the next data. In step SIO, the received data is sequentially output to the reception information memory 4, and when the output is finished, the process ends.

Control procedure>...List display/return processing The flowcharts in FIGS. 13A and 13B are based on step S6 in FIG.
The details of the received information list processing shown in .

This process displays the received information (FIG. 5) already stored in the received information memory on the screen of the CRT 11 as shown in FIG. After displaying the C
Move the cursor to the position of the received information that you want to send back on the RT screen, and as mentioned above, if you want to edit it, press the Edit j key 26. If you want to send it back immediately, press the Send key (SD ) 23 performs processing to return the document to that destination.

First, in step Sll, the received information memory (RIM
) Read all received information from 4. Next step 12
Next, the "sender name", "recipient name", "dial number", and "document name" of the received information read in step Sll are displayed on the screen of the CRTII as shown in FIG. When the display is finished, the cursor 40 is positioned at the number "IJI" of the first received information.

Next, in step 13, data input from the keyboard (KB) 6 is awaited. If you have key human resources, step S1
Proceed to step 4 to import key data from the keyboard (KB) 6. Further, in step S15, it is checked whether the manually pressed key is the cursor up key (CU) 24, and if it is the cursor up key (CtJ) 24, step S15 is performed.
If not, the process advances to step S17. If you want to move the cursor up, step 316
The cursor 40 displayed on the screen is moved up one line, and the process returns to step S13 of waiting for key input. however,
If the cursor 60 is on the first line, the process returns to step 313 without doing anything.

On the other hand, if the CU key 24 is not pressed, step S
When the process proceeds to step S17, it is checked whether the input key is the cursor town key (CD) 25 or not, and if it is the cursor down key (CD) 25, the process proceeds to step S18, where the CRT
The cursor 40 displayed on the screen of II is moved down one line, and the process returns to step S13 of waiting for key input. However, if the cursor 60 is located on the last line, the process returns to step S13 without doing anything.

When it is determined in step S17 that the cursor down key (CD) 25 is not pressed, the process advances to step S19, and the key input in step S13 is the send key (S
D) 23, and if it is not the send key (SD) 23, proceed to step s30 and check whether the ``edit j key 26'' has been pressed.If it is not the ``edit'' key, then in step s31 The key is to perform processes that require human power.

When it is determined in step S30 that the "edit" key 26 has been pressed, the document is saved in the VM in step S32.
Lo is expanded and then edited, and during this editing process, when the "received information list display" key 22 is pressed,
Returning to step S11, if another key is pressed, the process proceeds to step S31.

When it is determined in step S19 that it is the transmission key (SD) 23, the process proceeds to step S21, and the CPU reads out the received information corresponding to the position of the cursor 40 on the screen of the CRTII from the received information memory (RIM) 4, and then proceeds to step S22.
Proceed to.

In step S22, the received information read out in step S21 is copied to the transmission information area (SDT) 3a (see FIGS. 8 and 9), and the process proceeds to step S23. Step S2
3, the "dial number" 52 of the copied transmission information area (SDT) 3a (this number is the telephone number F333, J of the terminal 103 that is the original sender, and at the same time,
(which is the telephone number of the return destination) is saved in the DNS 3b and the process proceeds to step 324.

In step S24, in the "dial number" area 52,
Contents of own terminal number area (MTN) 3c (i'4444
J), specify the sender, and then proceed to step 325.
Proceed to. In step S25, the contents of the "sender name" 50 and the contents of the "recipient name J51" are exchanged, and in step S25
Proceed to step 6. In step S26, dial number j of the return destination terminal saved in step 323 is dialed through the communication controller (COC) 14, and the process proceeds to step S27.

In step S27, it is determined whether or not the line connection with the other party's terminal has been established normally. If the connection has not been established normally, the process proceeds to step S28, where an error message is output on the screen of the CRTll and the process is terminated.

If it is determined in step S27 that the connection has been successfully established, the process advances to step S29, where the transmission information area (SDT
) 3a to the communication controller (COC) 14 and line interface (LIF) 15.
to the destination terminal and end the process.

In this way, the task of returning a document or the like that has been received to the sender can be accomplished by an extremely simple operation of simply identifying the received document shown on the display screen. Then, an easy-to-operate e-mail system can be constructed.

<Other Embodiments> In the present embodiment described above, the reception parameters such as "sender name" in the reception information and the document data are stored in the same output medium (RIM 4 in the above embodiment). However, the receiving parameters such as destination information may be output to the receiving information memory RIM4, and the document data may be output to the floppy disk 13, respectively. Further, the present invention is not limited to documents, and the same applies to image data.

Note that the number of documents that can be received is not limited to one, but may also be a plurality of documents. Furthermore, when returning a document, it is also possible to specify not only one document but a plurality of documents to be returned.

Furthermore, when sending back, send parameters (50 to 50 in Figure 6)
53) may be appropriately displayed on the CRTll so that, for example, the "sender name" 50, "recipient name" 51, "document name" 53, etc. can be modified.

Furthermore, the network may be a LAN or the like in addition to the public communication network.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when sending back a data file such as a document, destination information and document specification can be easily done in one operation, and the destination information can be specified every time a transmission instruction is given. Not only does the work become easier because there is no need to input information, file names, etc., but the work time can be significantly shortened.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of a data file communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a network to which this communication device is connected, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the arrangement of keys on a keyboard. FIG. 4 is a format diagram showing an example of the format of the received information stored in the received information memory (RIM); FIG. 5 is a detailed diagram of the received information stored in the received information memory RIM. An explanatory diagram showing an example; FIG. 6 is a format diagram showing an example of the format of transmission information SDT; FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of displaying a list of received information in FIG. 5; FIG. 8 is a return diagram. Figure 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of transmitted information, and Figure 10 is a diagram explaining how received information is copied to the transmitted information area.
FIGS. 11 to 13A and 13B are flowcharts showing the processing procedure of the communication device of this embodiment. In the figure, 1
...CPU, 2...ROM, 3...RAM, 3a
...5DT (transmission information area), 3b...DNS (
dial number save area), 3C...MTN (own terminal dial number), 4...RIM (reception information memory)
, 5...KBC, 6...KB, 7...PRC. 8...PR, 9...CRTC, 10...VM, 1
1...CRT, 12.F'DC, 13.FDD, 14
・COCl 15...LIF, 16...LINE,
17...BUS. Patent applicant Canon Co., Ltd. Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 138

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) Receiving means for receiving one or more data files together with the file identifier and source address of the data file, and storage means for storing the data file by linking the file identifier and the source address. , 1 from among the data files stored in the storage means.
1. A data file communication device comprising: identifying means for identifying one or more data files; and transmitting means for transmitting the identified data files back to the transmission source. (2) The receiving means further receives a sender identifier, and the storage means also stores the sender identifier, and the specifying means includes a display means, and the identification means includes one of the sender identifiers stored in the storage means. Claims characterized in that the above data files are displayed on the display means together with their file identifiers and the sender identifiers, and the one or more data files are identified through this display screen. The data file communication device according to item 1. (3) The data file communication device further includes data file editing means, and the data file editing means edits the data file linked to the file identifier on the storage means. The data file communication device according to item 1. (4) The data file communication device according to claim 1, wherein the data file is document information. (5) The data file communication device according to claim 1, wherein the data file is image information.