JP4645362B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that prints a read image, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having a mail function.

In recent years, not only an image forming function for printing a read image, but also an image forming apparatus having a mail function for transmitting an image attached to a mail to a specified address has been used.
In this image forming apparatus, a delivery confirmation email and an error notification email returned due to a receipt confirmation or an incoming error at the receiving source are printed, and the sender confirms the printed email, Receiving mail on the receiving side or receiving incoming mail error.
In addition, when the image forming apparatus is used as a mailer, a delivery confirmation mail or an error notification mail is sent from the sender by adding identification data to a mail sent from a client connected to the image forming apparatus over a network. A technique for transferring to a client (see, for example, Patent Document 1) or a transfer instruction corresponding to a predetermined reception condition is stored, and a transfer confirmation mail or an error notification mail is stored in the case of a predetermined reception condition A technique of transferring to a specific transfer destination according to an instruction (see, for example, Patent Document 2) is also known.

JP 2001-184278 A JP-A-11-134266

By the way, in the image forming apparatus provided with the mail function, the mail may not reach the sender by simply printing the delivery confirmation mail or the error notification mail. It was not economical to print the intended email.
In addition, using the image forming apparatus as a mailer, by sending a message sent from the client with identification data attached, and using a technology for transferring a delivery confirmation mail or an error notification mail to the sender client, When an image read by the image forming apparatus is transmitted from this image forming apparatus, the mail cannot be transferred to a specific client because the transmission source is the own apparatus.

  A method using a technique for storing a transfer instruction corresponding to a predetermined reception condition and transferring a delivery confirmation mail or an error notification mail to a specific transfer destination according to the stored transfer instruction in the case of the predetermined reception condition Then, a transfer instruction must be set for each transfer user, and if there are a large number of clients, it is extremely time-consuming. Moreover, when there is a problem in the setting of the transfer instruction and the transfer destination is unknown, the exchange of the delivery confirmation mail and the error notification mail is repeated endlessly, which hinders smooth transmission and reception in the network.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is capable of processing confirmation mails such as delivery confirmation mails and error notification mails after transmission economically and without problems, and facilitating image formation and mail transmission / reception. An object of the present invention is to provide a possible image forming apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a reading section for reading an image and having a mail transmission / reception function, an ID input means for accepting input of an ID for identifying a user, and designation of a destination Destination receiving means for receiving an image, instruction receiving means for sending an image read by the reading unit by mail, and requesting whether delivery confirmation for the mail transmission is requested, and the instruction receiving means for receiving the instruction. The mail containing the image according to the instruction is added with information indicating whether or not to request delivery confirmation according to the instruction and a job number indicating the transmission process of the mail, A transmission means for performing transmission processing to transmit to the accepted destination, and when the mail transmission processing is performed by the transmission means, the ID input means A recording means for recording a job log in which the attached ID, information indicating whether or not to request delivery confirmation according to the instruction, and the job number indicating the transmission process of the mail are associated with each other, and receiving the mail A receiving unit that determines whether or not the job number is added to the mail received by the receiving unit, a storage unit that previously stores an address corresponding to the ID in the own device, and a determining unit If it is determined that the job number is added, the job log in the recording unit is referred to, and if the information indicating that the delivery confirmation is requested is associated with the job number, the job A transfer unit that reads an address corresponding to the ID associated with a number from the storage unit and transfers the received mail to the address; Characterized in that it comprises.

According to this image forming apparatus, the received mail job number, can transfer mail received reliably to the user who instructed the execution of the job destinations, which confirmation mail delivery confirmation mail after transmission It is possible to process economically and without problems, and to facilitate image formation and mail transmission / reception.

According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, confirmation mails such as delivery confirmation mails and error notification mails after transmission can be processed economically and without problems, and image formation and mail transmission / reception can be facilitated.
That is, the delivery confirmation mail and the error notification mail can be surely delivered to the user, the administrator, and the like, and the waste of the cost due to the printing of the target mail only by these confirmations can be minimized.

Embodiments of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in the figure, the image forming apparatus 100 of this embodiment includes a control unit 1, a reading unit 2, an operation unit 3, a display unit 4, a printing unit 5, and a network interface 6.

The reading unit 2 scans an image of a document placed on a reading surface (not shown) and outputs it as image data.
In response to an instruction from the user, the operation unit 3 instructs image processing, image formation, or mail transmission.

The display unit 4 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display, and displays a read image, a processed image, an operation instruction, and the like.
The printing unit 5 includes a photoconductor, an exposure unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit, a fixing unit, and the like (not shown), forms a toner image based on image data, and fixes the toner image on a sheet of recording material.

The control unit 1 performs image processing on the image data based on an instruction from the user using the operation unit 3 and causes the printing unit 5 to print the image data or transmits the image data as an email.
The image forming apparatus 100 having the above structure can be connected to an internal network or the Internet via the network interface 6.

The image forming apparatus 100 having the above configuration is used by being connected to a network.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a network to which the image forming apparatus 100 of this embodiment is connected.
In this example, a client 11 corresponding to a plurality of users and a client 12 of an administrator of the image forming apparatus 100 are connected to the image forming apparatus 100 via a network.
Further, the image forming apparatus 100 can communicate with clients 11 of other networks via the Internet 13.
In the image forming apparatus 100, address information corresponding to a user ID and a mail address as shown in FIG. 3 can be registered in advance.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 100 will be described.
First, the processing of the image forming apparatus 100 at the time of image reading will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The user places a document on the reading surface of the reading unit 2 of the image forming apparatus 100 and instructs the operation unit 3 to read an image (step S01).
Thereby, the image of the document on the reading surface of the reading unit 2 is scanned, and the image data is output.
Next, when performing mail communication, the user sets the image forming apparatus 100 to the mail communication mode (step S02).
Here, when the user does not enter the mail communication mode (step S02: No) and issues a print instruction on the operation unit 3 (step S03), the image read by the reading unit 2 is printed by the printing unit 5. (Step S04).

In order to perform mail communication, the user in the mail communication mode (step S02: Yes) performs user authentication by inputting a user ID (step S05). Further, when requesting delivery confirmation at the destination of the transmitted mail, the user instructs a delivery confirmation request (step S06).
In this way, a mail is created with the read image data as the mail body and the job number added to the header (step S07). When a delivery confirmation request is instructed by the user, the delivery confirmation request is added to the header together with the job number.

Thereafter, the user operates the operation unit 3 of the image forming apparatus 100 to directly input a destination mail address or specify a destination mail address registered in advance, and perform a transmission operation.
In this way, the created mail is transmitted to the client 11 at the transmission destination address (step S08).

  Here, the image forming apparatus 100 creates a job log when the mail transmission is executed (step S09). FIG. 5 shows a job log to be created. As shown in the figure, in the job log, a job number is assigned to each executed job, and authentication of the user who executed the job is associated with these job numbers. The job information such as the user ID as information and the presence / absence of a transmission confirmation request is recorded.

Next, processing of the image forming apparatus 100 when receiving mail will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
When the image forming apparatus 100 receives the mail (step S11), the control unit 1 analyzes the contents of the mail header (step S12).
As a result of the content analysis of the header, the control unit 1 determines whether or not a job number is attached to the header (step S13). If no job number is attached (step S13: No), Printing is performed by the printing unit 5 (step S14).

  As a result of the header content analysis by the control unit 1, if a job number is assigned to the header (step S 13: Yes), the control unit 1 determines the job number in the job log (see FIG. 5) based on the job number. The job information corresponding to the job number is extracted (step S15), and it is determined whether or not there is a delivery confirmation request in the job information corresponding to the job number (step S16).

When it is determined that there is a delivery confirmation request in the job information corresponding to the job number (step S16: Yes), the control unit 1 calculates a user ID corresponding to the job number in the job log (step S17).
Then, based on the determined user ID, the control unit 1 determines the mail address corresponding to the user ID from the address information (see FIG. 3) corresponding to the user ID registered in advance in the image forming apparatus 100 and the mail address. Is pulled out (step S18).

Next, the control unit 1 transmits the received mail to the extracted mail address (step S19).
As a result, the mail received by the image forming apparatus 100 is transmitted to the client 11 corresponding to the extracted mail address, and the user of the client 11 has received the transmitted mail from the received mail to the destination. I can confirm that.

Further, when the control unit 1 determines that there is no delivery confirmation request in the job information corresponding to the job number (step S16: No), the control unit 1 analyzes the contents of the mail header again (step S20).
Here, when “Return Receipt” indicating a transfer instruction is included in the header of the mail (step S21: Yes), the control unit 1 transfers the received mail to the transmission source client 11 (step S22).

Further, when there is no “Return Receipt” in the mail header (step S21: No), the control unit 1 determines whether or not two “Errors” are included (step S23).
The control unit 1 causes the printing unit 5 of the image forming apparatus 100 to print the received mail when two “Error” indicating an incoming error are included in the mail header (step S23: Yes). (Step S24).

  In addition, the control unit 1 transmits the received mail when two “Errors” are not included in the mail header (step S23: No), that is, when one “Error” is included. The data is transferred to the original client 11 and the client 12 of the administrator of the image forming apparatus 100 in which the mail address is registered in advance (step S25).

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus according to the above-described embodiment, confirmation mails such as delivery confirmation mails and error notification mails after transmission are processed economically and without any trouble, thereby facilitating smooth image formation and mail transmission / reception. be able to.
That is, the delivery confirmation mail and the error notification mail can be surely delivered to the user, the administrator, and the like, and the waste of the cost due to the printing of the target mail only by these confirmations can be minimized.

In particular, when it is recorded in the job information of the received mail that it is a delivery confirmation mail, the user authentication information in the job log is extracted, and the received mail is surely transferred to the destination of the authenticated user to execute the job. be able to.
Also, by printing the error notification mail for notifying a double incoming error without transferring it, it is possible to eliminate the problem that the error notification mail is repeatedly transferred.

The mail transfer and processing based on the contents of the header can be set in advance by the image forming apparatus 100.
Therefore, for example, when two “Errors” are included in the header of the received mail, the received mail is set to be discarded without being forwarded or printed, or two “Errors” were added. May be set to be recorded as a log.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 shows an example of a network to which image forming apparatuses of the present embodiment are connected. It is a figure explaining the address information which matched the user ID and mail address which were registered beforehand. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a processing operation of the image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows the content of the job log. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a processing operation of the image forming apparatus when receiving mail.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control part, 2 ... Reading part, 5 ... Printing part, 100 ... Image forming apparatus.

Claims (1)

An image forming apparatus having a reading unit for reading an image and having a mail transmission / reception function,
ID input means for receiving input of an ID for identifying a user;
A destination accepting means for accepting designation of the destination;
An instruction receiving means for transmitting an image read by the reading unit by mail and receiving an instruction as to whether or not to request delivery confirmation for the mail transmission;
When the instruction accepting unit accepts the instruction, information indicating whether or not a delivery confirmation related to the instruction is requested to a mail including the image related to the instruction, and a job number indicating a transmission process of the mail A transmission means for performing transmission processing to be added and transmitted to the transmission destination received by the transmission destination reception means;
When the transmission process of the mail is performed by the transmission unit, the ID received by the ID input unit, information indicating whether or not a delivery confirmation according to the instruction is requested, and the transmission process of the mail Recording means for recording a job log in association with the job number;
A receiving means for receiving mail;
Determining means for determining whether or not the job number is added to the mail received by the receiving means;
Storage means for previously storing an address corresponding to the ID in its own device ;
When the determination unit determines that the job number is added, the job log in the recording unit is referred to and information indicating that the delivery confirmation is requested is associated with the job number. For example, the image forming apparatus includes: a transfer unit that reads an address corresponding to the ID associated with the job number from the storage unit and transfers the received mail to the address.

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