KR100752426B1 - Internet fax system - Google Patents

Abstract

An internet fax transmission and reception system is disclosed. The Internet fax transmission and reception system according to the present invention is provided between a public network (PSTN) and a client, reads transmission side information from fax data received through the public network, and compares the read transmission side information with a previously rejected list. A transmission data detection unit, a fax data processing unit for converting the fax data not included in the reject list into an image file, and transmitting the converted image file to an e-mail account corresponding to the destination of the fax data; And a switching unit for selecting a network interface and a network interface connected to the Internet, wherein the fax data processing unit includes a file conversion unit for converting the fax data received through a public network into an image file, and a contact for a destination in the fax data. E-mail account corresponding to the identified contact Is provided to the network interface unit to the network interface unit for transmitting the image file to the e-mail account is provided with a fax information determination unit.

Fax Terminal, Internet Fax, File Conversion, Email Account

Description

Internet fax system {Internet fax system}

1 is a view for conceptually explaining the driving method of the Internet fax transmission and reception system according to the present invention;

2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a manager program installed in a client;

3 is a detailed block diagram of an example of the VFAX shown in FIG. 1;

4 is a detailed block diagram of another example of the VFAX shown in FIG. 1, and

5A to 5D show an example in which a mechanical switch is attached to the main body.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

100: Internet fax transmission and reception system 200: internal fax terminal

300: mail server 410a to 410n: client

500: external fax terminal

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an Internet fax transmission and reception system, and more particularly, to a fax transmission and reception system that reduces the time and work required for fax processing by providing an image file of fax data to a mail account of each client connected to the fax transmission and reception system. will be.

In general, fax transmission is performed through a Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN) or the Internet. When a document is transmitted through a fax, a six-step process is generally required.

1) print out the document

2) Pick up the printed document and install it on the fax machine.

3) Fill in the contact information for the document transmission on the fax machine,

4) dialing, and transmission;

5) faxing,

6) Check the transmission success.

When faxing a document through this process, the user usually faxes the document one time, three times the shift, that is, the user's personal computer (PC) to move and receive the printout. After confirming the transfer movement and the successful transmission of the fax, the movement to return to its place is required. In addition, the conventional fax terminal has to be transmitted one by one by pressing the transmission target fax number in order to send a document to several places, and has a hassle of having to re-send the fax when the receiving side fax is disturbed or busy. In addition, the conventional fax terminal is inconvenient to always have paper and toner for outputting the received fax. Although a fax server has been proposed to solve this problem, such a fax server has not been widely used because it requires an expensive system for only fax management. In addition, since spam fax transmission for advertisements is currently abundant, an unnecessarily printed sheet is increased due to spam fax transmission, and management of this problem is difficult. Accordingly, the present applicant intends to propose a fax transmission and reception system that is easy to use and manage using a network provided in an office environment without having a separate fax server.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a fax transmission / reception system capable of blocking reception of unnecessary spam fax data by providing a filtering function for fax data transmitted from a transmission side. In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide an Internet fax transmission and reception system that is easy to send and receive fax data by converting a document for transmission and reception into an image file and transmitting it to a mail account of a connected client PC. In addition, another object of the present invention is to generate an image file for the received fax data, to determine the receiving destination of the received fax by OCR processing the generated image file, and to fax to the determined e-mail account In providing information. In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide an Internet fax transmission and reception system having a form of a terminal relaying between a fax, the Internet, and a user client PC, and transmitting and receiving fax data using the Internet. In addition, another object of the present invention to provide a terminal type Internet fax transmission and reception system that can manage the transmission history and the reception history when transmitting and receiving documents.

According to the present invention, the above object is provided between a public network (PSTN) and a client, and reads the sender information from the fax data received through the public network, and compares the read sender information with the previously rejected list. A transmission data detector for converting fax data not included in the reject list into an image file and transmitting the converted image file to an e-mail account corresponding to the destination of the fax data; And a switching unit for selecting whether to connect directly or a network interface connected to the Internet. The fax data processing unit includes a file conversion unit for converting the fax data received through the public network into an image file, and the fax unit. Identify the contact for the destination from the data and And a facsimile information determination unit for providing a corresponding e-mail account to the network interface unit to cause the network interface unit to transmit the image file to the e-mail account.

The OCR processing unit may further include an OCR processing unit which extracts a character string from the fax data converted into the image file and compares the extracted character string with a pre-set user list to provide the fax data processing unit with user information matching the image file. do.

The image file is preferably transmitted to the e-mail account of the user information provided by the OCR processing unit.

It is preferable that the user list includes a name of a workplace and a group in which the user is located.

The switching unit is any one of an electronic and a mechanical switch, and the electronic switch is connected to the fax data processing unit, the fax terminal, and the public network, is embedded in the fax data processing unit, and is controlled by a control signal applied from the outside. It is preferable to connect and disconnect the fax terminal and the public network.

The mechanical switch is connected to the fax data processor, the fax terminal, and the public network, and is provided in a main body of the Internet fax transmission / reception system, and includes a push button switching method, a slide switching method, and a rotary switch. It is preferable that the switch according to any one of the switches of the rotary dip switching system.

The client preferably includes a manager program that transmits the fax data to the Internet fax transmission and reception system and converts the fax data transmitted to the transmission target fax into an image file.

It is preferable that the manager program creates the user list and the reject list, and provides the created user list and the reject list to the Internet fax transmitting and receiving system.

Preferably, the manager program generates a file of a history of the transmitted and received fax data.

According to the present invention, the above object is provided between a public network (PSTN) and a client, and converts the fax data received through the public network into an image file and the converted e-mail account corresponding to the destination of the fax data. And a network interface unit connected to the Internet, wherein the fax data processor comprises: a file converter for converting the fax data received through the public network into an image file; Internet fax transmission and reception system including a fax information determination unit for identifying a contact information and providing an e-mail account corresponding to the identified contact information to the network interface unit to cause the network interface unit to transmit the image file to the e-mail account. By moon It is.

Preferably, the method further includes selecting an operation mode for directly connecting the public network with the fax terminal and allowing the fax terminal to transmit and receive fax data through the public network.

The client preferably includes a manager program that transmits the fax data to the Internet fax transmission and reception system and converts the fax data transmitted to the transmission target fax into an image file.

The manager program includes a fax number setting menu, an operation mode selection menu, a reservation transmission setting menu, and a broadcast transmission setting menu for a transmission target fax terminal, and preferably provides a set menu to the electronic mail transmission unit.

Preferably, the manager program attaches information on a final destination of the image file to the image file and provides it to the fax data processor.

The manager program is preferably installed in the client and registered in the client's autostart program.

It is preferable that the said client is any of a personal computer, a notebook computer, and a PDA.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view for conceptually explaining the driving method of the Internet fax transmission and reception system according to the present invention.

As shown, the Internet fax transmission and reception system according to the present invention is provided between a Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN) and the clients 410a to 410n, and transmits the fax data transmitted to the clients 410a to 410n. Providing to an e-mail account of 410a to 410n eliminates the need for documented fax paper and toner (or ink or thermal paper). Here, the clients 410a to 410n may be devices such as a personal computer (PC), a notebook computer, and a PDA having a printing function.

In the figure, the Internet fax transmission and reception system (hereinafter referred to as "VFAX") according to the present invention is connected to the clients (410a to 410n) via a network such as a LAN (LAN), a mail server through the Internet (mail server) 300 is connected, and relays the fax terminal 200 and the public network (PSTN).

The VFAX 100 converts fax data provided from a sender's fax (not shown) into an image file such as TIFF and PDF, and provides the same to a mail server 300. Accordingly, the received fax data is stored in the mail server 300 by the VFAX 100 and then provided to the clients 410a to 410n from the mail server 300. That is, the clients 410a to 410n can print and view only the desired faxes sent by mail without printing the received fax data on paper. Although several clients are shown in the figure, in a typical office environment, since only one or two fax numbers are used, it is appropriate that one or two mail accounts correspond to the received fax numbers. Of course, in an office environment where multiple faxes must be used, an e-mail account corresponding to multiple clients 410a to 410n is set in the VFAX 100 as shown in the drawing, and the VFAX 100 receives the received number. Send the image file to the corresponding e-mail.

On the other hand, VFAX 100 supports a conventional fax, that is, a fax for transmitting and receiving documents over the public network. The VFAX 100 is provided with a switch (SW) 150 for selecting an operation mode on one side of the main body, and the connected fax terminal 200 is connected to the public network (PSTN) according to a switching operation of the switch (SW) 150. To be connected to. This is because the VFAX (100) can be used by a beginner or an outsider who has no experience with the VFAX (100) in a hurry, or by an image file for the fax data that each client (410a to 410n) sends to the VFAX (100). It can be used when the memory provided in is saturated.

The VFAX 100 converts the fax data received from the outside into an image and sends an e-mail to each of the clients 410a to 410n. The VFAX 100 also faxes to an external fax terminal (for example, 500) from each of the clients 410a to 410n. Allow data to be transferred. To this end, the VFAX 100 transmits an image file (TIFF) using a simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) transmission protocol when transmitting fax data according to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard.

The VFAX 100 transmits the fax data to the receiving side fax terminal as follows.

1) After generating an image file (e.g., TIFF, PDF format file) for a document created by the clients 410a to 410n, including the contact information of the receiving fax terminal 500 of the generated image file, the VFAX 100 ) To a fax service company (not shown),

2) The process by which a fax service company transmits a transmitted image file to a local telephone network.

Here, the process of generating the image file for the document created by the client (410a ~ 410n), and including the transmission information for the generated image file, that is, the contact of the receiving target fax terminal by a separate program installed on the client Is implemented. Hereinafter, this program is called a manager program, and the interface screen of the manager program will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

2 shows an example of a manager program installed in the clients 410a to 410n. As shown, the manager program displays a numbering menu 101 for entering a fax number of the receiving target fax terminal 500, a reservation transmission menu 102 for delayed transmission, and a list of documents to be transmitted. There is provided a transmission menu 103 capable of assigning the transmission order to one or several of the displayed documents. The transmission menu 103 is provided with buttons 103a and 103b for adding, deleting, and setting the transmission priority of the document file. This allows the user to determine the transmission priority of the documents to be sent. In addition, the numbering menu 101 allows a plurality of fax numbers to be written, thereby enabling broadcast transmission for simultaneously sending faxes to several fax terminals. Here, in order for the manager program to perform the scheduled transmission, the manager program obtains time information by referring to the RTC (Real Time Clock) provided in the clients 410a to 410n, and compares the obtained time information with the time reserved by the user. It is desirable to fax the document in time. Although not shown in the drawing, the manager program further includes a menu for recording information about the faxes transmitted to the outside and the faxes received from the outside into a log file, and displaying the information to the user. The menu records the date and time when the user sent the fax to the outside, the name of the file sent, whether the transmission was successful, the reception record of the received fax, and the name of the attached image file.

Referring to the driving process of the VFAX 100 in more detail as follows.

First, the process of installing the program in VFAX,

1) Installation of VFAX 100 related programs (manager programs) on the clients 410a to 410n.

First, the VFAX 100 is connected to a public network (PSTN) and an internal network (eg LAN).

Next, install the driver program on the clients (410a to 410n) connected to the internal network. The driver program has a function of converting a file transmitted from the clients 410a to 410n to the VFAX 100 into an image file.

Next, install the manager program that can be set for the destination fax terminal on the client side 410a to 410n connected to the internal network (see Fig. 2).

2) The clients 410a to 410n transmit the image file to the VFAX 100 via the manager program.

3) The VFAX 100 transmits the fax data provided through the manager program and the fax number to which the fax data is transmitted to the server (not shown) of the fax service company through the SMTP protocol.

The VFAX 100 buffers the imaged fax data provided from each of the clients 410a to 410n, and transmits them sequentially. At this time, when the memory buffering the fax data is saturated, the manager program installed in each of the clients 410a to 410n suspends the fax data transmission until the saturated memory becomes empty.

Here, it is preferable that the manager program installed in the clients 410a to 410n is registered in a startup program that is automatically executed at the same time as the clients 410a to 410n are booted. Accordingly, when the user wants to fax the document through his clients 410a to 410n, the user can reduce the inconvenience of running the manager program separately. If the operating system installed on the client supports the Graphical User Interface (GUI), for example, Microsoft's Windows-based operating system, Linux supporting X-WINDOW, and Unix-based operating system, the icon tray on the desktop It is desirable to provide an icon for calling the manager program.

3 illustrates a detailed block diagram of an example of the VFAX 100 illustrated in FIG. 1.

The illustrated VFAX 100 includes a flash ROM 110, a fax data processor 120, a RAM 130, a switch 150, and a network interface 140. . The FLASH ROM 110 includes a control program and an application program for driving the VFAX 100. Preferably, the FLASH ROM 110 converts fax data provided from an external fax terminal (not shown) into a TIFF or PDF file. Built-in conversion program for converting to. The fax data processing unit 120 converts the fax data transmitted from the external fax terminal into an image file such as TIFF and PDF, determines a transmission target contact extracted from the fax data transmitted from the external fax terminal, and determines the network interface unit ( In step 140, the converted image file is transferred to the e-mail account corresponding to the contact. Preferably, the fax data processor 120 includes a file converter 121 and a fax information determiner 122.

The file conversion unit 121 drives an conversion program provided in the flash ROM 110 to generate an image file of the fax data. In this case, the file conversion unit 121 uses the RAM 130 as a temporary storage space required for generation when generating the image file for the fax data. The RAM 130 provides temporary storage space necessary for the file conversion unit 121 to generate an image file for the fax data, and when the image files to be transmitted are transmitted from the clients 410a to 410n, the RAM 130 temporarily sends them. Buffer The buffered image file is transmitted to the e-mail account corresponding to the contact through the network interface unit 140, and the image file that has been transmitted is deleted. The fax information determining unit 122 extracts contact information from the fax data transmitted from the external fax terminal and determines an e-mail account corresponding to the extracted contact information.

In addition, the fax information determination unit 122 receives the information on the transmission destination fax terminal 500 and the information on the transmission destination file from the manager programs installed in the clients 410a to 410n and transmits the information to the network interface unit 140. to provide. The network interface unit 140 is connected to the clients 410a to 410n through a network, and provides an image file provided from the clients 410a to 410n to a server (not shown) of a fax service company. At this time, the network interface unit 140 transmits the information by referring to the contact information (fax number) of the transmission target fax terminal provided by the fax information determination unit 122 and the image file to be attached. The switch (SW) 150 selects an operation mode of the VFAX 100. The VFAX 100 further includes a function of directly connecting the fax terminal 200 provided in the office and the public network PSTN in addition to the function of transmitting and receiving imaged fax data through the Internet. This function is set by the switch 150 for operation mode selection. The switch 150 protrudes to the outside of the VFAX 100 body, and a user can select whether to use the VFAX 100 through this. When the VFAX 100 is deactivated, the fax terminal 200 connected to the VFAX 100 is directly connected to the public network PSTN and functions as a normal fax. This function may be used when the fax data buffered and imaged in the RAM 130 of the VFAX 100 is saturated or a plurality of documents are waiting to be transmitted.

The shape of the switch (SW) 150 provided in the main body will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A to 5D. 5A to 5D show an example in which a mechanical switch attached to the main body is attached. First, FIG. 5A shows an example in which a conventional power switch type is attached to a main body. When one of these switches is pressed, the other protrudes upward. 5B illustrates a switch according to a rotary dip switching scheme. As shown, the rotary dip switch can be rotated with a ruler driver to select whether to activate the VFAX 100. Although the external shape of the rotary dip switch is shown in the figure, the rotary dip switch is preferably mounted in a form inserted into one side of the main body.

5C illustrates a pushbutton type switch. The pushbutton switch has a type that is fixed at the pressed position when the user presses, and a type that is not fixed.The user presses the VFAX (100) when pressed once and deactivates the VFAX (100) when pressed again. Can be driven by. Also shown in the pushbutton switch is inserted into one side of the main body, it is preferable that only the portion pressed by the user is protruded to the outside. FIG. 5D illustrates a sliding switch according to a sliding switching method, in which a user may move left or right to activate or deactivate the VFAX 100.

On the other hand, the switch (SW) 150 may be applied to the electronic switch located in the fax data processing unit 120. In this case, the user must switch the electronic switch through the manager program, and although not shown in FIG. 2, when the switch (SW) 150 is the electronic switch, a menu for on-off of the switch (SW) 150 is further included. It is preferred to be included. Since adding such a menu is not difficult for a person skilled in the art, further description thereof will be omitted.

4 shows a detailed block diagram of another example of the VFAX 100 shown in FIG. 1.

The illustrated embodiment is similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, but extracts text from the transmission information detection unit 170 for blocking unwanted faxes, and image data for the received fax data, and matches the extracted text. It further includes an OCR processing unit 160 for providing the imaged fax data to the user by determining the presence of the user. In addition, in the present embodiment, the flash ROM 110 further includes a reception list in addition to the control program, the application program, and the conversion program for driving the VFAX 100. The unsubscribe list includes information about a sender that the VFAX 100 does not want to receive, that is, information about a sender's Caller ID (CID) or Called Subscriber Identification (CSI). Hereinafter, the description of the members overlapping with FIG. 3 will be omitted, and the reference numerals for the functions overlapping with FIG. 3 will be applied in the same manner.

As shown, the transmission information detection unit 170 reads CID (Caller ID) and CSI (Called Subscriber Identification) information from fax data transmitted from an external fax terminal (for example, reference numeral “500”). CID usually means the calling party's telephone number, and most exchanges currently provide CID to the called party's fax terminal (eg, reference numeral 200). The CSI also provides information on the transmission time, transmission page, area code, and subscriber number as an additional service provided before transmitting the fax data from the sending fax terminal (for example, reference numeral 500) to the receiving fax terminal 200. Include. The CID and CSI detected by the transmission information detecting unit 170 are provided to the fax data processing unit 120, and the fax data processing unit 120 refers to the transmission side by referring to the reception rejection list previously stored in the FLASH ROM 110. It is determined whether to receive the fax data transmitted from the fax terminal 500. If the CID or CSI information of the fax data transmitted from the sending side fax terminal 500 is included in the reject list, the transmitted fax data is rejected. Accordingly, the VFAX 100 blocks the reception of unwanted fax data and reduces the inconvenience of deleting or managing unnecessary spam-like fax data.

The OCR processor 160 extracts a character string from the image file for the received fax data, that is, the image file converted by the file converter 121, and matches the user who is registered in the VFAX 100 among the extracted character strings. Determine if there is a name (or trade name). Preferably, the OCR processing unit 160 includes a user pattern storage unit 161 and a pattern matching unit 162. The user pattern storage unit 161 includes pattern information about names of users who work in offices, workplaces, and other organizations that operate the VFAX 100, and names of offices, workplaces, and organizations (for example, business names). The pattern matching unit 162 compares the pattern recorded in the user pattern storage unit 161 with the character string extracted from the image file. As a result of the comparison, if the same pattern is detected, the image file is transmitted to the user's e-mail account. In the opposite case, the transmitted fax data is provided to the client 410a to 410n set as the manager among the clients 410a to 410n, and the client set as the manager is classified or distributed. Here, the process of transmitting the image file to the e-mail account is the same as described with reference to FIG. Meanwhile, in order to record a user pattern (or trade name) in the user pattern storage unit 161, the manager program transmits information about the user name to the VFAX 100, and the VFAX 100 transmits the information about the user name to the user pattern storage unit 161. In this case, the reception list stored in the flash ROM 110 may also be updated by the manager program.

As described above, the present invention does not have to provide a separate fax server, and arranges a fax machine in the form of a terminal so that a plurality of clients can send and receive faxes through the Internet and send and receive fax data to each client's e-mail account. It is easy to store and manage the fax information transmitted from the outside by providing a.

In addition, the present invention has a filtering function for the fax data transmitted from the transmitting side, thereby preventing the unnecessary spam data. This can prevent the administrator or the user from checking the spam fax data transmitted many times a day, and can prevent unnecessary printing or waste of paper. In addition, the present invention is to install a manager program on each client, through which it is possible to manage the transmission and reception history of the fax.

Claims (16)

Between the public network (PSTN) and the client, A transmission information detection unit that reads transmission side information from the fax data received through the public network, and compares the read transmission side information with a previously unsubscribed list; A fax data processing unit for converting fax data not included in the reject list into an image file and transmitting the converted image file to an e-mail account corresponding to a destination of the fax data; A switching unit for selecting whether to directly connect the public network with a fax terminal; And It includes; network interface portion connected to the Internet, The fax data processing unit, A file converter for converting the fax data received through the public network into an image file; And A fax information determination unit for identifying a contact information of a destination from the fax data and providing an e-mail account corresponding to the identified contact to the network interface unit to cause the network interface unit to transmit the image file to the e-mail account. Internet fax transmission and reception system comprising a. The method of claim 1, And an OCR processing unit for extracting a character string from the fax data converted into the image file and comparing the extracted character string with a pre-set user list to provide the user information matching the image file to the fax data processing unit. Internet fax system. The method of claim 2, The image file, Internet fax transmission and reception system, characterized in that transmitted to the e-mail account of the user information provided by the OCR processing unit. The method of claim 2, In the user list, Internet fax transmission and reception system, characterized in that it includes a name for the place of business, and the organization where the user is located. The method of claim 1, The switching unit, Any one of an electronic and a mechanical switch, the electronic switch is connected to the fax data processing unit, the fax terminal, and the public network, embedded in the fax data processing unit, and connected to the fax terminal by a control signal applied from the outside. Internet fax transmission and reception system, characterized in that for connecting and disconnecting the public network. The method of claim 5, The mechanical switch, It is connected to the fax data processor, the fax terminal, and the public network, and is provided in the main body of the Internet fax transmission and reception system, and includes a push button switching method, a slide switching method, and a rotary dip. Internet fax transmission and reception system, characterized in that the switch according to any one of the switching method of the switching method. The method of claim 1, The client, Transmit fax data to the Internet fax transmission and reception system; An Internet fax transmitting / receiving system comprising a manager program for converting fax data transmitted by a transmission target fax into an image file. The method of claim 7, wherein The manager program, And generating the user list, the unsubscribe list, and providing the created user list and the unsubscribe list to the internet fax transceiving system. The method of claim 7, wherein The manager program, Internet fax transmission and reception system, characterized in that for generating a file for the history of the transmitted and received fax data. Between the public network (PSTN) and the client, A fax data processing unit converting the fax data received through the public network into an image file and transmitting the converted image file to an e-mail account corresponding to a destination of the fax data; And It includes a network interface connected to the Internet, The fax data processing unit, A file converter for converting the fax data received through the public network into an image file, and A fax information determination unit for identifying a contact information of a destination from the fax data and providing an e-mail account corresponding to the identified contact to the network interface unit to cause the network interface unit to transmit the image file to the e-mail account. Internet fax transmission and reception system comprising a. The method of claim 10, And an operation mode selection unit for selecting whether the public network directly connects to the public network and a fax terminal, and when the direct connection is performed, the fax terminal transmits / receives fax data through the public network. The method of claim 10, The client, Transmit fax data to the Internet fax transmission and reception system; An Internet fax transmitting / receiving system comprising a manager program for converting fax data transmitted by a transmission target fax into an image file. The method of claim 12, The manager program, And a fax number setting menu, an operation mode selection menu, a delayed transmission setting menu, and a broadcast transmission setting menu for a transmission target fax terminal, wherein the set menu is provided to the e-mail transmission unit. The method of claim 12, The manager program, And attaching the information on the final destination of the image file to the image file and providing it to the fax data processing unit. The method of claim 12, The manager program, Installed on the client, and registered in the client's autostart program. The method of claim 12, The client, Internet fax transmission and reception system, characterized in that any one of a personal computer, notebook, and PDA.

Images