Method and apparatus for sending an e-mail attached with image data

• US 20020147846A1
• Filed: 03/27/2002
• Published: 10/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Oizumi, Noritaka
• Granted Patent: US 7,302,470 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

A communication apparatus allowing confirmation of e-mail address before sending and allowing the load on the network to be reduced is disclosed. An e-mail address database is provided for retrievably storing a history of sending results for respective e-mail addresses. A controller searches the e-mail address database to find an e-mail address that has a domain identical to that of the destination e-mail address and has a normal sending result. When such at least one e-mail address is found in the e-mail address database, the controller sends an e-mail attached with the image data at the destination e-mail address.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus having an e-mail function, comprising:

an image reader for reading image data from a document;

an input device for inputting a destination e-mail address at which the image data is to be sent;

an e-mail address database for retrievably storing a history of sending results for respective e-mail addresses; and

a controller for searching the e-mail address database to find an e-mail address that has a domain identical to that of the destination e-mail address and has a normal sending result and, when such at least one e-mail address is found in the e-mail address database, sending an e-mail attached with the image data at the destination e-mail address.

14. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 being a facsimile machine.

2. A method for sending an e-mail at a destination e-mail address, comprising the steps of:

retrievably storing a history of sending results for respective e-mail addresses in an e-mail address database, wherein each of the sending results includes at least a mail sending result;

searching the e-mail address database to find an e-mail address that has a domain identical to that of the destination e-mail address and has a mail sending result indicating that an e-mail has been successfully sent at the e-mail address; and

when the e-mail address is found in the e-mail address database, sending an e-mail attached with the image data at the destination e-mail address.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of:

when no e-mail address having the domain identical to that of the destination e-mail address is found in the e-mail address database, connecting to a name server to determine whether the domain is allowed to be converted to an IP address in the name server,

wherein, when the domain has been converted to the IP address, the e-mail attached with the image data is sent at the destination e-mail address.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

storing a domain sending result for each of the e-mail addresses in the e-mail address database, wherein the domain sending result indicates whether an e-mail has been successfully sent to a name server in the domain which the destination e-mail address belongs to;

searching the e-mail address database to determine whether an e-mail address having a domain sending result indicating that an e-mail has been successfully sent to the name server is found;

when no e-mail address having a domain sending result indicating that an e-mail has been successfully sent to the name server is found, connecting to the name server to determine whether the domain is allowed to be converted to an IP address in the name server; and

when the domain has been converted to the IP address, sending the e-mail attached with the image data at the destination e-mail address.

5. A method for sending an e-mail at a destination e-mail address, comprising the steps of:

retrievably storing a history of sending results for respective e-mail addresses in an e-mail address database, wherein each of the sending results includes at least a mail sending result, wherein the mail sending result includes a mail sending result flag that is set to a true-indicating value when an e-mail has been successfully sent at a corresponding e-mail address and is set to a false-indicating value when it failed to be sent;

searching the e-mail address database to find an e-mail address that has a domain identical to that of the destination e-mail address and has a mail sending result flag set to the true-indicating value; and

when the e-mail address is found in the e-mail address database, sending an e-mail attached with the image data at the destination e-mail address.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

in an operation state of sending no e-mail,

when an e-mail address has been inputted, searching the e-mail address database for the input e mail address;

when no match is found, registering the input e-mail address with a mail sending result being set to the false-indicating value.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

storing a domain sending result for each of the e-mail addresses in the e-mail address database, wherein the domain sending result includes a domain sending result flag that is set to the true-indicating value when an e-mail has been successfully sent to a name server in the domain which the destination e-mail address belongs to and is set to the false-indicating value when the e-mail failed to be sent to the name server;

searching the e-mail address database to determine whether an e-mail address having a domain sending result flag is set to the true-indicating value;

when no e-mail address having the domain sending result flag set to the true-indicating value, connecting to the name server to determine whether the domain is allowed to be converted to an IP address in the name server; and

when the domain has been converted to the IP address, sending the e-mail attached with the image data at the destination e-mail address.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

in an operation state of sending no e-mail,

when an e-mail address has been inputted, searching the e-mail address database for an e-mail address identical to the input e-mail address and an e-mail address having a same domain of the input e-mail address;

when neither e-mail address identical to the input e-mail address nor e-mail address having the same domain of the input e-mail address, both the mail sending result flag and the domain sending result flag are set to the false-indicating value to be registered in the e-mail address database; and

when no e-mail address identical to the input e-mail address is found but an e-mail address having the same domain of the input e-mail address, the mail sending result flag is set to the false-indicating value and the domain sending result flag is set to a domain sending result flag corresponding to the found e-mail address.

9. A communication apparatus having an e-mail function, comprising:

an image reader for reading image data from a document;

an input device for inputting a destination e-mail address at which the image data is to be sent;

an e-mail address database for retrievably storing a history of a mail sending result and a domain sending result for respective e-mail addresses, wherein the mail sending result indicates whether an e-mail addressed to a corresponding e-mail address has been successfully sent and the domain sending result indicates whether an e-mail addressed to a corresponding e-mail address has been successfully sent to a name server of a domain which the corresponding e-mail address belongs to; and

a controller for searching the e-mail address database to find an e-mail address that has a domain identical to that of the destination e-mail address and has a mail sending result indicating that an e-mail has been successfully sent and, when such at least one e-mail address is found in the e-mail address database, sending an e-mail attached with the image data at the destination e-mail address.

10. The communication apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the controller performs connection to a name server to determine whether the domain is allowed to be converted to an IP address in the name server when no e-mail address having the domain identical to that of the destination e-mail address is found in the e-mail address database, wherein, when the domain has been converted to the IP address, the e-mail attached with the image data is sent at the destination e-mail address.

11. The communication apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the controller searches the e-mail address database to determine whether an e-mail address having a domain sending result indicating that an e-mail has been successfully sent to the name server is found

wherein, when no e-mail address having a domain sending result indicating that an e-mail has been successfully sent to the name server is found, the controller performs connection to the name server to determine whether the domain is allowed to be converted to an IP address in the name server, wherein, when the domain has been converted to the IP address, the controller sends the e-mail attached with the image data at the destination e-mail address.

12. The communication apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the controller searches the e-mail address database for an input e-mail address that is inputted in a not-sending operation state, wherein, when no match is found, the controller registers the input e-mail address with a mail sending result being set to a false-indicating value that indicates that an e-mail addressed to the input e-mail address failed to be sent.

13. The communication apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the controller searches the e-mail address database for an e-mail address identical to the input e-mail address that is inputted in a not-sending operation state and an e-mail address having a same domain of the input e-mail address,

wherein, when neither e-mail address identical to the input e-mail address nor e-mail address having the same domain of the input e-mail address, the controller sets both the mail sending result flag and the domain sending result flag to the false-indicating value and registers them in the e-mail address database;

and

wherein, when no e-mail address identical to the input e-mail address is found but an e-mail address having the same domain of the input e-mail address, the controller sets the mail sending result flag to the false-indicating value and the domain sending result flag to a domain sending result flag corresponding to the found e-mail address, and registers them in the e-mail address database.

15. The communication apparatus according to claim 9 being a facsimile machine.