WO1999034562A1 - Communication method between two terminals of a data communication network such as internet - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for electronic mail communication between two terminals (30, 40) of a data communication network (100) which consists in inserting, in the transmitting terminal, in an electronic mail control data for executing a management operation and in sending the mail to the receiver terminal (40) and, in the receiver terminal (40), searching for the signification of the control data and triggering, if required, the execution of said operation. The invention is also applicable to fax machines.

Description

COMMUNICATION PROCESS BETWEEN TWO TERMINALS OF A COMPUTER NETWORK SUCH AS THE INTERNET

5

A computer network such as the Internet allows a plurality of terminals, and in particular fax machines, connected to the Internet to communicate with each other by electronic mail.

10 An electronic mail includes a message, consisting of a header and a body, and possibly one, or more, attachment made up of a data file which can be of various types (fax, sound, image, EXCEL, etc.). The message header includes a plurality of fields respectively containing a destination email address

15. of mail, an email address from where the mail came from, the subject of the mail, and descriptors of the format of the attachment. The body of the message contains text.

Generally, the transmission between two fax machines of a mail 20 containing an attachment to a fax machine, to use this example, is not direct. In fact, the mail is first transmitted over the Internet, from the sending fax machine to a mailbox in which it is stored until the receiving fax machine connects to the Internet and downloads the mail from the mailbox. letters.

25

Unlike two standard facsimile machines communicating with each other over a telephone network, such as the PSTN switched telephone network, the two facsimile facsimile transmission facsimile machines do not establish duplex communication with each other over the Internet. This results in particular that the sending fax machine cannot ask the receiving fax machine to transmit its capacities or other additional information to it, as occurs during a telephone exchange protocol between two standard fax machines in the PSTN network.

35

The invention therefore originates from a problem of dialogue between two fax machines over the Internet.

The Applicant wished to be able to ask the receiving fax machine, or other receiving terminal, not only to transmit its capabilities, but also, more generally, to execute an operation for managing electronic mails.

To this end, the invention relates to a method of communication by electronic mail between two terminals of a computer network, during which, in the transmitting terminal, an order execution data for an operation is inserted into an electronic mail. management system and send the mail to the receiving terminal and, in the receiving terminal, the meaning of the command data is sought and, if necessary, the execution of said operation is initiated.

Advantageously, the mail comprising a message, said order data is inserted into said message.

In the prior art, the message of the electronic mail, consisting of a header and a body, was purely informative, its role was therefore passive. The invention consists in having used such a message to transmit an instruction, a command, to be executed by the receiver and thus to make active the role of the message. Thus, for example, it is possible to insert command data corresponding to a request for transmission of the capacities of the receiving terminal into the mail message, so that the receiving terminal transmits its capacities to the sending terminal.

Advantageously, the mail comprising a determined format file attached to the message and said message comprising a field of descriptors of the file format, said command data is inserted into said field of descriptors.

A field is thus used to contain information describing the format of the data contained in the mail to transmit an instruction to the receiving terminal, to remotely control the receiving terminal.

The invention also relates to a terminal for implementing the above method, comprising means for receiving electronic mails and means for executing management operations, characterized in that it also comprises means for searching the meaning of control operation execution data inserted in a received mail and means for triggering, if necessary, the execution of said management operation under said command.

The invention will be better understood with the aid of the following description of a particular embodiment of the terminal of the invention and of a particular embodiment of the communication method of the invention, with reference to the attached drawing on which: FIG. 1 represents a functional block diagram of the terminal of the invention and

- Figure 2 shows a schematic view of two terminals such as that of Figure 1 connected to the Internet;

The method of the invention is a method of communication, by electronic mail, between two terminals 30, 40, of a computer network, here the Internet 100. In the particular example of the description, the two terminals 30, 40 are fax machines.

It is recalled here that, in general, an electronic mail comprises a message, consisting of a header and a body, to which a data file is possibly attached. The data file has a determined format. The format of a fax file, that is, of a file containing fax data, is TIFF-F. The message header includes a plurality of fields which are here:

- a provenance field containing the e-mail address of the fax machine sending the mail,

- a destination field containing the e-mail address of the fax machine receiving the mail,

- an object field containing the subject of the mail,

- an identifier field, containing a mail identification reference and

- a descriptor field containing, if necessary, "MIME descriptors" in the format of the file attached to the message.

The "MIME descriptors" are intended to give a MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) description of the file format. A MIME description usually has two words representing a file type and a file subtype respectively. For a fax file in TIFF-F format, the MIME descriptors are "image / tiff", the word "image" representing the type of the file (it is an image file) and the word "tiff" the sub- file type (this is one of many image types, in this case the fax image type). Some MIME descriptors contain the prefix "X-" meaning that these descriptors are not standard.

The body of the message contains text.

In the particular example of the description, to transmit a fax, or more precisely fax data, by electronic mail, between the two fax machines 30, 40, a fax file, containing the fax data, is attached to the mail message .

The two corresponding fax machines 30, 40 are identical and each has access to the Internet 100 and a mailbox 31, 41, with an email address on the Internet 100, from a supplier 32, 42 Internet access 100. For the sake of clarity, the elements of the facsimile machine 30 and the corresponding elements of the facsimile machine 40 will be designated by the same references, respectively awarded and non-awarded.

The facsimile machine 40 will now be described, with reference to FIG. 1,

The facsimile machine comprises a telephone connection automaton 25 to the Internet 100, connected via a modem 8 to a telephone network, here the switched telephone network 101, and intended to execute a telephone connection protocol with the supplier of 42, in order to connect to the Internet 100.

A reception automaton 20 and a transmission automaton 17 are connected to the automaton 25 for telephone connection to the Internet 100.

The reception machine 20 is intended to download electronic mails contained in the mailbox 41 of the fax machine, during a telephone communication with the access provider 42. A decoder 19 is connected to the reception machine 20 and to a working memory 18. The decoder 19 is intended to decode the mail received, encoded using an encoding compatible with the Internet 100, in this case that of the MIME protocol. The working memory 18 is connected to a central unit 1 intended to control the operation of the facsimile machine 40, explained below.

An automaton 24 for entering information, connected to the working memory 18, is intended to scan the header of the message of a received mail, in order to read, to enter information as will be explained in the description of the communication process. The controller 24 is connected to the central unit 1.

An automaton 23 for entering command words, connected to the working memory 18, is intended to scan the header of the message of a received mail and more particularly, here, the descriptor field of the header , in order to read, to enter one, or more, command word to execute a management operation, if necessary.

By management operation is meant any management operation aimed at managing electronic mails in the fax machine such as in particular printing a mail, sending a mail, recording the capacities of a corresponding fax machine, sending an acknowledgment of receipt, sending its capabilities to a correspondent and sending an acknowledgment of non-understanding.

The input machine 23 is connected to an identification machine 22 intended to search for the meaning of a control word entered by the machine 23, in other words to identify the word entered on the command for executing the operation Management. The identification machine 22 is connected to the central unit 1.

Finally, an automaton 21 for determining file formats, connected to the working memory 18, is intended to scan the descriptor field of the header of a received message, in order to determine whether the facsimile machine 40 can restore, edit the fax, by printing or by display on a screen. The controller 21 is connected to the central unit 1.

The transmission automaton 17 is connected to a transmission memory 16 intended to contain electronic mails awaiting transmission. The transmission memory 16 is connected to an automatic mail preparation machine electronic 14 with the interposition of an encoder 15 intended to encode letters to be sent according to the encoding of the MIME protocol.

The mail preparation machine 14, connected to the central unit 1, comprises software for preparing, creating, an electronic mail to be sent, using information supplied by the central unit 1.

The facsimile machine 40 also comprises an image analysis machine 3, intended for analyzing and digitizing facsimile images, and a printing machine 5.

The image analysis automaton 3 is connected to the central unit 1 with the interposition of a fax image memory 4.

The printing machine 5 is connected to a printing preparation machine 7 via a print memory 6. The machine 7 is connected to the central unit 1.

The facsimile machine 40 further comprises a memory 9 containing a directory of correspondents in which are identified the identities of a plurality of corresponding facsimile machines, with which their electronic addresses and their capacities are associated, and a memory 11 for storing mail containing references of 'identification of letters sent, each associated with a status indicator, explained below, and, optionally, a copy of the letter sent. An automaton 10 for managing the directory of correspondents is connected to memory 9 and to the central unit 1. An automaton 12 for managing mail is connected to memory 11 and to the central unit 1.

A memory 13 connected to the central unit 1 contains a standard text of acknowledgment of receipt, a standard text of acknowledgment of non-comprehension and words of command to execute a management operation.

Finally, the facsimile machine 40 comprises a user interface 2 comprising a display screen, an input keyboard and software means for creating input interfaces, intended to be displayed on the screen and to allow a user in particular to enter data. information necessary to prepare an electronic mail, to manage the directory of correspondents 9, as well as to manually control the execution e-mail management operations.

The method of communication, by electronic mail, between the two fax machines 30, 40, corresponding to the operation of the fax machines, will now be described.

Several examples will be explained.

Example 1: Acknowledgment of receipt.

Example 1 relates to the sending, by the sending fax machine 30 to the receiving fax machine 40, of an electronic mail containing a message to which a fax file is attached and the return, by the receiving fax machine 40 to the sending fax machine 30 acknowledgment of receipt.

In the sending fax machine 30, the mail to be sent is prepared. A user enters a facsimile image into the image analysis machine 3 'which analyzes and scans the facsimile image and stores the facsimile data in memory 4'.

The central unit 1 ^* provides the mail preparation machine 14 ′, the electronic address of the receiving fax machine 40, the subject of the mail, the MIME descriptors of the format of the fax file stored in the memory 4 ′ and a text. The address of the receiving fax machine, the subject of the mail and the text are entered by the user using the 2 'interface. The electronic address of the transmitting facsimile machine 30 is pre-registered in the machine 14 'for preparing letters. The address of the sending fax machine 30, the address of the receiving fax machine 40, the subject line, the MIME descriptors are respectively inserted in the source field, in the destination field, in the subject field and in the descriptor field of the header of the mail message, and the text is inserted in the body of the message.

In addition, using the user interface 2 ', the user triggers a command to transmit an acknowledgment and, under the command of the central unit 1', the machine 14 'inserts the word "X-Ack" command to transmit an acknowledgment of receipt in the descriptor field of the message header. The fax image, stored in memory 4 ', is attached to the mail message by the machine 14', under the control of the central unit 1 '.

Finally, the machine 12 ′ for managing the mails in the memory 11 ′ supplies a mail identification reference to the transmission preparation automaton 14 ′ which inserts this reference in the identifier field of the message head. The automaton 12 ′ also copies the reference of the mail by associating it with a transmission wait status indicator, in the mail memory 11 ′. The encoder 15 'encodes the mail according to the MIME protocol and stores it in the send memory 16'.

In order to send the mail, the connection machine 25 'executes the telephone connection protocol with the access provider 32 and, after connection to the Internet 100, the sending machine 17' sends the mail on the 'Internet 100, to the receiving fax machine 40. After sending the mail, the management machine 12' replaces the waiting waiting indicator associated with the mail reference with an acknowledgment waiting status indicator reception, in memory 11 '. Mail is routed over the Internet 100 to mailbox 41 on the fax machine

40 in which it is stored. To receive the mail, the facsimile machine 40 connects to its access provider 42, by telephone connection, and the reception automaton 20 downloads the mail from the mailbox 41. The decoder 19 decodes the mail which is then stored in working memory 18.

The file format determination machine 21 scans the descriptor field of the message of the received mail, enters the MIME descriptors and deduces therefrom the file format attached to the message. This format being the TIFF-F format, understandable by the fax machine 40, the machine 21 authorizes the return of the mail received, here by printing, and reports it to the central unit 1. Under the latter's order, the mail is subsequently printed by the printing machine 5.

The control word input automaton 23 also scans the descriptor field, enters the control word "X-Ack" and supplies it to the identification automaton 22. The latter searches for the meaning of the word "X- Ack ", identifies it with a command to transmit an acknowledgment of reception and transmits this command to the central unit 1. Under the command of the central unit 1, the information entry machine 24 scans the header of the message, enters the address of the sending fax machine 30 and the mail reference, and provides this information to the mail preparation machine 14. The central unit 1 also supplies the machine 14 with the standard text of acknowledgment of receipt and the command word for validating the reception of the mail , stored in memory 13.

The mail preparation machine 14 prepares an acknowledgment mail by inserting the address of the sending fax machine 30 in the destination field, the address of the receiving fax machine 40, prerecorded, in the source field, the text d 'acknowledgment of receipt in the body of the message and the command word for validation of receipt in the descriptor field. The mail is encoded by the encoder 15 then stored in the transmission memory 16 and, finally, the transmission machine 17 sends the mail to the sending fax machine 30, before the connection machine 25 disconnects from the 'Internet 100.

The mail containing the fax and the acknowledgment mail are thus received and sent respectively, during the same telephone communication with the access provider 42. The acknowledgment mail is routed over the Internet 100 to the mailbox 31 of the sending fax machine 32, in which it is stored.

In the transmitting fax machine 30, after connection to the Internet 100, the reception machine 25 downloads the acknowledgment mail which is decoded and then stored in the working memory 18 ′. The control word input automaton 23 'scans the descriptor field of the mail message and enters the command word for validation of receipt.

The identification automaton 22 'searches for the meaning of this control word, identifies it with a command to validate reception and supplies the command to the central unit 1'. Under the control of the central unit 1 ′, the information entry machine 24 ′ scans the message header, enters the mail reference and supplies it to the mail management machine 12 ′ of the memory 11 '. The latter scans the content of the memory 11 'in order to find the reference of the mail, then replaces the waiting state indicator for acknowledgment of receipt associated with an indicator indicating that the reception is validated. In another embodiment, in the sending facsimile machine 30, before sending the mail to the receiving facsimile machine 40, it is copied into the mail memory 11 ′ with the corresponding reference. After sending the mail, the duration for which the status indicator, associated with the mail reference, indicates a state of waiting for acknowledgment of receipt is regularly evaluated. In the event that this duration exceeds a predetermined threshold, in this case forty-eight hours, the waiting for acknowledgment of receipt indicator is replaced by an alert status indicator. Then, under the control of the machine 12 ', a copy of the mail stored in the memory 11' is transferred to the print memory 16 ', and the sending machine 17' again sends the mail to the receiving fax machine 40.

In the following examples, the operations of the various elements of the facsimile machines 30, 40 are essentially analogous to what has just been described and differ only in what will now be described.

Example 2: Printing the received mail

In the sending fax machine 30, under the control of the user, the mail preparation machine 14 'inserts the word "X-Print" for print order in the descriptor field of a mail message which is then sent to the receiving terminal 40, as previously described. In the receiving fax machine 40, after downloading the mail, the input machine 23 enters the command word "X-Print", the identification machine 22 searches for the meaning of this word, identifies it with a command from printing and under the control of the central unit 1, the printing machine 5 prints the mail received.

Example 3: Sending the capabilities of the sending fax machine

In the transmitting facsimile machine 30, under the control of the user, the automaton 14 ′ inserts, in the descriptor field of a mail message to be sent, a command word for recording capacity and, in a field of associated information, the capabilities of the sending fax machine 30. Then the sending fax machine 30 sends the mail to the receiving fax machine 40. In the receiving fax machine 40, the input 23 enters the command word, the identification machine 22 searches for its meaning and identifies it with a capacity recording command, the input machine 24 captures the capacities of the sending fax machine 30 and, under the command of the central unit 1, the automaton 11 stores them in the directory of correspondents 9.

Example 4: Requesting capacities from the receiving fax machine

Here, in the sending terminal 30, under the control of the user, the machine 14 'inserts a command word for transmitting the capacities of the receiving terminal 40 into the descriptor field of the message of the mail to be sent, and the facsimile machine 30 sends the mail to the receiving terminal 40. In the latter, the input machine 23 enters the command word, the identification machine 22 searches for its meaning and identifies it with a capacity transmission command and, as in In example 3, the automaton 14 prepares a mail containing in a descriptor field a command for recording capacities and, in an associated information field, the capacities of the receiving fax machine 40.

The facsimile machine 40 sends the mail to the sending facsimile machine 30 in which the capacities of the facsimile machine 40 are recorded in the directory of the correspondent 9 ′, as explained in Example 3.

Example 5: Request for forwarding to another receiving fax machine

In the sending fax machine 30, under the control of the user, the machine 14 'inserts a forwarding control word on another receiving fax machine and the electronic address of this other receiving fax machine, respectively in the descriptor field and in an associated information field of the message of a mail to be sent. The sending facsimile machine 30 sends the mail to the receiving facsimile machine 40 in which the automaton 23 enters the command word, the automaton 22 searches for its meaning and identifies it with a forwarding command, the automaton 24 enters the address of the facsimile machine and finally the machine 14 changes the address of the mail received before sending it back to the return fax machine.

Example 6: Acknowledgment of non-understanding

In this example, the sending fax machine 30 sends to the fax machine receiver 40 a mail containing a message to which is attached a data file having a determined format such that the facsimile machine 40 is not capable of reading and therefore of editing, of restoring, the file. The message header here contains a file format MIME descriptor field.

In the receiving terminal 40, the connection automaton 25 connects to the Internet 100, the reception automaton 20 downloads the mail and stores it in the working memory 18. The automaton 21 for determining file formats scans the descriptor field, enters the MIME descriptors of the format of the file attached to the message, deduces therefrom that the facsimile machine 40 is unable to restore the file and signals it to the central unit 1. The latter then commands the input machine 24 to enter the electronic address of the sending terminal 40, in the source field of the message, and supplies this address as well as the text of acknowledgment of non-understanding stored in the memory 13 to the automatic mail preparation machine 14. L PLC 14 prepares an electronic mail containing, in a destination field, the address of the sending fax machine 30, in the source field, the address of the receiving fax machine 40, in the subject field, an access keyword used of non-comprehension, recognizable automatically by the sending fax machine 30, and, in the body of the message, the text of acknowledgment of non-comprehension. Then, the mail is encoded, stored in the sending memory 16 and sent by the sending machine 17 to the sending fax machine 30, through the Internet 100. The mail containing the unreadable file and the mail containing the acknowledgment of non-comprehension are downloaded and transmitted respectively, during the same connection to the Internet 100.

In this example, it is the unreadable data in the file attached to the message of the mail received, which constitutes order data to send back an acknowledgment of non-understanding.

In the description which has just been made, the fax machines are arranged to connect to the Internet 100, by telephone connection through the PSTN network 101. One could consider other ways of connecting to the Internet 100, by telephone connection through the ISDN network (Integrated Services Digital Network) or, for example, by direct connection.

Claims

1- A method of communication by electronic mail between two terminals (30, 40) of a computer network (100), during which, in the transmitting terminal, is inserted in an electronic mail control data execution of a management operation and the mail is sent to the receiving terminal (40) and, in the receiving terminal (40), the meaning of the command data is sought and the execution of said operation is triggered, where appropriate. 2- The communication method according to claim 1, wherein said mail comprising a message, said order data is inserted into said message. 3- A communication method according to claim 2, wherein the mail comprising a determined format file attached to the message and said message comprising, a field of descriptors of the file format, said command data is inserted into said field of descriptors. 4- Method according to one of claims 2 and 3, wherein on reception it scans said message in order to enter said command data. 5- communication method according to one of claims 2 to 4, wherein, in the transmitter terminal (30), is inserted in the message transmission control data of an acknowledgment of receipt and an address of the transmitter terminal and , in the receiving terminal (40), the address of the sending terminal (30) is entered and an acknowledgment letter is prepared which is sent to the sending terminal (30). 6- A communication method according to claim 5, wherein, in the sending terminal (30), we insert in the message a mail reference and, in the receiving terminal (40), we enter the mail reference and we inserts in the acknowledgment mail. 7- A communication method according to claim 6, in which, in the receiving terminal (40), the acknowledgment mail containing a message, there is inserted in said message control data for validation of the reception of the mail and, in the sending terminal (30), the reference of the mail sent to the receiving terminal (40) is stored and, upon receipt of the acknowledgment letter, the meaning of the order data is sought and the receipt of the mail whose reference is indicated in the acknowledgment letter is confirmed. 8- A communication method according to one of claims 6 and 7, in which, in the transmitting terminal (30), the mail reference is stored with which an awaiting acknowledgment status indicator is associated, after sending said mail, the duration for which the indicator associated with the reference indicates a waiting status for transmission is regularly evaluated and, in the event that said duration exceeds a predetermined threshold, the status indicator is replaced waiting for acknowledgment by an alert status indicator. 9. Communication method according to claim 8, in which, in the sending terminal (30), the mail sent is copied into a memory and, in the case where the indicator associated with the mail reference indicates an alert state. , said mail is again sent to the receiving terminal (40). 10- A communication method according to one of claims 2 to 9, wherein, in the sending terminal (30), is inserted in the mail message control data transmission capacity and then in the receiving terminal (40) , after receipt of said mail, another mail is prepared containing a message in which data recording command data associated with capacities of the receiving terminal (40) are inserted, said other mail is sent to the sending terminal and finally, in the transmitting terminal (30), the meaning of said control data is sought and the recording of the capacities of the receiving terminal (40) is triggered. 11- Communication method according to one of claims 2 to 10, wherein, in the transmitter terminal (30), is inserted in the message retransmission control data to another receiver terminal and, in the receiver terminal (40 ), the mail is forwarded to the other receiving terminal. 12- Communication method according to one of claims 2 to 11, wherein, in the transmitter terminal (30), is inserted into the message of mail of the print order data of said mail and, in the receiving terminal (40), the printing of said mail is controlled. 13- Communication method according to one of claims 1 to 12, wherein, the mail containing a message, to which is attached a file of determined format, and information on the format of the file, in the receiving terminal (40) , the information on the format of the file is entered and it is determined whether the file can be restored and, if it is not possible, an acknowledgment of non-understanding is sent to the transmitting terminal (30). 14. Terminal for implementing the method of claim 1, comprising means (20) for receiving electronic mails and means (3, 5, 10, 12, 14, 17) for executing management operations, characterized by the fact that it further comprises means (22) for searching for the meaning of command data for execution of a management operation inserted in a received mail and means (22, 1) for triggering, if necessary , the execution of said management operation under said command. 15- Terminal according to claim 14, wherein, said order data being contained in a message of the received mail, means (23) are provided for scanning said message in order to enter said order data. 16- Terminal according to claim 15, wherein, the mail comprising a data file, attached to the message, and said message comprising a field of descriptors of the data presentation structure of the file containing said command data, the means (23 ) to scan the message are arranged to scan the descriptor field. 17- Terminal according to one of claims 14 to 16, arranged to send electronic mails, in which means (12) are provided for assigning, to a sent mail containing transmission control data of an acknowledgment of receipt , a mail reference associated with an indicator to indicate an acknowledgment waiting state and means (12) for replacing said acknowledgment waiting state indicator with an indicator for validated reception of the mail at the reception of a letter containing order data for validation of the reception of the letter. 18- Terminal according to one of claims 14 to 17, comprising restitution means (2, 5) intended to restore a given format file, attached to a mail received from a sending terminal and containing information on the format said file, in which means (2) are provided for entering the format of the file in order to determine whether said rendering means (2, 5) can restore the file and means (13, 1, 14) for transmitting to the transmitting terminal an accused of non-understanding if the means of restitution (2, 5) cannot.