JP2002278864A - Image display device, control device, image display system, and image transmission / reception control method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] When a receiving user wants a new image,
To be able to easily request a new image from the image sending user. A terminal dedicated to image display (51), a terminal (57) for network connection for receiving an image from an external device via a network, and a display (52) for displaying an image received via the terminal. ) And an image prompting button (55) for requesting the external device to transmit a new image via a network.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image display device, a control device, an image display system and an image transmission / reception control method connected to a network, and more particularly to an image display device such as an Internet photo frame, an image display device and an image display device. A control device such as a server device that controls transmission and reception of images between transmission devices, and an image transmission device, an image display device,
The present invention relates to an image display system constituted by a control device and an image transmission / reception control method in the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an Internet connection type photo frame system has been proposed as an image display system.

[0003] The Internet-connected photo frame system is an electronic photo frame having a function of connecting to the Internet using communication means.
Instead of using a storage medium such as a memory card, photo data is received from a server device or the like located at a remote place via the Internet, and displayed on a display provided on the device that has received the photo data. This is a device that can automatically obtain and display a picture not from the owner of the device but from another device located in a remote place or the like.

Transmission and storage of photo data to a server device or the like is performed using another Internet-connected photo frame or from a personal computer via the Internet.

[0005] A typical example of the Internet-connected photo frame is Ceiva Logic, LLC of the United States, which manufactures and sells Ce.
There is iva (trade name), and its specifications are disclosed on www.ceiva.com as of June 28, 2000.

[0006]

However, the above conventional example has the following problems. That is, the receiving terminal only receives the image data from the transmitting user, and the display is not updated unless the transmitting user sends the image data. Therefore, when the receiving user wants to update the display data, the transmitting user has to be requested to update the image by communication means such as telephone or mail.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a first object of the present invention is to enable a receiving user to easily request a new image from an image transmitting user when he / she wants a new image. The purpose of.

[0008] Further, when there is no image update for a certain period,
It is a second object of the present invention to enable a user to always enjoy a new image without performing an operation for prompting the image on the receiving side.

[0009]

In order to achieve the first object, an image display apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a receiving means for receiving an image from an external device via a network; and an image receiving means for receiving the image from the receiving means. And a request unit for requesting the external device to transmit a new image via a network.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the image processing apparatus further includes a management unit for managing information of the image received by the receiving unit, and the information of the image managed by the management unit is stored together with the image by the reception unit. The request means transmits the information of the image being displayed to the display means at the time of requesting transmission of a new image.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the request means includes a button, and issues a request for transmission of a new image in response to pressing of the button.

Further, according to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the apparatus further comprises a storage unit for storing an image received by the receiving unit.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the image display device is an Internet photo frame.

Further, in order to achieve the first object,
At least one external image transmission device for providing an image;
The control device of the present invention, which controls transmission and reception of an image between at least one external image display device that displays a received image via a network, includes a receiving unit that receives a request for transmitting a new image from the external image reception device, Requesting means for requesting the external image transmitting apparatus to transmit a new image when a request for transmitting a new image is received by the receiving means.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the requesting unit issues a transmission request to an external image transmitting apparatus based on information included in the transmission request received by the receiving unit.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the image processing apparatus further comprises a storage unit for holding an image transmitted from the external image transmitting apparatus in association with information on the external image transmitting apparatus that transmitted the image.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, information on a date and time when an image is received from the external image transmitting apparatus is stored in the storage unit.
The image is stored in the storage unit in association with the image.

According to each of the above configurations, when a user on the receiving side wants a new image, it is possible to easily request a new image from the user on the image transmitting side.

In order to achieve the second object,
The control device of the present invention further includes a clock unit, and the request unit transmits a transmission request to the external image transmission device when a predetermined time has elapsed from the date and time information.

According to the above configuration, when the image is not updated for a predetermined period, the host server automatically notifies the transmitting user of the image prompting information, so that the receiving user performs the operation of prompting the image. If not, you can always enjoy new images.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the information of the external image transmitting apparatus includes at least one of an electronic mail address and a telephone number, and preferably, the requesting means sends the electronic mail address to the electronic mail address. Request transmission by e-mail. Alternatively, the requesting unit makes a transmission request by telephone to a telephone number.

In order to achieve the first and second objects, an image display system according to the present invention comprises at least one image display device according to any one of the above, and a control device according to any one of the above. , At least one image transmitting apparatus is connected via a network.

In order to achieve the first object,
At least one image transmission device for providing an image, at least one image display device for displaying an externally received image, and a control device for controlling transmission and reception of images between the image transmission device and the image display device In the image transmission / reception control method of the present invention in an image display system connected via a network, a first request for transmitting a new image from the image display device to the control device via the network is provided. A requesting step; and a second requesting step of requesting the image transmitting apparatus to transmit a new image in response to the transmission request.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the image display device further includes a first storage step of storing the received image and its information, and the image is stored in the first storage step. The information of the image is information received together with the image, and in the first requesting step, the information of the image being displayed is transmitted when a request for transmitting a new image is transmitted.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the second requesting step, a transmission request is made to an external image transmitting apparatus based on information included in the transmission request in the first requesting step. .

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the control device holds the image transmitted from the image transmitting device in association with information of the image transmitting device that transmitted the image. The method further includes a storage step.

Preferably, in the second storage step, information on the date and time when the image was received from the image transmitting device is stored in association with the image.

According to each of the above methods, when a user on the receiving side wants a new image, the user on the image transmitting side can easily request a new image.

In order to achieve the second object,
The image transmission / reception control method of the present invention further includes a comparison step of comparing the date and time stored in the second storage step with a current time, and in the second request step, a predetermined time has elapsed in the comparison step. If so, a transmission request is transmitted to the image transmission device.

According to the above method, when the image is not updated for a certain period of time, the host server automatically notifies the transmitting user of the image prompting information, so that the receiving user performs the operation of prompting the image. If not, you can always enjoy new images.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the information of the image transmitting device includes at least one of an e-mail address and a telephone number, and preferably the second
In the requesting step, a transmission request is made by e-mail to the e-mail address. Alternatively, in the second requesting step, a transmission request is made by telephone to a telephone number.

[0032]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the image display system according to the present embodiment, the image receiving side uses an image display dedicated terminal such as an Internet photo frame, and the image transmitting side uses a PC (personal computer). The present invention is not limited to this, and any type of image display dedicated terminal may be used, and the image transmission side is not limited to a PC as long as it is a device capable of transmitting an image.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an image display system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a host server device,
12 is the Internet. The host server device 11 is installed in an ISP (Internet service provider) and is connected to the Internet 12 via the ISP.
14 and 18 are PCs on the image transmission side, 15 and 16
Is an image display-only terminal (Internet photo frame) on the image receiving side.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a telephone network, and 17 denotes a telephone. The telephone set 17 is owned by the user of the transmitting PC 18 and is connected to the host server apparatus 11 through the PSTN line (general subscriber telephone line) or the ISDN line telephone network 13.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the host server device 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes a BP (Basic Platform).
rm), and 22 is a CU (Call U)
nit) showing telephone line board (Computer Telephony Boar)
d). The BP 21 is connected to the LAN in the ISP through the LAN network board, and the CU 22
Connected to STN line or ISDN line.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a software configuration of the host server device 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 31 denotes software, which is installed in the host server device 11. Software 3
1 includes software programs developed using the C ++ language and the like and existing software programs,
As an OS (Operating System), for example, Windows
wsNT (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, USA) can be employed.

32 is a server manager unit, 33 is a CU access DLL unit, 34 is a CU driver unit, 35 is a mail transmission unit, 36 is a TCP / IP protocol DLL unit, 37
Is a network driver unit, 38 is a dynamic Web server unit, 39 is a database connector unit, and 40 is Windows
wsNT (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, USA) 41 is a database unit.

FIG. 4 shows the appearance of image display terminals (Internet photo frames) 15 and 16 on the image receiving side according to the embodiment of the present invention. 4A is a front view, and FIG. 4B is a rear view.

In the figure, reference numeral 51 denotes a frame main body of an image display dedicated terminal, 52 denotes an image display such as a liquid crystal display, 53 denotes a speaker, 54 denotes an infrared sensor, 55 denotes an image prompting button, and 56 denotes a flash memory or a memory stick. And 57 are terminals for connection to a telephone line and a network such as Ethernet (registered trademark).
Reference numeral 8 denotes a power connection terminal such as an AC adapter, and 59 denotes a support portion of the image display device.

FIG. 5 shows an image display dedicated terminal (internet photo frame) 1 of FIG. 4 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure which shows the example of an internal structure of 5 and 16. This dedicated terminal has a data bus DB and a system bus SB.

Reference numeral 61 denotes a network interface. The network interface 61 performs transmission and reception of various data with the above-described transmission channels and various communication controls with an external network. 62 is a CPU, 63 is a bus controller, and 64 is a bit converter. CPU62
Performs overall control, and as a sub CPU, a bus controller 63 and a bit converter 6 constituting the bus system.
4 is provided.

65 is a ROM, 66 is a memory controller
And 67, an external storage device. Memory controller 6
6 and an external storage device 67 such as a memory card.
Exchange of data.

Reference numeral 68 denotes a display controller.
The image data sent from the display controller 68 is displayed on the display device 52. Reference numeral 69 denotes a speaker controller, and audio data transmitted from the speaker controller is output from the speaker 53 as audio.

Reference numeral 70 denotes a code for encoding / decoding data.
In this embodiment, the JPEG format and the MP
A codec compatible with the EG system is provided. Reference numeral 71 denotes an input / output port to which an image prompting button 55 and an infrared sensor 54 are connected.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a format table of the image transmitting PC information stored in the database unit 41 of the host server apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 3 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Holds the information of 81 is the serial number of the image transmitting PC information, 82 is the user name of the image transmitting PC, 83 is the mail address of the image transmitting user, 84 is the telephone number of the image transmitting user, 85
Is the image data update date and time.

FIG. 7 shows a management table of image data stored in the database unit 41 of the host server apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 3 according to the embodiment of the present invention, where 91 is an image number (serial number), and 92 is an image data. Is the user name of the image transmission side PC that provides the password, and 93 is a local path to the image data.

FIG. 8 is an example of an image management data table stored in the image display dedicated terminal 15 or 15 according to the embodiment of the present invention. 7, reference numeral 101 denotes a management number, and 102 denotes an image number, which corresponds to the image number 91 shown in FIG. Reference numeral 103 denotes an image file name.

Next, the operation of the image display system having the above configuration will be described.

In order to simplify the explanation, images provided by a plurality of image transmitting PCs have already been downloaded from the host server device 11 to the image display dedicated terminal 15 or 16, and the image display dedicated terminal 15 or 16 It is assumed that an image is displayed in a slide show mode in which data is switched at regular intervals (here, every hour).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image display terminals 15 and 16 according to the present embodiment.

First, when the process is started in step S1101, the process proceeds to step S1102. Step S1102
In step S1106, it is determined whether one hour has elapsed since the display image was last switched.
To switch the image to the next image. Step S11
At 06, for example, if the image of the management number 1 (image number 1) shown in FIG. 8 is being displayed, the display is switched to display the image of the management number 2 (image number 5). If the image of ()) is being displayed, the image is switched to the image of the next management number, such as displaying the image of management number 3 (image number 6), and the process returns to step S1102.

On the other hand, if one hour has not elapsed in step S1102, the flow advances to step S1103. Step S1
At 103, it is determined whether or not the image prompting button 55 has been pressed, and if not, the process returns to S1102. If the button has been pressed, the process advances to step S1104. In step S1104, an image number for the currently displayed image is acquired with reference to the image management data in FIG. 8, and the process proceeds to step S1105. In step S1105, the image number is notified to the host server device 11 as image prompting information, and the process returns to step S1102.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment when the host server device 11 receives the image prompting information from the image receiving terminal.

First, when the processing is started in step S1201, the flow advances to step S1202 to determine whether or not image prompting information has been received from the image display terminals 15 and 16. If it has not been received, the process returns to step S1202, and if it has been received, the process proceeds to step S1203. Step S1
In step 203, the image number is obtained from the image prompting information, and the flow advances to step S1204. In step S1204, the user name of the image transmitting PC that transmitted the image is acquired based on the acquired image number with reference to the image data management table in FIG. For example, if the image number is 3, the user name "sa
buro ".

After the user name is obtained, the process proceeds to step S1205, and based on the user name obtained in step S1204, referring to the management table of the image transmitting PC information in FIG. The number is obtained, and the process proceeds to step S1206. Step S1
At 206, it is determined whether the e-mail address has been acquired. If there is an e-mail address, the process proceeds to step S1207. In step S1207, an image reminder mail is created, and the created image reminder mail is transmitted to the acquired mail address via the mail transmitting unit 35.
It returns to 1202.

If it is determined in step S1206 that the mail address could not be obtained, step S1208
Proceed to. In step S1208, an image prompting text message is created, the text is converted to voice by the CU access DLL unit 33, and the CU 22 is sent to the CU 22 via the CU driver unit.
Give your phone number and voice message to. The CU 22 transmits a voice message to the telephone 17 via the telephone network 13 based on the telephone number, and returns to step S1202.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an automatic image prompting operation in the host server device 11 of the present embodiment. Unlike the operation of FIG. 10, the operation is performed at predetermined time intervals regardless of the presence or absence of the image prompting information.

First, when the process is started in step S1301, the process proceeds to step S1302. Step S130
In step 2, it is determined whether one day has passed since the last check. If not, step S1302
Is repeated, and if it has passed, the process proceeds to S1303.
In step S1303, one user information is acquired from the management table of the PC information on the image transmission side in FIG.
Go to 04. In step S1304, the updated date and time 85 of the acquired user information is compared with the current date and time. If one week has not elapsed, the process proceeds to step S1307.

In step S1305, it is determined whether or not the acquired user information has mail address information data. If there is, the process advances to step S1306. In step S1306, an image reminder mail is created, and the created image reminder mail is transmitted to the acquired mail address via the mail transmitting unit 35, and the process proceeds to step S1307.

If there is no mail address information in step S1305, the flow advances to step S1308. Step S13
In step 08, an image prompting text message is created, the text is converted to voice by the CU access DLL unit 33, and the telephone number and voice message are passed to the CU 22 via the CU driver unit 34. The CU 22 uses the telephone network 13 based on the telephone number.
A voice message is transmitted to the telephone set 17 via the, and the process proceeds to step S1307.

In step S1307, it is determined whether or not the next user information exists in the user information table. If there is, the flow returns to step S1303 to return to steps S1303 to S1303.
The processes of 1306 and 1308 are repeated, and if not, the process returns to step S1302 and waits for the lapse of time.

In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which a plurality of images have already been downloaded from the host server device to the image display dedicated terminal and the images to be displayed are switched at predetermined time intervals. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, for example, the image switching timing can be arbitrarily controlled, such as switching the image to be displayed when new image data is received from the host server device or switching when the user instructs to switch the image.

When there is no request for a new image from the image display-only terminal, the host server device transmits the image to the image transmitting PC.
The timing at which a new image acquired from the server is transmitted to the image display-dedicated terminal is determined each time the host server acquires a new image, at regular intervals, or in a known manner in a conventional Internet photo frame system. Timing may be appropriate.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described where two image display-only terminals and two image transmission-side PCs are connected via the Internet. May be one or three or more. The present invention is not limited to the Internet, and can be applied to a case where the present invention is connected via a network.

Further, in the configuration example shown in FIG. 4, the image prompting information is sent by pressing the image prompting button 55. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is not limited to this. Any method may be used as long as the image prompting information is automatically transmitted according to the operation.

[0070]

[Other Embodiments] Even if the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a scanner, a video camera, etc.), an apparatus composed of one device (for example, Machine, facsimile machine, etc.).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or a recording medium) in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment is recorded to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (a computer) of the system or the apparatus. Or a CPU or MPU) reads out and executes the program code stored in the storage medium,
It goes without saying that this is achieved. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.
In addition, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also based on the instructions of the program code,
The operating system (OS) running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included. Here, as a storage medium for storing the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, a ROM,
RAM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, CD
-ROM, CD-R, DVD, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, MO, etc. can be considered.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. , The CPU provided in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.

When the present invention is applied to the storage medium, the storage medium includes the above-described FIG. 9 and / or FIG.
0 and the program code corresponding to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0074]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a user on the receiving side wants a new image, it is possible to easily request a new image from the user on the image transmitting side.

When the image is not updated for a certain period of time, the host server automatically notifies the transmitting user of the image prompting information so that the receiving user does not have to perform the operation of prompting the image. You can enjoy new images.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an image display system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a host server device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a software configuration of the host server device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an overview of a user terminal device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a user terminal device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a table of user information registered in a server according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a management table of image data information registered in a server according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an image management data table held in the image display-only terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation of the image display-only terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the host server device according to the embodiment of the present invention when receiving image prompting information.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an automatic image prompting operation in the host server device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Host server apparatus 12 Internet 13 Telephone network 14, 18 Image transmission side PC 15, 16 Image display dedicated terminal of image reception side 17 Telephone 21 PC server apparatus 22 Telephone line board 31 Software 32 Server manager section 33 CU access DLL section 34 CU Driver unit 35 Mail transmission unit 36 TCP / IP protocol DLL unit 37 Network driver unit 38 Dynamic Web server unit 39 Database connector unit 40 Windows NT (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, USA) 41 Database unit 51 Image display-only terminal main body 52 Display 53 Speaker 54 Infrared sensor 55 Image prompting button 56 Memory card insertion slot 57 Network connection terminal 58 Power supply connection terminal 59 Support section

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Takanori Miyazaki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Canon Inc. (reference) 5C062 AA34 AA35 AB23 AB38 AC25 AC36 AE03 AF02 AF03 AF06

Claims (25)

[Claims] 1. A receiving means for receiving an image from an external device via a network, a display means for displaying the image received by the receiving means, and a request for requesting the external device to transmit a new image via a network. And an image display device. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a management unit that manages information of the image received by the reception unit, wherein the image information managed by the management unit is information received together with the image by the reception unit, 2. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein information of the image being displayed is transmitted to said display means when a request for transmission of a new image is made. 3. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein said requesting means includes a button, and issues a request for transmission of a new image in response to pressing of the button. 4. The image display device according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit configured to store an image received by the reception unit. 5. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein the image display device is an Internet photo frame. 6. A control device for controlling, via a network, transmission and reception of an image between at least one external image transmitting device for providing an image and at least one external image display device for displaying a received image, wherein the external device includes: A receiving unit that receives a request for transmitting a new image from an image receiving device; and a requesting unit that requests a transmission of a new image to the external image transmitting device when a request for transmitting a new image is received by the receiving unit. A control device comprising: 7. The control device according to claim 6, wherein the request unit makes a transmission request to an external image transmission device based on information included in the transmission request received by the reception unit. 8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a storage unit configured to store an image transmitted from the external image transmitting apparatus in association with information on the external image transmitting apparatus that has transmitted the image. Control device. 9. The control device according to claim 8, wherein information on the date and time when the image was received from the external image transmission device is stored in the storage unit in association with the image. 10. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a clock unit, wherein the request unit transmits a transmission request to the external image transmission device when a predetermined time has elapsed from the date and time information. Control device. 11. The control device according to claim 8, wherein the information on the external image transmission device includes at least one of an e-mail address and a telephone number. 12. The control device according to claim 11, wherein the request unit makes a transmission request by e-mail to an e-mail address. 13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the requesting unit makes a transmission request by telephone to a telephone number.
3. The control device according to 2. 14. An image display device comprising: at least one image display device according to any one of claims 1 to 5; a control device according to any one of claims 6 to 13; and at least one image transmission device. , An image display system connected via a network. 15. At least one image transmission device for providing an image, at least one image display device for displaying an externally received image, and transmission and reception of an image between the image transmission device and the image display device. An image transmission / reception control method in an image display system connected via a network, the control method including a control device performing control, wherein the image display device requests the control device to transmit a new image via the network. An image transmission / reception control method, comprising: a first requesting step; and a second requesting step of requesting a transmission of a new image from the control device to the image transmission device in response to the transmission request. . 16. The image display device according to claim 1, further comprising a first storage step of storing the received image and its information, wherein the information of the image stored in the first storage step is the information received together with the image. 16. The image transmission / reception control method according to claim 15, wherein, in the first requesting step, information on an image being displayed is transmitted at the time of requesting transmission of a new image. 17. The method according to claim 15, wherein in the second requesting step, a transmission request is made to an external image transmitting apparatus based on information included in the transmission request in the first requesting step. The image transmission / reception control method described in the above. 18. The control device according to claim 18, further comprising a second storage step of storing the image transmitted from the image transmission device in association with information on the image transmission device that transmitted the image. Item 18. An image transmission / reception control method according to any one of Items 15 to 17. 19. The image transmission / reception control method according to claim 18, wherein in the second storage step, information on a date and time when an image is received from the image transmission device is stored in association with the image. 20. The apparatus further comprising a comparing step of comparing the date and time stored in the second storing step with a current time. In the second requesting step, when a predetermined time has elapsed in the comparing step 20. The image transmission / reception control method according to claim 19, wherein a transmission request is transmitted to the image transmission device. 21. The image transmission / reception control method according to claim 18, wherein the information on the image transmission device includes at least one of an e-mail address and a telephone number. 22. The image transmission / reception control method according to claim 21, wherein in the second requesting step, a transmission request is made by e-mail to an e-mail address. 23. The method according to claim 2, wherein in the second requesting step, a transmission request is made by telephone to a telephone number.
23. The image transmission / reception control method according to 1 or 22. 24. A program executable by a computer device, wherein the computer device executing the program causes the computer device to function as the control device according to claim 6. Description: 25. A storage medium storing the program according to claim 24.