ELECTRONIC MAIL EDITING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND ELECTRONIC MAIL EDITING METHOD

Abstract

In an electronic mail editing device, an analyzing unit analyzes attribute of input data to extract data elements. A display unit displays an input window in which the original input data is displayed and an email window used for creating email from the input data. In response to an edit command and various setting parameters input through the input window on the display unit, an editing unit edits the input data according to the setting parameters. A display control unit displays the edited data in the email window, and a communicating unit transmits the data via email.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus that includes an email editing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an analyzing unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a block identifying unit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a character analyzing unit shown in FIG. 3;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are examples of two display windows displayed on a display unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an email editing process according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an example of an email window in an email editing device according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an email editing process according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus that includes an email editing device according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic for explaining undo and redo operations;

FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram of an email editing device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic for explaining an example of the process of associating data elements together;

FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus that includes an email editing device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an email editing process according to the fifth embodiment; and

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiments.

Claims

1. An electronic mail editing device comprising: an analyzing unit that analyzes data and extracts a data element from the data;a display unit that displays an input window in which the data is displayed based on the data element and an edit window used for editing electronic mail, and receives input including a command and a parameter with respect to the data element through the input window;an editing unit that edits the data with respect to the data element based on the input to obtain edited data; anda transmitting unit that transmits electronic-mail contents displayed in the edit window via electronic mail, whereinthe display unit displays the edited data in the edit window.

2. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit receives the input through the edit window.

3. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the input window and the edit window in parallel.

4. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 1, further comprising a reading unit that reads an original and generates the data.

5. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit receives a request to attach the data element displayed in the input window to the electronic mail as a file, andthe transmitting unit transmits the electronic mail attached the file.

6. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays a block frame indicating a block of the data element.

7. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 6, wherein the block frame is rectangle in shape and surrounds the data element.

8. The electronic mail editing device according claim 1, wherein, upon receiving requests to insert data elements displayed in the input window into the electronic-mail contents displayed in the edit window, the display unit arranges the data elements in the edit window in order in which the requests were received.

9. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 5, wherein the display unit arranges text data in the data in a text section of the edit window based on analysis by the analyzing unit.

10. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 6, wherein the display unit arranges text data in the data in a text section of the edit window based on analysis by the analyzing unit.

11. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 8, wherein the display unit arranges text data in the data in a text section of the edit window based on analysis by the analyzing unit.

12. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 5, wherein the display unit converts data other than text data in the data to a file attached to the electronic mail based on analysis by the analyzing unit, and indicates attachment of the file in the edit window, andthe transmitting unit transmits the electronic mail attached the file.

13. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 6, wherein the display unit converts data other than text data in the data to a file attached to the electronic mail based on analysis by the analyzing unit, and indicates attachment of the file in the edit window, andthe transmitting unit transmits the electronic mail attached the file.

14. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 8, wherein the display unit converts data other than text data in the data to a file attached to the electronic mail based on analysis by the analyzing unit, and indicates attachment of the file in the edit window, andthe transmitting unit transmits the electronic mail attached the file.

15. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit receives, through a drag-and-drop operation, at least any one of a request to insert the data element displayed in the input window into the electronic-mail contents and a request to convert the data element to a file attached to the electronic mail.

16. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 1, wherein upon determining that the electronic-mail contents include an image, the transmitting unit transmits the electronic mail in hypertext markup language format, andupon determining that the electronic-mail contents include only text, the transmitting unit transmits the electronic mail in text format.

17. The electronic mail editing device according to claim 1, wherein the analyzing unit analyzes the data to obtain electronic-mail address information, andthe transmitting unit has a list of senders and recipients of electronic mail, and writes information on a sender and a recipient of the electronic mail to the list based on the electronic-mail address information.

18. An image forming apparatus comprising: a reading unit that reads an original and generates data;an electronic mail editing device that receives the data, and creates and transmits electronic mail; andan image forming unit that outputs the data as an image, whereinthe electronic mail editing device includes an analyzing unit that analyzes the data and extracts a data element from the data;a display unit that displays an input window in which the data is displayed based on the data element and an edit window used for editing electronic mail, and receives input including a command and a parameter with respect to the data element displayed in the input window;an editing unit that edits the data with respect to the data element based on the input to obtain edited data; anda transmitting unit that transmits electronic-mail contents displayed in the edit window via electronic mail,the display unit displays the edited data in the edit window.

19. An electronic mail editing method applied to an electronic mail editing device, the electronic mail editing method comprising: analyzing data to extract a data element from the data;displaying an input window in which the data is displayed based on the data element and an edit window used for editing electronic mail;receiving input including a command and a parameter with respect to the data element displayed in the input window;editing the data with respect to the data element based on the input to obtain edited data;displaying the edited data in the edit window to create electronic mail; andtransmitting the electronic mail.

20. The electronic mail editing method according to claim 19, wherein the transmitting includes transmitting the data as an electronic file attached to the electronic mail.