DATA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM TRANSMITTING DATA TO PRESTORED DESTINATION ADDRESS, ADDRESS MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, DATA COMMUNICATION APPARATUS, ADDRESS MANAGEMENT METHOD, AND ADDRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

• US 20090135446A1
• Filed: 11/20/2008
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies Incorporated (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies Incorporated (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Inventors: KAWABUCHI, Yoichi, Teramoto, Keisuke, Shozaki, Toshiya, Hase, Junichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,345,297 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.150
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00222 details of image data generation or reproduction, e.g. scan-to-email or network printing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3276 of a customised additional information profile, e.g. a profile specific to a user ID

Abstract

In order to facilitate updating of information on a destination of data, a data communication system includes a server and an MFP capable of communicating with each other. The MFP transmits to the server an update requesting signal including a source address of an e-mail received from another apparatus and related information on the source, transmits an address request to the server and receives user address data from the server, and transmits data to at least one destination address included in the received user address data. The server stores the user address data having destination addresses and related information on the destinations associated with each other, and in receipt of the update requesting signal from the MFP, rewrites the related information associated with the source address included in the update requesting signal by the user address data with the related information included in the update requesting signal.

Claims

1. A data communication system including an address management apparatus and a data communication apparatus capable of communicating with each other,

said address management apparatus comprising:

a destination storage portion to store address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other,

said data communication apparatus comprising;

a data receiving portion to receive data from another apparatus;

an update requesting portion to transmit an update request to said address management apparatus, said update request including a source address indicating an address of a source of the data received by said data receiving portion and related information on the source included in the data;

an address data acquiring portion to transmit an address request to said address management apparatus and receive said address data from said address management apparatus; and

a data transmitting portion to transmit data to said destination address included in said received address data,

said address management apparatus further comprising;

an updating portion, in response to reception of said update request from said data communication apparatus, to rewrite said related information associated with said source address included in the update request by said address data stored in said destination storage portion with said related information included in said update request.

2. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein

said destination storage portion in said address management apparatus stores a plurality of pieces of said address data for respective users,

said data communication apparatus further comprising:

an authentication portion to authenticate a user,

said address data acquiring portion in said data communication apparatus transmits an address request including user identification information for identification of said authenticated user to said address management apparatus and receives said address data stored in association with said authenticated user from said address management apparatus, and

in the case where said source address included in said received update request is associated with a plurality of said related information by a plurality of said address data stored in said destination storage portion, said updating portion in said address management apparatus rewrites all of said plurality of pieces of related information with said related information included in said update request.

3. The data communication system according to claim 2, wherein

said data communication apparatus further comprises:

a login permitting portion to permit login of the user authenticated by said authentication portion; and

a discarding portion to discard said received address data when the permission by said login permitting portion is cancelled.

4. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein

said data communication apparatus further comprises:

a local storage portion to store local address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other;

a first local updating portion, in response to reception of data by said data receiving portion, to rewrite said related information associated with a source address indicating an address of a source of said received data by said local address data stored in said local storage portion with related information included in said received data; and

a second local updating portion, in response to reception of said address data from said address management apparatus by said address data acquiring portion, to rewrite said related information associated with said destination address included in said received address data by said local address data stored in said local storage portion with said related information associated with said destination address by said received address data, and

said data transmitting portion in said data communication apparatus transmits data to said destination address included in said received address data or said local address data.

5. The data communication system according to claim 4, wherein

said destination storage portion in said address management apparatus stores a plurality of pieces of said address data for respective users,

said data communication apparatus further comprises:

an authentication portion to authenticate a user, and

said address data acquiring portion in said data communication apparatus transmits an address request including user identification information for identification of said authenticated user to said address management apparatus, and receives said address data stored in association with said authenticated user from said address management apparatus.

6. The data communication system according to claim 5, wherein

said data communication apparatus further comprises:

a login permitting portion to permit login of the user authenticated by said authentication portion; and

a discarding portion to discard said received address data when permission by said login permitting portion is cancelled.

7. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein

said destination storage portion in said address management apparatus stores a plurality of pieces of said address data for respective users,

said data communication apparatus further comprises:

an authentication portion to authenticate a user;

an update instruction accepting portion to accept an update instruction for updating said received address data; and

a manual update instruction transmitting portion to transmit a manual update instruction to said address management apparatus, said manual update instruction including user identification information of said authenticated user and said accepted update instruction,

said address data acquiring portion in said data communication apparatus transmits an address request including user identification information for identification of said authenticated user to said address management apparatus, and receives said address data stored in association with said authenticated user from said address management apparatus,

said address management apparatus further comprises;

a manual updating portion, in response to reception of said manual update instruction, to update one of said plurality of pieces of said address data stored in said destination storage portion associated with the user corresponding to the user identification information included in said manual update instruction according to said update instruction included in said manual update instruction;

a deleting portion to delete said address data stored in said destination storage portion; and

an update result transmitting portion to return an error signal in the case where said destination storage portion does not have said address data to be updated by said manual updating portion, and

said data communication apparatus further comprises;

a warning portion to issue a warning in the case where said error signal is received after reception of said address data.

8. The data communication system according to claim 1, wherein said related information includes a specification for transmission of data.

9. An address management apparatus capable of communicating with a data communication apparatus, comprising:

a destination storage portion to store address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other;

an update request receiving portion to receive an update request from said data communication apparatus, said data communication apparatus transmitting said update request in response to reception of data from another apparatus, said update request including a source address indicating an address of a source of said data received by said data communication apparatus from the other apparatus and related information on the source included in the data; and

an updating portion, in response to reception of said update request, to rewrite said related information associated with said source address included in the update request by said address data stored in said destination storage portion with said related information included in said update request.

10. The address management apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

said destination storage portion stores a plurality of pieces of said address data for respective users, and

in the case where said source address included in said received update request is associated with a plurality of said related information by a plurality of said address data stored in said destination storage portion, said updating portion rewrites all of the plurality of said related information with said related information included in said update request.

11. A data communication apparatus capable of communicating with an address management apparatus, comprising:

a data receiving portion to receive data from another apparatus;

an update requesting portion to transmit an update request to said address management apparatus, said update request including a source address indicating an address of a source of the data received by said data receiving portion and related information included in the data;

an address data acquiring portion to transmit an address request to said address management apparatus and receive address data stored in said address management apparatus from said address management apparatus, said address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other;

a local storage portion to store local address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other;

a first local updating portion, in response to reception of data by said data receiving portion, to rewrite said related information associated with a source address indicating an address of a source of said received data by said local address data stored in said local storage portion with related information included in said received data;

a second local updating portion, in response to reception of said address data from said address management apparatus by said address data acquiring portion, to rewrite said related information associated with said destination address included in said received address data by said local address data stored in said local storage portion with said related information associated with said destination address by said received address data; and

a data transmitting portion to transmit data to said destination address included in said received address data or said local address data.

12. The data communication apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

a plurality of pieces of said address data are stored in said address management apparatus for respective users,

said data communication apparatus further comprises:

an authentication portion to authenticate a user, and

said address data acquiring portion transmits an address request including user identification information for identification of said authenticated user to said address management apparatus, and receives said address data stored in association with said authenticated user from said address management apparatus.

13. The data communication apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

a login permitting portion to permit login of the user authenticated by said authentication portion; and

a discarding portion to discard said received address data when permission by said login permitting portion is cancelled.

14. The data communication apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising an authentication portion to authenticate a user, wherein

a plurality of pieces of said address data are stored in said address management apparatus for respective users,

said address data acquiring portion transmits an address request including user identification information for identification of said authenticated user to said address management apparatus, and receives said address data stored in association with said authenticated user from said address management apparatus, and

said data communication apparatus further comprises:

an update instruction accepting portion to accept an update instruction for updating said received address data;

a manual update instruction transmitting portion to transmit a manual update instruction to said address management apparatus, said manual update instruction including user identification information of said authenticated user and said accepted update instruction; and

a warning portion to issue a warning when an error signal is received from said address management portion in response to transmission of said manual update instruction after reception of said address data, said error signal being transmitted by said address management apparatus in the case where said address data stored in said address management apparatus does not include the address data associated with the user corresponding to the user identification information included in said manual update instruction.

15. An address management method carried out by an address management apparatus capable of communicating with a data communication apparatus, comprising the steps of:

storing address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other;

receiving an update request from said data communication apparatus, said data communication apparatus transmitting said update request in response to reception of data from another apparatus, said update request including a source address indicating an address of a source of said data received from the other apparatus by said data communication apparatus and related information on the source included in the data; and

in response to reception of said update request, rewriting said related information associated with said source address included in the update request by said stored address data with said related information included in said update request.

16. An address management method carried out by a data communication apparatus capable of communicating with an address management apparatus, comprising the steps of:

receiving data from another apparatus;

transmitting an update request to said address management apparatus, said update request including a source address indicating an address of a source of said received data and related information included in the data;

transmitting an address request to said address management apparatus and receiving address data stored in said address management apparatus from said address management apparatus, said address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other;

storing local address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other;

in response to reception of the data from said other apparatus, rewriting said related information associated with a source address indicating an address of a source of said received data by said stored local address data with related information included in said received data;

in response to reception of said address data from said address management apparatus, rewriting said related information associated with said destination address included in said received address data by said stored local address data with said related information associated with said destination address by said received address data; and

transmitting data to said destination address included in said received address data or said local address data.

17. An address management program embodied on a computer readable medium and executed by a computer controlling an address management apparatus capable of communicating with a data communication apparatus, the program causing said computer to perform processing comprising the steps of:

storing address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other;

receiving an update request from said data communication apparatus, said data communication apparatus transmitting said update request in response to reception of data from another apparatus, said update request including a source address indicating an address of a source of said data received from the other apparatus by said data communication apparatus and related information on the source included in the data; and

in response to reception of said update request, rewriting said related information associated with said source address included in the update request by said stored address data with said related information included in said update request.

18. An address management program embodied on a computer readable medium and executed by a computer controlling a data communication apparatus capable of communicating with an address management apparatus, the program causing said computer to perform processing comprising the steps of:

receiving data from another apparatus;

transmitting an update request to said address management apparatus, said update request including a source address indicating an address of a source of said received data and related information included in the data;

transmitting an address request to said address management apparatus and receiving address data stored in said address management apparatus from said address management apparatus, said address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other;

storing local address data having a destination address indicating an address of a destination and related information on said destination associated with each other;

in response to reception of the data from said other apparatus, rewriting said related information associated with a source address indicating an address of a source of said received data by said stored local address data with related information included in said received data;

in response to reception of said address data from said address management apparatus, rewriting said related information associated with said destination address included in said received address data by said stored local address data with said related information associated with said destination address by said received address data; and

transmitting data to said destination address included in said received address data or said local address data.