Electronic mail system for transmitting information via communication network

An electronic mail processing device includes a magnetic disk with a control table. The device establishes a line between an originating terminal and a destination terminal designated by the originating terminal as a destination of electronic mail information and enters the destination into the control table provided on the magnetic disk as a wrong destination when the destination terminal performs no prescribed response operation to receive the electronic mail information. No electronic mail information is delivered to any of destinations entered into the control table. Thereby, once a destination is stored in the control table, a line is never connected to the destination terminal again, which prevents repeated wrong calls from being made to the same terminal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an electronic mail system which delivers 
various types of electronic mail information, such as facsimiles, voices, 
text, etc., transmitted over a communication network to their respective 
destination terminals. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
With the recent spread of information communication service, the demand for 
a system for automatic delivery of various types of information, such as 
images, voices, text (characters), etc., to remote locations is 
increasing. To meet the demand, an electronic mail system has come into 
use which permits free transmission and reception of such information 
among various types of terminals, such as facsimile equipment, personal 
computers or telephone sets, over a communication network such as a public 
communication network. 
The electronic mail system has a facility for storing mail information sent 
from a terminal temporarily in a mail center and delivering the stored 
mail information to a destination terminal or terminals at time and in a 
way (for example, one-to-one individual communication, one-to-N broadcast 
communication) which are specified by a user. 
FIG. 1 illustrates the system configuration of a prior electronic mail 
system. 
A number of terminals 1a, 1b, . . . , such as telephone sets, facsimile 
equipment, etc., are connected to an electronic mail processing apparatus 
(hereinafter referred to as a mail apparatus) 3 installed in the mail 
center via a public telephone network or a private telephone network 2. 
In general, the electronic mail system provides electronic mail service to 
subscribers which are assigned their respective identification numbers 
(subscriber's numbers, ID). 
To send mail information to the mail apparatus 3, a user operates push 
buttons of a telephone in accordance with the following procedure: 
(1) The user dials the telephone number of the mail center. 
(2) The mail center prompts the user through voice guidance to enter his or 
her identification number. 
(3) The user operates push buttons to enter his or her identification 
number. 
(4) The mail center prompts the user through voice guidance to specify a 
mail service (individual communication, broadcast communication, etc.) 
that he or she requests. 
(5) The user operates push buttons to specify his or her mail service. 
(6) The mail center prompts the user through voice guidance to enter the 
destination of the mail information. 
(7) The user operates buttons to enter the destination (in the case of 
broadcast communication all the destinations are entered). 
(8) The mail center prompts the user to send a message. 
(9) The user transmits the message through telephone or facsimile. 
In order to send mail information using a mail system it is required, as 
described above, that user operates buttons on a telephone to enter his or 
her subscriber's identification number, the type of a mail service that he 
or she requests, the destination number and so on. These input operations 
are troublesome and time-consuming. In the case of the one-to-N broadcast 
communication in particular, the user has to enter destination numbers in 
succession. Thus, problems arise in that the operations are troublesome 
and time-consuming and the possibility of operational errors increases. 
If a destination number is entered in error, the mail apparatus 3 will send 
received mail information to the wrong destination. Thus, problems will 
arise in that others may be troubled by misdelivery of mail information 
and the leakage of confidential information may be caused. 
The following measures have been taken to prevent misdelivery of mail 
information caused by misentry of destination numbers. That is, 
subscribers (terminals) of destination are classified into groups 
(grouping of destinations) and destination information (telephone numbers 
and facsimile equipment numbers) of subscribers is entered for each of 
groups, thereby restricting delivery of mail information to subscribers 
which are not entered (subscribers entered in other groups). 
However, the destination grouping method requires that all the destinations 
should be entered beforehand, which is time-consuming. In the case of 
broadcast delivery to subscribers in a combination different from that of 
destinations entered in a group, the destinations of the subscribers have 
to be entered into the mail apparatus again. Thus, the destination 
grouping method is not easy to use. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to decrease misdelivery of 
electronic mail information. 
It is another object of the present invention to simplify operations for 
transmission performed by a user when sending electronic mail information 
from a terminal to a center. 
According to an aspect of the present invention, in an electronic mail 
system in which electronic mail information transmitted from terminals 
connected to a communication network with destinations designated is 
delivered to designated terminals, an electronic mail processing device 
within a mail center has storage means for storing wrong destinations 
which are entered by entry means. The storage means may be implemented by 
a control table on a magnetic storage device. 
The entry means, when a line is connected between a destination terminal 
and the electronic mail processing device, and the destination terminal 
designated by the originating terminal performs no prescribed response 
operation to receive electronic mail information after recognizing a call, 
enters the designated destination in the storage means as a wrong 
destination. 
Delivery control means is provided, which, each time electronic mail 
information is received from an originating terminal, decides whether or 
not a destination of the mail information designated by the originating 
terminal has been entered into the storage means, performs a process of 
delivering the received electronic mail information to a destination 
terminal designated by the originating terminal when the designated 
destination is not stored in the storage means and performs no process of 
delivering the received electronic mail information to the destination 
terminal when the designated destination is stored in the storage means. 
Moreover, when the destination designated by the originating terminal is 
stored in the storage means, the delivery control means informs the 
originating terminal that the destination designated by it is in error. 
Upon receipt of electronic mail information from an originating terminal, 
the electronic mail processing device of the mail center transmits to a 
terminal designated by the originating terminal voice guidance that 
electronic mail information is transmitted from now. If, in this case, the 
designated terminal is a non-electronic mail terminal, it is not adapted 
to perform a prescribed operation to respond to the voice guidance. Thus, 
the entry means of the electronic mail device recognizes that the 
destination is in error by detecting no response, for example, and stores 
the destination in the storage means as a wrong destination. 
The delivery control means compares a designated destination with all the 
wrong destinations stored in the storage means, delivers received 
electronic mail to the destination when it is not stored in the storage 
means, and cancels delivery of electronic information to the destination 
terminal when the destination is stored in the storage means. 
Thereby, even if a wrong destination is designated repeatedly by another 
terminal or the same terminal, electronic mail information is never 
delivered to a terminal whose destination is stored in the storage means. 
Therefore, repeated wrong calls to the same terminal can be avoided and 
the possibility of leakage of confidential information due to misdelivery 
can be reduced. 
According to another aspect of the present invention, a mail adapter, which 
is connected between a terminal and a telephone network, has a function of 
storing subscriber identification information of the terminal, a 
functional code specifying individual delivery, broadcast delivery, etc., 
and destination information. If, therefore, the user stores these pieces 
of information in the mail adapter beforehand, the user has only to send 
the information stored in the adapter in transmitting electronic mail 
information to the mail center. That is, there is no need for the user to 
input the subscriber identification information, destination information 
and so on, whereby the operation procedure is simplified considerably. 
In the case of broadcast delivery in particular, simply by inputting the 
destination information of one of broadcast destinations, the destination 
information of other broadcast destinations can be sent from the mail 
adapter to the network, thus permitting considerable simplification of the 
operation procedure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to FIG. 2, an electronic mail system according to a first 
embodiment of the present invention includes a mail apparatus (an 
electronic mail processing apparatus) 10, enclosed by dashed lines, which 
has a central processing unit (CPU) 11 consisting of a microprocessor 
adapted to control the entire system. A plurality of line adapters 12 are 
adapted to transmit to or receive from user terminals including facsimile 
units 31, personal computers 32 and telephone sets 33 various types of 
information, such as image signals, text data, voice signals, etc., via an 
exchanger 20. A disk device 13 is a magnetic disk device or an optical 
magnetic disk device which stores receipt information received via the 
line adapters 12, subscriber information comprising subscribers' numbers 
(ID), subscribers' names and subscribers' passwords, and a delivery 
control table 13a. 
The control table 13a is adapted to store wrong destinations. Each time 
transmission is made to a wrong destination, it is entered into the 
control table 13a. Upon receipt of a destination and information to be 
delivered via a line adapter 12 the CPU 11 retrieves the control table 13a 
in the disk device 13 so as to decide whether or not the destination of 
the destination information has been entered into the control table 13a. 
If, at this time, the destination is stored in the control table 13a, the 
CPU 11 determines that the specified destination is in error, performs no 
delivery to the destination and informs the originating station, via the 
line adapter 12 and exchanger 20, that the designated destination is in 
error. 
A memory 14 is a semiconductor memory, such as a random access memory 
(RAM), which has a work area used by the CPU 11 to perform various 
processes. A console display 14A consists of, for example, a cathode ray 
tube (CRT) which makes image display for the work of entering and 
alteration of and reference to subscriber information or management 
information. The image display is made by a command entered by an operator 
of the mail apparatus 10 through a keyboard 15. The command entered by the 
operator through the keyboard 15 is fed into the CPU 11 via a keyboard 
controller 16 and interpreted by the CPU 11. Then the CPU 11 controls a 
display controller 17 to cause the console display 14A to make an image 
display corresponding to the entered command when the command is 
interpreted. 
Reference numeral 30 denotes a user terminal which is used by a user to 
transmit various types of information to the mail apparatus 10 and which 
consists of facsimile equipment 31, personal computer 32 or telephone set 
33. The user terminals 30 are connected to the mail apparatus 10 via the 
exchanger 20. Transmission and reception of various types of mail 
information are made among the terminals via the mail apparatus 10. 
Each of the subscribers of the electronic mail system, who have their 
respective identification numbers and passwords entered beforehand, is 
allowed to transmit information to an arbitrary subscriber (a user 
terminal 30) by inputting his or her identification number and password. 
Next, the operation of the electronic mail system described above will be 
described. 
First, the operation of transmission of mail information to be delivered 
from a subscriber to another subscriber to the mail apparatus 10 will be 
described with reference to FIG. 3. 
(1) First, upon receipt, a dial tone is transmitted from the exchanger 20 
after the user (sender) has removed the receiver of his or her terminal 30 
from its receptacle (the offhook state), the user dials a prescribed 
telephone number for connection to the mail apparatus 10. 
(2) Subsequently, the exchanger 20 transmits a call tone to the mail 
apparatus 10. Upon detection of the call tone the mail apparatus 10 enters 
the offhook state automatically. Thereby, the user terminal 30 is 
connected to the mail apparatus 10 via the exchanger 20. 
(3) The mail apparatus 10 transmits prescribed voice guidance to the user 
terminal 30 via the exchanger 20. 
(4) The sender inputs his or her subscriber's ID, password and the 
destination of mail information using buttons in response to the voice 
guidance from the mail apparatus 10. 
(5) Subsequently, the sender sends the mail information. If the user 
terminal 30 is facsimile equipment, the sender sets a sheet of paper on 
which the mail information is written on the facsimile equipment and then 
presses the receive button. 
(6) The sender renders the user terminal 30 onhook after all the 
destination information (mail information) has been sent. The onhook state 
(an onhook signal) is transmitted to the mail apparatus 10 via the 
exchanger 20. The mail apparatus 10 writes the mail information sent from 
the user terminal into the disk device 13 under the control of the CPU 11. 
(7) Upon detection of the onhook state of the sender, the mail apparatus 10 
itself also enters the onhook state. The onhook state (an onhook signal) 
of the mail apparatus is transmitted to the user terminal 30. 
The mail information sent from the user terminal 30 is stored in the mail 
apparatus 10 in that way. 
The operation of the mail apparatus 10 to deliver received mail information 
to the designated destination after it has been received from arbitrary 
user terminal 30 in the manner described above will be described with 
reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. 
FIG. 4 illustrates the communication procedure when the sender designates a 
correct destination. 
(1) When the mail apparatus 10 receives destination information from the 
sender, the CPU 11 decides whether or not the received destination is 
stored in the control table 13a of the disk 13. 
(2) When the designated destination is stored in the control table, the CPU 
cancels the process of delivering the received destination information 
(mail information) to the destination and performs a process of informing 
the sender that the destination is in error, which will be described later 
in connection with FIG. 6. 
(3) If, on the other hand, the designated destination is not stored in the 
control table 13a, the mail apparatus 10 renders the exchanger 20 offhook. 
The exchanger 20 consequently transmits a dial tone to the mail apparatus 
10. Upon receipt of the dial tone the mail apparatus 10 dials the 
telephone number of the destination terminal. Consequently the exchanger 
20 transmits a call tone to the mail apparatus 10 and the destination user 
terminal 30. 
(4) When the calling bell of the destination terminal rings in response to 
the call tone, the recipient renders the receiver offhook. When detecting 
the offhook state of the destination terminal, the exchanger 20 
establishes a line between the mail apparatus 10 and the destination 
terminal 30. 
(5) Upon detection of the establishment of the line, the mail apparatus 10 
sends prescribed voice guidance to the destination terminal 30 via the 
exchanger 20. 
(6) When deciding through the voice guidance that the mail information is 
to be received, the recipient performs an operation to allow the 
transmission of the mail information. If, for example, the user terminal 
30 is facsimile equipment 31, the recipient presses the receive button. 
(7) When the operation to allow transmission is performed by the recipient, 
the mail apparatus 10 reads the destination information (mail information) 
sent from the sender from the disk device 13 under the control of the CPU 
11 and transmits it to the destination terminal 30 via the line adapter 12 
and the exchanger 20. 
(8) After all the mail information has been transmitted to the destination 
terminal, the mail apparatus 10 enters the onhook state. The destination 
terminal 30 is informed of the onhook state of the mail apparatus 10 
through exchanger 20. 
(9) Upon detection of the onhook state of the mail apparatus 10, the 
destination terminal 30 also enters the onhook state. The mail apparatus 
10 is informed of the onhook state of the destination terminal 30 through 
the exchanger 20. 
Note that, if the user terminal 30 are capable of automatic reception, the 
operations of the user terminal indicated at (4), (6) and (9) in FIG. 4 
are performed automatically. 
As described above, when the correct destination is designated by the 
originating user terminal 30, mail information sent from the originating 
user terminal is delivered correctly to the destination user terminal 30 
via mail apparatus 10 in accordance with the communication procedure 
comprised of steps from (1) to (9) except step (2)) shown in FIG. 4. 
FIG. 5 illustrates a communication procedure when an originating user 
terminal 30 sends destination information (mail information) with its 
destination designated in error. 
(1) The CPU 11 of the mail apparatus 10 retrieves the control table 13a on 
the disk 13 and decides whether or not the destination has been entered 
into the control table 13a. 
(2) If the destination is found in the control table 13a, the CPU 11 
cancels the delivery of the mail information and informs the sender that 
the designated destination is in error, which will be described later in 
connection with FIG. 6. 
(3) If, on the other hand, the designated destination is not found in the 
control table 13a, the CPU 11 renders the mail apparatus 10 offhook for 
delivery of mail information. Upon detection of the offhook state of the 
mail apparatus 10, the exchanger 20 transmits a dial tone to the mail 
apparatus 10. Upon receipt of the dial tone, the mail apparatus 10 dials 
the telephone number of the recipient. Upon receipt of the telephone 
number, the exchanger 20 transmits a call tone to the mail apparatus 10 
and a user terminal 30. 
(4) In response to the call tone the receive bell of the recipient's 
terminal 30 rings. When the recipient removes the receiver of the user 
terminal 30 from its receptacle (the offhook state), the exchanger 20 
establishes a line between the mail apparatus 10 and the user terminal 31. 
(5) Upon detection of the establishment of the line, the mail apparatus 10 
sends prescribed voice guidance to the destination terminal 30 via the 
exchanger 20. 
(6) When the recipient understands through the voice guidance that he or 
she was called by mistake, he or she renders the terminal onhook 
immediately without performing an operation to permit or not to permit the 
mail apparatus 10 to send the mail information. The onhook state of the 
user terminal is communicated to the mail apparatus 10 via the exchanger 
20. 
(7) Upon detection of the onhook state of the destination terminal 30, the 
mail apparatus 10 recognizes that the destination is in error. Then, the 
mail apparatus 10 renders itself onhook and enters that destination into 
the control table 13a on the disk 13 under the control of the CPU 11. 
(8) Subsequently, the mail apparatus performs the communication procedure 
shown in FIG. 6 to inform the originating user terminal 30 that the 
designated destination is in error. 
As described above, when a sender sends mail information with its 
destination mistaken, a recipient renders the receiver onhook immediately 
upon receipt of voice guidance from the mail apparatus 10 with the result 
that the mail apparatus 10 detects that the destination was designated in 
error and enters it into the control table 13a on the disk 13. 
Upon receipt of mail information and its destination from an originating 
user terminal 30, the mail apparatus 10, prior to the delivery of the mail 
information, decides whether or not the destination has been entered into 
the control table 13a and cancels the mail delivery immediately when the 
destination is found in the control table. That is, once a destination is 
entered into the control table 13a, mail information is never delivered to 
that wrong destination again. This will prevent others from being troubled 
by repeated wrong calls. 
FIG. 6 illustrates the communication procedure used in the case where, when 
a sender makes an error in destination, the mail apparatus 10 informs the 
sender that the destination is in error. 
(1) When detecting that the destination is in error, the mail apparatus 10 
puts itself offhook and then dials the telephone number of the sender who 
made an error in destination. Upon receipt of the telephone number, the 
exchange 10 transmits a call tone to the mail apparatus 10 and the 
terminal 30 of the mail sender. 
(2) The mail sender puts the receiver offhook when the receive bell of his 
or her terminal 30 rings in response to the call tone. 
Upon detection of the offhook state of the mail sender terminal, the 
exchanger 20 establishes a line between the mail apparatus 10 and the mail 
sender terminal 30. 
(3) Upon detection of the line connection, the mail apparatus 10 transmits 
prescribed voice guidance to the mail sender terminal 30. 
(4) Upon receipt of the voice guidance through the receiver, the mail 
sender performs an operation on his or her terminal 30 to permit 
transmission to the mail apparatus 10. If, for example, the user terminal 
30 is facsimile equipment 31, the mail sender presses the sending button. 
(5) Upon detection of the operation on the user terminal 30, the mail 
apparatus 10 transmits to the mail sender information that the destination 
is in error. 
(6) The mail apparatus 10 puts itself onhook at the completion of the 
transmission of the information. Upon detection of the onhook state of the 
mail apparatus 10, the exchanger 20 transmits an onhook signal to the mail 
sender terminal 30. 
(7) Upon detection the onhook state of the mail apparatus 10 through the 
user terminal 30, the mail sender puts his or her terminal 30 onhook. 
Note that, if the mail sender terminal 30 is capable of automation 
reception, the operations (2), (4) and (7) are performed automatically. 
In this way, when a sender makes an error in destination, information that 
the destination is in error is transmitted from the mail apparatus 10 to 
the sender terminal 30. 
As described above, according to the present embodiment, when an error in 
destination occurs, the wrong destination is entered into the control 
table 13a immediately and, when a like destination error occurs again, it 
can be detected immediately upon receipt of electronic mail information 
addressed to the wrong destination, so that no line is established. It, 
therefore, becomes possible to circumvent a situation in which wrong calls 
are made repeatedly even when a request for retransmission of electronic 
mail information is made, which is a facility of the electronic mail 
system. 
In the present embodiment, a terminal which makes no response to voice 
guidance from the mail apparatus 10 (that is, the terminal, which is made 
in an onhook state without designating permission/non-permission of 
receipt of the mail information after receiving a call) is regarded as a 
non-electronic mail terminal with no receiving function. The telephone 
number of the terminal is entered into the control table 13a as a wrong 
destination. When a destination which has been entered into the control 
table 13a is designated by another sender, it is processed as a wrong 
destination by the mail apparatus 10. Any mail information is never 
delivered to the destination after it has been entered into the control 
table. 
With such a configuration, in case where, after calling, a recipient puts 
the receiver onhook by mistake to thereby disconnect a line, even a 
correct destination will be entered into the control table 13a 
undesirably. In this case, the recipient is allowed to inform the mail 
apparatus 10 that the receiver was put onhook by mistake, so that the 
destination information entered into the control table can be corrected. 
That is, in the mail apparatus 10 side, the contents of the control table 
13a can be displayed on the display 14 through the operation of the 
keyboard 15 and the operator can rewrite destination information entered 
into the control table 13a, thereby deleting a destination entered by 
mistake. 
If telephone numbers similar to those of destinations which are high in the 
frequency at which mail information is transmitted or destinations to 
which important information is transmitted are entered into the control 
table 13a beforehand (for example, telephone numbers which differ from 
those of destinations only in area code), the possibility of leakage of 
confidential information due to misdialling will be reduced. For mail 
information is never delivered to such a terminal as has a similar 
telephone number. 
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with 
reference to FIGS. 7 through 12. 
The embodiment relates to a mail adapter connected between a user terminal 
and a telephone line for sending the subscriber's number (ID) and password 
and the telephone number of the mail center automatically onto the 
telephone line. 
FIG. 7 is an exterior view of a facsimile mail adapter (FMA) 41 according 
to the second embodiment. 
Though not shown in particular, the adapter is provided, on its top 
surface, with control keys 42 for entering the subscriber's number of a 
facsimile connected to the adapter, the password, the telephone number of 
the mail apparatus, functional codes (codes corresponding to mail 
functions such as individual communication, broadcast communication, etc.) 
and parameters such as destination telephone numbers and a numeric keypad 
43 including ten keys with figures 0 to 9, a * key and a # key. 
Moreover, the adapter is provided, on its front surface, with an operation 
key (mail key) 44 operated by the user at the time of the transmission of 
facsimile. By operating the mail key 44 the subscriber's number, a 
functional code and so on can be transmitted to the mail apparatus in the 
form of DP/PB signals. 
Furthermore, the adapter is provided, on its back surface, with modular 
jacks for connection to a terminal and a telephone line. 
FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the mail adapter 41. An input section 45 is 
comprised of the control keys 42, the mail key 44 and so on. Data, such as 
the subscriber's number, the functional codes and the destination 
telephone number, entered from the input section 45 is stored in an EEPROM 
46 which is a nonvolatile memory. 
In the present embodiment, the input section 45 is provided with function 
keys (not shown) for entering the subscriber's number, the functional 
codes and so on. These function keys and ten keys 43 are used to enter the 
subscriber's number, the password and so on. 
FIG. 9 is a diagrammatical representation of a correspondence of memory 
areas of the EEPROM 46 to the function keys of the input section 45 as 
described above. A numeric value entered following the operation of each 
function key is stored in a corresponding memory area. 
The EEPROM 46 has memory areas adapted to store a 10-digit subscriber's 
identification number, a 10-digit password, a 20-digit telephone number of 
the mail center, a 5-digit function code and a 400-digit parameter. 
Returning to FIG. 8, an MPU 47 is a central processing unit for writing 
data into the EEPROM 46 and sending the data in a prescribed communication 
procedure under the control of a program stored in the ROM 48. A RAM 49 is 
a memory adapted to temporarily store a destination number entered from 
the facsimile equipment by a user. 
The mail adapter 41 is provided with an NCU (network control unit) 50 for 
converting data to a DP/BP signal and transmitting it to a public 
telephone network and an LS (line set) 51 which serves as an interface 
with the terminal. The mail adapter 41 is connected to the telephone 
network and the terminal by the NCU and the LS. 
FIG. 10 illustrates the electronic mail system according to the second 
embodiment. In the following description, like reference characters are 
used to denote corresponding parts to those in the conventional electronic 
mail system shown in FIG. 1 and their description will be omitted. 
As shown, mail adapters 41 are connected between user terminals, for 
example, facsimile equipment, 1a, 1b, . . . and network 2. To send a 
message from the facsimile apparatus 1 to the mail apparatus 3, the mail 
key 44 of the mail adapter 41 is operated. As a result, a call is made to 
the mail apparatus 3 using its telephone number which has been entered 
into the mail apparatus, so that the subscriber's number and a destination 
number which have been entered into the EEPROM 46 are sent to the mail 
apparatus 3. 
The mail adapter 41 according to the present embodiment is provided with 
the following functions: 
(1) A function of calling the mail center apparatus 3 by the use of the 
telephone number which has been entered into the mail adapter. 
(2) A function of holding the corresponding facsimile terminal while the 
mail adapter 41 communicates with the mail apparatus 3. 
(3) A function of sending the subscriber's identification number, the 
password, the function code and the parameter which have been entered into 
the mail adapter to the mail apparatus 3 in the form of DP/PB signals. 
(4) A function of recognizing a call number from facsimile equipment to 
generate a parameter. This is, in the case of individual communication, to 
output a call number entered from the corresponding facsimile equipment as 
the destination number. 
Here a functional code is a code determined to correspond to a mail 
function. For example, codes corresponding to one-to-one individual 
delivery (communication), one-to-N broadcast delivery (communication), 
time-designated individual delivery and time-designated broadcast delivery 
are determined as shown in FIG. 11. In the case of individual delivery, 
the entry of a parameter is omitted. In this case, a call number entered 
from facsimile equipment is recognized by the mail adapter 41 and then 
sent to the mail apparatus 3 as a destination number. In the case of 
broadcast delivery and time-designated broadcast delivery, broadcast 
destinations and designated time which have been entered as parameters are 
sent to the mail apparatus 3. 
Next, the operation of entering data into the mail adapter 41 will be 
described. 
A user first operates the function keys and the ten keys 43 to enter the 
telephone number of the mail apparatus 3, his or her subscriber's number 
and functional codes. At this point the user enters a password when 
necessary. 
Next, in the case of the entry of destinations for broadcast delivery, the 
destination numbers are separated by the # key so that the # code is 
inserted between the destination numbers. 
In the case of the entry of time and destination for time-designated 
individual delivery, time data is entered in the order of month, day, hour 
and minute. If, at this point, only time data is entered, absolute time 
designation results, while, if the the # code is inserted in the head of 
time data, relative time designation results. In the present case of 
individual delivery, time data has only to be entered as a parameter. The 
call number from the facsimile equipment is added as a parameter. 
Moreover, in the case of the entry of time and destinations for 
time-designated broadcast delivery, time data is entered, the # key is 
operated to insert the # code, and then broadcast destination numbers are 
entered in succession with the # code inserted between the destination 
numbers. 
Next, reference is made to FIG. 12 to describe the operation of sending a 
message from facsimile equipment to the mail apparatus 3 via the mail 
adapter after the subscriber's number, the telephone number of the mail 
apparatus 3 and the destination number have been entered. 
A sender first presses the mail key 42 of the mail adapter 41 and puts his 
or her facsimile equipment offhook. Upon receipt of a dial tone (DT) from 
the telephone network, the sender presses the transmit button of the 
facsimile equipment to make a call. A calling signal is output to the 
telephone network via the mail adapter 41, so that a call (RING) is made 
to the mail apparatus 3 by the network. 
At this point, the originating facsimile equipment produces a ringing tone 
(RBT) informing the sender that a call is being made. 
When the called mail apparatus 3 enters the offhook state, the connection 
between the mail adapter 41 and the mail apparatus 3 is established. 
Subsequently, the subscriber's number, the password, the functional code 
and the parameters (the destination number, the designated time and so on) 
which have been entered beforehand by the user are converted to PB signals 
for transmission from the mail adapter 41 to the mail apparatus 3. 
If, in this case, the functional code for broadcast delivery or 
time-designated broadcast delivery is entered, as mail function, into the 
mail adapter 41, the sender has only to input the destination number 
entered in the head of the parameter so as to perform broadcast delivery. 
That is, in the mail adapter 41, a comparison is made between the 
destination number entered from a facsimile equipment and the head 
destination number in the parameter memory area of the EEPROM 46 and, when 
the comparison indicates equality, the subsequent destination numbers are 
sent from the mail adapter 41 to the mail center apparatus 3. 
The mail adapter 41 establishes a line between the mail adapter 41 and the 
originating facsimile equipment at the termination of the transmission of 
data, thereby permitting the transmission of messages therebetween. 
As described above, by entering the telephone number of the mail apparatus 
3, the subscriber's number, the mail functional codes and destination 
numbers into the mail adapter 41 beforehand and inserting the mail adapter 
41 between the user terminal and the telephone network, a sender has only 
to perform the same operation as in the one-to-one individual delivery 
even in the case of broadcast delivery. Thus, the operation required of a 
user for broadcast delivery to many destinations can be simplified 
considerably. 
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the mail adapter 
transmits destination numbers entered therein to the mail center instead 
of the user terminal in the case of individual delivery, broadcast 
delivery in which a message is delivered to plural destinations 
simultaneously, time-designated delivery and so on, whereby the operation 
on the side of the user terminal can be simplified considerably. 
Broadcast destinations are limited to 1 group in the above embodiment, but 
a mail can be sent to a plurality of groups by selecting specific groups 
from different groups of broadcast destinations if a selection key and the 
corresponding memory area are provided for selecting a plurality of 
broadcast destinations. 
The mail apparatus 10 and the mail adapter 41 may be applied not only to 
the facsimile mail system but also to other mail systems which transmit 
voice or image information. 
For example, with an electronic mail by a personal computer, a message is 
displayed on a CRT of a destination terminal instead of a voice message 
being heard. If the destination terminal does not comprise a personal 
computer, an erroneous delivery can be detected in the same way as in the 
first embodiment, as a response to a prompt of whether or not the mail is 
permitted to be received is not made.