Patent ID: 7847960

Claim:
An image reading apparatus, comprising: a reading unit reading a document and outputting an image data in accordance with a given reading condition; an electronic mail transmitting and receiving unit transmitting and receiving an electronic mail; a control unit controlling said reading unit and said electronic mail transmitting and receiving unit; a user interface unit receiving an instruction input from a user; and an authentication information storing unit storing in advance authentication information for user authentication; wherein said control unit includes a setting portion setting a destination address and a reading condition associated with the destination address, a reading condition storing unit storing the reading condition in association with the destination address in a storing unit; a reading instructing portion applying the reading condition set by said setting portion to said reading unit to have said reading unit output an image data, an electronic mail generating portion generating and outputting to said electronic mail transmitting and receiving unit an electronic mail having the reading condition applied to said reading unit as a main message, the image data output from said reading unit as an attachment file and the destination address set by said setting portion as a destination; an electronic mail analyzing portion analyzing, when a return mail corresponding to the electronic mail generated by said electronic mail generating portion is received, said received return mail and extracting a reading condition, and an associating portion associating the reading condition extracted from said return mail with a one-touch key provided at said user interface unit; wherein said control unit has said associating portion establish said association on condition that authentication information input through said user interface unit has been stored in said authentication information storing unit.