Network printer

Details Network printer Network printer

2000-01-03

2002-05-28

Grant, II, Jerome (Department: 2624)

Facsimile and static presentation processing

Static presentation processing

Communication

C379S100080

Reexamination Certificate

active

06396592

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a communication result notifying system which notifies the transmission result of repeated facsimile data or the process result of print data, received via a LAN, to the e-mail addresses of a facsimile transmission requesting node, a print requesting node and a manager node.
BACKGROUND ART
Popular is a system in which a printing machine and a facsimile machine are connected to a LAN (Local Area Network), and a personal computer connected to the LAN can request the printing machine and the facsimile machine to execute printing and facsimile transmission.
In this system, typically, the printing machine and facsimile machine execute and terminate respective processes requested by the personal computer. When out of paper, paper jam or the like occurs, an alarm message is displayed on a display section of the printing machine or the facsimile machine. There is a facsimile machine equipped with a function to provide a facsimile output (printout) of alarm information. A requester who has requested, through a personal computer, the printing machine or the facsimile machine to perform printing or facsimile transmission considers that the process has been terminated properly unless an alarm message is displayed on the display section.
FIG. 24
shows the network structure of a LAN to which a printing machine and a facsimile machine are connected, and
FIG. 25
shows the functional blocks of a conventional printing machine. A printing machine
210
, a personal computer
211
and a network connection type facsimile machine (hereinafter called “NETFAX”)
212
are connected on a LAN
213
.
The printing machine
210
has a CPU
221
for performing the general control of the machine, a ROM
222
where a program is stored, a RAM
223
which the program uses as a work area, a printer section
224
which executes a printing process with a printer protocol of an LPD or the like, and a LAN interface section
225
which exchanges print data on the LAN.
The NETFAX
212
has a FAX section which executes transmission and reception processes on print facsimile data in place of the printer section
224
. Hereinafter, an information processing terminal through which a requester requests the NETFAX or the printing machine to do facsimile transmission or a printing process is called a requesting node. The personal computer
211
becomes a requesting node.
The requesting node
211
makes a request on a printing process to the printing machine
210
, and the printing machine
210
which has received the request acquires print data via the LAN
213
and prints it. Further, the requesting node
211
request the NETFAX
212
to execute facsimile transmission and send facsimile data via the LAN
213
, and the NETFAX
212
sends the facsimile data by facsimile to another facsimile machine designated by the telephone number via a public telecommunication network (PSTN).
According to the above-described prior art, however, unless the requester directly goes over to where the NETFAX is located and checks its display section after the requesting node
211
has made a request of facsimile transmission to the NETFAX
212
, it is not possible to know if the facsimile transmission has been terminated properly.
Even when a message indicative of abnormality is printed out from the NETFAX, there is a time lag from the point of the request of facsimile transmission to the point at which the message indicating abnormality is printed out and returned. Therefore, it is probable that the requester would not been informed of the event that facsimile transmission has not been made properly for a long time.
There is a case where facsimile transmission having been done should be reported to more than one supervisors besides the requester who has requested the facsimile transmission. In such a case, it would be troublesome to report the result of facsimile transmission to each supervisor or leave a memo describing the result of facsimile transmission to an absent supervisor.
The same inconvenience as would occur in the case of facsimile transmission also occurs in the case where the requesting node
211
makes a printing request to the printing machine
210
.
In the case of a printing process, when the print data one has requested is not printed for a long time even with no alarm message displayed on the main body, even if it is a print queuing mode due to heavy queues, the status cannot be known unless it is checked by a queue check command. This requires a trouble of going over to the printer and checking it over and over again with intervals.
Further, since all abnormalities are not displayed on the display section, even when there is a result which one wants to know immediately though it is not displayed on the display section, he may not be able to find out it until the problem is overcome forcibly by reactivation or the like.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the conventional problems and provide a facsimile machine and a communication result notifying method that allow a NETFAX or a printing machine to promptly notify the process result of a facsimile transmission process or printing process requested via a LAN, to a requesting node or a manager node which has requested the notification of the process result, and that can make efficient the work of notifying the result of a process requested via a network.
According to this invention, a facsimile machine for transmitting facsimile data, received via a LAN from a requesting node, to a destination specified by the requesting node, by facsimile, comprises an acquisition section for acquiring facsimile data sent on the LAN from the requesting node from the LAN; an extraction section for obtaining an e-mail address of a notification destination node, to which a process result of facsimile transmission is to be notified, from the acquired facsimile data; a detection section for detecting a process result of a transmission process performed on the facsimile data; and a notification section for notifying the detected process result to the e-mail address of the notification destination node by e-mail.
According to this invention, a printing machine for printing print data, received via a LAN from a requesting node, comprises an acquisition section for acquiring print data sent on the LAN from the requesting node from the LAN; an extraction section for obtaining an e-mail address of a notification destination node, to which a process result of a printing process is to be notified, from the acquired print data; a detection section for detecting a process result of a printing process performed on the print data; and a notification section for notifying the detected process result to the e-mail address of the notification destination node by e-mail.
According to the thus constituted facsimile machine and printing machine, as a notification e-mail address can be identified from received data, the result can be notified by e-mail in both cases where the result of facsimile transmission or a printing process is normal and abnormal. The one who requests a transmission process or a printing process can know the result on the site. It is also possible to eliminate a wasteful work of going over to the facsimile machine or printing machine and checking it over and over again.
The facsimile machine according to this invention comprises an accumulation section for accumulating plural pieces of facsimile data acquired from the LAN; a table for storing e-mail addresses of notification destination nodes, extracted from the facsimile data, in association with the facsimile data as extraction sources; and a function for acquiring an e-mail address of a notification destination node associated with facsimile data whose process result has been detected, from the table and notifying it to the notification section.
The printing machine according to this invention comprises an accumulation section for accumulating plural pieces of print data acquired from the LAN; a table for storing e-mail addresses of notif

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