KR100238039B1 - Apparatus and method for receiving e-mail of internet facsimile - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, when a user sends a separate document file created by a computer or an e-mail to which an image file is attached, the user can receive the attached file of the e-mail normally. Resend to the e-mail server to which the specified computer is connected or the real user has an account.

According to the present invention, an Internet Fax manages an account for each user, stores an actual e-mail address for each user, and receives a picture file or a document file attached to an e-mail that a conventional Internet fax machine could not process. Can receive normally.

Description

E-mail receiving apparatus and method in internet fax.

The present invention relates to an Internet fax. More particularly, the present invention relates to a local area network (LAN) by connecting a facsimile that can be assigned a separate Internet Protocol address (IP address), thereby directly transmitting / receiving fax data through the Internet. The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for receiving an e-mail normally when a user attaches a file to an e-mail and transmits the file by an internet fax.

In general, Internet fax has a separate Internet service through an Internet service provider (ISP), which provides Internet fax service using a general telephone line, and a network / local area network interface function. Fax data can be sent / received directly over the Internet by connecting a fax that can be assigned a protocol address (abbreviated as 'IP address') to a local area network (LAN: Local Area Network). There are two ways to do this.

In the present invention, the second method described above is described.

Internet fax, which is connected to a conventional LAN, uses the Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP) and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to send the originals read from the fax in the same manner as other e-mails. It was sent by postal address or Internet fax of the same model.

In addition, when the amount of read data is large, the data is compressed or a mutually standardized data format is selected in order to reduce the transmission time and the communication volume of the network.

To this end, using a coding method (MH Coding), which is a general compression method in the G3 facsimile, it is possible to reduce the size of the data and to easily print the data on the receiving side.

Here, plain text files in ASCII format were sent in the same way as conventional e-mail.

In order to receive the data sent from the Internet fax, if the receiving party is a personal computer, an application program capable of receiving e-mail and a separate graphic viewer for decoding the received data on the screen can be used. Viewer) program was used.

In addition, when the receiving party is the same type of Internet fax, the received data is inspected, and in the case of a simple ASCII file, the code is converted and printed. If the data is of MH Coding, decoding is performed. And printed.

Such a conventional MFP could perform its original function without any inconvenience in the case of sending / receiving a general ASCII Code document or sending / receiving a document using a fax.

However, when sending a separate document file or picture file created using a personal computer or an Internet fax, the format that can be received by the Internet fax can be converted into a specific format such as data of MH Coding. Problems arise because they are limited.

In other words, Internet fax is different from a personal computer and cannot recognize the format of all application programs, and even if it supports it, the capacity of the auxiliary storage device for this becomes uneconomical.

In addition, in the present Internet fax, only an error message indicating that data cannot be received by the sender cannot be sent to the sender, so that no information can be provided to the recipient.

Therefore, unnecessary traffic is increased on the Internet by sending additional data in order to receive data normally on the receiving side, and the sender checks the recipient's new address again and retransmits it or retransmits it by regular fax. Phosphorus loss occurred.

Therefore, the present invention was devised to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to enable a normal reception without transmitting an error message to a sender when a conventional Internet fax cannot receive a file.

In other words, if the received file cannot be processed by Internet Fax, the contents of the file received from the personal computer are sent back to the recipient's address connected to the personal computer specified separately or to an e-mail server with the actual account of the recipient. To check.

1 is a block diagram showing an Internet fax for implementing the present invention;

2 is a block diagram showing an electronic mail receiving apparatus according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for receiving an email according to the present invention.

<Description of Symbols of Major Parts of Drawings>

10: central processing unit 20: memory unit

30: operation unit 40: scanner unit

50: network interface 60: code / decoder (CODEC)

70: electronic mail receiving device 71: electronic mail receiving control unit

72: e-mail receiving unit 73: e-mail storage unit

74: e-mail output unit 75: user account database

An apparatus for receiving an e-mail in an internet fax according to the present invention for achieving the above objects is an internet fax for transmitting / receiving an e-mail with a file attached thereto, wherein the e-mail receiving unit receives the e-mail, An e-mail storage unit for storing the e-mail for determining and outputting a type of the file attached to the e-mail, an e-mail output unit for outputting the e-mail when the file attached to the e-mail is in ASCII format; A user's personal e-mail address registered in the Internet Fax, and when the e-mail is a predetermined file that cannot be received, the user account database used to find an address to be resent and the file format of the e-mail received. Whether to output from the e-mail output unit or to an address registered in the user account database And an e-mail receiving control unit for determining whether to retransmit and transmitting an appropriate control signal for operation to each part.

Preferably, the predetermined file is characterized in that the document file and the picture file created by the application program.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for receiving an email in an Internet fax, the method comprising: registering information for using the Internet fax as an email server, and registering the information about the Internet fax user after the registration; Determining and outputting a type of e-mail received in the Internet fax; and, in the case of an e-mail in a format that cannot be output from the Internet fax after the determination, checking the e-mail receiving side and Resending the mail.

Preferably, the information for use as the e-mail server is an Internet Protocol address (IP address), a gateway address, and a subnet mask (Subnet Mask) to send and receive e-mail using the Internet fax. do.

Preferably, the information about the Internet fax user is an e-mail address registered in the domain name of the e-mail server.

Hereinafter, the objects, features, and advantages of the present invention described above will be described in more detail with reference to the preferred embodiments of the present invention shown in the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram showing an Internet fax for implementing the present invention.

As shown, the central processing unit 10 controls the system as a whole according to a predetermined program.

The memory unit 20 stores program data, protocol data, and character data.

The operation unit 30 has a plurality of keys capable of generating key data of the system, and when the key data is generated, the operation unit 30 has a display device for inputting them to the central processing unit 10 and displaying the display data of the central processing unit 10. .

The scanner unit 40 scans an image of an original and provides it to the central processing unit 10 as digital image data.

The network interface unit 50 operates under the control of the central processing unit 10 to interface with the local area network (LAN).

The code / decoder 70 converts the image data input from the scanner unit 40 into MH coding or restores the received MH coding data again.

The e-mail receiving apparatus 70 receives and outputs the transmitted e-mail or transmits the e-mail to a user account address.

2 is a block diagram showing an electronic mail receiving apparatus according to the present invention.

First, the e-mail receiving unit 72 receives an e-mail transmitted from the sending Internet fax.

The email storage unit 73 determines the type of the received email and stores it for output.

The email output unit 74 outputs the stored email.

The user account database 85 has a personal e-mail address that a user registers in an Internet fax by a separate operation, and is used to find an address to be resent when the e-mail is a file in an unreceivable format.

The e-mail receiving control unit 71 determines the format of the received e-mail, determines whether to output the e-mail output unit 74 or resend to an address registered in the user account database 85, Send appropriate control signals for operation to the parts.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

In general, when the Internet fax is connected to the local area network (LAN), the local area network is established.

Therefore, the Internet fax has one IP address in the local area network, and the IP address is registered in a domain name system server.

For example, if the IP address of the Internet Fax is 123.123.123.123 and the domain name is mail.samsung.co.kr, all the e-mails having the domain name among the e-mail addresses have an IP address of 123.123.123.123. Can be delivered.

First, set an Internet protocol address (abbreviated as "IP address", Internet gateway address), a gateway address, and a subnet mask so that e-mail can be sent and received using Internet fax (step S100). ).

The user identifier (ID) and the e-mail address registered in the domain name of the e-mail server to which the computer is connected are registered in the user account database 75 (step S110).

At this time, an example of an e-mail address registered in the user account database 75 is as follows.

john = john@internet.sec.co.kr

mike = mike@network.sec.co.kr

park = park@suwon.sec.co.kr

Here, john, mike, and park are registered in mail.samsung.co.kr, which is the domain name of Internet Fax, and the domain names of the e-mail servers of the registered users are respectively internet.sec.co.kr And network.sec.co.kr and suwon.sec.co.kr.

That is, when the file attached to the e-mail which the Internet account cannot process is received because it is built in the user account database 75 as described above, the Internet fax user can receive the file normally. You can send to the specified email address.

After registering the e-mail address, the e-mail receiving control unit 71 determines whether the e-mail is received by the e-mail receiving unit 72 (step: S200), and when the e-mail is received, the type of the e-mail is received. Determine (step: S210).

As a result of the determination, if the email is data that can be directly processed by ASCII or Modified Coding (MH Coding), it is output from the email output unit 74 (step S220), and the electronics cannot be directly processed. If it is a mail (e.g., a document file and a picture file created by an application program), the recipient identifier ID and account data are checked using the user account database 75 (step: S230).

After checking the recipient identifier and the account data, if the recipient is john, the email address is retransmitted to the email address of john@internet.sec.co.kr (step S240). Using john can receive the e-mail normally from his computer.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may be modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It will be appreciated that modifications or variations may be made. Therefore, changes in the future embodiments of the present invention will not be able to escape the technology of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, an Internet Fax manages an account for each user, stores an actual e-mail address for each user, and is attached to an e-mail which a conventional Internet fax could not process. Picture or document file can be received normally.

In addition, in the conventional Internet fax, when a file attached to a sent e-mail cannot be received, an error mail is sent to the sender, and the sender retransmits the file to a new e-mail address or a general fax that the receiver can receive. As a result, unnecessary call volume on the Internet can be reduced, and transmission time can be reduced accordingly.

In addition, there is an effect of reducing the communication charges due to the separate fax data transmission.

Claims (5)

In the Internet fax which sends / receives an e-mail with a file attached, An e-mail receiver for receiving the e-mail; An email storage unit for storing the email for determining and outputting a type of a file attached to the received email; An email output unit configured to output the email when the file attached to the stored email is in ASCII format; A user account database used to find an address to be resent when the e-mail has a predetermined e-mail address registered in the Internet fax and the e-mail is a predetermined file that cannot be received; According to the received file format of the e-mail, it is determined whether to output from the e-mail output unit or resend to the address registered in the user account database, and transmits the appropriate control signal for operation to each part E-mail receiving apparatus for an Internet fax, comprising an e-mail receiving control unit. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the predetermined file is a document file or a picture file created by an application program. Registering information for using the Internet fax as an e-mail server; After the registration, registering information about the Internet fax user; Determining and outputting a type of e-mail received in the Internet fax; and After the determination, in the case of an e-mail of a format that cannot be output from the internet fax, checking the e-mail receiving side and retransmitting the e-mail. . 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information for use as the email server is And an internet protocol address (IP address), a gateway address, and a subnet mask to transmit / receive e-mail using the internet fax. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information about the Internet fax user is And an e-mail address registered in the domain name of the e-mail server.

Images