JP2934752B2 - Facsimile gateway device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile gateway apparatus for relaying a facsimile apparatus connected to a communication network for communicating facsimile signals to a local area network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art One or several conventional facsimile machines are arranged in one office, and when a facsimile signal is received, the received content is printed directly on paper and output. It was necessary to distribute to the recipient or to take the recipient to the facsimile machine. Further, when a plurality of facsimile apparatuses are installed, it is necessary to prepare a communication line (telephone line) for each of them. Conventionally, in facsimile transmission, it has been common practice to print an electronic document created on a workstation on paper by a printer and input the printed paper document using an image input function of a facsimile apparatus. In this method, not only the operation is complicated, but also noise is mixed during printing or image input, and a clear output image cannot be obtained. As a solution to this problem, a facsimile machine is connected to a host computer and a local facsimile machine is connected to the facsimile machine via a communication line. 2. Description of the Related Art Remote printing for transmitting an output from a host computer to a local facsimile machine is known (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-168159). Recently, offices have been mechanized, and a plurality of workstations, mail servers, and print servers have been developed. In many cases, a local area network system in which a file server, a database server (configuration management server), and the like are configured in a single network is installed. In an office having such a system, it is convenient if the contents received by facsimile can be used for various services on a network. That is, the destination of the received facsimile can be the user of the workstation and can be handled in the same way as mail, displayed on the display of the workstation, stored in the file server, processed on the workstation, Alternatively, if printing can be performed using a print server, it is convenient for the user, and the received facsimile signal can be effectively used. However, there has hitherto not been found a system for effectively combining various services on a local area network with a remote facsimile machine.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and requires manual operation and distribution of a facsimile apparatus required for transmitting and receiving facsimile information. It is an object of the present invention to realize a device which can greatly reduce the labor of work and can easily process and use contents in an electronic form.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides the above object,
This is achieved by a facsimile apparatus for linking a facsimile communication network with various services of a local area network. That is, the facsimile gateway device of the present invention, as a configuration for transmission from the facsimile apparatus of the facsimile communication network of the local area network to the terminal, file
Information items for extended functions in the kushimily communication protocol
Facsimile reception information with destination user ID
User ID and data in facsimile format
A facsimile protocol interpreter for extracting data, and data extracted by the facsimile protocol interpreter.
Facsimile format to local area network
A format converter for converting data into a format used in a work, and interpreting the facsimile protocol
Local area net from destination user ID extracted by
An address conversion unit for converting to a destination address for a service on a work;
The destination address and the format conversion unit.
Based on the data converted to MAT, the local area network
Local area network according to the work protocol.
A local area network protocol interpreter for generating transmission information to the network. Also, the present invention
Facsimile gateway equipment is
Network terminal to a remote facsimile machine
Configuration for local area network communication.
Bitmap data from the information received by the
A local area network program that extracts the destination address
Used for protocol interpreter and facsimile transmission / reception
Data format and local area network
Format between the data formats used
Format conversion unit for converting data and local area
Destination address extracted by the network protocol interpreter
Addresses used in facsimile communication networks.
Address conversion unit for converting the
The destination address and the format obtained by conversion
Facsimile based on the data converted by the conversion unit
Generate transmission information according to the communication protocol of Simiri
That and a facsimile protocol interpretation unit.

[0005]

The interface section (12) transmits and receives a facsimile signal to and from a remote facsimile apparatus by a facsimile protocol. In order to specify a specific address on the local area network from the facsimile apparatus, an extension function of the facsimile protocol may be used to specify a destination address for each service on the local area network. On the local area network, for example, addresses such as a mail service mailbox address (mail user account), a file service file drawer location, and a print service printer location are used. In many cases, these addresses cannot be directly used, and thus, simplified addresses, for example, user IDs are used. Simplified address (User I
As the correspondence table between D) and the addresses on the local area network, those managed by a management service (for example, a configuration management service) on the local area network can be used.

At the time of facsimile reception, a facsimile protocol interpreter (115) extracts bitmap data and a simplified address from the received signal, and passes the bitmap data to a document format converter (112) for simplification. The address is passed to the address conversion unit (114). A document format conversion unit (112) converts the format of facsimile bitmap data into the format of bitmap data on a local area network. The address conversion unit (114) converts the above-mentioned simplified address into a formal address on the local area network. The bitmap data format-converted by the document format converter (112) and the address converted by the address converter (114) are assembled into a transmission signal on the local area network by the local area network protocol interpreter (115). Local area network interface (1
According to 3), the data is transmitted to the specified address on the local area network.

[0007] At the time of facsimile transmission, the user designates a document in a format handled by each service on the local area network and a destination address (for example, a facsimile user ID), and instructs facsimile transmission. The information received from the local area network via the local area network interface (13) is separated into address information and document information by a local area network protocol interpreter (114).
The separated address information is sent to an address conversion unit (114).
Is converted to the address (telephone number) of the destination facsimile machine. Specifically, the local area network has a correspondence table in which the correspondence between the user ID and the telephone number of the facsimile machine corresponding to the user ID is provided, and the telephone number can be obtained by referring to this table. A document format conversion unit (112) converts a code of a document on the local area network into bitmap data in a facsimile format. The facsimile protocol interpretation unit (111) converts the document format conversion unit (11) to the address (telephone number) obtained by the address conversion unit (114).
A transmission signal for transmitting the bitmap data obtained in 2) is created and transmitted via the facsimile interface.

As described above, the facsimile gateway apparatus of the present invention can combine a remote facsimile apparatus with various services on the local area network, and use the received facsimile information by using various services on the local area network. Can be
Further, the document information used in the various services can be transmitted to a remote facsimile machine.

[0009]

Embodiment (First Embodiment) FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a system including a facsimile gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this system, as shown in FIG. 2, a facsimile gateway device FAXGW, a mail server MS, a configuration management server (clearing house server) CHS, and a workstation WS, which are features of the present invention, are connected to a local area network. The gateway device is connected to a remote facsimile device via a public network PN.

This embodiment combines a remote facsimile machine with a mail service on a local area network. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an embodiment of the facsimile gateway device for that purpose. The facsimile gateway device includes an information processing unit 11 and a facsimile board 12 serving as an interface unit for controlling communication with a facsimile communication network.
And a local area network interface unit 13 for exchanging information with the local area network.

The information processing section 11 divides received information according to a facsimile communication protocol into bitmap data and address information, or assembles bitmap data and address information according to a facsimile communication protocol to generate transmission information. A protocol interpreting unit 111, a document format converting unit 112 capable of converting bitmap data of a facsimile signal into a bitmap of a format used on a local area network and vice versa, and a document format converting unit 112 used on a local area network. A configuration management service (or database) that accesses a configuration management service (or database service) that has information indicating the correspondence between address information and address information used on a facsimile network The access unit 113 converts a user ID, which is an address included in data sent from the facsimile machine, into a destination mail user account, which is an address on the corresponding local area network, or vice versa. And an address conversion unit 114 for converting the received information according to the communication protocol of the local area network into bitmap data and address information, or converting the bitmap data and address information into a local area. And a local area network protocol interpreting unit 115 for generating transmission information by assembling according to a network communication protocol.

The facsimile board 12 has a receiving section 121 for receiving a signal from the facsimile apparatus and a transmitting section 122 for transmitting a signal to the facsimile apparatus. Also, the local area network interface unit 13
Has a receiving unit 131 and a transmitting unit 132 for interface with a local area network.

Next, the operation of the gateway apparatus of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the gateway when the data received from the remote facsimile machine is made available for the mail service on the local area network. The facsimile protocol interpretation unit 111 waits for reception of a facsimile signal from the reception unit 121 of the facsimile board 12, interprets the facsimile protocol if received, identifies bitmap image information and additional information such as an address, The map image information is passed to the document format conversion unit 112 (step 31). The document format conversion unit 112 converts the format of the received facsimile bitmap image data into a format of bitmap data usable in a mail document on the local area network (step 32).

The destination user I separated from the facsimile reception signal by the facsimile protocol interpreter 111
D (address) is converted by the address conversion unit 114 into a mail user account which is an address used in a mail service of the local area network. The conversion is performed by accessing the database (or the configuration management service) by the configuration management service access unit 112 and using the correspondence table between the user ID and the mail user account stored in the database (step 33). The facsimile protocol G3, G4
According to the standard, extended function information items can be set as additional information besides the destination telephone number. In the present embodiment, a mail address on the local area network is added by using this extended function information item. However, since the information that can be expressed in this extended function information item is limited, a user ID, which is an abbreviation, is used as the mail address. The formal format of the mail address on the local area network is, for example, [mail user account]; [domain]; [organizat]
ion]. A plurality of user IDs can be set as an abbreviation for the mail user account. For example, a plurality of user IDs such as 1) MasahiroIkeda 14736 can be set for a mail user account 2) Ikeda 3) 14736 and registered in the database service or the configuration management service. In the case where the remote facsimile apparatus can only input the above-mentioned extended function information items using numerical values, a user ID having only numerical values as described in the above 3) is prepared in advance in the local area network, so that the local The mail service of the area network can be used. By accessing such registered mail address information, conversion between the user ID and the mail user account can be performed.

Next, it is determined whether or not the mail user account is found (step 34). If found, the local area network protocol interpreting section 115 sends the document format converting section 112 according to the local area network protocol. A transmission signal including the bitmap data converted in step 1 is created, and the transmission unit 1 of the local area network interface 13
The e-mail is sent to the mail box having the address of the user account in the mail server through the mail server 32 (step 35).

If the corresponding user account is not found in the address correspondence table, a mail to the effect that the corresponding destination is unknown is created and transmitted to the system administrator (step 36). Determine whether the facsimile gateway service has been stopped (step 3
7). If the service has not been stopped, the process proceeds to step 31 to wait for reception of a facsimile signal. If the service has been stopped, the process ends.

In this way, at each work station, the user can see the contents of the received facsimile on the display of the work station in the same manner as ordinary mail. Therefore, there is no need to print and distribute the contents of facsimile data on paper as in the related art.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the facsimile gateway device when transmitting information from a mail server on the local area network to a remote facsimile device. The mail sent from the mail server MS is sent to the local area network interface 13
(Step 41). Then, the local area network protocol interpreter 1
15 interprets the local area network protocol upon receiving the information, separates the address information and the bitmap image information, passes the bitmap image information to the document format conversion unit 112, and sends the address information to the address conversion unit 114. hand over. The document format conversion unit 112 converts the received document information into bitmap data used for facsimile (step 42). Further, the address conversion unit 114 converts the mail user account for the destination user used on the local area network into a user ID and a facsimile telephone number (step 43). The conversion is performed based on the address correspondence table held in the configuration management service.

It is determined whether the user ID and telephone number of the destination facsimile have been found (step 44).
If they are found, the facsimile protocol interpreter 111 creates a transmission signal in which the destination user ID is added to the bitmap data converted by the document format converter 112 according to the facsimile protocol, and the facsimile board 12 The transmission unit 122 transmits the transmission signal to the telephone number of the facsimile (step 35). If the telephone number of the destination facsimile is not found, an e-mail is created and transmitted to the e-mail sender to the effect that the e-mail cannot be distributed because the destination is not known (step 46). It is determined whether or not the service has been stopped (step 47). If the service has not been stopped, the process proceeds to step 41 to wait for reception of a facsimile signal. If the service has been stopped, the process ends. In this way, a document created at each workstation can be transmitted to a remote facsimile machine.

(Second Embodiment) This embodiment relates to a facsimile gateway device for connecting a facsimile communication network with a file service on a local area network. Generally, a file server that performs file services on a local area network has a storage area (hereinafter, referred to as a storage area).
A file drawer is provided, and the user of the workstation can mutually transfer files by designating the file drawer. This second
In the embodiment, the facsimile-received information is stored on such a file server and can be read from a workstation, or a document created on a workstation can be transferred to a file server to a facsimile machine at a remote location. It is intended to be able to transmit. The main difference from the first embodiment is the configuration of the address conversion unit 114, which includes the other facsimile board 12, facsimile protocol interpretation unit 111, document format conversion unit 112, and database access unit 11.
3. The local area network protocol interpretation unit and the local area network interface 13 are almost the same as those in the first embodiment. Therefore, the description will focus on the differences.

The address conversion unit 114 performs conversion for obtaining a file drawer location from the transmitted user ID when a facsimile signal is received, and converts the drawer location to a facsimile user ID when transmitting a facsimile signal. . For the conversion, the database access unit 113 uses the drawer location stored in the database (or the configuration management service) and the user I
Access the correspondence table of D.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an operation until signals sent from a remote facsimile apparatus are stored in a drawer of a file server. Steps 51 and 52 are almost the same as steps 31 and 32, which are the corresponding processes of the first embodiment. The destination user ID (address) separated from the facsimile reception signal by the facsimile protocol interpreting unit 111 is output to the address converting unit 11.
4 converts the file into a file drawer location of a file server assigned to the destination user. The conversion is performed by accessing the database (or the configuration management service) by the database access unit 112 and using the correspondence table between the user ID and the file drawer location stored in the database (step 5).
3).

It is determined whether or not the corresponding file drawer location is found (step 54). If found, the local area network protocol interpreting unit 115 converts the file drawer location by the document format converting unit 112 according to the local area network protocol. A transmission signal including bitmap data is created, and a transmission unit 13 of the local area network interface 13 is created.
2, the data is stored in the file drawer location of the corresponding file server (step 55). If the corresponding file drawer location is not found in the address correspondence table, the received data is stored in the system manager drawer (step 56). In this way, the received facsimile data is stored in the file server. The contents of the data stored in the file server can be viewed on the display of the workstation by a user on the workstation transferring or moving the file from the file server.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the operation of this embodiment when transmitting a file stored in a file server to a remote facsimile machine. The transmission document is retrieved from the file drawer of the file server (step 61). An address called a location is assigned to each file drawer, which is a storage location of the file. The location of the file drawer is, for example, a user ID (YY or GG in the above example) such as <XXX Construction YY-012-3456-7890><ZZZ Bank GG 098-7654-3210> and a facsimile telephone number. And other required attribute information. In the case of the present embodiment, the telephone number of the facsimile must be included. When the user wants to send a facsimile, the user performs an operation for storing the sentence in the file drawer assigned to the destination user.
On the other hand, the facsimile gateway device constantly monitors by polling whether a file is stored in the file drawer. When the facsimile gateway device detects that the file is stored, the facsimile gateway device performs a process of bringing the file for transmission, that is, a process of retrieve.

Next, in the gateway device, the address conversion unit 114 performs conversion to obtain the destination user ID and the telephone number of the facsimile from the location of the drawer in which the document for transmission has been stored (step 63). next,
It is determined whether the destination user ID and facsimile telephone number have been found (step 64). If found, the facsimile protocol interpreting unit 111 creates a transmission signal including the bitmap data converted by the document format conversion unit 112 and the telephone number of the destination facsimile according to the facsimile protocol, and transmits the transmission signal to the facsimile board 12. The facsimile is transmitted to the corresponding facsimile telephone number via the unit 122 (step 6).
5).

If the destination facsimile telephone number is not found, the document for transmission is stored in the drawer for the system administrator (step 66). In this manner, a document stored in the file server can be transmitted to a remote facsimile machine.

(Third Embodiment) This third embodiment is a facsimile gateway device for outputting the contents of a received facsimile from a designated print server on a network.
The main difference from the first embodiment is that the address conversion unit 114
And the other facsimile board 1
2, facsimile protocol interpreter 111, document format converter 112, database access unit 113,
The local area network protocol interpreter and the local area network interface 13 are the first
This is almost the same as the embodiment, except that the communication direction is one direction from the remote facsimile machine side to the local area network side. Therefore, the description will focus on the differences.

The address conversion unit 114 performs conversion for obtaining a printer location from the transmitted user ID when receiving a facsimile signal. For the conversion, the database access unit 113 accesses a correspondence table between the printer location and the user ID stored in the database (or the configuration management service). FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation until a signal sent from a remote facsimile apparatus is printed out by a print server. Steps 71 and 72 are almost the same as steps 31 and 32, which are the corresponding processes of the first embodiment. The destination user I separated from the facsimile reception signal by the facsimile protocol interpreter 111
The D (address) is converted by the address conversion unit 114 into the printer location of the print server assigned to the destination user. The conversion is performed by accessing the database (or the configuration management service) by the database access unit 112 and using the correspondence table between the user ID and the printer location stored in the database (step 73).

It is determined whether or not the corresponding location is found (step 74). If found, the local area network protocol interpreting unit 115 converts the bit map converted by the document format converting unit 112 according to the local area network protocol. A transmission signal including data is created, and the data is transmitted to the printer location of the relevant print server via the transmission unit 132 of the local area network interface 13 (step 75). If the corresponding location is not found in the address correspondence table, it is transmitted to the printer location for the system administrator (step 7).
6). Thus, the received facsimile data is output by the printer of the facsimile server.

[0030]

As described above, the facsimile gateway apparatus of the present invention can combine a remote facsimile apparatus with various services on the local area network, and can receive received facsimile information using various services on the local area network. Can be used,
Further, the document information can be transmitted to a remote facsimile machine using the various services. For example, in the case of linking with a mail service, the contents of facsimile information from a remote location can be displayed on the display on the workstation and viewed, as in ordinary mail on the local area network. Can be transmitted to a remote facsimile machine by the same operation as ordinary mail. In the case of connection with a file service, received facsimile information is stored in a file server, and a user can retrieve a received file of the file server from a workstation and view the contents on a display. By transferring the document created by the station to the file server, the document can be transmitted to a remote facsimile machine. Further, it can be output from any print server on the print service network. Therefore, according to the present invention, in a system in which a facsimile apparatus and a local area network are not connected as in the related art, there is a need for manual operation and distribution work of the facsimile apparatus required for transmission and reception of facsimile information. And the processing and use of the content in electronic form can be facilitated. In addition, basically only one communication line is required for one local area network, and the number of communication line contracts is smaller than in the conventional method where a facsimile communication board is attached to each terminal itself and connected to the communication line. The increase can be mitigated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a facsimile gateway device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of an entire system including a facsimile gateway device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a facsimile receiving operation in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a facsimile transmission operation according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a facsimile receiving operation according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a facsimile transmission operation according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a facsimile receiving operation according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 11 information processing unit 111 facsimile protocol interpreting unit 112 document format converting unit 113 database (or configuration management) service access unit 114 address converting unit 115 local area network protocol interpreting unit 12 facsimile interface unit 13 local area network interface unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04L 29/00-29/12 H04L 12/00-12/66 H04N 1/00 104

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An extension in a facsimile communication protocol.
Facsimile holding the destination user ID in the extension function information item
From the millimeter reception information, the destination user ID and facsimile
A facsimile protocol interpreter for extracting data of each format, and the data extracted by the facsimile protocol interpreter .
Facsimile format to local area network
A format conversion unit for converting the data into a format of data used in the facsimile protocol;
From the ID to services on the local area network
An address translation unit for translating the address to a destination address, and the destination address obtained by the translation by the address translation unit.
And format converted by the format converter
Based on the data, local area network communication pro
To the local area network according to the protocol
And a local area network protocol interpreter for generating communication information . 2. Information received from a local area network.
Information and the address of the destination facsimile machine
Local area network protocol interpreter
When, The local area network protocol interpreter extracts
Facsimile format
A format conversion unit for converting the data into Extracted by the local area network protocol interpreter
Of the facsimile communication network from the destination address
An address conversion unit for obtaining a destination telephone number and a user ID; The data format-converted by the format conversion unit
And the destination telephone number obtained by the conversion by the address conversion unit.
Number and the user ID, the facsimile communication
Facsimile machine that generates transmission information according to protocol
A protocol interpreter, Facsimile gateway device characterized by having
Place.