Facsimile apparatus and account-selling system using the same

• US 7,177,042 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2001
• Issued: 02/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Mimoto, Yasuharu
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams; Kimberly
• Assistant Examiner(s): SINGH, SATWANT K
• Application Number:
  US09/985,427
• Publication Number:
  US 20020055896A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,929 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.14, 358/1.15, 399/8, 399/10, 399/23, 399/27, 399/12, 705/26, 705/29, 705/28, 705/30, 705/35, 714/47, 714/4
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/26 for printing, stamping, franking, typing or teleprinting apparatus ticket printing or the like apparatus G07F17/42
• 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 1/00347 with another still picture apparatus, e.g. hybrid still picture apparatus circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between image input and image output device H04N1/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2346 according to a detected condition or state of the reproducing device, e.g. temperature or ink quantity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/34 for coin-freed systems ; Pay systems

Abstract

An account-settling system comprises a buyer-side facsimile apparatus and a seller-side facsimile apparatus. These facsimile apparatuses are connected to the Internet through LANs, respectively. The buyer-side facsimile apparatus comprises, in addition to a facsimile section, an operation section, an apparatus-status monitoring section, a notice data generating section, an SSL encoding section, an HTTP client section, a TCP/IP protocol control section, and a network control section. The HTTP client section is an Internet-connecting unit. The buyer-side facsimile apparatus is connected to the LAN. The operation section is operated to input the account data representing the number of the buyer'"'"'s credit card and the validation period thereof. The apparatus-status monitoring section detects the amount of any expendable that remains in the facsimile apparatus. The notice data generating section supplies account data and expendable-type data to the seller. The SSL encoding section encodes data, thereby keeping the data secret. The seller-side apparatus includes an operation section, a storage section, a notice data analyzing section, an SSL decoding section, an HTTP server section, a TCP/IP protocol control section, and a network control section. The notice data analyzing section analyzes the notice data received through the Internet from the buyer-side facsimile apparatus and performs settlement based on the analyzing result.

Claims

1. An account-settling system comprising:

a buyer-side facsimile apparatus; and

a seller-side apparatus which is connected to said buyer-side facsimile apparatus through an Internet,

wherein said buyer-side facsimile apparatus comprises;

an operation section which is operated to input account data containing a number of a credit card peculiar to a buyer and a validation period of the credit card;

an apparatus-status monitoring section which monitors a condition of expendables;

a notice data generating section which generates notice data containing said account data inputted from said operation section and expendable-type data of said expendables monitored by said apparatus-status monitoring section to notify to a seller; and

an Internet connecting section which converts said notice data generated in said notice data generating section into data having a format to send out in said Internet, and

said seller-side apparatus comprises;

a notice data analyzing section which analyzes said notice data received through said Internet from said buyer-side facsimile apparatus and performs settlement based on the analyzing result, said settlement comprising;

sending an inquiry to a financial entity to determine whether said buyer has a valid account; and

a determination whether an expendable item in said notice data is in stock, and if so, automatically forwarding an order to a shipping department, and if not currently in stock, automatically sending an order to a purchasing department.

2. The account-settling system according to claim 1, wherein said buyer-side facsimile apparatus further comprises:

an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encoding section which encodes to conceal said account data contained in said notice data generated in said notice data generating section, and

said seller-side apparatus further comprises;

an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) decoding section which decodes said account data concealed in said coding section and sends the decoded account data to said notice data analyzing section.

3. The account-settling system according to claim 1, wherein said apparatus-status monitoring section, when said expendables reduce to a predetermined amount, sends said expendable-type data of said expendables to be replenished to said notice data generating section.

4. The account-settling system according to claim 3, wherein said buyer-side facsimile apparatus further comprises:

an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encoding section which encodes to conceal said account data contained in said notice data generated in said notice data generating section, and

said seller-side apparatus further comprises;

an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) decoding section which decodes said account data concealed in said coding section and sends the decoded account data to said notice data analyzing section.

5. The account-settling system according to claim 4, wherein said notice data further comprises apparatus data including a name and serial number of said buyer-side facsimile apparatus automatically generated therein and destination data inputted by said operation section.

6. A method for automatically placing an order for expendable items for a facsimile apparatus, said method comprising:

providing an input to permit a user to enter into said facsimile apparatus an account data comprising a number of a credit card peculiar to a buyer and a validation period of the credit card;

saving said account data so that it can be used to automatically place an order to a supplier without having said account data entered for each order by said user;

detecting when an expendable item needs to be ordered;

automatically sending an order for said expendable item to a supplier, using said saved account data to place said order;

receiving said order at a supplier;

analyzing contents of said order;

checking a financial entity to determine that said buyer has a valid account;

determining whether an expendable item in said order is currently in stock; and

automatically sending a request to a shipping department if said expendable item is currently in stock and automatically sending a purchase request to a purchasing department if said expendable item is currently not in stock.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said order is placed via an Internet connection.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

using an encoder to conceal said account data when placing said order.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said detecting comprises:

measuring an amount remaining of an expendable item; and

determining that said amount remaining is less than a predetermined amount.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said encoder comprises a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).