JPH11112769A - Acting method for obtaining homepage information of internet and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To permit a user not ready to direct accessing to the internet of PC on the like, to obtain homepage information of the internet by storing an URL address received with a communication line and a terminal number, performing access to WWW with the internet and transmitting stored informa tion to a requesting terminal by means of facsimile communication. SOLUTION: An FAX/WWW access document 10 where the URL address of desired information and the FAX number of the FAX terminal 5 of a requring source, which is returned from a system 9, is described are generated and transmitted to the system 9. The document 10 is transmitted to an access part 4 by way of a FAX exchanging part 1, a character recognizing part 2 and a management control part 3, a Web access part 4 performs access to the homepage of an URL address with the internet 8 and the information is outputted as a FAX document 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for acquiring homepage information on the Internet, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for responding to an acquisition request from a facsimile terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art WWW (World Wide) on the Internet
The means for accessing the Web is performed by using software called a browser on a personal computer or the like. The browser software accesses a WWW server on the Internet using the communication protocol HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), and
Hyper Text information of the homepage in HT
By transferring to a personal computer by the TP and displaying it on a browser, a homepage on the WWW has been referred to.

JP-A-5-199345 and JP-A-8-1993
Japanese Patent Application No. -305755 proposes a technique of recognizing characters such as destination information and a request code number from a received FAX in a FAX server.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-49056, destination information and image information are separately recognized from a FAX document.
Techniques for accumulating have been proposed.

[0005]

An input device such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) is required to access the WWW and obtain information from a homepage.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for allowing a person who is not prepared to directly access the Internet, such as a PC, to obtain Internet homepage information.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for obtaining homepage information on the Internet, comprising the steps of, when a URL address received via a communication line is received, storing the URL address and a terminal number which transmitted the URL address. And WWW access to the URL address stored via the Internet; storing home page information of the URL address accessed by the WWW; and storing the stored information by facsimile communication. Transmitting a terminal number to the requesting terminal.

[0008] Further, a URL address and a request terminal number are received by facsimile text described in a predetermined format,
The URL address and the requested terminal number are read and stored by the character recognition device, and WWW access is performed based on the stored information.
It is also an embodiment of the present invention that the image received by the WWW access is transmitted by facsimile using the stored request terminal number.

A facsimile in which a URL address and a requested terminal number are described in a predetermined format is received and stored as a facsimile image signal, and the URL address is converted from the stored image signal into a signal for WWW access. WW
Used for W access, stores the homepage information received by WWW access as an image signal, converts the image signal into a facsimile image signal, calls the requesting terminal by the stored requesting terminal number, and A method of transmitting a facsimile image signal is also one embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention provides a facsimile receiving means for receiving a facsimile transmitted from a requesting terminal via a communication line, a URL address described in a predetermined facsimile message, and a request for a transmission source. A first storage unit for storing the terminal number, an access unit for accessing the stored URL address via the Internet to access desired homepage information, and a first storage unit for reading and storing the accessed desired homepage information. And a means for facsimile transmitting the stored desired homepage information to a request terminal.

Further, the facsimile receiving means and the transmitting means are facsimile terminal devices, and the first storage means comprises a character recognition device for reading a received screen, and a storage means for storing an output of the character recognition device. , The WWW
In one embodiment, the access means includes a means for reading out the image signal of the stored URL address, converting the image signal so that it can be input to the Internet, and inputting it.

Further, the facsimile receiving means has means for receiving a facsimile image signal as it is, the first storage means stores the received image signal, and the WWW access means stores the received image signal in the first storage means. Means for converting the entered URL address from a facsimile image signal into a signal to be used for Internet input and inputting the same,
The second storage means for storing the accessed homepage information has means for storing the image signal of the Internet as it is, and the transmission means for facsimile transmitting to the request terminal,
It further comprises means for converting an image signal of the Internet stored in the second storage means into a facsimile image signal and transmitting the image signal to the requesting terminal by the requesting terminal number stored in the means in the first storage means. It is an embodiment of.

[0013] Further, the agent for obtaining the homepage information of the Internet is a membership system, and a device including a qualification confirming means and a billing means of the requesting terminal is also an embodiment as a substitute business of the present invention. At the request of the requester, facsimile transmission including the member number,
It is another embodiment of the present invention that the WWW access system verifies the member number and performs a billing process.

Here, the URL is a Uniform Resource Locat
This is an abbreviation of ord, and http://www.abc.co.jp/abc,html/ is used as the address display format of the access destination.

[0015]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

To obtain homepage information of a desired WWW server using the FAX / WWW access system 9, a URL address 12 of a desired information source and a facsimile (hereinafter referred to as FAX) terminal requesting the information are required. 5
The FAX / WWW access document 10 in which the FAX number 13 is written is transmitted to the WWW access system 9.

FAX / WWW access document 10 is faxed
The data is transmitted from the terminal 5 via the public communication network 7 to the system 9
FAX transmitting / receiving unit 1 in FAX / WWW access document 1
0 information is received.

The FAX transmitting / receiving unit 1 receives the received FAX /
The WWW access document 10 is sent to the character recognition unit 2, and the URL address 12 to be accessed and the FAX number 13 at the time of reply are sent.
Character recognition.

The recognized URL address and FAX number are assigned a unique management number in the present system by the management / control unit, and are managed as WWW access requests. The management / control unit 3 causes the Web access unit 4 to access the homepage of the WWW server on the Internet via the Internet 7 according to the URL address information of the WWW access request.

Web server 6 corresponding to the URL address
The above homepage information, Internet 7 HTTP
(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol).

The homepage information transferred by the Web access unit 4 is temporarily stored in the management / control unit 3 as FAX information (equivalent to screen information displayed on a PC or the like) in accordance with the management number in the present system. .

The stored FAX information is converted into a FAX format by the FAX transmission / reception unit 1, transmitted to the FAX terminal 5, and output as a FAX delivery document 11.

[0023]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

To obtain the homepage information of the desired WWW server using the FAX / WWW access system 9, the URL address 12 of the desired information and the FAX of the FAX terminal 5 of the request source to be returned from the present system 9
FAX / WWW access document 1 describing number 13
0 is created and transmitted to the FAX / WWW access system. In the case of a membership system in order to collect the generated communication costs and usage fees or to authenticate an individual, the member No. In some cases, additional information such as 14 is entered.

FAX / WWW access document 10 is faxed
The fax / W is transmitted from the terminal 5 via the public communication network 7.
The FAX transmitting / receiving unit 1 in the WW access system 9 receives this (step 31).

The FAX transmitting / receiving section 1 receives the received FAX /
The WWW access document 10 is sent to the character recognition unit 2, and the URL address 12 to be accessed and the FAX number 13 at the time of reply are sent.
Is recognized (step 32), and if the character cannot be recognized, the requesting terminal is notified of the recognition (step 37). At this time, the member No. used to collect communication costs and usage charges, or to confirm an individual or the like. The verification of No. 14 is performed when necessary. The URL address and the FAX number are stored in the management control unit 3.

The FAX transmitting / receiving unit 1 receives the received FAX / W
The WW access document 10 is temporarily stored as an electronic file using a function such as a facsimile server, and information such as a URL address 12 is read from the facsimile document 10 stored as an electronic file by the character recognition unit 2. The FAX transmitting / receiving unit 1 recognizes the received FAX
By using a well-known technique such as a method of recognizing a document using OCR (Optical Character Reader), a URL can be obtained.
The address and the fax number of the return destination may be obtained as electronic information.

For example, URL address, FAX
Since the numbers are described in accordance with the respective formats, the numbers can be easily realized by using a known character recognition technology.

According to the URL address information requested by the management / control unit 3, the Web access unit 4 accesses the homepage of the URL address via the Internet 7 (step 33).

Web server 6 corresponding to the URL address
The home page above uses Internet 7 for HTTP (Hy
per Text Transfer Protocol).

For example, the Web access unit 4 only needs to be able to input a URL address from the management / control unit 3 and have a function equivalent to the function of a browser which is software for Web access. The main Web access functions include HTTP support, a function for displaying hypertext as a homepage description format, and a function for converting displayed screen information to a file format for output to a printer / FAX modem.

The home page information transferred by the Web access unit 4 is transmitted to the FAX / WWW access system 9.
FAX information (P
C (equivalent to screen information displayed on C) or the like (step 34), and temporarily accumulate (step 3).
5). The stored fax information is transmitted by the fax transmitting / receiving unit 1
The data is converted into the facsimile format and transmitted to the facsimile terminal 5 (step 36).
Is output to the screen.

FAX / WWW access document 1 received
0 URL address 12, return fax number 13, member No. Information such as the personal identification number 14 is assigned an arbitrary management number in the WWW access system 9 and is managed by the management / control unit 3 as an access request together with time information in a control management table.

The management / control function 3 manages the status of the execution of the WWW access, the success / failure of the access, the success / failure of the transmission to the return facsimile, etc. on behalf of the information of the access request.

The management / control function 3 transfers the result of the failure to the FAX transmission / reception unit 1 in a FAX document format to which the reason of the failure is added to the FAX transmitting / receiving unit 1 based on the result of the failure of the WWW access for a certain number of times, for example. , FAX transmission to inform the requester.

An example of a series of operations in the FAX / WWW access system 9 is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

The FAX / WWW access document 10 from the requesting terminal is sent to the FAX image signal
X image signal is received and stored as FAX code, WW
At the time of W access, the Web access unit 4 converts the input image into a predetermined Internet input code and inputs the code. At the time of facsimile transmission to the request terminal, the image signal of the received homepage information is converted into a FAX image signal by the image signal conversion unit 17. Conversion and transmission from the FAX image signal transmission unit 16 to the stored request terminal number may be considered (FIG. 4).

[0038]

As described above, the present FAX / WWW
Through the access system, it is possible to obtain homepage information around the world on the Internet via a FAX terminal that is widely used without having an access function such as a PC.

The URL information is notified by various media such as TV, radio, and magazines. However, in order to access the Internet, input means such as a personal computer, browser software, a modem, and an Internet service provider are required. Although many conditions such as subscription are required, the use of the present system has an effect that the homepage information of WWW can be easily obtained if a facsimile is installed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an Internet homepage information acquisition proxy device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a fax / WWW access system 9 shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a FAX document transmitted to a user.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an operation of the FAX / WWW access system shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a FAX / WWWA access system according to another embodiment of the Internet home page information acquisition proxy device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 FAX transmission / reception part 2 Character recognition part 3 Management control part 4 Web access part 5 FAX terminal which can be connected to telephone network 6 Any Web server on the Internet 7 General telephone network 8 Internet 9 FAX / WWW access system 10 FAX / WWW access document 11 FAX delivery document 12 URL address 13 Requesting FAX number 14 Member No. Etc. Personal identification information 15 FAX image signal receiving unit 16 FAX image signal transmitting unit 17 Image signal conversion unit 18 Image signal storage memory 19 Management control unit 20 FAX / WWW access system

Claims (8)

[Claims] When receiving a URL address received via a communication line, a step of storing the URL address and a terminal number of a homepage information requesting terminal of the Internet which transmitted the URL address; WWW-accessing the accessed URL address, storing homepage information of the URL address accessed by the WWW, and transmitting the stored information to the requesting terminal of the stored terminal number by facsimile communication A method for obtaining homepage information on the Internet, comprising the step of: 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving the URL address and the requesting terminal number is receiving a facsimile message described in a predetermined format, and storing the URL address and the requesting terminal number in the character recognition device. The step of storing the read image signal, the step of accessing the WWW is an input after converting the stored URL address into a code that can be input to the Internet, and the step of storing the homepage information converts the image received by the WWW access. 2. The Internet according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving and storing the received image signal as an image signal, and the step of transmitting the stored image signal to a stored request terminal number is performed by facsimile transmission. Homepage information acquisition agency method. 3. The reception of the URL address and the requesting terminal number is to receive a facsimile described in a predetermined format as a facsimile image signal, and the step of storing the URL address and the number of the requesting terminal includes: The received image signal is stored as it is. The step of accessing the WWW involves converting the stored URL address into a code that can be input to the Internet, and
In the WW access, the step of storing the homepage information is to store the image signal received by the WWW access, and the step of transmitting to the request terminal is to convert the stored image signal of the homepage into a facsimile image signal. And
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the request is sent by the stored request terminal number. 4. A facsimile receiving means for receiving a facsimile transmitted via a communication line, a first storage means for storing a URL address described according to a predetermined facsimile text, and a requesting terminal number of a transmission source; Via the Internet to the stored URL address, W
WWW access means for performing desired WW access to access desired homepage information; second storage means for reading and storing the accessed desired homepage information; and facsimile transmission of the stored desired homepage information to a request terminal. Means for obtaining homepage information on the Internet having means. 5. The facsimile receiving means and the transmitting means are facsimile terminal devices, the first storage means stores a character recognition device for reading a URL address and a request terminal number from a screen, and stores an image signal as a result of the reading. And a means for reading the URL address stored by the WWW access means from the first storage means to convert the URL address into a code which can be input to the Internet. 5. The Internet homepage information acquisition proxy device according to claim 4, wherein a screen of the homepage is converted into an image signal and stored, and the facsimile transmission unit converts the image signal stored in the second storage unit into an image and transmits the image signal by facsimile. 6. The facsimile receiving means has a means for receiving a facsimile image signal as it is, the first storage means has a means for storing the received image signal as it is, and the WWW access means has a storage means. Means for converting the entered URL address from a facsimile image signal into a code which can be input to the Internet, and inputting the code. The second storage means for storing the WWW-accessed homepage information stores the Internet image signal as it is. The facsimile transmitting means for transmitting to the requesting terminal includes means for converting the image signal of the Internet into a facsimile image signal and transmitting the facsimile image signal to the requesting terminal by the requesting terminal number stored in the first storage means. 4. An apparatus for obtaining an Internet homepage according to item 4. 7. The Internet homepage information acquisition proxy device according to claim 5, wherein the Internet homepage information acquisition proxy is a membership system, and has a qualification check unit of the requesting terminal and a charging unit. 8. The qualification confirmation means transmits a facsimile transmission including a requester's member number at the time of request, and
8. The Internet homepage information acquisition proxy device according to claim 7, wherein the access system verifies the member number and performs a billing process.