JP3474764B2 - Control method for network facsimile machine - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control method of a network facsimile apparatus having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a network facsimile apparatus has been proposed which has a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network.

When such a network facsimile apparatus is used, image information from the facsimile apparatus connected to the public network can be distributed to the workstation apparatus connected to the local area network. Therefore, the facsimile network can be used. It is very convenient because it can greatly expand the sex.

Further, when the connected local area network is connected to the Internet, the image information transmitting operation can be performed also to the terminal device connected to another local area network via the Internet. You can do it.

By using such a network facsimile apparatus, since image information can be exchanged between remote places via the Internet, image communication between remote places can be performed without charging a new communication charge. Information can be exchanged, and communication costs can be significantly reduced.

[0006]

Since such a network facsimile apparatus is equipped with a great number of communication functions and carries out the communication operation of a large number of partner terminals and users, it is possible to respond to the communication operation. The number of pieces of communication history information created in this way also increases, and therefore, it is expected that the usage methods will also vary.

However, the communication management report in which the communication history information is arranged in a list is recorded and output only by using the plotter device of the network facsimile device, and it is difficult to fully utilize it.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a control method of a network facsimile apparatus which can effectively use a communication management report.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention controls a network facsimile apparatus having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network. In the method, a communication history table storing a large number of communication history information representing a communication history is provided, and when the received electronic mail is a communication management report request mail in which a command character string requesting a communication management report is arranged. , A communication management report is created by listing the contents of a large number of communication history information stored in the communication history table, and the communication management report mail in which the communication management report is placed in the text information is sent to the communication management report. The request mail is sent to the sender.

In addition, in a control method of a network facsimile apparatus having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network, a communication showing a communication history. It has a communication history table that stores a lot of history information, and a permit email address table that stores email addresses that can send communication management reports, and the received email has a command character string that requests the communication management report. In the case of a communication management report request mail, many communication history stored in the above communication history table only if the sender's mail address of the communication management report request mail is registered in the above permission mail address table. List the contents of information Create a communication management report that, the communication management report e-mail disposed in the body information and the communication management report, in which is to be sent to said communication management report request mail sender.

In addition, in a control method of a network facsimile device having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network, a communication showing a communication history. It has a communication history table that stores a large amount of history information and a permitted email address table that stores the email addresses that can send communication management reports. In the case of a communication management report request mail in which editing conditions are placed, it is stored in the above communication history table only if the sender's mail address of the communication management report request mail is registered in the above permitted mail address table. Have been numerous The contents of the communication history information are extracted according to the above editing conditions, a communication management report is created by displaying the extracted results in a list, and the communication management report mail in which the communication management report is placed in the text information is sent to the above communication management report request. It is designed to be sent to the sender of the mail.

Further, in a control method of a network facsimile apparatus having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network, a communication showing a communication history. It has a communication history table that stores a lot of history information, and a permit email address table that stores email addresses that can send communication management reports, and the received email has a command character string that requests the communication management report. In the case of a communication management report request mail, many communication history stored in the above communication history table only if the sender's mail address of the communication management report request mail is registered in the above permission mail address table. From the content of the information to the email Only the information related to the dress is extracted, a communication management report is created by listing the extraction results, and the communication management report mail in which the communication management report is placed in the text information is sent to the above communication management report request mail. It is designed to be sent to the original.

Further, in a control method of a network facsimile apparatus having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network, a communication showing a communication history. It has a communication history table that stores a lot of history information, and a permit email address table that stores email addresses that can send communication management reports, and the received email has a command character string that requests the communication management report. In the case of a communication management report request mail, the editing conditions are placed in the above communication management report request mail only when the sender's mail address of the communication management report request mail is registered in the above-mentioned permission mail address table. If you are The contents of a large number of communication history information stored in the history table are extracted according to the above editing conditions, a communication management report is created by listing the extraction results, and the communication management report is placed in the text information. While sending the report mail to the sender of the communication management report request mail, if no editing condition is placed in the communication management report request mail, the communication history information stored in the communication history table Only the information related to the e-mail address is extracted from the contents, a communication management report is created by displaying the extraction results in a list, and the communication management report mail in which the communication management report is placed in the text information is requested as the communication management report above. It is designed to be sent to the sender of the mail.

Further, in a control method of a network facsimile apparatus having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network, a communication showing a communication history. It has a communication history table that stores a lot of history information, and a permit email address table that stores email addresses that can send communication management reports, and the received email has a command character string that requests the communication management report. In the case of a communication management report request mail, many communication history stored in the above communication history table only if the sender's mail address of the communication management report request mail is registered in the above permission mail address table. List the contents of information Create a communication management report, and if another destination is specified in the communication management report request mail, send the communication management report mail in which the communication management report is placed in the text information to other destinations. On the other hand, when no other destination is specified in the communication management report request mail, the communication management report mail is transmitted to the sender of the communication management report request mail.

Further, in a control method of a network facsimile apparatus having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network, a communication showing a communication history. A communication history table that stores a large amount of history information, a permission email address table that stores the email addresses that can send transmission requests for communication management reports, and a transfer permission email address table that stores the email addresses that can transfer communication management reports If the received e-mail is a communication management report request mail in which a command string requesting a communication management report is placed, the sender's mail address of the communication management report request mail is the permission mail address table above. Registered in Only when the communication management table is created, create a communication management report that lists the contents of a large number of communication history information stored in the communication history table, and specify another destination in the communication management report request mail. If the specified other destination is registered in the above transfer permission email address table, the communication management report email in which the communication management report is placed in the text information is sent to other destinations. On the other hand, when no other destination is specified in the communication management report request mail, the communication management report mail is transmitted to the sender of the communication management report request mail.

Further, a communication management report transmission history table storing transmission history information of the communication management report mail is provided, and when the transmission of the communication management report transmission management report is requested by electronic mail, the communication management report transmission history is sent. A communication management report transmission management report including list information of transmission history information stored in the table is created and transmitted to the requester of the communication management report transmission management report.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the accompanying drawings,
Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 shows a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, the local area network LAN includes a plurality of workstation devices WS1.
WSn, mail server device SM, and network facsimile device FX are connected. Further, the local area network LAN is connected to the Internet via the router RT, and various data can be exchanged with a host device or the like connected to another local area network or the like.

Here, the mail server device SM collects electronic mail (described later) and collects electronic mails from users who use the workstation devices WS1 to WSn connected to the local area network LAN and the network facsimile device FX. It provides a distribution service.

Further, the workstation devices WS1 to W
The Sn includes application software for exchanging various data via the local area network LAN (e-mail transmission / reception processing, etc.), application software for processing image information included in the e-mail received from the network facsimile apparatus FX, and the like. Various programs have been introduced and are used by specific users. Here, a specific user
It may be one or more users.

Further, the network facsimile apparatus FX
Is a function for sending and receiving e-mail in the local area network LAN, the local area network LAN
A predetermined information communication function according to a predetermined point-to-point transmission procedure between the workstation devices WS1 to WSn connected to the workstation device and the public network (PSTN), and the public network is used as a transmission line. Various transmission (communication) functions such as a transmission function for transmitting image information according to the group 3 facsimile transmission procedure. Further, the transmission (delivery) of the facsimile image information from the network facsimile apparatus FX to (the users of) the workstation apparatuses WS1 to WSn is performed using electronic mail.

In the present embodiment, basically, so-called TCP / IP is used for exchanging data between terminals connected to the local area network LAN.
It is performed by applying a combination of a transmission protocol up to the transport layer, which is called, and a communication protocol of a higher layer or more (a so-called protocol suite). For example, when exchanging e-mail data, the upper layer communication protocol is SMTP (Simple).
A communication protocol called Mail Transfer Protocol is applied.

As a protocol applied by each terminal to the mail server device SM for confirmation of reception of electronic mail addressed to the user and transmission request, so-called POP is used.
(Post Office Protocol) or the like can be applied.

Regarding the communication protocols such as TCP / IP, SMTP, POP, and the data format and data structure of electronic mail, IETF (In
internet Engineering Task F
RFC (Request) issued by an organization that summarizes technical contents related to the Internet
st For Comments) document. For example, TCP is RFC793, IP is RFC
793, SMTP is RFC821, e-mail format is RFC822, RFC1521, RFC1522
(MIME (Multi Purpose Mail)
Extension format) and the like.

Then, the network facsimile machine F
X reads the read original image to another group 3 facsimile machine via the public network PSTN, or a local area network LAN (further, the Internet)
Image information received from another group 3 facsimile machine via the public network PSTN while being transmitted to the users of the workstations WS1 to WSn via the, to the user corresponding to the subaddress designated at that time. Transfer using e-mail, or workstation WS on local area network LAN
A transfer service function for transferring the received image information to the group 3 facsimile apparatus of the public network PSTN corresponding to the designated speed dial is provided.

Further, with respect to the electronic mail received to the own terminal, the image information arranged in the text information is taken out and recorded and output.

Further, the facsimile image information is binary data, and since the electronic mail cannot directly include the binary data, a predetermined conversion method (for example, B
ase64 encoding method) and converted into readable information (7-bit character code) and included in the body information of the electronic mail. The format of the text information of such an electronic mail is called MIME format.

FIG. 2 shows a network facsimile machine F.
The structural example of X is shown.

In FIG. 1, the system control section 1 performs various control processing such as control processing of each section of the network facsimile apparatus and facsimile transmission control procedure processing. The system memory 2 includes the system control section 1 Stores a control processing program to be executed by the computer, various data necessary for executing the processing program, and the like, and constitutes a work area of the system control unit 1. The parameter memory 3 is used in this network facsimile apparatus. The clock circuit 4 is for storing various kinds of unique information, and outputs the current time information.

The scanner 5 is for reading an original image at a predetermined resolution, the plotter 6 is for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution, and the operation display section 7 is for this network facsimile apparatus. It is for operating the and comprises various operation keys and various display devices.

The encoding / decoding unit 8 is for encoding and compressing the image signal and for decoding the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal.
This is for storing a large amount of image information in a coded and compressed state.

The group 3 facsimile modem 10 is for realizing the modem function of the group 3 facsimile, and is a low speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging a transmission procedure signal and mainly exchanging image information. High-speed modem function (V.17 modem,
V. 34 modem, V.34. 29 modem, V.29. 27ter modem etc.).

The network control device 11 is for connecting the facsimile device to the public network (PSTN) and has an automatic call originating / receiving function.

The local area network interface circuit 12 is for connecting the Internet facsimile machine to the local area network LAN, and is the local area network transmission control unit 1.
3 is a communication control process (e-mail transmission / reception process or point-to-point communication process) of various predetermined protocol suites for exchanging various data with other data terminal devices via the local area network LAN. Etc.) is to be performed.

These system control unit 1, system memory 2, parameter memory 3, clock circuit 4, scanner 5, plotter 6, operation display unit 7, encoding / decoding unit 8, image storage device 9, group 3 facsimile modem. 10, the network control device 11, and the local area network transmission control unit 13 are connected to an internal bus 14, and data is exchanged between these respective elements mainly via the internal bus 14. There is.

Data is exchanged directly between the network control device 11 and the group 3 facsimile modem 10.

By the way, in this network facsimile apparatus FX, communication history information representing the history of the transmission / reception operation is created every time the transmission / reception operation is performed, and the created communication history information is stored in the communication history table. An example of this communication history information is shown in FIG.

The communication history information includes the communication date and time, the destination name of the destination, the user address representing the mail address of the target user on the local area network LAN side, the communication mode (G3 or Mail; Line / Confidential / Relay / Polling / Stored transmission / reception / Specified time transmission / Memory transfer / ECM / Line density (resolution) /
(Reduction, remote relay, information service, extension information, etc.), communication time that represents the time required for communication, number of images sent and received, communication results, communication charges, and the department name of the user specified when sending , And the file number assigned to the transmitted / received image information file.

Further, this communication history information is referred to when a communication management report for displaying the communication history is created,
In the communication management report, a list of contents of communication history information is displayed. The communication management report is usually recorded and output by a user's command operation or when the communication history information stored in the communication history table exceeds a certain number.

An example of this communication management report is shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, for example, by transmitting a communication management report request mail as shown in FIG. 5 to the network facsimile apparatus FX, the users of the workstation apparatuses WS1 to WSn send the communication management report. I am ready to receive. This communication management report request mail is a header information “Subjec
In the “t:” field, “GIVE ME REPORT” is displayed.
A character string "T" indicating that a communication management report is requested is arranged. Further, the text information in this case is treated as dummy data (invalid data) in the network facsimile apparatus FX.

Therefore, in this case, the user who wants to receive the communication management report sends the communication management report request mail as described above to the network facsimile apparatus FX.

On the other hand, the network facsimile apparatus FX
Then, when the communication management report request mail is received, the communication management report as described above is created based on the communication history information stored in the communication history table, and the contents of the communication management report are arranged in the text information. A mail (hereinafter referred to as "communication management report mail") is created, and the communication management report mail is sent to the sender of the communication management report request mail (that is, the mail address placed in the "From:" field). To send.

In this way, the user can receive the communication management report as appropriate, and the contents can be processed (for example, statistical processing) or used for other purposes. , Very convenient.

In this case, FIG. 6 shows an example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

First, the mail server device SM is inquired as to whether or not an incoming e-mail addressed to its own terminal is held (step 101). If there is an incoming e-mail, judgment 1 is made.
When the result of 02 is YES, one incoming e-mail is acquired (process 103), and “Fr of the header information is acquired.
The mail address of the transmission source user is extracted from the "om:" field (process 104), and "Subjec" of the header information is extracted.
The content of the "t:" field is analyzed (process 105).

Then, it is checked whether or not a character string indicating that the communication management report "GIVE ME REPORT" is requested is placed in the "Subject:" field (decision 106), and the result of the decision 106 is NO. Sometimes, a normal network facsimile process for processing the received e-mail is executed (process 107). Then, it is checked whether or not the processing has been completed for all incoming e-mails (decision 108), and the decision 10
When the result of 8 is NO, the process returns to the process 103, and the same process is executed for the next incoming e-mail. When the result of determination 108 is YES, this operation ends.

When the result of determination 106 is YES, the communication management report as described above is created based on the communication history information stored in the communication history table (process 109), and the communication management report is generated. Place it in the text information and process 104 in the "To:" field.
A communication management report mail in which the mail address extracted in step 3 is arranged is created (process 110), the communication management report mail is transmitted (process 111), and the process proceeds to judgment 108.

When the result of determination 108 is NO, the process returns to step 103, and the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. When the result of determination 108 is YES, this operation ends.

If the result of determination 102 is NO, this operation is immediately terminated.

By the way, in the above-mentioned embodiment, when the communication management report request mail is received, the network facsimile apparatus unconditionally automatically sends the communication management report mail to the sender of the communication management report request mail. Since it is returned, even if the transmission source of this communication management report request mail is not the user of the network system shown in FIG. 1, the communication management report mail is transmitted, which is not preferable.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, by providing a permission mail address table in which the mail addresses of the users who can receive the communication management report mail are provided, and the users who can receive the communication management report mail are restricted, as described above. It is possible to eliminate such problems.

In this case, FIG. 8 shows an example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

First, the mail server device SM is inquired as to whether or not an incoming e-mail addressed to its own terminal is held (step 201). If there is an incoming e-mail, the judgment 2 is made.
When the result of 02 is YES, one incoming e-mail is acquired (process 203), and "Fr" of the header information is acquired.
The mail address of the sender user is extracted from the "om:" field (step 204), and it is checked whether the mail address is registered in the permitted mail address table (decision 205).

When the result of the determination 205 is YES, the content of the "Subject:" field of the header information is analyzed (process 206), and a communication management report "GIVE ME REPORT" is requested in the "Subject:" field. It is checked whether or not the character string representing the thing is arranged (decision 207).

When the result of judgment 207 is NO,
A normal network facsimile process for processing the received e-mail is executed (process 208). Then, it is checked whether or not the processing for all the incoming e-mails has been completed (decision 209). When the result of the judgment 209 is NO, the processing returns to step 203, and the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. . When the result of determination 209 is YES, this operation ends.

When the result of determination 207 is YES, the communication management report as described above is created based on the communication history information stored in the communication history table (process 210), and the communication management report is generated. Place it in the text information and process 204 in the "To:" field.
A communication management report mail in which the mail address extracted in step 3 is arranged is created (process 211), the communication management report mail is transmitted (process 212), and the process proceeds to the determination 209.

When the result of determination 209 is NO, the process returns to step 203, and the same process is executed for the next incoming e-mail. When the result of determination 209 is YES, this operation ends.

When the result of determination 205 is NO, the communication management table request mail received at that time is discarded (step 213) and this operation is ended. Further, when the result of determination 202 is NO, this operation is immediately ended.

Now, when requesting a communication management report,
There is a request to edit the contents included in the communication management report as appropriate. For example, there is a request to know the communication history in a certain period, sort the contents of the communication management report for each user, or to know only the communication history of a specific user.

In this case, as shown in the portion in parentheses in FIG. 5, "GI:" is set in the "Subject:" field.
VE ME REPORT ", which is a character string indicating that a communication management report is requested, is separated by": ", and a character string indicating an editing condition, for example," user-
a @ aaa. co. jp ”(user-a@aaa.c
o. It represents that only the communication history related to the user of the mail address jp is extracted. ), "12/10
-12/17 "(Indicates that only the communication history in the period from December 10th to December 17th is extracted.)
Etc. are continuously arranged.

When the communication management report request mail to which the editing condition is added is received, the network facsimile apparatus FX extracts the communication history information stored in the communication history table, which matches the specified condition. Further, when the sorting condition is specified (for example, date order, date reverse order, etc.), sorting is performed according to the condition and a communication management report is created.

Then, the created communication management report is set in the text information, and the mail address of the sender of the communication management report request mail is set in the "To:" field to create a communication management report mail, and the mail server device Send to SM.

Thus, the sender user of the communication management report request mail can receive the communication management report under the conditions specified by himself, which is very convenient in communication management.

If no editing condition is specified, the communication management report is received only for the communication related to the user, which is very convenient for managing the user's own communication.

In this case, FIG. 9 shows an example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

First, the mail server device SM is inquired as to whether or not an incoming e-mail addressed to its own terminal is held (step 301). If there is an incoming e-mail, judgment 3 is made.
When the result of 02 is YES, one incoming e-mail is acquired (process 303), and “Fr of the header information is acquired.
The mail address of the sender user is extracted from the "om:" field (process 304), and it is checked whether the mail address is registered in the permitted mail address table (decision 305).

When the result of the judgment 305 is YES, the contents of the "Subject:" field of the header information are analyzed (process 306), and a communication management report "GIVE ME REPORT" is requested in the "Subject:" field. It is checked whether or not a character string representing that is arranged (decision 307).

When the result of judgment 307 is NO,
A normal network facsimile process for processing the received e-mail is executed (process 308). Next, it is checked whether or not the processing has been completed for all incoming e-mails (decision 309), and when the result of the judgment 309 is NO, the processing returns to step 303, and the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. . When the result of determination 309 is YES, this operation ends.

When the result of the judgment 307 is YES, it is further checked whether or not any edit processing condition is added (judgment 310). When the result of determination 310 is YES, the specified edit processing is applied to the communication history information stored in the communication history table, and the communication management report as described above is created based on the content after the application. (Processing 311), the communication management report is placed in the text information, and "T
A communication management report mail in which the mail address extracted in the process 304 is placed in the “o:” field is created (process 3
12), the communication management report mail is transmitted (process 313), and the process proceeds to the determination 309.

When the result of the judgment 309 is NO, the process returns to the process 303 and the same process is executed for the next incoming e-mail. When the result of determination 309 is YES, this operation ends.

Further, when the result of the judgment 310 is NO, only the information related to the mail address extracted in the process 304 is extracted from the communication history information stored in the communication history table, and based on the extracted contents, The communication management report as described above is created (process 314), the process proceeds to process 312, and the communication management report mail is transmitted.

When the result of determination 305 is NO, the communication management table request mail received at that time is discarded (process 315) and this operation is terminated. Further, when the result of determination 302 is NO, this operation is immediately ended.

A user who has requested a communication management report may request another user to send the communication management report.

In order to deal with such a request, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
In the "c:" field, a communication management report request mail in which the mail address of the transfer destination user is arranged is set.

When the communication management report request mail in which the mail address is placed in the "Bcc:" field is received, the network facsimile apparatus FX
The communication management report mail as described above is created based on the communication history information stored in the communication history table, and the communication management report mail is placed in the “Bcc:” field of the communication management report request mail. Send to an email address.

As a result, the communication management report can be collected by a specific user, which is advantageous when the communication management is unified.

In this case, FIG. 11 shows an example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

First, the mail server device SM is inquired as to whether or not an incoming e-mail addressed to its own terminal is held (step 401). If there is an incoming e-mail, judgment 4 is made.
When the result of 02 is YES, one incoming e-mail is acquired (process 403) and the header information “Fr” is acquired.
The mail address of the sender user is extracted from the "om:" field (step 404), and it is checked whether or not the mail address is registered in the permitted mail address table (decision 405).

When the result of the determination 405 is YES, the contents of the "Subject:" field of the header information are analyzed (process 406), and the communication management report "GIVE ME REPORT" is requested in the "Subject:" field. It is checked whether or not the character string representing the thing is arranged (decision 407).

When the result of judgment 407 is NO,
A normal network facsimile process for processing the received e-mail is executed (process 408). Next, it is checked whether or not the processing for all incoming e-mails has been completed (decision 409). When the result of the judgment 409 is NO, the processing returns to step 403, and the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. . When the result of the determination 409 is YES, this operation ends.

When the result of determination 407 is YES, the above-mentioned communication management report is created based on the communication history information stored in the communication history table (process 410), and the communication management report is generated. Place it in the text information and process 404 in the "To:" field.
A communication management report mail in which the mail address extracted in step 3 is placed is created (process 411).

Then, it is checked whether or not the received communication management report request mail includes the "Bcc:" field (decision 412). When the result of the judgment 412 is YES, the value of the "To:" field is changed to The contents of the "Bcc:" field of the received communication management report request mail are replaced (step 413). The result of judgment 412 is N
When it becomes O, the value of the "To:" field is not changed.

Then, the communication management report mail is transmitted (process 414), and the flow shifts to judgment 409. When the result of the determination 409 is NO, the process 40
Returning to step 3, the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. When the result of the determination 409 is YES, this operation ends.

When the result of determination 405 is NO, the communication management table request mail received at that time is discarded (step 413) and this operation is ended. Further, when the result of the judgment 402 is NO, this operation is immediately ended.

By the way, in the above-mentioned embodiment, when the received communication management report request mail includes the "Bcc:" field, the "Bcc:" is unconditionally set.
Although the communication management report mail is transmitted (transferred) to the mail address of the value of the field, it is possible to limit the mail addresses permitted for this transfer.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 12, an item of "transfer permission" is provided in the permission mail address table, the presence or absence of transfer permission is registered for each mail address, and the received communication management report request mail To "B
cc: ”field is included, its“ B
The communication management report mail is transferred only when the mail address of the value of the “cc:” field is registered in the permission mail address table and “Yes” is registered in the transfer permission item.

FIG. 13 shows an example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail in this case.

First, the mail server device SM is inquired as to whether or not an incoming e-mail addressed to its own terminal is held (step 501). If there is an incoming e-mail, the decision 5 is made.
When the result of 02 is YES, one incoming e-mail is acquired (process 503), and "Fr" of the header information is acquired.
The mail address of the sender user is extracted from the "om:" field (step 504), and it is checked whether the mail address is registered in the permitted mail address table (decision 505).

When the result of the judgment 505 is YES, the content of the "Subject:" field of the header information is analyzed (process 506), and the communication management report "GIVE ME REPORT" is requested in the "Subject:" field. It is checked whether or not the character string representing the thing is arranged (decision 507).

When the result of judgment 507 is NO,
A normal network facsimile process for processing the received e-mail is executed (process 508). Next, it is checked whether or not the processing has been completed for all incoming e-mails (decision 509). When the result of the judgment 509 is NO, the processing returns to step 503, and the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. . When the result of determination 509 is YES, this operation is ended.

When the result of determination 507 is YES, the communication management report as described above is created based on the communication history information stored in the communication history table (process 510), and the communication management report is generated. Place it in the text information and process 504 in the "To:" field.
A communication management report mail in which the mail address extracted in step 3 is placed is created (step 511).

Then, it is checked whether or not the received communication management report request mail includes the "Bcc:" field (decision 512). When the result of the judgment 512 is YES, the value of the "Bcc:" field is changed. The email address is registered in the permitted email address table,
At the same time, it is checked whether the value of the item "transfer permission" is "present" (decision 513). The result of judgment 513 is Y
When it becomes ES, the value of the “To:” field is replaced with the content of the “Bcc:” field of the received communication management report request mail (process 514). Also, judgment 5
When the result of 12 is NO, the value of the "To:" field is not changed.

Then, the communication management report mail is transmitted (process 515) and the process proceeds to the determination 509. When the result of the determination 509 is NO, the process 50
Returning to step 3, the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. When the result of determination 509 is YES, this operation is ended.

When the result of the judgment 513 is NO, the created communication management report mail is discarded (process 516), the process proceeds to the judgment 509, and the subsequent processes are executed.

When the result of determination 505 is NO, the communication management table request mail received at that time is discarded (step 517) and this operation is ended. Further, when the result of determination 502 is NO, this operation is immediately ended.

When transmitting or transferring a communication management report as in each of the above-described embodiments, it is convenient to store the transmission or transfer history for communication management report transmission management.

For example, the transmission management of the communication management report can be performed by creating a communication management report output log as shown in FIG. 14 and recording and outputting the log according to the user's request or at a predetermined timing. Also, the network facsimile apparatus FX creates communication management report transmission history information (not shown) each time a communication management report mail is transmitted and saves it in the communication management report transmission management table.

In this case, the user's access authority is set and registered in the permitted user address table as shown in FIG. The access authority is provided to limit the contents of editing processing that the user can perform.
The contents expressed by the "user" are that the communication management report can be received, but the editing process cannot be applied. The contents expressed by the "administrator" can receive the communication management report and all The editing process can be applied. Also, “full access” has the same authority as “administrator”.

In this case, FIG. 16 shows an example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

First, the mail server device SM is inquired as to whether or not an incoming e-mail addressed to its own terminal is held (step 601). If there is an incoming e-mail, the decision 6 is made.
If the result of 02 is YES, one incoming e-mail is acquired (process 603) and the header information “Fr” is acquired.
The mail address of the sender user is extracted from the "om:" field (step 604), and it is checked whether or not the mail address is registered in the permitted mail address table (decision 605).

When the result of the judgment 605 is YES, the content of the "Subject:" field of the header information is analyzed (process 606), and the communication management report "GIVE ME REPORT" is requested in the "Subject:" field. It is checked whether or not the character string representing the thing is arranged (decision 607).

When the result of judgment 607 is NO,
A normal network facsimile process for processing the received e-mail is executed (process 608). Next, it is checked whether or not the processing for all the incoming e-mails has been completed (decision 609), and when the result of the judgment 609 is NO, the processing returns to step 603, and the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. . When the result of determination 609 is YES, this operation ends.

When the result of determination 607 is YES, the communication management report as described above is created based on the communication history information stored in the communication history table (process 610), and the communication management report is generated. Place it in the text information and process 604 in the "To:" field.
A communication management report mail in which the mail address extracted in step 3 is placed is created (process 611).

Then, it is checked whether or not the received communication management report request mail includes the "Bcc:" field (decision 612). When the result of the judgment 612 is YES, the value of the "Bcc:" field is changed. The email address is registered in the permitted email address table,
At the same time, it is checked whether the value of the item "transfer permission" is "present" (decision 613). The result of judgment 613 is Y
When it becomes ES, the value of the “To:” field is replaced with the content of the “Bcc:” field of the received communication management report request mail (step 614). Also, judgment 6
When the result of 12 is NO, the value of the "To:" field is not changed.

Then, the communication management report mail is transmitted (process 615), and the transmission operation of the communication management report mail at that time is the transmission date and time, the destination mail address, the output content (editing process content), and The communication management report transmission history information including the user's access authority (described later) is created and stored (process 616), and the process proceeds to the determination 609. Then, when the result of the determination 609 is NO, the processing returns to the processing 603, and the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. When the result of determination 609 is YES, this operation ends.

When the result of judgment 613 is NO, the created communication management report mail is discarded (process 617), the process proceeds to judgment 609, and the subsequent processes are executed.

When the result of determination 605 is NO, the communication management table request mail received at that time is discarded (step 618) and this operation is ended. Further, when the result of the judgment 602 is NO, this operation is immediately ended.

FIG. 17 shows another example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

First, the mail server device SM is inquired as to whether or not an incoming e-mail addressed to its own terminal is held (step 701). If there is an incoming e-mail, the judgment 7 is made.
When the result of 02 is YES, one incoming e-mail is acquired (process 703) and "Fr" of the header information is acquired.
The mail address of the transmission source user is extracted from the "om:" field (process 704), and it is checked whether or not the mail address is registered in the permitted mail address table (decision 705).

When the result of judgment 705 is YES, the content of the "Subject:" field of the header information is analyzed (process 706), and the communication management report "GIVE ME REPORT" is requested in the "Subject:" field. It is checked whether or not a character string representing that is arranged (decision 707).

When the result of judgment 707 is NO,
A normal network facsimile process for processing the received e-mail is executed (process 708). Next, it is checked whether or not the processing has been completed for all incoming e-mails (decision 709). When the result of the judgment 709 is NO, the processing returns to step 703, and the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. . When the result of determination 709 is YES, this operation ends.

When the result of judgment 707 is YES, it is further checked whether or not any editing processing condition is added (decision 710). When the result of the determination 710 is YES, it is checked whether or not the “access authority” of the sender user's email address is set to “administrator” or “full access” who has the authority to execute the editing process (determination). 711).

When the result of judgment 711 is YES, the specified edit processing is applied to the communication history information stored in the communication history table, and the communication management as described above is performed based on the contents after the application. A report is created (process 712), the communication management report is placed in the text information, and process 704 is performed in the “To:” field.
A communication management report mail in which the mail address extracted in step 3 is placed is created (process 713), the communication management report mail is transmitted (process 714), and the process proceeds to judgment 709.

When the result of determination 709 is NO, the process returns to step 703 and the same processing is executed for the next incoming e-mail. When the result of determination 709 is YES, this operation ends.

When the result of judgment 711 is NO, the judgment 70 is made without creating the communication management report mail.
The process proceeds to 9 and the subsequent processing is executed.

Further, when the result of the judgment 710 is NO, only the information related to the mail address extracted in the process 704 is extracted from the communication history information stored in the communication history table, and based on the extracted contents, The communication management report as described above is created (process 715), the process proceeds to process 713, and the communication management report mail is transmitted.

When the result of determination 705 is NO, the communication management table request mail received at that time is discarded (step 716) and this operation is ended. Further, when the result of determination 702 is NO, this operation is immediately ended.

In this way, since the execution of the editing process at the time of creating the communication management report is restricted according to the access authority set to the request source user, it is appropriate within the authority set for each user. You can edit the communication management report.

[0121]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the user can appropriately receive the communication management report, the contents can be processed (for example, statistical processing) or used for other purposes, which is very convenient. To get

Further, since the permission mail address table in which the mail address of the user who can receive the communication management report mail is registered is provided to limit the users who can receive the communication management report mail, the sender of the communication management report request mail is Even in an inappropriate case, it is possible to prevent an inconvenience such as a communication management report mail being transmitted.

Further, since the user who has sent the communication management report request mail can receive the communication management report under the conditions specified by himself, it is very convenient in communication management.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a network facsimile apparatus FX.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of communication history information.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a communication management report.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a communication management report request mail.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a permission email address table.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing another example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing still another example of the processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing another example of a communication management report request mail.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing still another example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing another example of a permission email address table.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing still another example of the processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a communication management report output log.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing still another example of a permission email address table.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing still another example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing yet another example of processing of the network facsimile apparatus FX when receiving an electronic mail.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method of controlling a network facsimile apparatus having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data by a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network, the communication representing a communication history. If the received e-mail is a communication management report request mail in which a command string requesting a communication management report is arranged, the communication history table storing a large amount of history information is stored in the communication history table. Create a communication management report that lists the contents of a large number of communication history information, and send the communication management report mail in which the communication management report is placed in the text information to the sender of the above communication management report request mail. Control of network facsimile machines characterized by transmission Method. 2. A method of controlling a network facsimile apparatus having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data according to a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network, the communication representing a communication history. It has a communication history table that stores a lot of history information and a permitted email address table that stores email addresses that can send communication management reports, and the received email has a command string that requests a communication management report. In the case of a communication management report request mail, many communication history stored in the above communication history table only if the sender's mail address of the communication management report request mail is registered in the above permission mail address table. List of information contents A method of controlling a network facsimile apparatus, comprising: creating a communication management report, and transmitting a communication management report mail in which the communication management report is placed in text information to a sender of the communication management report request mail. 3. A method of controlling a network facsimile apparatus having a function of exchanging data on a local area network and a function of exchanging facsimile data according to a facsimile transmission procedure performed via a public network, the communication representing a communication history. It has a communication history table that stores a large amount of history information and a permitted email address table that stores the email addresses that can send communication management reports. In the case of a communication management report request mail in which editing conditions are placed, it is stored in the above communication history table only if the sender's mail address of the communication management report request mail is registered in the above permitted mail address table. Many communications that have been Extract the contents of history information according to the above editing conditions, create a communication management report that displays the extraction results as a list, and place the communication management report mail with the communication management report in the text information as the communication management report request mail. A method for controlling a network facsimile apparatus, characterized by transmitting to a sender.