Internet facsimile machine

• US 6,384,927 B1
• Filed: 10/08/1997
• Issued: 05/07/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Mori, Yukikazu
• Primary Examiner(s): Coles, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pokrzywa, Joseph R.
• Application Number:
  US08/943,864
• Time in Patent Office: 1,672 Days
• Field of Search: 358/402, 358/403, 358/407, 358/408, 358/434, 358/435, 358/436, 358/440, 358/1.15, 358/468, 358/442, 379/93.24, 379/100.09, 379/130, 379/100.01, 395/200.3, 395/200.47, 709/203, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/238, 709/245
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00209 Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00212 Attaching image data to computer messages, e.g. to e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/324 intermediate the transmitter and receiver terminals, e.g. at an exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32416 Storage of instructions or retrieval of prestored instructions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32427 Optimising routing, e.g. for minimum cost
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/002 Selecting or switching between an image communication channel and a non-image communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0067 Converting to still picture data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0068 Converting from still picture data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0093 Facsimile machine H04N2201/0094 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3204 of data relating to a user, sender, addressee, machine or electronic recording medium H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3222 of processing required or performed, e.g. forwarding, urgent or confidential handling

Abstract

The communication cost for image information transmission from a facsimile machine connected to the international PSTN to an overseas destination is significantly reduced by causing a first repeater Internet facsimile machine installed in the same country as the transmitting machine to perform a repeater operation for transferring the image information to a second repeater Internet facsimile machine installed in the same country as the recipient machine. The cost is reduced because no additional communication charge is incurred for the image information transfer between the repeater Internet facsimile machines.

Claims

1. An Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, said Internet facsimile machine comprising:

subaddress information table means for storing subaddress information associated with destination terminals and mail addresses of repeater Internet facsimile machines that provide a repeater operation for information destined for the destination terminal associated with the subaddress, in such a way as to relate each of the subaddresses to the corresponding mail address;

mail address retrieving means for searching said subaddress information table means to retrieve the mail address that corresponds to a subaddress received via a facsimile transmission procedure;

repeater operation requesting means for requesting the repeater Internet facsimile machine associated with the mail address retrieved by said mail address retrieving means to automatically forward received image information to the destination terminal associated with the subaddress via a facsimile transmission procedure, by sending an electronic mail message to said repeater Internet facsimile machine associated with the retrieved mail address; and

output means, for outputting the received image information when no subaddress is received via the facsimile transmission procedure.

2. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein a content of subaddress information is set in one of a Subject field of said electronic mail message and a predetermined area of a message body of said electronic mail message.

3. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said electronic mail message contains data produced by converting the received image information into message body data of a predetermined type.

4. An Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, said Internet facsimile machine comprising:

subaddress information table means for storing subaddress information associated with destination terminals, repeater mail addresses of repeater Internet facsimile machines that provide a repeater operation for information destined for the destination terminal associated with the subaddress, and destination mail addresses of destination Internet facsimile machines designated as a destination, in such a way as to relate each of the subaddresses to the corresponding repeater mail address or the corresponding destination mail address;

mail address retrieving means for searching said subaddress information table means to retrieve one of the repeater mail address and the destination mail address that corresponds to a subaddress received via a facsimile transmission procedure;

repeater operation requesting means for requesting, when the repeater mail address is retrieved by said mail address retrieving means, the repeater Internet facsimile machine associated with the repeater mail address retrieved by said mail address retrieving means to automatically forward received image information to the terminal associated with the subaddress via a facsimile transmission procedure, by sending an electronic mail message to said repeater Internet facsimile machine associated with the retrieved mail address;

transmitting means for transmitting, when the destination mail address is retrieved by said mail address retrieving means, the received image information to the destination Internet facsimile machine associated with the destination mail address retrieved by said mail address retrieving means, by sending an electronic mail message to said destination Internet facsimile machine associated with the retrieved destination mail address; and

output means, for outputting the received image information when no subaddress is received via the facsimile transmission procedure.

5. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 4, wherein said electronic mail message contains data produced by converting the received image information into message body data of a predetermined type.

6. An Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, said Internet facsimile machine comprising:

scanner means for scanning an original document and generating image information;

input means allowing a user to input a destination telephone number;

destination management information storage means for storing mail addresses used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the Internet, telephone numbers used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the public network, and end terminal telephone numbers used to exchange data with an end terminal served by a repeater operation of the compatible Internet facsimile machine associated with the telephone number, in such a way as to relate each of the mail addresses to the corresponding telephone number and the end terminal telephone number;

determining means for determining whether a destination telephone number specified by a user via said input means is registered as one of the end terminal telephone numbers in said destination management information storage means;

converting means for converting, when the specified destination telephone number is an international telephone number, the specified destination telephone number into a domestic telephone number;

Internet transmission means for retrieving, when said determining means yields an affirmative answer, the mail address that corresponds to the specified destination telephone number from said destination management information storage means, for converting said image information to be transmitted into message body data for an electronic mail message, for setting the retrieved mail address in a To field of a header information of the electronic mail message, for setting the specified destination telephone number or the domestic telephone number in a Subject field of the header information of the electronic mail message, and for transmitting the resultant electronic mail message to the compatible Internet facsimile machine providing the repeater operation, via the local area network over the Internet;

reception means for receiving electronic mail;

reverse conversion means for subjecting the message body data of a received electronic mail message to reverse conversion so as to reproduce said image information generated by said scanner means, when one of the end terminal telephone numbers is set in the Subject field of the header information of the received electronic mail message; and

forwarding means for originating a call to the end terminal associated with the end terminal telephone number found in the Subject field, using a public network, so as to transmit the image information reproduced by said reverse conversion means to the end terminal.

7. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 6, wherein the end terminal telephone number is converted into a domestic number compatible with the corresponding telephone number registered in said destination management information storage means, before being set in the Subject field of the header information of the electronic mail message.

8. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 7, wherein a mail address for this-machine is set in a From field of header information in the electronic mail message, a report electronic mail message for reporting on a result of transmission is produced after the received electronic mail message has been processed, and said report electronic mail message is sent to the mail address set in the From field of the header information of the received electronic mail message, a predetermined fixed value being set in the Subject field of the header information of said report electronic mail message.

9. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 6, wherein a mail address for this-machine is set in a From field of the header information in the electronic mail message.

10. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein a report electronic mail message for reporting on a result of transmission is produced after the received electronic mail message has been processed, and said report electronic mail message is sent to the mail address set in the From field of the header information of the received electronic mail message.

11. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 6, further comprising setting means for specifying whether the image information is to be transmitted in the form of electronic mail.

12. An Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network according to a facsimile transmission procedure, said Internet facsimile machine comprising:

scanner means for scanning an original document and generating image information;

input means allowing a user to input a destination telephone number;

destination management information storage means for storing mail addresses used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the Internet, telephone numbers used to exchange data with compatible Internet facsimile machines over the public network, and end terminal telephone numbers used to exchange data with an end terminal served by a repeater operation of the compatible Internet facsimile machine associated with the telephone number, in such a way as to relate each of the mail addresses to the corresponding telephone number and the end terminal telephone number;

determining means for determining whether a destination telephone number specified by a user via said input means is registered as one of the end terminal telephone numbers in said destination management information storage means;

converting means for converting, when the specified destination telephone number is an international telephone number, the specified destination telephone number into a domestic telephone number;

Internet transmission means for retrieving, when said determining means yields an affirmative answer, the mail address that corresponds to the specified destination telephone number from said destination management information storage means, for converting image information to be transmitted into message body data for an electronic mail message, for setting the retrieved mail address in a To field of a header information of the electronic mail message, for setting the specified destination telephone number or the domestic telephone number in a predetermined area of a message body of the electronic mail message, and for transmitting the resultant electronic mail message to the compatible Internet facsimile machine providing the repeater operation, via the local area network over the Internet;

reception means for receiving electronic mail;

reverse conversion means for subjecting the message body data of a received electronic mail message to reverse conversion so as to reproduce said image information generated by said scanner means, when one of the end terminal telephone numbers is set in said predetermined area of the message body of the received electronic mail message; and

forwarding means for originating a call to the end terminal associated with the end terminal telephone number found in said predetermined area of the message body, using a public network, so as to transmit the image information reproduced by said reverse conversion means to the end terminal.

13. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 12, wherein the end terminal telephone number is converted into a domestic number compatible with the corresponding telephone number registered in said destination management information storage means, before being set in said predetermined area of the message body of the electronic mail message.

14. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 12, wherein a mail address for this-machine is set in a From field of the header information in the electronic mail message.

15. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 14, wherein a report electronic mail message for reporting on a result of transmission is produced after the received electronic mail message has been processed, and said report electronic mail message is sent to the mail address set in the From field of the header information of the received electronic mail message.

16. The Internet facsimile machine as claimed in claim 12, further comprising setting means for specifying whether the image information is to be transmitted in the form of electronic mail.

17. An Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network, according to a facsimile transmission procedure, said Internet facsimile machine comprising:

memory for storing a subaddress information table storing subaddress information received according to the facsimile transmission procedure and mail addresses of Internet facsimile machines that provide a repeater operation for information destined to a terminal associated with the subaddress, in such a way as to relate each of the subaddresses to the corresponding mail address;

a system controller adapted to search said subaddress information table to retrieve the mail address that corresponds to the subaddress received according to the facsimile transmission procedure and to request the Internet facsimile machine associated with the mail address retrieved to automatically forward received image information to the terminal associated with the subaddress via a facsimile transmission procedure, by sending an electronic mail message to said Internet facsimile machine associated with the retrieved mail address; and

a printer for outputting the received image information when no subaddress is received via the facsimile transmission procedure.

18. A method of operating an Internet facsimile machine connected to a local area network connected via a leased line to an Internet service provider, and having a function of exchanging electronic mail messages over the local area network and the Internet, and a function of exchanging facsimile data using a public network, according to a facsimile transmission procedure, said Internet facsimile control method comprising steps of:

storing a subaddress information table received according to the facsimile transmission procedure and mail addresses of Internet facsimile machines that provide a repeater operation for information destined to a terminal associated with the subaddress, in such a way as to relate each of the subaddresses to the corresponding mail address;

searching said subaddress information table to retrieve the mail address that corresponds to the subaddress received according to the facsimile transmission procedure;

requesting the Internet facsimile machine associated with the mail address retrieved to automatically forward received image information to the terminal associated with the subaddress via a facsimile transmission procedure, by sending an electronic mail message to said Internet facsimile machine associated with the retrieved mail address; and

printing the received image information when no subaddress is received via the facsimile transmission procedure.