JPH11275295A - Communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide a communication device that performs a delivery process so that when a facsimile document is delivered as mail, the user can know where the document came from just by looking at the title. SOLUTION: A facsimile received from a line side is LA
In the communication device that can be distributed to the client terminal devices in N, a table for storing the source name in association with the source facsimile number is provided in the storage unit 16, and the facsimile is received via the facsimile communication control unit 12. Then, the FAX address extraction unit 22 extracts the source facsimile number from the received signal, the control unit 24 acquires the source name associated with the source facsimile number from the table, and inputs the source name and the like. The title is set to mail, the image format conversion unit 23 creates a mail containing the facsimile image information whose format has been converted, and the mail communication control unit 14 distributes the mail to the client terminal device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device which is connected to a line and a LAN and can deliver a facsimile received from a facsimile device on the line side to a client terminal device in the LAN. The present invention relates to a communication device that allows a client terminal device to easily know whether or not the communication has been completed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, storage and switching devices have been used in facsimile communication systems. FIG. 13 shows an example of a system configuration using a conventional store-and-forward apparatus, in which a plurality (or one) facsimile apparatus 2a is provided.
Is installed in the office where is installed,
The public telephone line 8 and the facsimile machine 2a in the office are connected via the storage and exchange device 1a. The storage and exchange device 1a accumulates transmission image information when transmitting from the facsimile device 2a in the office, and performs re-calling when the other party facsimile device 2 is busy, or accumulates when the designated time transmission is performed. The transmitted image information is transmitted at a specified time. If the facsimile machine 2a in the office is in a reception-disabled state at the time of reception, the storage and exchange apparatus 1a stores image information received from the other party's facsimile apparatus 2 so that the facsimile apparatus 2a in the office can receive. When the time comes, an operation of transferring the received image information to the facsimile machine 2a is also performed. In recent years, the storage and exchange apparatus 1a has been
And a facsimile is transmitted from a client terminal device (for example, a client personal computer) 3 in the LAN via the communication device 1 or the communication device 1 is connected to a public telephone line. 8 has a function of distributing the facsimile received from the terminal 8 to the terminal device 3. Note that the transmission facsimile apparatus 2 in the line requesting the communication apparatus 1 for distribution
Then, the address (telephone number, terminal number) of the communication device 1
To send image information to the communication device 1 and
Communication device 1 stores information related to a delivery destination address for delivery.
Pass to.

For example, in a facsimile mail apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-113064, a source facsimile apparatus specifies a desired mail function by a TSI signal of a G3 facsimile transmission control procedure. When a broadcast mail is specified as the information, information indicating the fact and information related to a plurality of destination addresses are set in the TSI signal. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-261164.
In the facsimile device (communication device) shown in
When the distribution destination address related information set in the TSI signal is acquired, the distribution destination address associated with the distribution destination address related information is acquired from the distribution destination address table,
The received image information is distributed to the client terminal device of the obtained distribution destination address. In the communication device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-350643, the SUB of the G3 transmission control procedure is used.
When the sub address set in the (sub address) signal is obtained, the distribution destination address associated with the sub address is obtained from the distribution destination address table, and the received image information is distributed to the client terminal device of the obtained distribution destination address. Further, a facsimile control device (communication device) disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-131564 detects a push button (PB) signal transmitted from a facsimile device on the transmission side and obtains a numerical value set in the signal. Then
The distribution destination address associated with the above numerical value is acquired from the distribution destination address table, and the received image information is distributed to the client terminal device of the acquired distribution destination address. Note that L
Although the e-mail sent and received by the client terminal device in the AN has a title, the e-mail delivered to the client terminal device as described above does not have a title, or the sender's facsimile number is used as the title at best. Will be added.

[0004]

As described above, various methods have been conventionally provided for obtaining a delivery destination address. However, in the conventional technique, facsimile mail delivered to a client terminal device is used. Indicates that the title is not added, or even if it is added, the sender's facsimile number is added only as the title. For this reason, for example, it was not possible to easily know where the document came from by looking at the list of incoming mails displaying the title and the like. An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional technology as described above, and when a facsimile document is delivered as an e-mail, it is possible to determine where the document came from just by looking at a list of incoming e-mails displaying the title and the like. An object of the present invention is to provide a communication device that performs a distribution process so that it can be easily known.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a facsimile device connected to a line and a LAN and received from a facsimile device on the line side is transmitted to a client terminal device in the LAN. In a communication device capable of distributing, when a facsimile image information and a source facsimile number are received from a facsimile device on the line side, a source information storage means for storing a source name in association with a source facsimile number Source name obtaining means for obtaining a source name associated with the source facsimile number from the source information storage means, and information including the source name obtained by the source name obtaining means as a title. Mail creation means for creating an email containing the received facsimile image information,
And a distribution unit for distributing the mail created by the mail creation unit to the client terminal device in the LAN. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the apparatus configuration of the first aspect, the apparatus further comprises a document number acquiring means for acquiring the document number sent together with the transmission source facsimile number. The mail creating means is configured so that the information including the document number and the sender name acquired by the above is used as the title. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the apparatus configuration of the first aspect, there is further provided a document number generating means for generating a document number, wherein the document number generated by the document number generating means and the transmission source are provided. The mail creating means is configured so that the information including the name is set as the title. Further, in the invention according to claim 4, in claim 3, the document number generating means is configured to generate a serial number for each transmission source.

[0006] With the above configuration, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the facsimile image information and the source facsimile number are received from the facsimile apparatus on the line side,
A sender name associated with the sender facsimile number is obtained from the sender information storage means, and a mail having the information including the obtained sender name as the title and the content of the facsimile image information is created and created. Mail is LA
It is distributed to the client terminal devices in N. According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a mail having a title including information including a source name and a document number transmitted from a facsimile apparatus on the line side is created. According to the third aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, a mail having a title including information including a source name and a document number generated in the communication device is created. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the invention, a mail having a title including information including a source name and a serial number for each source as a document number generated in the communication device is created. Is done.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 12 is a system configuration diagram showing a form example of a network system including a communication device according to the present invention. 1, this network system is connected to a communication device 1 connected to a public telephone line (PSTN) 8 and a LAN 9, a facsimile device 2 connected to a public telephone line (hereinafter abbreviated as a line) 8, and a LAN 9. Client terminal device (for example, personal computer) 3, administrator terminal device 4, mail server 5, and the like. For example, when the image information is transmitted from the facsimile apparatus 2 to any one of the client terminal apparatuses 3, the facsimile apparatus 2 transmits the image information with the information indicating the distribution destination to the communication apparatus 1 by the facsimile transmission control procedure. The communication device 1 sends the image information to the client terminal device 3 based on the information indicating the distribution destination. FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of a communication device showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the communication device comprises:
A system control unit 11 for controlling and managing the entire apparatus and controlling and managing according to the present invention, for example, a facsimile communication control unit 12 for controlling facsimile transmission and reception in accordance with a G3 transmission control procedure, a modem and a network control unit (NCU); A line interface unit 13 for controlling connection on the line side and transmitting / receiving a facsimile signal; a mail communication control unit 14 for controlling mail communication with other terminal devices in the LAN in accordance with a mail communication protocol which is an upper layer protocol of data communication; LAN that executes middle-level protocols and executes lower-level protocols including signal transmission / reception processing
An interface unit 15 and a storage unit 16 for storing image information and various data are provided. The system control unit 11 includes a ROM having a built-in program, a CPU operating according to the program, and the like.

FIG. 2 is a main block diagram showing the configuration of the system control unit 11 in the first embodiment of the present invention in detail. As shown, the system control unit 11
An ID extracting unit 21 for extracting a destination ID number (identification number) indicating a destination from a facsimile signal received via the facsimile communication control unit 12, a FAX address extracting unit 22 for similarly extracting a source facsimile number, An image format conversion unit 23 converts image information received via the facsimile communication control unit 12 into an image format that can be received and processed at the destination, and a control unit 24 that executes other controls. The above-described units are realized by sharing a ROM and a CPU, for example. Further, the sender name acquiring means is constituted by the FAX address extracting section 22 and the control section 24, and the mail creating means is constituted by the image format converting section 23.
And a control unit 24.

Further, in the communication device of this embodiment,
Prior to communication, a routing table as shown in FIG. 3 and a source name table (source information storage means) as shown in FIG. 4 are registered in the storage unit 16 by input from an operation unit (not shown) of the communication device. Keep it. Hereinafter, FIG.
The operation of this embodiment will be described according to the operation flow shown in FIG. First, an incoming call from a line is detected by the line interface unit 13 (S1), whereby the facsimile communication control unit 12 starts executing, for example, phase B of the G3 transmission control procedure (S2) (see the sequence diagram of FIG. 6). ). Then, for example, when the distribution destination ID number and the transmission source facsimile number are set in the NSS (S) signal and transmitted, the ID extraction unit 21 extracts and acquires the distribution destination ID number from the NSS (S) signal. Then, the fax address extracting unit 22 extracts and acquires the source facsimile number (S3). Note that when the transmitting side (the transmitting station) transmits the DIS signal, the transmitting side (the transmitting station) transmits the DIS signal.
A SUB signal in which the distribution destination ID number is set as the sub address may be transmitted, or the transmission source facsimile number may be set to TS.
You may make it transmit by an I signal. Subsequently, when entering the phase C and receiving the image information, the control unit 24 acquires the image information from the facsimile communication control unit 12 and stores it in the storage unit 16 (S4). Further, the control unit 24, which is also a delivery destination address acquisition unit and a transmission source name acquisition unit, acquires a delivery destination address associated with the delivery destination ID number extracted by the ID extraction unit 21 from the routing table in the storage unit 16. (S5) The source name associated with the source facsimile number extracted by the FAX address extraction unit 22 is acquired from the source name table (S6).
Then, the control unit 24 constituting the mail creating means together with the image format converting unit 23 creates a mail to be delivered (S7). That is, the control unit 24 sets the sender name as the title of the mail, instructs the image format conversion unit 23 to convert the received image information stored in the storage unit 16 into the image format of the distribution destination, and The image information is set as the content of the mail. When the mail has been created, the control unit 24 passes the obtained delivery destination address and the mail to the mail communication control unit 14, and the mail communication control unit 14 as a delivery unit transfers the received delivery destination address and the mail to the mail communication control unit 14. The data is transmitted to the mail server 5 via the LAN interface unit 15. Then, the mail server 5 acquires the physical address of the client terminal device from the distribution destination address set in the table of the storage unit, and distributes the mail to the client terminal device 3 having the physical address (S8).

FIG. 7A shows an example of a title list display of an incoming mail on the client terminal device 3 of this embodiment.
FIG. 7B shows a display example of a list of titles of incoming mails in the conventional client terminal device 3. In contrast to the conventional title display in which only the sender's facsimile number is displayed, in this embodiment, the sender's name is displayed as described above. You can easily know if it is a document. Further, the second aspect of the present invention
In the embodiment, for example, as in the first embodiment, N
An SS (S) signal is used, and a document number is set in the signal in addition to the setting contents of the first embodiment, and the signal is transmitted. Then, the document number obtaining means constituted by the control unit 24 or the like obtains the document number, and the control unit 24 as the mail creation means writes the document number in addition to the sender name in the title of the mail. The document number may be sent by a signal different from the source facsimile number or the like. As a result, in the client terminal device 3, when the title list of the incoming mail is displayed, it is displayed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 8, * 2 is a document number. As described above, according to the second embodiment, not only the source name but also the document number can be described and displayed as the title, so that a plurality of facsimile documents can be transmitted from the same source to the same client terminal device. Even if distributed, those documents can be distinguished.

[0011] In a third embodiment of the present invention, a document number generating means is provided in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, a clock circuit 25 for outputting the current year, month, hour, minute, and second is provided in the system control unit 11, and as shown in FIG. Further, the control unit 24 constituting the document number generating means together with the clock circuit 25 and the sender name table knows the start of the year, the start of the month, or the start of the day by the clock circuit 25. , The values in the above-mentioned count fields are all set to 0, and each time there is an incoming call accompanied by distribution from each source, the value in the count number field of the corresponding source is increased by 1 and the value is used as the document number. . Therefore, in this embodiment, the document number can be displayed as shown in FIG. 8 without receiving the document number from the transmission source, and the same effect as in the second embodiment can be realized. Note that the hour, minute, year, month, and year, which is the output of the clock circuit 25 when there is an incoming call accompanied by distribution, may be used as the document number. FIG. 11 shows a display example of a title in which such a document number is described. This is an example of a case where there is an incoming call at 14:32 on December 15. The public telephone network, G3
As described in the case of the transmission control procedure, the present invention
The present invention can be effectively applied even in the case of the N, G4 transmission control procedure.

[0012]

As described above, the present invention has the following excellent effects. According to the first aspect of the present invention, when facsimile image information and a source facsimile number are received from the line-side facsimile apparatus, the source name associated with the source facsimile number is obtained from the source information storage means, and the source name is obtained. A mail is created with the information including the originating source name as the title and the content of the facsimile image information as described above, and the created mail is distributed to the client terminal device in the LAN. By displaying such information, the user can easily know where the mail came from. According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, a mail having a title including information including a source name and a document number sent from a facsimile apparatus on the line side is created. Even if multiple facsimile documents are distributed from the source to the same client terminal device,
You can distinguish those documents just by looking at the title. According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a mail having a title including information including a source name and a document number generated in the communication device is created. Even if the document number is not sent to the user, the same effect as the invention according to claim 2 can be obtained. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the invention, a mail having a title including information including a source name and a serial number for each source as a document number generated in the communication device is created. Therefore, documents can be distinguished more easily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram illustrating a communication device according to each embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of a main part of a communication device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a data configuration diagram of a main part of a communication device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is another data configuration diagram of a main part of the communication device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of the communication device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a communication sequence diagram of the communication device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are explanatory diagrams respectively showing a title list display example of incoming mail and a conventional title list display example of incoming mail according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram relating to a communication device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a configuration block diagram of a main part of a communication device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a data configuration diagram of a main part of a communication device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram relating to a communication device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a system configuration diagram of a network system including a communication device in which the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 13 is a system configuration diagram of a network system including a storage and switching apparatus showing an example of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 communication device, 2 facsimile device, 3 client terminal device, 5 mail server, 8 public telephone line,
9 LAN, 11 system control unit, 12 facsimile communication control unit, 13 line interface unit, 14
Mail communication control unit, 15 LAN interface unit, 16 storage unit, 21 ID extraction unit, 22 FAX
Address extraction unit, 23 Image format conversion unit, 24
Control unit, 25 clock circuit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A communication device connected to a line and a LAN and capable of distributing a facsimile received from a facsimile device on the line side to a client terminal device in the LAN, wherein a source name is associated with a source facsimile number. Source information storage means for storing, and a source name associated with the source facsimile number from the source information storage means when receiving facsimile image information and a source facsimile number from a line-side facsimile apparatus Source name obtaining means for obtaining the information including the source name obtained by the source name obtaining means as a title, and a mail creating means for generating a mail having the content of the received facsimile image information, Distribution of delivering the mail created by the mail creating means to the client terminal device in the LAN A communication device comprising communication means. 2. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a document number acquiring unit for acquiring a document number sent together with the source facsimile number, wherein the document number and the source name acquired by the document number acquiring unit are included. A communication device, wherein the e-mail creating means is configured to set information including a title as a title. 3. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a document number generating means for generating a document number, wherein information including the document number and the source name generated by the document number generating means is used as a title. A communication device comprising the mail creating means. 4. The communication device according to claim 3, wherein said document number generation means is configured to generate a serial number for each transmission source.