Patent ID: 6457044
Filing Date: 2002-09-24
Classification: H04L,H04N

Abstract:
An electronic-mail system having, as transmission modes, a first transmission mode for fixing conditions of an image to be transmitted to default conditions and a second transmission mode for changing the conditions of the image to be transmitted in accordance with a capability of a receiving party apparatus, said electronic-mail system comprising:address storage means for storing, in correspondence with each other, an electronic-mail address, mode information representing whether the receiving party apparatus is compatible with the first transmission mode or the second transmission mode, and, when the receiving party apparatus is compatible with the second transmission mode, capability information representing a capability of the receiving party apparatus; address registration means for registering the electronic-mail address, the mode information, and the capability information in said address storage means; determination means for determining whether an electronic-mail address designated as a transmission destination is stored in said address storage means; decision means for, when said determination means determines that the electronic-mail address designated as the transmission destination is stored in said address storage means, deciding the transmission mode to be used, based on the transmission mode information stored in said address storage means in correspondence with the designated electronic-mail address, and when the transmission mode is decided to be the second transmission mode, deciding communication conditions of the image to be transmitted, based on the capability information stored in said address storage means in correspondence with the designated electronic-mail address; and electronic-mail transmission means for transmitting the image, for which the communication conditions are decided by said decision means, in an electronic-mail format through a computer network; wherein when said determination means determines that the electronic mail address designated as the transmission destination is not stored in said address storage means, said address registration means transmits predetermined electronic mail for requesting a capability notification, determines the transmission mode based on a presence/absence of answer mail, stores the determined transmission mode in said address storage means in correspondence with the designated electronic-mail address, and stores capability information contained in the answer mail in said address storage means in correspondence with the designated electronic-mail address.