JP2003283754A - Internet facsimile machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an Internet facsimile apparatus that enables even a user of a mobile communication terminal apparatus to receive image data. First, a system control unit recognizes a telephone number of a destination specified by a user, and determines whether or not the destination is a mobile communication terminal device based on the recognized telephone number (S11). ). If the transmission destination is a mobile communication terminal device (S11; Y), the image data transmission method is switched to polling transmission (S12). Next, a request for polling reception, in which image data transmitted by polling transmission is received by another facsimile receiving apparatus, is notified to the transmission destination (S1).
3). Then, a polling transmission request is received from the transmission destination user who has received the notification of the polling reception request (S1).
4). The image data corresponding to the received polling ID is extracted from the storage unit, transmitted to the requesting facsimile machine (S15), and the process is terminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an Internet facsimile machine which performs facsimile communication using the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the increase in the number of electronic mail users in recent years,
2. Description of the Related Art Internet facsimile machines, in which an e-mail transmission / reception function is added to a facsimile machine, are in widespread use. This Internet facsimile machine is an apparatus capable of transmitting / receiving an electronic mail in the same manner as the facsimile transmission / reception of a conventional facsimile machine. For example, when an e-mail address is input as a transmission destination instead of a facsimile number, a transmission original read by a scanner is attached as an image file to an e-mail to be transmitted. On the other hand, when the Internet facsimile machine receives an electronic mail, the received electronic mail is automatically printed out on a recording paper.

Further, with the development of mobile communication technology, various types of information can be transmitted and received in mobile communication terminal devices such as mobile phones and car phones. For example, a mobile communication terminal device capable of sending and receiving electronic mail can send and receive character information, image information, and the like in addition to conventional voice information. This mobile communication terminal device is very convenient because it can send information wherever the user is, but it is suitable for receiving complex images with a large amount of data due to the restrictions of the display area and memory capacity. Absent. Regarding the reception of such an image, the Internet facsimile apparatus is superior in visibility, but it is inconvenient to carry.

As a typical method for enabling transmission / reception of images between the Internet facsimile apparatus having the above-mentioned characteristics and the mobile communication terminal apparatus, there is a method of transmitting image information using a polling transmission method. The polling transmission method is a transmission destination identification ID (identifier) in which image data of a transmission document that is stored in the device in advance by the transmission side is added as information of the transmission destination of this image data.
The image data is transmitted in response to a transmission request from the receiving side that coincides with. The transmission side has previously set this destination identification I
D is notified to the receiving side, and the image data reception is input from the desired device for collation. Conventionally, a technique for more efficiently using a mobile communication terminal device adopting such a polling transmission method has been disclosed. For example, Japanese Patent No. 2675420 discloses an operation for transmitting image data. There has been proposed a method of solving the problem that the complexity becomes complicated by only changing the protocol without changing the hardware configuration.

[0005]

However, in the technology for improving the efficiency of the polling transmission method described above, the operation method in the mobile communication terminal device on the data receiving side is mainly improved, and the Internet on the transmitting side is used. It was not a pursuit of convenience for the user of the facsimile machine. Therefore, there is room for improvement in improving the usability of the Internet facsimile machine. In particular, when transmitting image data from an internet facsimile device to a mobile communication terminal device, there is room for improvement of the internet facsimile device in consideration of the ease of operation on the transmitting side and the convenience on the receiving side.

[0006] Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide an internet facsimile apparatus which enables a user of a mobile communication terminal apparatus to receive and acquire image data. A second object of the present invention is to provide an internet facsimile apparatus capable of notifying a user of a mobile communication terminal device of a transmission source telephone number and a specific ID as information necessary for receiving image data. A third object of the present invention is to provide an internet facsimile apparatus capable of notifying a user of a mobile communication terminal device by voice of information necessary for receiving image data. A fourth object of the present invention is to provide an internet facsimile apparatus capable of notifying a user of a mobile communication terminal device by e-mail of information necessary for receiving image data. A fifth object of the present invention is to provide an internet facsimile apparatus capable of notifying a user of a mobile communication terminal device of an outline of a transmission document by e-mail.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in an internet facsimile apparatus having an electronic mail transmission / reception function and capable of connecting to the internet, a storage part for storing image data of a transmission original and a facsimile transmission destination are provided. A determination means for determining whether or not the mobile communication terminal device is used, and when the determination means determines that the facsimile transmission destination is the mobile communication terminal device, the facsimile transmission method of the internet facsimile device is changed to the mobile communication terminal device. In response to a transmission request from the receiving side, switching means for switching to the polling transmission method for transmitting the image data of the transmission document, and mobile communication as the facsimile transmission destination based on the polling transmission method switched by the switching means. Notification means for notifying the terminal device of the polling reception request, Receiving means for receiving a polling transmission request transmitted from the facsimile device designated by the mobile communication terminal device based on the polling reception request notified by the means, and transmission corresponding to the content of the polling transmission request received by the receiving means. The first object is achieved by including a sending unit that takes out image data of a document from the storage unit and sends the image data by facsimile to a facsimile device designated by the mobile communication terminal device that is the sender of the polling transmission request. . According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the storage section stores image data of a transmission document to which an ID that is an identifier is added when storing, and the notifying unit sets the ID and The second object is achieved by notifying the telephone number of the Internet facsimile machine. According to the invention described in claim 3, in the invention described in claim 1 or 2, the notifying means achieves the third object by notifying by voice the polling reception request. According to the invention described in claim 4, in the invention described in claim 1 or 2, the fourth object is achieved by notifying the polling reception request by electronic mail. According to the invention described in claim 5, in the invention described in claim 4,
The fifth object is achieved by including an attachment unit that attaches the outline information of the transmission document to the electronic mail.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the Internet facsimile machine of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a communication system configuration in an Internet facsimile apparatus according to this embodiment. In this communication system, an Internet facsimile apparatus 101 and a mobile communication terminal apparatus 104 are connected by relaying an exchange 102. The Internet facsimile machine 101 and the exchange 102 are a PSTN (public telephone exchange network) and a LAN.
(Local Area Network). Then, the exchange 102 and the mobile communication terminal device 10
4 is wirelessly connected. Further, the Internet facsimile machine 101 is connected to the facsimile machine 105 by relaying the exchange 103. Internet fax machine 101 and exchange 103 are PS
It is connected via TN. The exchange 103 and the facsimile apparatus 105 are also connected via the PSTN.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the Internet facsimile machine according to the present embodiment. The Internet facsimile machine 101 includes a scanner 201, a plotter 202, an encoding / decoding unit 203, and a communication control unit 20.
4, the system control unit 207, the operation / display unit 208, the polling transmission switching determination unit 209, the mail transmission / reception unit 210, and the storage unit 211 are connected via a bus 212. The communication control unit 204 relays the modem 205 and the network control unit 206 in this order and is connected to the PSTN. Further, the mail transmitting / receiving unit 210 is directly connected to the LAN.

The scanner 201 is a scanner device using a CCD (charge coupled device) or a contact sensor, and is an A / D.
It is composed of an (analog / digital) converter, an image processor, etc., reads an image of a document at a predetermined resolution, and outputs this image data as a digital signal. The plotter 202 is composed of a thermal print unit using a thermal element, a laser recording device, or the like, and prints various reports such as received image data and communication management information. The encoding / decoding unit 203 encodes the image data read by the scanner 201 and converts the image data into transmission data. Also, the received data is decoded and converted into image data. The communication control unit 204 executes a communication protocol. The modem 205 modulates the transmission signal into an analog signal and demodulates the reception signal into a digital signal. The network control unit 206 controls outgoing and incoming calls.

The system control unit 207 controls each unit of the Internet facsimile machine 101 based on the program in the storage unit 211 to execute basic processing as the Internet facsimile machine 101, and also executes communication processing using LAN. To do. The operation / display unit 208 is
The operation unit is divided into an operation unit and a display unit. The operation unit is composed of a number input key, a function key, and the like, and a user inputs data using these keys. The display unit is composed of an LCD (liquid crystal display), a lamp and the like, and displays the state of the main body, the communication state, warning information and the like. Further, this display unit is equipped with a pressure-sensitive or electrostatic touch panel, and it is possible to directly input characters and select menus on the display screen. The polling transmission switching determination unit 209 determines whether or not it is necessary to switch between normal facsimile transmission and polling transmission, and executes this. The mail transmission / reception unit 210 controls transmission / reception of electronic mail. The storage unit 211 stores transmission image data read by a scanner, received image data, various programs for controlling the Internet facsimile machine 101, and various data such as a destination facsimile number, telephone number, and e-mail address. It is stored.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an operation procedure of a facsimile transmission process in the Internet facsimile apparatus configured as described above. The transmission original is read by the scanner 201 in advance, and the read image data is stored in the storage unit 211. An ID for identification is added to the read image data. First, the system control unit 207 recognizes the destination telephone number designated by the user. The destination is designated by the user inputting the telephone number of the other party from the operation / display unit 208. Based on the recognized telephone number, it is determined whether the destination is the mobile communication terminal device (step 11). This determination is made by the polling transmission switching determination unit 209 by referring to the correspondence table of telephone numbers and device types. Here, the correspondence table to be used is created in advance and stored in the storage unit 211.
Stored in. When the destination is not the mobile communication terminal device, that is, when the device is capable of directly receiving a facsimile (step 11; N), the image data of the transmission original is transmitted to the destination by facsimile (step 16),
The process ends.

On the other hand, when the transmission destination is the mobile communication terminal device (step 11; Y), for example, the mobile communication terminal device 104 shown in FIG. 1, the transmission destination mobile communication terminal device 1
Since the facsimile transmission to 04 is impossible, the transmission method of the image data is switched to the polling transmission which enables the reception of the transmitted image data from the facsimile apparatus 105 capable of receiving another facsimile (step 12). The switching of the transmission method is performed by the polling transmission switching determination unit 209.
Done in. Next, the destination of the polling reception request for receiving the image data transmitted by the polling transmission by the facsimile apparatus 105 is notified (step 13). Specifically, the telephone number of the transmission source Internet facsimile machine 101 required for polling reception and the ID (hereinafter referred to as polling ID) added to the transmission image data are notified. The method of notifying the polling reception request will be described in detail later.

The user of the destination mobile communication terminal device 104, which has received the notification of the polling reception request, requests the polling transmission from the nearest facsimile device 105 having the polling reception function. This polling transmission request is
The polling reception function is selected from the menu screen of the facsimile device 105, and the telephone number and the polling I of the internet facsimile device 101 of the polling transmission source are selected.
Enter D to perform. Then, the system communication control unit 204
Receives the request for polling transmission from the facsimile device 105 (step 14). Further, the system control unit 204 detects image data corresponding to the polling ID of the received polling transmission request from the storage unit 211. Then, the detected image data is facsimile-transmitted to the facsimile apparatus 105 which is the request source of the polling transmission (step 15), and the processing is ended. In this way, the user of the destination mobile communication terminal device 104
Image data can be received from the facsimile device 105 that is the requester of polling transmission.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the polling reception request notification process. First, the system control unit 207 determines whether or not the destination mobile communication terminal device 104 can receive an e-mail (step 2).
1). This determination is made by the system control unit 207 in the storage unit 21.
This is performed by referring to the correspondence table between the telephone number and the type of device stored in 1. Destination mobile communication terminal device 104
Is able to receive e-mail (step 21; Y),
The system control unit 207 notifies the polling reception request by e-mail (step 22), and ends the process. For example, the system control unit 207 activates the electronic mail creation program stored in the storage unit 211 and creates an electronic mail in which the telephone number and the polling ID of the transmission source Internet facsimile apparatus 101 are described.
The destination address of this e-mail is set by detecting the address corresponding to the destination telephone number from the address data stored in the storage unit 211. The created e-mail is sent from the mail sending / receiving unit 210. At this time, the summary information of the transmission document may be attached to the created e-mail to notify. For example, by starting the outline information creation program stored in the storage unit 211,
Image data of a part of the transmission document or image data obtained by reducing the transmission document is created, and this data is attached to an e-mail as summary information of the transmission document.

On the other hand, when the destination mobile communication terminal device 104 cannot receive the e-mail (step 21; N),
The system control unit 207 notifies the polling reception request by voice (step 23), and ends the processing. For example,
The voice conversion program stored in the storage unit 211 is activated, and the source Internet facsimile machine 1
The data of the telephone number 01 and the polling ID are converted into voice data and stored in the storage unit 211. The system control unit 207 activates the automatic dialing program stored in the storage unit 211, dials the transmission destination from the communication control unit 204, confirms that the transmission destination is in the call state, and then stores the storage unit 211. Play the audio data stored in. Since a polling reception request by e-mail lacks real-time property, in an emergency, even if the mobile communication terminal device 104 of the transmission destination can receive the e-mail, the polling reception request is notified by voice. Good.

[0017]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by adopting the polling transmission method, it is possible to provide an internet facsimile apparatus which enables a user of a mobile communication terminal device to receive and acquire image data. . According to the second aspect of the present invention, by adding the identifier to the image data of the transmission document, the user of the mobile communication terminal device can be notified of this identifier as information necessary for receiving the image data. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the image information can be appropriately transmitted by notifying the user of the mobile communication terminal device of the information necessary for receiving the image data by voice. According to the invention described in claim 4, the image information can be preferably transmitted by notifying the user of the mobile communication terminal device of the information necessary for receiving the image data by e-mail. According to the invention described in claim 5, convenience of the user can be improved by notifying the outline of the transmitted document by e-mail.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a communication system configuration in an Internet facsimile apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an Internet facsimile machine according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a facsimile transmission process.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a polling reception request notification process.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Internet facsimile machine 102 exchange 103 switch 104 mobile communication terminal device 105 fax machine 201 scanner 202 Plotter 203 encoding / decoding unit 204 communication control unit 205 modem 206 Network control unit 207 System control unit 208 Operation / display 209 Polling transmission switching determination unit 210 Mail sending / receiving unit 211 storage 212 bus

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 5C062 AA02 AA29 AA30 AA37 AB02                       AB41 AB42 AB46 AC38 AF03                       AF12 BA00 BD00                 5C075 AB90 BB11 CA90 CF04 EE02                       FF90                 5K101 KK01 KK02 LL00 LL12 PP03                       QQ08 RR17

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An Internet facsimile apparatus having an electronic mail transmission / reception function and capable of connecting to the Internet, and a storage unit for storing image data of a transmission document and a judgment for judging whether or not a facsimile transmission destination is a mobile communication terminal apparatus. And a means for determining that the facsimile transmission destination is a mobile communication terminal device, the facsimile transmission method of the Internet facsimile device is transmitted in response to a transmission request from a receiving side which is a mobile communication terminal device. Switching means for switching to a polling transmission method for transmitting the image data of the document, and notifying means for notifying a polling reception request to the mobile communication terminal device as the facsimile transmission destination based on the polling transmission method switched by the switching means, Based on the polling reception request notified by the notification means Receiving means for receiving a polling transmission request transmitted from a facsimile device designated by a mobile communication terminal device, and image data of a transmission original corresponding to the contents of the polling transmission request received by the receiving means from the storage section. An Internet facsimile machine, comprising: a sending means for taking out and carrying out a facsimile transmission to a facsimile machine designated by a mobile communication terminal device as a sender of the polling transmission request. 2. The storage unit stores image data of a transmission document to which an ID that is an identifier is added when storing, and the notifying unit notifies the ID and the telephone number of the Internet facsimile machine. The Internet facsimile machine according to claim 1, which is characterized in that. 3. The Internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notifying unit notifies the polling reception request by voice. 4. The Internet facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notifying unit notifies the polling reception request by electronic mail. 5. An attachment unit for attaching outline information of a transmission manuscript to the e-mail, further comprising:
The internet facsimile machine described.