Facsimile communication method and facsimile machine

An Internet facsimile for relaying image data received from an originator via a telephone line to a recipient via a communication network comprising:

• a reception section that receives image data and addresses of a plurality of recipients, each recipient to receive said image data, from the originator via the communication network;
• a storage that stores said image data received by said reception section;
• a multicast section that, whenever the recipient accesses said image data stored in said storage, sequentially transmits said image data to an address of the recipient via the communication network;
• a notification section that transmits a completion notification to a terminal designated before multicast, after confirming that all the recipients have accessed said image data stored in said storage;
• a URL generating section that generates URL used to directly request said image data to a WWW server after said image data is stored in said storage, said URL including a protocol type for designating a communication protocol of a point-to-point data transfer, a host name of said WWW server on the communication network, and a file name associated with said image data stored in said storage;
• and
• a mailing section that mails an e-mail comprising a header including an e-mail address of the recipient as a destination address, and a body including the generated URL and not including said image data;
• wherein said multicast section comprises a WWW server with the URL, and when a request for said image data is received from the recipient, said multicast section fetches said image data from said storage, and transmits said image data to the recipient by the communication protocol of the point-to-point data transfer;
• wherein said WWW server transits a program along with said image data to the recipient, said program comprising:
• displaying an input image on a display of the recipient when the recipient receives said image data;
• and
• transmitting the notification indicative of the reception of said image data to said WWW server when a part of the displayed image clicked on.

A method for relaying image data received from an originator via a telephone line to a recipient by an internet facsimile via a communication network, comprising;

• (a) receiving image data and addresses of a plurality of recipients, each recipient to receive the image data, from the originator via the communication network;
• (b) storing the image data received in a storage;
• (c) multicasting the image data stored in the storage to each received address of the plurality of recipients via the communication network;
• (d) transmitting a completion notification to a terminal designated before multicasting, after receiving notifications from all the recipients via the communication network, each notification indicative of reception of the image data by the recipient;
• (e) adding image reception information data to the image data saved in the storage, the image reception information data being sent back, via the communication network to the facsimile from the recipient that receives the image data, and a URL that access a WWW server from the recipient via the communication network when the image reception information data is sent back to the facsimile;
• (f) confirming that the recipient has received the image data by identifying the image reception information data sent back from the recipient based on the URL;
• wherein the WWW server transmits a program along with the image data to the recipient, the program comprising:
• displaying an image data on a display of the recipient when the recipient receives the image data;
• transmitting the notification indicative of the reception of the image data to the WWW server when a part of the displayed input image is clicked on.

A method for relaying image data received from an originator via a telephone line to a recipient by an internet facsimile via a communication network, comprising:

• (a) receiving image data and addresses of a plurality of recipients, each recipient to receive the image data, from the originator via the communication network;
• (b) storing the image data received in a storage;
• (c) sequentially transmitting the image data to an address of the recipient via the communication network whenever the recipient accesses the image data stored in the storage;
• (d) transmitting a completion notification to a terminal designated before sequential transmitting, after confirming that all the recipients accessed the image data stored in the storage;
• (e) adding image reception information data to the image data saved in the storage, the image reception information data being sent back, via the communication network to the facsimile from the recipient that receives the image data, and a URL for accessing a WWW server from the recipient via the communication network when the image reception information data is sent back to the facsimile;
• (f) confirming that the recipient has received the image data by identifying the image reception information data sent back from the recipient based on the URL;
• (g) the WWW server transmitting a program along with the image data to the recipient, the program comprising:
• displaying an input image data on a display of the recipient when the recipient receives the image data;
• transmitting the notification indicative of the reception of the image data to the WWW server when a part of the displayed input image is clicked on.