JP2000215119A - Incoming mail notification device and mail server device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reflect the intention of a mail creator on the notification procedure of mail arrival. SOLUTION: The creator of a mail addressed to a mail address for which a mail storage area is set on the mail server device inserts data regarding a choice of the notification procedure of mail arrival into the mail. When the mail reaches the mail server device, a main control part 41 of an incoming mail notification part 23 in this device makes a mail analysis part 42 to analyze the mail. After the analysis, the main control part 41 selects a notifying method for mail arrival notification out of notifying methods that the incoming mail notification part 23 can implement according to the data regarding the choice obtained as the analysis result and uses the selected notifying method to notify the terminal device corresponding to the mail destination address of the mail arrival.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mail server device for mediating the transmission and reception of mail in a so-called network system capable of transmitting and receiving mail, and an incoming mail notification device provided in the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the so-called Internet has become widespread as one technology of computer network systems. The Internet is a network system configured by connecting a plurality of computer network systems so that data can be transmitted and received mutually. A computer network system is configured by mutually connecting a plurality of information processing apparatuses having a data communication function via a communication line. The information processing apparatus is generally a personal computer, a workstation,
Alternatively, it may be realized by a personal digital assistant (PDA) and more recently by a communication terminal device having a data communication function. The communication terminal device is a general subscriber telephone, I
It is an SDN-compatible telephone, a mobile phone terminal, a PHS terminal, or a pager terminal.

[0003] As one of the services, the network system stores a data file in a predetermined format,
It has a so-called information transmission service for transmitting and receiving between any two information processing devices in the Internet. The information transmission service is, for example, specifically, a so-called electronic mail service or a simple character information transmission service, that is, a service similar to a so-called pager system. These information transmission mail services have become very popular as services on the Internet. Further, the information transmission service includes:
For example, it has become indispensable for improving business efficiency in a company. A network system (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “mail system”) capable of executing an information transmission service (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “mail service”) includes one or more so-called mail servers for the mail service. Includes equipment.

[0004] In a network system for performing a general mail service, a procedure for transmitting and receiving a data file in the above-mentioned format (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "mail") between any two users is as follows. All users who can use the mail service are provided with so-called mail addresses in advance, and the mail server device in the system has a storage area for storing mail addressed to these mail addresses. The mail addressed to any one of the mail addresses is directly or directly transmitted from any information processing device in the system to any one of the mail server devices having a storage area for storing the mail addressed to the mail address. Alternatively, the message is transmitted via a plurality of mail server devices. The one mail server device stores the mail in the storage area after receiving the mail. The user assigned the e-mail address determines whether an e-mail addressed to the user's e-mail address has arrived at any one of the mail server devices via any of the information processing devices in the system. Inquire about As a result of the inquiry, when the mail has arrived, the user requests the mail server device to transmit the mail via the information processing device. The mail server device responds to the request,
The mail is transmitted to the information processing device. As a result, the user receives an e-mail addressed to the e-mail address assigned to the user via the information processing device.

[0005] A user in the above-described general mail system determines whether a mail addressed to the mail address of the user has arrived at the mail server until the user inquires the mail server. Can not know. Therefore, it is difficult for the user to recognize whether the mail has arrived at the mail server device immediately after the mail arrives. In order to solve the above problem, first to third mail systems that provide a mail service having a notification function for notifying that a mail has arrived at a mail server device have been considered.

The first mail system includes, in addition to the mail server device, a plurality of information processing devices respectively associated with a plurality of mail addresses and a so-called router. A communication line that passes through a router with both ends as the two ends is connected only while communication is performed between the two. In addition, when the mail server device receives a mail addressed to a mail address corresponding to each of the information processing devices, the mail server device performs a calling process for connecting the communication line to each of the information processing devices.
Each information processing device responds to the call processing from a device having a predetermined telephone number, for example, a mail server device, and a mail addressed to a mail address corresponding to each information processing device arrives at the mail server device. Is displayed to the operator of the apparatus, or a predetermined graphic is displayed or a predetermined sound is output. As a result, each mail recipient grasps the arrival of the mail addressed to each information processing apparatus based on the presentation, and when the mail arrives, causes each information processing apparatus to request transmission of the mail. The first mail system is used in a so-called character mail service (product name) in a mobile telephone network provided with an electronic mail transmission / reception function provided by NTT Personal Corporation.

The second mail system includes an information processing device and the mail server device respectively associated with the plurality of mail addresses, and a communication line having both ends of each information processing device and the mail server device. Are connected only during communication between the two. And, when a mail addressed to a mail address corresponding to each of the information processing devices arrives at the mail server device, the mail server device automatically sets a communication line having both ends of the server device and each of the information processing devices. Connect and send the incoming mail to each information processing device. The second mail system is used in a so-called SkyWalker service (product name) in a PHS network provided with an electronic mail transmission / reception function provided by J-PHONE Corporation.

[0008] A third mail system includes a plurality of facsimile machines and the mail server machine respectively associated with the plurality of mail addresses. When a mail addressed to each of the mail addresses arrives at the mail server device, the mail server device generates an image data signal indicating an image representing the contents of the mail, and sends the image data signal to a facsimile device corresponding to each mail address. The image data signal is transmitted. As a result, each of the e-mail recipients recognizes the arrival of an e-mail addressed to each of the e-mail addresses based on the image printed by the available facsimile machine.

As described above, when the above three mail systems are used, the user can receive the mail addressed to the user's mail address without inquiring the mail server device about the incoming mail. Can be grasped immediately after the mail arrives at the mail server device. Therefore, in the above case, the user can quickly know the contents of the mail addressed to the mail address of the user.

In the mail system, there are a plurality of methods for notifying a user of an incoming mail to the mail server device. In the mail system,
In some cases, a single mail server device can execute a plurality of mail arrival notification methods. in this case,
When the mail server device notifies an arbitrary user of an incoming mail, it is necessary to select any one of a plurality of incoming mail notification methods to be executed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-93621 discloses a mail delivery method used when an operator can use a plurality of information processing apparatuses capable of sending and receiving mail. When the mail delivery method of the above publication is used,
The operator has a desktop terminal and a mobile terminal as a plurality of information processing devices. When a mail addressed to a certain operator's mail address is received, the mail server device in the data communication device using the mail delivery method transmits the mail to the premises where the desktop type terminal of the operator exists. If there is a mobile terminal having, it is determined that the operator is near the desktop type terminal, an e-mail is sent to the desktop type terminal, and if there is no mobile terminal that the operator has in the premises, It is determined that the operator is not near the desktop terminal, and the mail is transmitted to the mobile terminal. This is because desktop terminals are generally easier to read displayed characters than mobile terminals,
In addition, since it is possible to easily handle mail having a large amount of data, it is expected that the operator will want to receive mail on a desktop terminal as much as possible.
Therefore, in the data communication device, the mail is transmitted to the mobile terminal only when it is determined that the operator is not near the desktop terminal.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
In the data communication device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 93621, the mail delivery destination for notifying an operator, that is, a mail recipient, of the mail arrival of the mail server device is determined by the positional relationship between the desktop terminal and the mobile terminal, ie, the operator. Is determined according to the current position of. Therefore, in the data communication device, the intention of the person who sent the mail, that is, the mail sender is not reflected in the selection of the delivery destination of the mail. For example, if the mail sender does not want the mail to be sent to the mobile terminal due to the extremely large data amount of the mail, the mail may be sent to the mobile terminal depending on the current position of the mail recipient. There is. In addition, for example, since the content of the mail is an extremely urgent message, the mail sender wants to inform the mail recipient of the mail content as soon as possible, so that the mail is desired to be transmitted to the mobile terminal. In this case, the mail may be transmitted to the desktop terminal depending on the current position of the mail recipient. As described above, when a single mail recipient can use a plurality of information processing apparatuses, the mail sender's intention is determined in determining which of the plurality of information processing apparatuses to perform the mail arrival notification. It is difficult to reflect.

[0013] As described in the third mail system described above, under a situation where a mail arrival notification to a certain mail address is performed using a facsimile machine that can be used by an operator to whom the address is assigned. In some cases, the incoming mail has data in a format other than text data. In this case, it is difficult to create an image data signal indicating an image representing the entire incoming mail.
The image may not be able to convey the contents of the incoming mail, and the image data signal may be meaningless. As a result, in the third mail system, the processing operation for the notification of the arrival of the mail is wasted.

An object of the present invention is to provide an incoming mail notification device and a mail server device which can reflect the intention of the sender of the mail in the mail incoming notification procedure and can prevent waste of the mail incoming notification. is there.

[0015]

A first invention is an incoming mail notification device used in a mail server device provided with a plurality of mail storage areas for storing mail addressed to a plurality of predetermined mail addresses, respectively. The mail includes at least one of a plurality of predetermined control information related to selection of an incoming notification method of the mail,
Notification destination terminal storage means for storing, in association with each of the mail addresses, at least one communication terminal to be notified of a mail arrival addressed to each of the mail addresses, to each of the mail addresses; A plurality of notification means for notifying the server device of the arrival of the mail by a mutually different predetermined method; a mail address as a destination of the mail based on the mail received by the mail server device; And at least one of the all notification means based on the analysis result of the mail, and the destination of the mail is transmitted to the at least one notification means. The notification destination communication terminal, which is at least one communication terminal corresponding to the mail address, is notified of the arrival of the mail. A incoming mail notification device which comprises a notification control means.

According to the first invention, the incoming mail notifying device notifies the incoming mail to the mail server device to the notifying destination communication terminal based on control information included in the mail among a plurality of notifying means. Notification is performed using any one of the selected notification means. As a result, for example, when the creator of the mail adds control information to the mail in advance so as to allow the creator of the mail to select a notification means to be used for the notification of the created mail, the creator makes the selection at the time of notification of the arrival of the mail. The notified means is used. As a result, when a plurality of notification means are available, the mail arrival notification device can reflect the intention of the creator of the mail in the notification method of the mail arrival notification.

In the incoming mail notifying apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention, the plurality of pieces of control information are information for specifying all the notifying means, respectively, and the notifying control means is obtained by the mail analyzing means. The notification means designated by the control information is selected as the at least one notification means.

According to the second invention, the incoming mail notification device of the present invention has the same configuration as the incoming mail notification device of the first invention, and when the control information has the above configuration, the notification control means Operates as described above. That is, in the above case,
The creator of the mail directly writes information specifying the notification means to be used for the notification of the arrival of the mail in the mail. As a result, the incoming mail notification device according to the second aspect of the present invention can directly reflect the intention of the creator of the mail in the notification method of the incoming mail notification under a situation where a plurality of notification means are available.

The incoming mail notification device according to a third aspect of the present invention further includes a first notification control information storage means for storing at least one of the all notification means in association with each of the control information. The notification control means selects at least one notification means corresponding to the control information obtained by the mail analysis means as the one of the notification means based on the storage content of the first notification control information storage means It is characterized by doing.

According to a third aspect, the incoming mail notification device of the present invention has the same configuration as the incoming mail notification device of the first invention, and further includes the first notification control information storage means. The notification control means operates as described above. The contents stored in the first notification control information storage means are set, for example, by the operator of the incoming mail notification device. As a result, the incoming mail notification device according to the third aspect of the present invention reflects the intentions of the creator and the operator of the mail in the notification method of the incoming mail notification in a situation where a plurality of notification means are available. Can be done.

In a fourth aspect of the invention, the incoming mail notification device is characterized in that the control information indicates the importance of the mail.

According to the fourth invention, the incoming mail notification device of the present invention has the same configuration as the incoming mail notification device of the first invention, and the control information includes information indicating the importance of the mail. Has become. As a result, the incoming mail notification device according to the fourth aspect of the present invention provides the following:
That is, according to the importance of the mail set by the creator of the mail, for example, the operator of the apparatus can notify the arrival of the mail using a notification unit associated with the importance. Therefore, the operator of the incoming e-mail notification device can further grasp the importance of the e-mail at the same time as the incoming of the e-mail based on the e-mail incoming notification method.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, when the control information is not obtained from the received mail by the mail analyzing means, the notification control means may determine any one of the predetermined incoming mail notification means. One is selected as one of the notification means.

According to the fifth invention, the incoming mail notification device of the invention has the same configuration as the incoming mail notification device of the first invention, and in the above case, the notification control means Operate. As a result, if the creator of the mail does not add control information relating to the selection of the notification means to the mail, the incoming mail notification device of the fifth invention reliably notifies the operator of the device of the incoming mail. be able to.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an incoming mail notification device, wherein a plurality of communication terminals are associated with each mail address.
A second notification control information storage unit that stores a plurality of communication terminals and a plurality of notification units of each mail address in association with each other, wherein the notification control unit stores the notification content in the second notification control information storage unit. The communication terminal corresponding to the notifying means selected based on the analysis result of the mail among all communication terminals corresponding to the mail address to which the mail is addressed is selected as the notification destination communication terminal. And

According to a sixth aspect, the incoming mail notification device of the present invention has the same configuration as the incoming mail notification device of the first invention, and further includes the second notification control information storage means. The notification control means operates as described above.
As a result, when a plurality of communication terminals are available to the operator, the incoming mail notification device according to the sixth aspect can use the communication terminals in accordance with the use of the notification means. Therefore, in a situation where each notification means is configured to be able to notify the incoming mail only to the predetermined type of communication terminal, the notifying means can be properly used according to the intention of the creator of the mail, and the incoming mail can be reliably received. Can be notified to the operator.

[0027] In a seventh aspect of the present invention, at least one of the communication terminals is a facsimile apparatus.
The incoming mail receiving device further includes: an image data signal generating unit that generates an image data signal indicating an image; and a facsimile communication unit that transmits and receives the image data signal based on a predetermined communication protocol for facsimile communication. Any one of the notifying means, after receiving the mail, causes the image data signal generating means to generate an image data signal indicating an image representing the content of the mail, and the facsimile communication means, The image data signal is transmitted to the notification destination communication terminal.

According to a seventh aspect, the incoming mail notification device of the present invention has the same configuration as the incoming mail notification device of the first invention, and further includes means relating to facsimile communication. One notification means is a control means of the means relating to the facsimile communication. As a result, the incoming mail notifying apparatus of the seventh invention can notify the incoming mail using the facsimile function when the creator of the mail desires to use the facsimile communication function for the incoming mail notification. it can. Accordingly, if the operator can use a facsimile device or a communication terminal having a facsimile communication function as the communication terminal, the incoming mail notification device can connect the mail server device with the mail server device according to the intention of the mail creator. Regardless of whether or not the mail can be sent and received between the devices, the operator can be notified of the incoming mail via the device. Also, for example, when the creator wants the operator to receive the mail itself using a facsimile machine, the operator notifies the mail arrival notification itself using a facsimile machine so that the operator can copy the mail. This is preferable because the possibility of obtaining the information from the mail server device using a facsimile device increases.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, at least one of the communication terminals is a telephone, and the incoming mail receiving device transmits a sound data signal indicating sound based on a predetermined communication protocol for a call. The communication means for communication for sending and receiving, and the sound storage means for storing a sound data signal for notification indicating a predetermined sound for notification of the arrival of the mail, further comprising one of the notification means After receiving the mail, the communication means for communication transmits the sound data signal for notification to the communication terminal for notification.

According to the eighth invention, the incoming mail notification device of the invention has the same configuration as the incoming mail notification device of the first invention, and further includes means relating to a voice call. One notification unit is a control unit for a unit related to a voice call. As a result, the incoming mail notification device according to the eighth aspect of the invention uses the voice communication function of the communication terminal only when the creator of the mail desires to use the voice communication function of the communication terminal for the notification of the incoming mail. And run it. Thereby, the incoming mail notification device, if the operator can use a communication terminal having a voice call function as a communication terminal, for example, a telephone,
According to the intention of the creator of the mail, the operator can be notified of the arrival of the mail irrespective of whether or not the communication terminal can send / receive mail to / from the mail server device.
That is, the incoming mail notification device can execute incoming mail if the operator can use a communication terminal having at least a voice call function, for example, a so-called black telephone.
Since a general communication terminal often has a voice call function, if any one of the above-described notification means is used for notification of incoming mail, the operator has a special function for receiving incoming mail. There is no need to own a communication terminal.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, at least one of the communication terminals notifies of mail reception in response to the reference telephone number transmitted in response to a call based on the predetermined reference telephone number. The incoming mail notification device further includes network control means capable of making a call to the communication terminal using the reference telephone number. Any one of the means causes the network control means to make a call to the notification destination communication terminal using the reference telephone number after receiving the mail.

According to a ninth aspect, the incoming mail notification device of the present invention has the same configuration as the incoming mail notification device of the first invention, and further includes so-called network control means. The two notification means are call control means in the network control means. As a result, the incoming mail notification device according to the ninth aspect of the present invention is arranged such that, in a situation where the user of the device can use the communication terminal having the above-described configuration, the creator of the mail sends the notification of the communication terminal to the incoming mail notification of the mail. If it is desired to use the operation, the incoming mail can be executed using the notification operation. Further, if the communication terminal is used in a communication network capable of obtaining the telephone number of the communication partner in response to the call processing of the communication partner, the communication terminal performs a call processing of the network control means of the incoming mail notification device. The notification operation can be started when the reference telephone number is obtained in response to the request. Therefore, in this case, the communication terminal itself or the operator of the communication terminal does not need to perform an operation in response to the calling process, for example, a so-called off-hook operation.

[0033] In a tenth aspect of the present invention, at least one of the communication terminals is capable of displaying the contents of a mail, and the incoming mail notification device transmits a mail to all of the terminal devices. The apparatus further includes a mail communication unit capable of transmitting and receiving at least a part thereof, and any one of the all notification units may include, after receiving the mail, the mail communication unit, the notification destination communication terminal, And transmitting at least a part of the received mail.

According to the tenth invention, the incoming mail notification device of the present invention has the same configuration as the incoming mail notification device of the first invention, and further includes mail communication means for sending and receiving mail. Further, any one of the notification means is a control means of the mail communication means. As a result, the first
In a situation where the user of the apparatus can use the communication terminal having the above-described configuration, the creator of the mail can copy at least a part of the mail at the same time as the notification of the arrival of the mail. If it is desired to use the notification operation of the communication terminal, at least a part of the mail can be delivered to the notification destination terminal also as an incoming notification of the mail. As a result, according to the intention of the creator of the mail, the incoming mail notifying device can perform the mail notification rather than the procedure in which the device notifies only the mail arrival and the operator requests the mail server device to deliver the mail in response to the notification. Quickly, at least a portion of the mail can be delivered to the operator.

An incoming mail notification device according to an eleventh aspect of the present invention is the communication device, wherein the notification control means is configured to provide the mail server device with a request for delivery of a mail addressed to any one of the mail addresses from a single communication terminal. And processing for notifying of the arrival of a mail to the mail address.

According to the eleventh aspect, the incoming mail notification device of the invention has the same configuration as the incoming mail notification device of the first invention, and the notification control means operates as described above. ing. This is for the following reason. In general, the communication terminal is not always kept in a state in which it can receive a notification of an incoming mail from the incoming mail notification device. When the incoming mail notification device notifies the mail arrival to the notification destination communication terminal, if the communication terminal is not in the acceptable state, the notification destination communication terminal does not operate in response to the notification, The notification does not reach the operator via the communication terminal. Therefore, the incoming mail notification device of the eleventh invention performs the processing as described above. When the communication terminal sends a mail transmission request to the mail server device, a communication path is established between the mail server device and the communication terminal and the communication terminal is activated. Can be reliably received. As a result, the incoming mail notification device executes the process for the notification only when the notification destination communication terminal is in a state where the notification of the mail arrival can be reliably received. Can be prevented from failing beforehand. Therefore, the incoming mail notification device reduces the number of process failures as compared with the case where the process for notification is performed irrespective of the status of the notification destination communication terminal. The burden on the notification device can be reduced.

According to a twelfth aspect, in a mail server device connected to at least one mail client device, a plurality of mail storage areas for storing mail addressed to a plurality of predetermined mail addresses, respectively, A mail receiving means for receiving a mail addressed to each mail address and storing the mail in the mail storage area; an incoming mail notification device according to any one of claims 1 to 11; Receiving means for receiving an e-mail delivery request addressed to any one of the e-mail addresses; and
A mail server device comprising: a mail transmitting unit that transmits a mail in a mail storage unit addressed to any one of the mail addresses to the client device.

According to the twelfth aspect, when the mail server device sends and receives mail between persons to which a plurality of mail addresses are respectively assigned, the mail server device transmits the mail from the client device to relay the transmission of the mail. The mail is stored, and the mail is delivered in response to a request from the client device. Further, the mail server device further includes an incoming mail notification device according to any one of the first to eleventh inventions, so that the arrival of the mail at the server device is provided with the mail address of the mail destination. Can be notified to the person using the notification procedure according to the intention of the creator of the mail.

The reason why the incoming mail notifying apparatus is used in combination with the configuration for mail delivery is that the mail receiving notification at the time of mail receiving fails due to the use status of the notification destination terminal. If there is a request for distribution of the mail from the client device, the mail can be provided to the user who is the destination of the mail via the client device. Therefore, the possibility that the mail cannot be provided to the user according to the usage status of the notification destination terminal is reduced. Therefore, it is preferable to use both the incoming mail notification device and the mail delivery configuration. Further, when the mail server device has a built-in incoming mail notification device, the communication device between the client mail server device and the communication device between the incoming mail notification device and the communication terminal can be shared. As a result, the number of parts of the entire mail server device is reduced, so that the structure of the device is simplified.

[0040]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a mail server device 1 including an incoming mail notification device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows an e-mail device 3 including a mail server device and capable of transmitting and receiving e-mail.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. 1 and 2 will be described together.

The electronic mail device 3 is a computer network system that executes an electronic mail service for exchanging so-called electronic mail among a plurality of users of the electronic mail device 3. The e-mail is a data file described in a predetermined data format that can be transmitted in a predetermined transmission procedure in the e-mail device 1, and is hereinafter abbreviated as “mail”. The e-mail device 3
One or more terminal devices 4 are included in addition to the mail server device. The mail server device 1 and the terminal device 4
In order that signals can be mutually transmitted and received via the transmission line 5,
Each is connected to the transmission line 5. Terminal device 4 and transmission line 5
The connection with may be a wired connection or a wireless connection. The connection and disconnection between the terminal device 4 and the transmission path 5 can be arbitrarily switched.

The terminal device 4 is a device capable of communicating with the mail server device 1. The terminal device 4 is divided into an information terminal 7 capable of sending and receiving mail to and from the mail server device 1 and a communication terminal 8 mainly for communication other than sending and receiving mail. The information terminal 7 is a device mainly for information processing, for example, an information processing device having a data communication function. The information processing apparatus is generally a personal computer, a workstation, or a personal digital assistant (Parson
al Digital Assistant (PDA). Communication terminal 8 may be, for example, a device mainly for voice communication, or a device mainly for facsimile communication, that is, a facsimile device. Devices mainly for voice calls include, for example, general subscriber telephones,
It is an ISDN-compatible telephone, a mobile phone terminal, a PHS terminal, or a pager terminal. The communication terminal 8 may also serve as the information terminal 5 by adding a communication function for sending and receiving mails in addition to the communication function for the other communication. Examples of the device that serves both as the information terminal 7 and the communication terminal 8 include a portable information terminal having a mail sending / receiving function and a PHS terminal having the function. In the following description, the communication terminal 8 also serving as the information terminal 7 may be referred to as "information communication terminal 8A".

The network unit 11, which is a portion including the mail server device 1, the information terminal 7, and the NET 9 in the electronic mail device, is basically realized by a so-called client-server type computer network system. The network unit 11 is not limited to a client-server type computer network system, but may be realized by another type of computer network system. The information terminal 7 operates as a so-called electronic mail client device when communicating with the mail server device 1. In the following description, the computer network, the e-mail server device, and the e-mail client device may be abbreviated as “NET”, “server”, and “client”, respectively.

The transmission line 5 between the mail server device 1 and the information terminal 7 is realized, for example, by a communication line in a computer network system 9 (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “transmission NET 9”). The transmission NET 9 is realized by, for example, a LAN or a WAN. One type of WAN is the so-called Internet. The transmission path 5 between the server 1 and the communication terminal 8 is realized by, for example, a public communication network 10. The public communication network is, for example, a public telephone exchange network, an integrated service digital network, a line network for a mobile phone, or a line network for a PHS (Personal Handyphone System). When a line network for mobile phones or PHS is used, a radio base station 12 is installed in the line network, and the line network and the communication terminal 8 are connected between the radio base station 12 and the communication terminal 8. Are connected by a wireless transmission path between them.

The transmission NET 9 in the electronic mail device 3, for example, the Internet, includes at least one device of at least one of an electronic mail server device, an electronic mail client device, and a communication terminal that can also be used as the client. It is. When another electronic mail server device of the mail server device 1 of the present embodiment is included in the transmission NET 9, the mail server device 1 can send and receive mail to and from another server. A communication line having both ends of the other server and the mail server device 1 is connected.

Further, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that communication for sending and receiving mail between any two electronic mail server devices is performed based on SMTP. Communication for the e-mail client device to send e-mail to the e-mail server device is performed based on SMTP, and communication for the e-mail client device to receive e-mail sent from the e-mail server device. Is
It is assumed that it is performed based on POP. That is, e-mail client software for realizing an e-mail client device with an information processing device is a so-called POP /
This is realized by SMTP-compliant email client software. Of course, the protocol of each communication is PO
Not only P and STMP but also other protocols such as IM
An AP (Internet Message Access Protocol) may be used.

A general computer network system basically connects a plurality of information processing apparatuses having a data communication function to each other so that data can be transmitted between the information processing apparatuses. It is composed. In the computer network system, any two
The two information processing devices are physically connected via a transmission medium. The transmission medium is realized by a so-called transmission cable, communication network, or computer network system.

When the computer network system is a client / server type system, the computer network system may include, among all information processing apparatuses in the system,
At least one in which predetermined e-mail server software is installed and executes the software implements an e-mail server device in the system, and, among all information processing devices in the system, predetermined e-mail client software At least one of the software installed and running the software implements an email client device within the system, respectively.

The e-mail client software is
In general, it is for controlling a mail transmission request to a server and sending and receiving a mail to and from the server in response to the request, and may be concerned with mail creation. That is, when there is mail to be transmitted, a general e-mail client device requests the server to transmit the mail and transmits the mail to the server. Further, the general client requests transmission of mail stored in a storage area corresponding to a certain mail address in the server,
The mail transmitted from the server is received in response to the request. E-mail server software is roughly 2
Controlling transmission of mail between servers in one NET and transmission and reception of mail to and from the client in response to a request from the client.

The mail server device 1 generally relays the transmission of mail when sending and receiving mail between users of the electronic mail device 3. For this purpose, the mail server device 1
Includes a communication control unit 21, a mail distribution unit 22, and an incoming mail notification unit 23. The mail distribution unit 22 is generally
Mail is transmitted and received between the information terminal 7, the information communication terminal 8A, and another mail server device via the transmission path 5. The incoming mail notification unit 23 notifies a person to whom the destination of the mail arrived at the mail server device 1 (hereinafter referred to as a “recipient”) that the mail has arrived at the mail server device 1. The incoming mail notification unit 23
A plurality of notification methods can be executed, and a notification method of the incoming mail to the receiver is selected according to the intention of the creator of the mail. The communication control unit 21 controls the communication line used by the mail distribution unit 22 for sending and receiving mails and the communication line used by the incoming mail notification unit 23 to notify of incoming mail.

The communication control section 21 includes a line control section 26 and at least one modem 27. The line control unit 26
In order to establish a communication line via the public communication network 10 with the mail server device 1 and the communication partner of the device 1 as both ends, connection and disconnection of the communication line are established based on the communication protocol specified in the public communication network 10. , And further controls signal transmission and reception on the line after connection. Each modem 27 is connected to the line control unit 2
After the communication line is connected, while the line is connected, transmission and reception of signals using the communication line are performed by the line control unit 26 based on any communication protocol specified in the public communication network 10. Each is controlled at a higher level than the control.
That is, the modem 27 for an arbitrary communication protocol converts a data signal that can be transmitted and received based on the protocol into a form capable of transmitting a communication line based on the protocol, and, together with a control signal based on the protocol, Is transmitted / received to / from a modem provided in the communication partner via the communication line. The communication partner is, for example, the communication terminal 8 shown in FIG.
And a communication terminal 8 also serving as the information terminal 7.

In the present embodiment, communication control section 21 includes, as modem 27, a voice communication modem 28, a facsimile communication modem 29, and a data communication modem 30. The voice call modem 28 has the following data signal:
A sound signal indicating sound is used. The facsimile communication modem 29 uses an image signal indicating an image as the data signal. The data communication modem 30 uses, for example, data in a form that can be handled by a computer as the data signal. The data in the above form may be data indicating sound or image, may be so-called text or a program, or may be other data.
The terms and conditions for audio calls are the terms and conditions of the public switched telephone network,
Any of the ISDN communication protocol, the PHS communication protocol, and the mobile phone network communication protocol may be used. The communication control unit 21
May have a plurality of voice call modems 28 respectively corresponding to a plurality of types of voice call communication protocols.

At least one mail storage area for storing mail addressed to at least one predetermined mail address is set in the mail storage unit 31. The mail address is information for defining a destination of a mail transmitted in the electronic mail device 3. In the electronic mail device 3, the information is given to all users of the device 3. The mail address is not limited to a person, and may be assigned to, for example, a device that can send and receive mail. The mail sending / receiving section 32 performs communication regarding mail sending / receiving with the information terminal 7, the information communication terminal 8A, or another electronic mail server device. In the following description,
The mail address associated with the mail storage area in the mail storage unit 31 may be referred to as a reference mail address.

In the present embodiment, since the mail server device 1 is a server of a server-client type computer system, the mail sending / receiving section 32 receives the request signal from the information terminal 7 as a client, When mail is transmitted from the e-mail server device,
It works as follows. For example, the mail sending / receiving unit 32
When the information terminal 7 requests transmission of a mail transmitted from the terminal 7, a storage area corresponding to the mail address described as a destination in the mail given from the terminal 7 is in the mail storage unit 31. Then, the mail is stored in the storage area. If the storage area is not provided, another server having the storage area or a server capable of relaying mail transmission / reception to the other server is provided. Send the mail. When a mail transmitted from another server is received, the mail sending / receiving section 32 stores the mail in the storage area if the storage area corresponding to the mail address which is the destination of the mail is stored therein. If there is no area, the mail is transmitted to another server having the storage area or a server capable of relaying the transmission and reception of mail to and from the other server. When transmission of the mail stored in the storage area corresponding to a certain mail address is requested from the information terminal 7, the mail transmission / reception unit 32 transmits the mail in the storage area to the information terminal 7.
Send to

The mail received by the mail distribution unit 22 and stored in any one of the mail storage areas in the mail storage unit 31 may be hereinafter referred to as “incoming mail”. The mail address that is the destination of the incoming mail is stored in the mail storage unit 31.
A mail storage area for storing a mail addressed to the mail address is set therein. The processing when the mail distribution unit 22 uses the information communication terminal 8A as the communication partner is different from the processing when the mail distribution unit 22 uses the information terminal 7 as the communication partner. The difference is that, instead of being directly provided to the mail distribution unit 22 via the communication control unit 21 and the main control unit 41, the other components are the same.

The incoming mail notification unit 23 is provided with the mail analysis unit 4
2, a mail content extraction unit 43, a notification control data storage unit 45, a processing data storage unit 46, an image processing unit 44,
And a main control unit 41. The main control unit 41 controls the mail analysis unit 42, the mail content extraction unit 43, and the image processing unit 44 based on the main control operation procedure of the incoming mail notification process described later, and outputs the processing results of these units. Based on the notification, the communication control unit 21 is used to notify a mail arrival. The mail analysis unit 42 analyzes the incoming mail, and
Obtains, as an analysis result, data used for the incoming mail notification process. The mail content extraction unit 43 analyzes the description contents of the incoming mail, and extracts a part of the mail based on the analysis result. The extraction result of the mail content extraction unit 43 is stored in the main control unit 4.
1 is used in incoming mail notification processing. The image processing unit 44
The so-called text data in the incoming mail is converted into image data indicating an image including the character indicated by the text data. The notification control data storage unit 45 stores notification control data to be referred to when the main control unit 41 executes the incoming mail notification process. The processing data storage unit 46 includes a main control unit 41, a mail analysis unit 42, and a mail content extraction unit 4.
3 and predetermined data that the image processing unit 44 refers to when performing the above-described processing, respectively, and the image processing unit 44
Further, the processing result of the mail content extraction unit 43 is stored. The predetermined data includes, for example, voice data indicating voice for a predetermined voice announcement, font data for conversion processing between text data and image data, and data related to a mail format to be referred to when analyzing mail. Including.

In this embodiment, the incoming mail notification unit 23
Can execute five types of notification methods, that is, first to fifth notification methods. Note that the number of all notification methods executable by the incoming mail notification unit 23 is not limited to five as long as it is plural, and may be less than five or more than five. Further, the executable name notification method is not limited to the first to fifth notification methods described below, and may be another method.

The first notification method is performed in a situation in which a communication terminal (hereinafter, may be abbreviated as “notification destination terminal”) to be notified of incoming mail has a facsimile communication function. When the first notification method is used, the incoming mail notification unit 23 causes the notification destination terminal to output an image indicating the incoming mail or a predetermined image indicating the mail content. The second notification method is performed in a situation where the notification destination terminal has a voice call function. When the second notification method is used, the incoming mail notification unit 23 causes the notification destination terminal to output a voice message indicating the incoming mail. The third notification method is performed in a situation where the notification destination terminal has a function for obtaining the telephone number of the calling terminal with the call processing. When the third notification method is used, the incoming mail notification unit 23 performs a call process to the notification destination terminal. If the phone number obtained in the call processing is a predetermined reference phone number, Perform a predetermined notification operation. The fourth and fifth notification methods are performed in a situation where the notification destination terminal has a mail sending / receiving function and a display function, that is, in a situation where the notification destination terminal is the information communication terminal 8A. When the fourth or fifth notification method is used, the incoming mail notification unit 23 displays the entire incoming mail or a part of the mail on the notification destination terminal. The above is the description of the configuration of the mail server device 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a reference data format of the mail 61 for controlling the mail arrival notification used in the mail server device 1. The mail 61 based on the reference data format for the mail arrival notification control is a mail having a general mail data format and the notification selection data 63.
Further included. The mail incoming control data is for reflecting the intention of the mail creator in the mail incoming notification processing performed by the incoming mail notifying section 23 of the mail server device 1, and is added to the mail 61 by the mail creator.

A mail based on a general mail data format includes a mail header section 64 and a mail body section 6.
5 is included. The mail header portion 64 is a portion in which attributes of the mail 61 and control data related to processing of the mail 61 are described. The mail body portion 65 is a portion to be transmitted by the mail 61, that is, a portion in which the body of the mail 61 is described. A mail based on a general mail data format includes, for example, a destination part 66, a sender part 67, and a title part 68 in the mail header part 62.
including. These data 66 to 68 are not always included in the mail, and may be omitted as appropriate. The destination portion 66 includes the mail address of the destination of the mail 61, that is, the mail address of the receiver of the mail 61. The sender part 67 includes the mail address of the creator of the mail 61. The title portion 68 includes the title of the mail 61, that is, the title of the text in the mail body portion 63.

Notification selection data 63, mail header section 6
Written in 2. Notification selection data 63 includes at least one of importance portion 69 and notification method designation portion 70. The importance part 69 includes the importance of the mail 61. The importance of the mail indicates how much the creator of the mail considers the importance of the mail, and is determined by the creator. The notification method designation portion 70 includes notification designation data that designates at least one of a plurality of notification methods that can be executed by the incoming mail notification unit 23.

The importance part 69 and the notification method designation part 7
The description method of “0” is a method that is determined in advance between the mail creator and the incoming mail notification control unit 23, and the mail analysis unit 42 analyzes the mail and can extract the information of the relevant part. Any description method may be used. In the present embodiment, the importance portion 69 and the notification method designation portion 70
The whole is a character string, and headers “importance:” and “incoming notification method part:” for identifying these parts 69 and 70 are added to the head of the character string, and the part following the header, that is, the so-called It is assumed that importance and notification designation data are described in the fields. It is also assumed that the importance is represented by a numerical value, and that the larger the numerical value is, the more the mail creator considers the mail to be more important. It is also assumed that the notification designation data is a character string indicating the notification method itself. For example, when the notification method is a method using FAX, the notification designation data is “notification by FAX”. The above is the description of the reference data format.

The contents stored in the notification control data storage section 45 in the incoming mail notification section 23 will be described below. The notification control data storage unit 45 refers to when the main control unit 41 selects a notification method of the mail based on the notification selection data in the incoming mail in the incoming mail notification process. The notification control data storage unit 45 stores the importance correspondence table shown in Table 1 and the table shown in Table 2
Is stored.

[0064]

[Table 1]

[0065]

[Table 2]

The importance correspondence table shows the combination of a plurality of importance levels that can be specified by the mail creator and the mail addresses of all the callees to whom the incoming mail notification unit 23 should notify of the incoming mail. Notification methods executable by the unit 23 are associated with each other. The callee is, for example, a person whose mail storage area addressed to the mail address assigned to the callee is set in the mail server device 1. The contact correspondence table indicates that a combination of the e-mail addresses of all the callees and all the notification methods that can be executed by the incoming mail notification unit 23 notifies the mail arrival to the e-mail address by the notification method. The contact information of the communication device 8 as the notification destination is associated with each other. In the present embodiment, a telephone number is assigned to the communication device 8 that can be a contact, and the telephone number is described as the contact.

In Table 1, "importance 1" is written in a cell to which the notification method is to be written because the notification method to be described in the cell is the importance 1 in the same row as the cell.
Is the same as the notification method in the cell corresponding to. In Table 1, cells to which "-" is written are addressed to the mail address corresponding to the cell and do not notify the arrival of the mail having the importance corresponding to the cell, or the notification method at the time of the arrival notification is specified. Not indicate. In Table 2, a cell in which "-" is written indicates that a notification method or a telephone number to be written in the cell is not specified.

The notification method used for the notification of the arrival of the mail addressed to the mail address of any one receiver and given a plurality of respective importance levels is the incoming mail notification unit 2
3 selects and determines from a plurality of notification methods that can be performed by the called party. The communication device 8 to be used as a contact when notifying the arrival of a mail addressed to the mail address of an arbitrary recipient using any of the notification methods is determined by the recipient. The communication device 8 serving as the contact has a configuration capable of transmitting a notification using any one of the notification methods to the called party, and is usable by the called party. The importance correspondence table and the contact correspondence table are created by the administrator of the mail server device 1 as described above, for example, based on the contact from the mail recipient. In the present embodiment, the importance correspondence table and the contact correspondence table are separated from each other.
One may be integrated. That is, for example, not only the notification method but also a contact to be notified using the notification method may be described in each cell of the importance correspondence table.

In Table 1, only one notification method is associated with one combination of the mail address and the importance, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of notification methods are associated with the one combination. Is also good. In this case, when a mail with a certain importance arrives at a certain mail address, notifications using a plurality of notification methods respectively associated with the combination of the mail address and the importance are made in parallel with each other. Do it. Also, in Table 2, only one contact is associated with one combination of the email address and the notification method.
The present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of contacts may be associated with the one combination. In this case, when a mail addressed to a certain mail address is notified using a certain notification method, the arrival of the mail is notified in parallel to a plurality of contacts. The above is the description of the storage contents of the notification control data storage unit.

FIGS. 4 to 9 are flowcharts for explaining the main control operation procedure of the incoming mail notification process executed by the main control unit 41 of the incoming mail notification unit 23. FIG. 4
In FIG. 9, the importance correspondence table may be described as "correspondence table A" and the contact correspondence table may be described as "telephone number table B".
When a predetermined start timing of the incoming mail notification process comes, the process proceeds from step A1 to step A2. In step A2, the main control unit 41 determines whether or not mail addressed to all the reference mail addresses of the mail server device 1 has arrived at the mail distribution unit 22, that is, in the mail storage area corresponding to each of the reference mail addresses. Then, it is confirmed whether or not the mail is newly stored. The process of checking incoming mail is repeated a plurality of times, for example, periodically, with the passage of time until the incoming mail is checked.
After it is confirmed that there is an incoming mail, the process proceeds from step A2 to step A3.

When the mail has arrived after the confirmation of the incoming mail, the mail distribution unit 22 gives the mail address, which is the destination of the mail, to the mail analysis unit 42. The mail address of the mail destination includes not only the mail address described in the header of the mail but also a mail address to which the mail is to be actually delivered. For example, when the incoming mail is a mail addressed to a mailing list, the mail address of the mailing list is described in the header of the mail. In the above case, the mail distribution unit 22
As the mail address of the incoming mail, the mail address of the participant of the mailing list, that is, the mail address of a predetermined person to whom the mail addressed to the mailing list should be further delivered is set as the destination of the incoming mail.

At step A3, the main controller 41 causes the mail analyzer 42 to analyze the incoming mail. As a result, if the incoming mail is a mail having the reference data format shown in FIG.
And at least one of the notification method designation portions 70 in the mail is extracted from the mail. Further, the mail analyzing unit 42 converts the destination part 66 from the header part of the mail.
May be further extracted. In order for the mail analysis unit 42 to extract information of a predetermined type from within an arbitrary mail, the analysis unit 42 has a reference character string equal to a header to be added to the head of a character string indicating the information in advance. . The mail analysis unit 42 compares all the character strings in the mail, or the header, which is the head of all the character strings in the header part of the mail, with the reference character string,
If they match, the part after the header in the character string including the matched header is extracted as the desired type of information. The above is the e-mail analysis method.

After the mail analysis, the main control unit 41 determines in steps A4 and A5 based on the analysis result of the mail analysis unit 42
A notification method to be used for notification of the current incoming mail (hereinafter, may be referred to as a “specific notification method”) is determined. For this purpose, the main control unit 41 determines whether or not the notification method designating unit 70 has been extracted from the incoming mail as the analysis result in step A4. If not, the process proceeds from step A4 to step A5. If extracted, the main control unit 41 determines the notification method specified by the notification selection data in the notification method specification unit 70, and uses the determination result as the notification method to be used for the incoming notification of the incoming mail, that is, the identification method. Recognize as a notification method. The main control unit 41 has a predetermined reference character string for specifying each of a plurality of notification methods for specific determination processing of the notification selection data. Specifically, the main control unit 41 compares the character string that is the notification method designating part 70 with the plurality of reference character strings, and compares at least a part of the character string with any one of the character strings.
When two reference character strings match, the notification method indicated by the reference character strings is defined as a specific notification method.

At step A5, the main control section 41 selects a specific notification method based on the contents of the importance portion 69 and the importance correspondence table. That is, the main control unit 41 determines, from the importance correspondence table, the importance described in the importance part 69 extracted from the incoming mail and the mail address of the destination of the mail determined by the mail distribution unit 22 in step A2. The notification method corresponding to the combination is searched, and the notification method obtained as a search result is recognized as the specific notification method.

In the present embodiment, since the notification method in the case where the incoming mail does not have the importance portion 69 is set in the importance correspondence table in advance, the mail analysis unit 42 executes step A3.
, The main control unit 41 can determine a specific notification method even when both the importance part 69 and the notification method selection unit 70 are not extracted. The operation of the main control unit 41 when there is no notification selection data 63 in the incoming mail is not limited to this, and may be another operation. For example, instead of setting the notification method in the case of the absence in the importance correspondence table, if a specific notification terminal is not set in steps A4 and A5, any one of the predetermined notification methods may be set as the specific notification means. Good.

The main control unit 41 determines in steps A6 to A10
Then, the specific notification method is selected from all the notification methods that can be executed by the incoming mail notification unit 23, and the notification of the incoming mail using this method is started. In the present embodiment, the number of all notification methods is five, so the number of determination steps for the start processing of notification is five. However, the number of determination steps is the same as the number of all notification methods. It is sufficient that each notification method is associated with each determination step as follows, and these determination steps are sequentially connected as follows.

In each of the steps A6 to A10, it is determined whether or not the specific notification method is a predetermined first to fifth notification method. In each step, when the specific notification method is the notification method of the step, from steps A6 to A10, steps A11, A17, A22,
Go to A25 and A30, respectively. As a result, the main control unit 41
Operates as notification means for performing notification processing based on the first to fifth notification methods. In each step, when the specific notification method is not the notification method of the step, the process proceeds from steps A6 to A9 to steps A7 to A10, respectively. If it is determined in step A10 that the specific notification method is not the fifth notification method, the determination of all the steps from step A6 to A10 is denied, and it is determined that the specific notification method has not been set. Such a situation may occur when the notification selection data 63 specifies a notification method that the incoming mail storage unit 23 cannot execute, when the incoming mail is a mail having a general data format, or when the notification control data storage unit 45 based on the stored contents of 45 and the notification selection data 63,
Occur. In these cases, the mail arrival is not notified, but the mail server device 1 can execute the distribution of the mail in response to a request from the electronic mail client device.

If it is determined in step A6 that the specific notification method is the first notification method, that is, the notification procedure using the facsimile communication function, the main control unit 41 proceeds to step A1.
The notification process based on the first notification method of 1 to A16 is executed. In step A11, the main control unit 11 searches the contact correspondence table in the notification control data storage unit 45, and
In step 2, the mail address obtained by the mail distribution unit 22, that is, the contact address corresponding to the combination of the destination mail address of the incoming mail and the first notification method is extracted from the contact correspondence table. The contact information is, for example, a telephone number of a facsimile machine that can be used by a recipient to whom the destination of the incoming mail is assigned. After the search, in step A12, the main control unit 11 determines whether or not the contact information has been successfully extracted in step A11. If so, the process proceeds from step A12 to step A13. If not, the incoming mail notification unit 23 cannot notify of the incoming mail unless the contact information is available.
From 13, the process proceeds to step A <b> 36, and the processing operation of the flowchart is ended.

In step A13, the main control section 41 causes the image processing section 44 to convert the incoming mail into a notification image signal that can be transmitted using the facsimile communication function.
That is, when the incoming mail is composed of only text data, the image processing unit 44 performs a facsimile communication character transmission procedure stored in the processing data storage unit 46,
The character code in the incoming mail is converted into a character code for facsimile communication. Alternatively, the character code in the incoming mail is converted into so-called font data. The notification image signal obtained as a result is stored in the processing data storage unit 46.
Is stored temporarily.

After the conversion, the main controller 41 proceeds to step A14.
Then, the line control unit 26 in the communication control unit 21
Based on the contact information extracted in step 11, a communication line having both ends of the notification destination terminal and the mail server device 1 is connected. As a result, the line control unit 26 performs a calling process for the telephone number extracted in step A11. If the notification destination terminal has a line control unit having the same function as the line control unit 26 of the mail server device 1 and the notification destination terminal is in a state where the line connection is possible at the time of executing the call processing, the notification The destination terminal manually or automatically responds to the incoming signal transmitted from the line control unit 26 by calling processing based on the communication protocol of the network 10, and transmits a response signal of the signal. When the transmission and reception of these signals are completed, a communication line having both ends of the mail server device 1 and the communication destination terminal is connected.

After instructing the call, the main control unit 41 proceeds to step A
At 15, it is determined whether the communication line has been connected, ie, whether the call has been connected. For this purpose, the main control unit 4
1 is to determine whether a response signal to an incoming signal has been received for a predetermined time after instructing the line connection, and assume that the line has been connected when the response signal has been received within the time. If the response signal is not received, it is assumed that the line has not been connected. If the line is not connected, the process proceeds from step A15 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends. When the line is connected, the process proceeds from step A15 to step A16. After confirming the line connection, the main control unit 41 instructs the facsimile communication modem 29 to establish a communication path. In response to the instruction, the facsimile communication modem 29 sends and receives a control signal to and from the facsimile communication modem of the notification destination terminal via the connected line based on the facsimile communication protocol. As a result, a communication path for transmitting and receiving image signals is established between these modems.

In step A16, the main control section 41 reads the notification image signal from the processing data storage section 46 to the facsimile communication modem 29 of the communication control section 21 and transmits the notification image signal from the mail server device 1 via the communication line. To the notification destination terminal. The above is the notification processing using the first notification procedure. After the transmission, the process proceeds from step A16 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends.

If it is determined in step A7 that the specific notification method is the second notification method, that is, the notification procedure using the voice communication function, the main control unit 41 determines in steps A17 to A2
A notification process based on the first second notification method is executed. The processing in each of steps A17 to A21 is the same as the processing in steps A11, A12, and A14 to A16 except for the points described below, and the other steps are the same.

At step A17, the main control section 41 searches the contact correspondence table in the notification control data storage section 45, and the mail address obtained by the mail distribution section 22 at step A2, the second notification method, and the like. From the contact correspondence table. The contact information is, for example, a telephone number of a telephone that can be used by a recipient to which the destination of the incoming mail is assigned. After the search, step A18
Then, the main controller 11 determines whether or not the contact can be taken out in step A17. If so, the process proceeds from step A18 to step A19. If not, since the second notification method cannot be executed, the process proceeds from step A18 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends.

In step A19, the main control unit 41 sends a communication with the notification destination terminal and the mail server device 1 to both ends to the line control unit 26 in the communication control unit 21 based on the contact information extracted in step A17. Connect the line. After the line connection instruction, the main controller 41 determines in step A20 whether or not the communication line has been connected. If not, the process proceeds from step A20 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends. When the line is connected, the process proceeds from step A20 to step A21. After confirming the line connection, the main control unit 41 instructs the voice communication modem 28 to establish a communication path if necessary, for example, if the voice communication switching network is ISDN. In response to the instruction, the voice communication modem 28 transmits and receives a control signal to and from the notification terminal voice communication modem via the connected line based on the communication protocol of the voice communication. As a result, a communication path for transmitting and receiving voice signals is established between these modems.

At step A21, the main control section 41 reads a predetermined notification voice signal from the processing data storage section 46, and transmits the notification voice signal to the mail server device by the voice communication modem 28 of the communication control section 21. 1 to the notification destination terminal via the communication path. The notification voice signal is a voice signal indicating a voice for reading a message for notifying the called party of the incoming mail. In the present specification, the voice is not limited to the real human voice but may be a synthetic sound. After the transmission, the process proceeds from step A21 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends. The above is the notification processing using the second notification procedure.

In the above description, only one notification voice signal is prepared, and this signal is always used at the time of notification of an incoming mail. You may. In this case, the main control unit 4
1 selects and uses any one of the plurality of notification voice signals according to the contents of the incoming mail. That is, in the above case, for example, if the notification voice signals corresponding to all the mail addresses corresponding to the mail server device 1 are stored in the processing data storage unit 46 in advance, the main control unit 46 determines the destination of the incoming mail. The notification voice signal to be used for notification is selected according to the mail address. The notification voice signal may be generated by the incoming mail notification unit 23 at the time of the incoming mail notification, instead of being generated in advance.

When it is determined in step A8 that the specific notification method is the third notification method, that is, the notification procedure using the calling process, the main control unit 41 determines in steps A22 to A24.
The notification process based on the third notification method is executed. The detailed processing of each of the steps A22 to A24 is the same as the detailed processing of the steps A17 to A19 except for the following points, and the other steps are the same.

In step A22, the main control unit 41 searches the contact correspondence table in the notification control data storage unit 45, and compares the mail address obtained by the mail distribution unit 22 in step A2 with the third notification method. The contact corresponding to the combination is extracted from the contact correspondence table. The contact information is, for example, a telephone number of a telephone having a configuration that is available to a recipient to which an incoming mail destination is assigned, and that can obtain the telephone number of the communication device on the calling side during the calling process. After the search, in step A23, the main control unit 11 determines whether or not the contact information has been extracted in step A22. If so, the process proceeds from step A23 to step A24. If not, step A23 to step A
Proceeding to 36, the processing operation of the flowchart is terminated.

In step A24, the main control unit 41 sends a communication with the notification destination terminal and the mail server device 1 to both ends to the line control unit 26 in the communication control unit 21 based on the contact information extracted in step A22. The calling process for connecting the line is executed. In the calling process in step A24, signal transmission and reception necessary for the notification destination terminal to obtain the telephone number of the mail server device 1 may be performed at a minimum, and it is not necessary to actually connect the line. After the end of the calling processing, the process proceeds from step A24 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends. The above is the notification processing using the third notification procedure.

If it is determined in step A9 that the specific notification method is the fourth notification method, that is, the notification procedure using the voice communication function, the main control unit 41 determines in steps A25 to A2
A notification process based on the fourth notification method of No. 9 is executed. The processes in steps A25 to A28 are the same as the processes in steps A11, A12, A14, and A15 except for the following points, and the other steps are the same.

In step A25, the main control unit 41 searches the contact correspondence table in the notification control data storage unit 45, and compares the mail address obtained by the mail distribution unit 22 in step A2 with the fourth notification method. The contact corresponding to the combination is extracted from the contact correspondence table. The contact information is, for example, a telephone number of a device that can be used by a recipient to whom the destination of the incoming mail is assigned, and that can send and receive and display mail. That is, in the present embodiment, the information terminal 7 or the information communication The telephone number of the terminal 8A. After the search, in step A26, the main control unit 11 determines whether or not the contact can be taken out in step A25. If so, the process proceeds from step A26 to step A27.
If not, the fourth notification method cannot be executed.
The process proceeds from step A26 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends.

In step A27, the main control unit 41 instructs the line control unit 26 in the communication control unit 21 to communicate with the notification destination terminal and the mail server device 1 on both ends based on the contact information extracted in step A25. Connect the line. After the line connection instruction, the main controller 41 determines in step A28 whether the communication line has been connected. If the connection is not established, the process proceeds from step A28 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends. When the communication line is connected, the process proceeds from step A28 to step A29.
After confirming the line connection, the main control unit 41 instructs the data communication modem 30 to establish a communication path. In response to the instruction, the data communication modem 30 transmits / receives a control signal to / from the data communication modem of the notification destination terminal via a connected line based on a predetermined data communication protocol. As a result, a communication path for transmitting and receiving data signals is established between these modems.

At step A29, the main control unit 41 reads out the entire incoming mail confirmed at step A2 from the mail storage unit 31 in the mail distribution unit 22, and reads the whole mail for data communication of the communication control unit 21. The modem 30 causes the mail server device 1 to transmit to the notification destination terminal via the communication line. After the transmission, the process proceeds from step A29 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart is ended. The above is the notification processing using the fourth notification procedure.

If it is determined in step A9 that the specific notification method is the fifth notification method, that is, the notification procedure using the voice communication function, the main control unit 41 proceeds to steps A30 to A3.
A notification process based on the fifth notification method 5 is executed. The detailed processing of each of the steps A30, A31, A33 to A35 is described in steps A25, A26, A27 to A2.
Compared to the detailed processing of No. 9, the following points are different and the other points are the same, and therefore detailed description is omitted.

At step A30, the main control unit 41 searches the contact correspondence table in the notification control data storage unit 45, and compares the mail address obtained by the mail distribution unit 22 at step A2 with the fifth notification method. The contact corresponding to the combination is extracted from the contact correspondence table. The contact information is, for example, a telephone number of a device that can be used by a recipient to whom the destination of the incoming mail is assigned, and that can send and receive and display mail. That is, in the present embodiment, the information terminal 7 or the information communication The telephone number of the terminal 8A. After the search, in step A31, the main control unit 11 determines whether or not the contact can be taken out in step A30. If so, the process proceeds from step A31 to step A32.
If not, the fifth notification method cannot be executed.
The process proceeds from step A32 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends.

In step A32, the main control section 41 extracts a part of the incoming mail from the incoming mail confirmed in step A2 to the mail content extracting section 43. The mail extraction result is stored in the processing data storage unit 46.
After the extraction, the main control unit 41 sends the notification destination terminal and the mail server device 1 to the line control unit 26 in the communication control unit 21 in step A33 based on the contact information extracted in step A30.
And a communication line having both ends connected. After the line connection instruction, the main controller 41 determines in step A34 whether or not the communication line has been connected. If not connected,
The process proceeds from step A34 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends. When the communication line is connected, the process proceeds from step A34 to step A35. After confirming the line connection, the main control unit 41 sends the data communication modem 30
To establish a communication path. In response to the instruction, the data communication modem 30 transmits / receives a control signal to / from the data communication modem of the notification destination terminal via a connected line based on a predetermined data communication protocol. As a result, a communication path for transmitting and receiving data signals is established between these modems.

At step A 35, the main control unit 41 reads out the extraction result at step A 32, that is, a part of the incoming mail confirmed at step A 2 from the processing data storage unit 46, and reads the part of the mail at the communication control unit 21. Is transmitted from the mail server device 1 to the notification destination terminal via the communication line. The above is the notification processing using the fifth notification procedure. After the transmission, the process proceeds from step A35 to step A36, and the processing operation of the flowchart ends.

As described above, in the incoming mail notification processing of the present embodiment, the incoming mail notification unit 23 switches the mail incoming notification method based on the notification control data 63 in the mail. The notification control data 63 can be created and edited by the creator of the mail when creating the mail. As a result, the incoming mail notification unit 23 selects the mail notification method according to the intention of the creator of the mail, that is, using the notification method directly specified by the creator or according to the importance of the mail considered by the creator. can do. Further, when the importance is used as the notification control data 63, the notification method according to the importance is specified by the recipient of the mail. Therefore, the receiver receives the notification method specified by himself / herself according to the importance of the mail. The notification of the used mail arrival can be received. That is, in the above case, the intention of both the creator and the called party can be reflected in the incoming mail notification.

In this embodiment, steps A14,
In each of the call processes A19, A27, and A33, if the line cannot be connected, the incoming mail notification process is terminated without reconnecting the line.
The line connection procedure is not limited to this, and another procedure may be used. For example, if a line cannot be connected, a procedure that alternately repeats call processing and line connection confirmation processing until the line is connected may be used, or alternately repeats call processing and line connection confirmation processing until the line is connected. When the number of repetitions of these processes exceeds a predetermined number, the incoming mail notification process may be ended regardless of whether the line is connected or not.

The situation where the line cannot be connected in the above five steps is, for example, a situation where the notifying terminal is busy, that is, a situation where the communication line having the communication terminal as one end is already connected, or The terminal is the network 10
Or the notification destination terminal is in a dormant state, that is, for example, the power supply for driving the terminal is stopped. If the notifying terminal is configured to connect to the public network 10 by wireless connection, the notifying terminal is in an environment where the base station of the line network 10 cannot receive electromagnetic waves in the air, for example, the service area of the base station. The line cannot be connected even if it is not.

The incoming mail notifying section 23 is provided with at least one of the mail incoming notification processing in the mail incoming notification processing in order to prevent the notification of the incoming mail from being transmitted to the notified terminal according to the status of the notified terminal. It is preferable to execute the communication with the notification destination terminal for notification at the time when the notification destination terminal makes a request for the configuration for mail delivery. Alternatively, the incoming mail notification unit 23, if communication with the notification destination terminal for transmitting the notification is not possible, some request is made to the communication from the notification destination terminal to the configuration for the mail distribution. It is preferable to re-execute at that point. In the present embodiment, the configuration for mail distribution is the mail distribution unit 22. In order to perform these operations, the incoming mail notification unit 23 is preferably used together with the mail distribution unit 22.

When the electronic mail device 3 is realized by a client-server type computer network system, the control procedure for mail delivery from the mail server device 1 to the electronic mail client device to a certain mail address is as follows. It is on the street. First, the client device accesses the mail server device and connects a communication line between the client device and the mail server device 1. After the connection, the client device requests the mail server device 1 to establish a communication path for sending and receiving mail between the device 1 and the client device. The mail server device 1 responds to the request and sends and receives a control signal to and from the client device for authentication verification of the client device. As a result, if the authentication is confirmed, a communication path between the mail server device 1 and the client device is established.

After the establishment, the client device inquires of the mail server device 1 whether there is a mail addressed to the mail address. In response to the inquiry, the mail server device 1 checks the number of the mails in the mail storage area corresponding to the mail address, and returns the number of the mails to the client device. After receiving the number of emails,
The client device requests the mail server device 1 to specify a mail to be transmitted and to deliver the mail. In response to the request, the mail server device 1 reads the specified mail from the mail storage area and sends it to the client device. As a result, a mail addressed to the mail address is delivered to the client device. After receiving the mail, the client device requests the mail server device 1 to specify a mail addressed to the mail address and delete the mail as necessary. The mail server device 1
In response to the request, the specified mail is deleted from the mail storage area corresponding to the mail address. At least after receiving the mail, the client device disconnects the communication path with the mail server device 1. The above is the mail distribution procedure between the mail server device 1 and the client device.

As described above, when the incoming mail notification unit 23 is used in combination with the mail distribution unit 22 and the request is transmitted to the mail distribution unit 22, the client device communicates with the mail distribution unit 22. It is ensured that mail can be sent and received between Therefore, if the client device of the communication partner of the mail distribution unit 22 is a notification destination terminal, the incoming mail notification unit 23
By grasping the communication state of the notification destination terminal, the notification destination terminal can easily recognize whether or not the line connection is possible at the present time. That is, from the notification destination terminal to the mail distribution unit 22
When any request is made, communication between the incoming mail notification unit 23 and the notification destination terminal is enabled. Therefore, when the incoming mail notification unit 23 executes the above-described communication for notification of the incoming mail at the time, the possibility that the communication fails due to the operation status of the notification destination terminal is extremely low. Based on such a reason, it is preferable that the incoming mail notifying unit 23 be used together with the mail distributing unit 22 and that the communication for notification of the incoming mail be executed at the time when the request to the mail distributing unit 22 is made. .

In order for the incoming mail notification unit 23 to perform the above-described operation, the incoming mail notification unit 23
And the notification destination terminal can operate as an e-mail client device. In order for the notification destination terminal to also serve as the client, the notification destination terminal may be the information terminal 7 or the information communication terminal 8A. The request from the notification destination terminal to the mail server device 1 is not limited to a request for mail distribution from the mail server device 1 to the notification destination terminal, but may be another request, for example, a request from the notification destination terminal via the mail server device 1. The request may be a transmission of a mail addressed to a mail address. The above-described mail distribution is actually performed based on, for example, so-called POP or IMAP. Currently, it is more preferred to use the latest version, POP version 3 or IMAP version 4. The above is the description of the communication state between the mail server device 1 and the notification destination terminal.

In the above-described incoming mail notification processing, the structure and operation of the notification destination terminal to which an incoming call is notified by the mail incoming notification processing using the first notification method are as follows. The communication terminal designated as the contact in the notification processing of the incoming mail using the first notification method is, for example, a facsimile apparatus having a general configuration. The facsimile apparatus includes a line control unit, a facsimile communication modem, and an image reproducing unit. The line control unit and the facsimile communication modem are connected to the line control unit 2 of the mail server device 1.
6 and the same function as the modem 29 for facsimile communication. The image reproducing unit is realized by, for example, a combination of an image processing unit and a printing device.

After the facsimile communication modem in the facsimile apparatus establishes a communication path between the mail server apparatus 1 and the facsimile apparatus by the function of the line control unit and the modem in the facsimile apparatus, The notification image signal transmitted from the mail server device 1 to which the notification has been transmitted is received via the line control unit, subjected to a predetermined process, and then given to the image reproduction unit. As a result, the image reproducing unit reproduces the image indicated by the given notification image signal. That is, when the image reproducing unit includes an image processing unit and a printing device, the image processing unit converts the character code in the image signal into a character font provided in the processing unit in advance, and the printing device converts the character code. An image is printed on recording paper based on the image signal. As a result, the user of the facsimile apparatus, that is, the person to whom the mail address of the destination mail has been assigned can visually check the reproduced image.
Therefore, the user can recognize that the mail addressed to the user's mail address has arrived at the mail server device 1.

As described above, the main control unit 41 of the incoming mail notification unit 23 is a control unit of a unit related to facsimile communication in the mail server device 1 when the first notification method is used. For example, when the creator of the mail desires to use the facsimile communication function for the notification of the incoming mail, the incoming mail notification unit 23 can notify the incoming of the mail using the facsimile function. Accordingly, if the operator can use a facsimile device or a communication terminal having a facsimile communication function as the communication terminal, the incoming mail notification device can connect the mail server device with the mail server device according to the intention of the mail creator. Regardless of whether or not the mail can be sent and received between the devices, the operator can be notified of the incoming mail via the device.

In the present embodiment, since the notification image signal indicates an incoming mail as an image, the notification of the incoming mail using the first notification method is that the mail is delivered at the same time as the notification. become. As a result, the user:
You can quickly know the contents of the incoming mail. Further, when the creator intends to transmit the created mail itself to the called party using facsimile communication, it is preferable to set the notification selection data so as to notify the incoming of the mail using the first notification method. . This is because when the first notification method is used, the incoming mail notification is performed as described above.
This is because the mail can be reliably delivered by facsimile communication. Note that the notification image signal is not limited to the above-described one, and may have another configuration, for example, an image signal indicating a predetermined image indicating the content of notification of incoming mail. In this case, the main control unit 41 may read out the notification image signal stored in the processing data storage unit 46 instead of converting the incoming mail into the notification image signal, so that the processing is simplified. The above is the description of the notification destination terminal when the first notification method is used.

In the above-described incoming mail notification processing, the structure and operation of the notification destination terminal to which an incoming call is notified by the mail incoming notification processing using the second notification method are as follows. The notification destination terminal is a communication terminal having at least a so-called voice call function, and is, for example, a telephone having a general configuration. The telephone may be any telephone as long as it has at least a voice call function.
That is, the telephone includes a telephone for a public switched telephone network, that is, a so-called black telephone, a telephone for ISDN, a mobile telephone terminal, and a PHS terminal. The telephone, a line control unit,
It includes a voice call modem and a voice playback unit. When the information terminal 7 having a communication function further has a voice reproduction function, the information terminal 7 can be used as a contact for receiving a mail using the second notification method. The line control unit and the voice call modem have the same functions as the line control unit 26 and the voice call modem 28 of the mail server device 1. The audio reproducing unit includes, for example, a speaker.

The line controller in the telephone responds to an incoming signal from the line controller 26 of the mail server device 1,
The ringer of the telephone is driven. In response to the ringer sound generated as a result, when the telephone operator puts the telephone off-hook, the line control unit 26 sends a response signal of the incoming signal to the mail server 1 via the line network 10.
Send to After the communication path between the mail server device 1 and the telephone is established by the operation of the communication control unit and the modem in the telephone, the voice communication modem in the telephone sets the mail transmitted through the communication path. The notification voice signal from the server device 1 is received via the line control unit, and after performing a predetermined process based on the communication protocol of the voice communication of the communication network 10, the signal is given to the voice reproduction unit. As a result, the audio reproduction unit reproduces the audio indicated by the given notification audio signal. As a result of the above, the user of the facsimile machine 1, that is, the person to whom the mail address of the destination of the incoming mail is given,
If the telephone is operated in the same procedure as the operation for a general voice call, the reproduced sound can be heard. Therefore, the user can recognize that the mail addressed to the user's mail address has arrived at the mail server device 1.

When notifying the incoming mail using the second notification method as described above, the incoming call is notified using only the voice communication function of the notification destination terminal. As a result, if the called party can use a communication terminal having at least a voice call function as a notification destination terminal, the incoming mail notification section 23 sets the communication terminal to a mail server according to the intention of the mail creator. Apparatus 1
Regardless of whether or not mail can be sent and received between the receiver and the receiver, the receiver can be notified of the incoming mail. Since a general communication terminal often has a voice call function, when the second notification method is used, it is not necessary for the called party to have a communication terminal having a function dedicated to notification of incoming mail.

The situation where the creator of the mail wishes to notify the arrival of the mail using only the voice call function is, for example, a situation where the contents of the mail indicate urgent requirements for the destination of the mail. This is for the following reason. The communication terminal used by the recipient of the mail generally has at least a voice call function. Therefore, when notifying the arrival of an urgently desired email using only the voice call function,
Since the possibility that the operator is close to the communication terminal capable of receiving the notification is sufficiently higher than the case where other functions other than the voice call function are used for the notification of the incoming mail, the notification can be surely provided to the operator. Promptly communicated. As a result, the callee can quickly and reliably grasp the incoming mail. As a result, the mail is quickly obtained by the operator. Further, when the incoming mail notification device uses only the voice call function for notifying the mail arrival, not only a device that can obtain mail from the mail server device but also a telephone used only for voice call, for example, using a so-called black telephone Since the mail arrival can be notified, the possibility that the operator can be notified of the mail arrival in any communication environment increases. Therefore, in the above situation, it is preferable to notify the mail arrival using only the voice call function. The above is the description of the notification destination terminal when the second notification method is used.

In the above-described incoming mail notification processing, the structure and operation of the notification destination terminal to which the incoming call is notified by the mail incoming notification processing using the third notification method are as follows. The notification destination terminal has a determination function for determining whether or not the calling side device is a mail server device in response to a calling process at the time of line connection, and a notification function of the terminal that the notification of mail arrival is received. It is a communication terminal having a presentation function for presenting to an operator. In the present embodiment, the determination function includes a function of obtaining the telephone number of the calling device and a function of comparing the telephone number with a reference telephone number. The communication terminal having the above-mentioned function of obtaining a telephone number is a communication terminal for a communication network based on a communication protocol including, for example, the telephone number of the calling side in an incoming signal at the time of calling, and the communication network includes: For example, ISDN, mobile phone switching network, or PH
It is the S network. Further, the communication terminal having the above function may be a telephone for a public switched telephone network having a so-called caller ID notification function.

The communication terminal includes a line control unit, a voice call modem, a telephone number acquisition control unit, a reference telephone number storage unit,
It includes at least a presentation control unit for presenting an incoming call notification and a presentation unit. The line control unit and the voice call modem have the same functions as the line control unit 26 and the voice call modem 28 of the mail server device 1. The reference number storage unit stores a reference telephone number used by the mail server device 1 for incoming call notification using the third notification method. The reference telephone number is, for example, a telephone number of a subscriber line of a communication network connected to the communication control unit 21 in the mail server device 1 for data communication. The user of the notification destination terminal obtains the telephone number in advance and stores the telephone number in the reference telephone number storage unit of the notification destination terminal.

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing signal transmission / reception between the mail server device 1 executing the step A24 of the incoming mail notification process and the notification destination terminal when the notification destination terminal is a communication terminal for ISDN. is there. When the notification destination terminal is a communication terminal for a communication network other than the ISDN, the details of signals transmitted and received are different from those in the processing in FIG. 10, but the basic meaning is the same. The incoming signal S1 transmitted by the line control unit 26 of the mail server device 1, that is, the call setting information in the ISDN, if the terminal is in a state where the line can be connected, is notified via the exchange in the line network 10. Given to the destination terminal. A line control unit in the communication terminal responds to the incoming signal S1 to generate a call signal S2 indicating that the operator of the communication terminal is being called.
Is given to the mail server device 1 via the exchange. In addition, the notification destination terminal may drive the ringer in the terminal together with the transmission of the call signal S2, or may leave the ringer paused. Mail server device 1
The main control unit 41 monitors whether the communication control unit 21 has received the response signal S3 of the incoming signal S1 after instructing the start of the calling process, and after receiving the response signal S3, the line control unit 26 disconnects the line. Is transmitted. The line control unit in the notification destination terminal transmits a disconnection signal S3 given via the exchange.
, A release signal S4 for disconnecting the line is transmitted in response to the disconnection signal S3. After receiving the release signal S4 given via the exchange, the line control unit 26 in the mail server device 1 transmits a release completion signal S4 indicating the completion of the line connection in response to the release signal S4. .
When the release completion signal S4 is given to the notification destination terminal via the exchange, the communication between the notification destination terminal and the mail server device 1 is completed.

During the execution of the above sequence, the notification destination terminal replaces the call signal S2 as shown in FIG.
A response signal S6 of the incoming signal S1 may be transmitted. The above situation is, for example, when the notified terminal has a so-called automatic incoming call function, or when the notified terminal performs a so-called manual incoming call, and the operator performs a so-called off-hook operation earlier than the transmission of the call signal S2. Happens if you do. The exchange gives the response signal S6 to the mail server device 1 and, at the same time, sends a response confirmation signal S7 to the notification destination terminal. After receiving the response signal S6, the main control unit 41 in the mail server device 1 responds to the response signal S6 to
To send a disconnection signal S3. The sequence after transmitting the disconnection signal is the same as the sequence after transmitting the disconnection signal in FIG. When the notification destination terminal is a communication terminal of a communication network having a caller notification function, after the mail server device 1 transmits the incoming signal S1, the exchange sets the incoming signal S1.
Before giving 1 to the notification destination terminal, a signal is transmitted and received between the exchange and the notification destination terminal to give the telephone number of the calling device to the notification destination terminal. In this case, the sequence after the incoming signal S1 is provided to the notification destination terminal is equal to the sequence in FIGS.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining a presentation process after receiving an incoming signal at the notification destination terminal. After at least the incoming signal S1 is obtained, the process proceeds from step B1 to step B2. In steps B2 and B3, the acquisition control unit in the notification destination terminal determines whether or not the calling device that is the source of the incoming signal is the mail server device 1 based on the incoming signal. For this reason, after receiving the incoming signal, the acquisition control unit in the notification destination terminal extracts the telephone number of the calling device, that is, the mail server device 1 in the above example, from the incoming signal S1. For example, as shown in FIG.
The bit string which is call setting information as the incoming signal S1 in the SDN is divided into a plurality of bit groups each composed of one or a plurality of bits, and each bit group includes a call type and a called number in order from the top of the bit string. , Calling number, called sub address and calling sub address. Therefore, the acquisition control unit extracts a calling number, that is, a group of bits indicating the telephone number of the calling apparatus, by setting a bit separated by a predetermined number of bits from the head bit of the bit string of the incoming signal S1 as the head. A bit group including the predetermined number of bits is extracted from the bit string.

[0120] After the extraction, the presentation control unit in the notification destination terminal extracts the incoming signal S1 in step B3 in order to confirm whether or not the incoming signal S1 is caused by the calling process from the mail server device 1. The obtained telephone number is compared with the telephone number in the reference telephone number storage unit. If they do not match, the process proceeds from step B3 to step B5, and the presentation process ends. If they match, step B3 to step B
Proceeding to 4, the presentation control unit causes the presentation unit to execute a presentation operation for notifying of the arrival of the mail. After the end of the presentation operation, the presentation process ends in step B5. As a result, the user of the notification destination terminal can recognize that the mail addressed to the mail address of the user has arrived at the mail server device 1.

The presenting unit is, for example, a sound source capable of generating a sound, a so-called buzzer, and generates a sound which can be suppressed in advance as a presenting operation. The presentation unit is, for example, a vibration device, a so-called vibrator, and may vibrate at least a part of the notification destination terminal as a presentation operation. The presenting unit may be a display device capable of displaying an image, and may display an image indicating that there is a notification of an incoming mail as the presenting operation.

Further, when the notification destination terminal has a configuration for displaying the telephone number obtained from the incoming signal S1, the configuration may be used as a presentation unit. Furthermore, the notification destination terminal has a so-called telephone directory, that is, data having a telephone number and the name of the user of the communication terminal using the number associated with each other, and corresponds to the telephone number obtained from the incoming signal S1. When a configuration is provided in which a telephone number is retrieved from the telephone directory and displayed, the configuration may be used as a presentation unit. in this case,
If the telephone directory stores the reference telephone number and the name "mail server" indicating the mail server device 1 in association with each other, in step B4, a character string "call was received from" mail server "" Is displayed. In addition, a single notification destination terminal may include a plurality of types of presentation units. In this case, the presenting unit may use the presenting unit in accordance with, for example, the content of the notification of the incoming mail, or may use a notifying method specified by the operator in advance.

As described above, when the mail arrival is notified by using the third notification method, the mail arrival is notified by using the above-described presentation function of the notification destination terminal. As a result, in a situation where the called party can use the communication terminal having the presenting function, the mail creator wishes to use the presenting function for notifying the incoming of the mail. Can be executed using the notification operation. The notification destination terminal operates the presentation function only when the telephone number of the mail server device 1 is obtained in accordance with the calling process. As a result, there is no need for the mail server device 1 and the notification destination terminal to connect a communication line between them for the notification of the incoming mail. Therefore, when the third notification method is used, the process of the incoming mail notification unit 23 is simplified as compared with the case where another notification process is used. Furthermore, in the above case, the operator of the notification destination terminal does not need to perform a so-called off-hook operation, so that the trouble associated with the notification of the incoming mail is reduced. The above is the description of the structure and operation of the notification destination terminal when the third notification method is used.

In the above-described incoming mail notification processing, the structure and operation of a notification destination terminal to which an incoming call is notified by mail incoming notification processing using at least one of the fourth and fifth notification methods are as follows. It is. The notification destination terminal has a data communication function with the mail server device 1, a function of determining whether or not the calling device is the mail server device 1 in response to a calling process at the time of line connection; It has at least a function for outputting e-mail. The function of determining whether the calling device is the mail server device 1 is a third function.
This function is equivalent to the function of the notification destination terminal when the notification method is used, and is realized by a telephone number acquisition function and a comparison function.

To this end, the notification destination terminal includes at least a line control unit, a data communication modem, a telephone number acquisition control unit, a reference telephone number storage unit, a mail output control unit, and an output unit. The line control unit and the data communication modem have the same functions as the line control unit 26 and the data communication modem 30 of the mail server device 1. The contents of the reference telephone number storage unit and the storage method of the reference telephone number are described in the third section.
This is the same as the reference telephone number storage unit of the notification destination terminal when the notification method is used and the storage method.

FIG. 14 shows signal transmission / reception between the mail server apparatus 1 which is executing step A29 or step A35 of the incoming mail notification processing when the notification destination terminal is a communication terminal for ISDN and the notification destination terminal. It is a sequence diagram. When the notification destination terminal is a communication terminal for a communication network other than the ISDN, details of signals to be transmitted / received are different from those in the processing in FIG. 14, but the basic meaning is the same. The sequence diagram of FIG.
Since the same signals are included as compared with the sequence diagram of FIG. 10, the signals are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIGS.

The incoming signal S1 transmitted by the line control unit 26 of the mail server device 1, that is, the call setting information in the ISDN, indicates that the terminal is in a state where the line can be connected.
It is provided to the notification destination terminal via an exchange in the circuit network 10. The line control unit in the notification destination terminal receives the incoming signal S
In response to step 1, the call signal S2 is sent to the mail server 1 via the exchange. Further, the notification destination terminal may drive the ringer in the terminal together with the transmission of the call signal S2. When the notification destination terminal has, for example, a so-called automatic incoming call function, the output control unit sends the incoming signal S1 to the outgoing call processing for connecting a line for data communication from the mail server device 1 after transmitting the calling signal. To determine if it was sent based on
The response signal S6 of the incoming signal S1 is transmitted to the line control unit in the notification destination terminal. Further, after transmitting the call signal, the line control unit may transmit a response signal S6 of the incoming signal S1 in response to an off-hook operation of the operator of the notification destination terminal. In response to the response signal S6, the exchange in the circuit network 10 provides the response signal to the mail server device 1 and a response confirmation signal S7 to the notification destination terminal.

The main control section 41 in the mail server device 1
After instructing the start of the calling process, the operation state of the communication control unit 21 is monitored, and the operation of the communication control unit 21 confirms that the communication path for data communication between the mail server device 1 and the telephone has been established. After the confirmation, the data signal S8 indicating the entire mail or a part thereof is sent to the data communication modem 30.
, Via the communication path. Data signal S8
Is given to the notification destination terminal via the exchange. The data communication modem in the notification destination terminal receives the data signal S8 via the line control unit in the terminal, performs a predetermined process based on the data communication protocol of the communication network 10, and then executes To the output control section of the mail in the box. The output control unit stores the data signal in a storage unit in the control unit.

The main control section 41 of the mail server device 1 monitors the transmission state of the data signal S8 and, after all the signals have been transmitted, causes the line control section 26 to transmit the disconnection signal S3.
The sequence after the transmission of the disconnection signal S3 is equal to the sequence of the disconnection signal S3 in FIG. As a result of the above processing, a data signal indicating at least a part of the mail is provided to the notification destination terminal. The above is the description of the sequence for delivering at least a part of the mail.

After the communication based on the sequence of FIG. 14 ends, the output control unit of the notified terminal interprets the data signal obtained by the communication according to the configuration of the output unit in the terminal.
The interpretation result is provided to the output unit and output. The output unit includes:
For example, it is a display device capable of displaying the contents of mail. When the output unit is a display device, the interpretation processing of the data signal is performed, for example, by converting text data in the data signal into image data indicating an image to be displayed by the output unit using a character font provided in the notification destination terminal in advance. This is the process of conversion. Since at least a part of the mail is output by the above processing, the user of the notification destination terminal can recognize at least a part of the contents of the mail simultaneously with the arrival of the mail based on the output contents of the output unit. .

When the fourth or fifth notification method is used, the main control unit 41 of the incoming mail notification unit 23
Has the same configuration as the incoming mail notifying device of the first invention, and further includes a so-called network control means, and any one of the notifying means is included in the control unit of the mail sending / receiving unit in the mail server device 1. Has become. This is for the following reason. A situation in which the creator of the mail desires to deliver at least a part of the mail to the notification destination communication terminal in place of the mail arrival notification is caused by, for example, an urgent requirement for the operator of the incoming mail notification device, that is, the mail destination. It is the situation which shows. In this way, when the mail arrival notification device delivers the mail itself instead of notifying only the mail arrival, the device notifies only the mail arrival and the operator sends the mail to the mail server device in response to the notification. The e-mail can be delivered to the operator earlier than requested.

Further, for example, when the notification destination communication terminal is a portable communication terminal capable of sending and receiving mail, the amount of mail data that can be processed at one time by the communication terminal is larger than that of other communication terminals other than the portable communication terminal. , Often less. The portable communication terminal, for example, a PHS having a mail sending / receiving function
The other communication terminal is, for example, a so-called desktop information processing device having a mail sending / receiving function. Therefore, in a situation where it is desired to deliver at least a part of the mail instead of the notification of the arrival of the mail, in this case, the data amount of the mail is less than the data amount that the portable communication terminal can process at one time or the data amount. If it is close to, the entire mail is preferably delivered to the communication terminal using the fourth notification method. If the data amount of the mail is sufficiently larger than the processable data amount, the fifth notification method is used. Preferably, only a portion of the mail is used. This is preferable in the former state because the whole mail can be transmitted to the operator as a whole faster than the procedure of separately performing mail arrival and mail delivery as described above, and in the latter state, the above procedure is more preferable. This is preferable because a part of the contents of the mail can be transmitted to the operator quickly, and the load due to the mail delivery to the notification destination communication terminal is reduced as compared with the case where the entire mail is delivered. The above is the description of the notification destination terminal when the fourth and fifth notification methods are used.

In the case where a single notification destination terminal has a configuration capable of outputting a mail and a configuration for determining whether or not the calling side device is the mail server device 1, the notification destination terminal may be any of the third to the third.
It is possible to cope with the notification processing using the fifth notification method. In addition, the notification destination device often has a configuration for voice communication in addition to the above-described function for data communication. When the notification destination terminal has the above-described three configurations, the communication control unit in the notification destination terminal controls the communication in the following procedure.

After receiving the incoming signal, the line control unit in the destination terminal gives the incoming signal S1 to the control unit in the terminal. The control unit determines whether or not the calling side device that outputs the signal is the mail server device 1 based on the received incoming signal S1. The procedure for determining the calling device is the same as the procedure for determining the calling device in the notification destination terminal when the third notification method is used. As a result, when it is determined that the calling device is not the mail server device, the control unit causes the line control unit and the voice call modem to start the process for the voice call. As a result, a voice call can be performed.

When it is determined that the calling side device is the mail server device 1 as a result of the above determination, the output control unit causes the line control unit in the notification destination terminal to output the response signal S6. After the output instruction, the output control unit determines whether a communication path between the notification destination terminal and the mail server device 1 has been established.
If not established, it is determined that the mail arrival notification has been performed from the mail server device 1 based on the third notification procedure, and the presentation process when the above-described third notification method is used is started. If it is established, it is determined that the mail arrival notification has been made based on the fourth or fifth notification method, and the mail output process is performed when the above-described fourth or fifth notification method is used. By the above processing, a single notification destination terminal can support the third to fifth notification methods.

When the notification destination terminal is compatible with the fourth and fifth notification methods, the output processing of at least a part of the mail distributed for the notification of the arrival of the mail is performed irrespective of the actually used notification method. Alternatively, it may be always executed by a predetermined single procedure, or may be changed according to the used notification method. In the latter case, the notification destination terminal needs to determine what notification method was actually used.

A procedure for the notification destination terminal to determine the notification method used is, for example, as follows. The main control unit 41 of the mail server device 1 previously inserts control data indicating whether the used notification method is the fourth or fifth notification method into the incoming signal S1. The notification destination terminal further has a configuration for determining whether or not the calling device is a mail server device based on the incoming signal, and a configuration for determining a notification method based on the incoming signal.
After receiving the incoming signal, the notification destination terminal first determines whether or not the calling device is a mail server device based on the incoming signal, and if so, based on the incoming signal, the notification method is a fourth notification method. The method or the fifth notification method is determined.

For example, when the communication path between the mail server device 1 and the notification destination terminal is ISDN, the control data may be described in the incoming signal S1, that is, in the portion indicating the calling subaddress in the call setting information. The calling subaddress is a bit string prepared for transmitting the extension number of the calling device, and is currently used for transmitting control data of a service using ISDN. The control data is a bit string determined between the mail server device 1 and the notification destination terminal. For example, when the fourth notification method is used, “1” is described in the calling sub address,
When the fifth notification method is used, “2” is described in the calling subaddress.

When the notification method using the notification destination terminal is made identifiable in this way, the main control unit 41 of the mail server device 1 sends a data signal indicating mail to the notification destination terminal after connecting the line. You only need to do. Since the notification destination terminal recognizes the notification method to be used based on the analysis result of the above-mentioned incoming signal, if the received data signal is received after the line connection, the data signal indicates the mail. Is determined, and the above-described mail output process is performed.

In the notification processing using the fifth notification method,
It is preferable that the part of the mail to be given to the notification destination terminal is a part indicating the gist of the contents of the mail. For example, the sender and subject of the mail, and the first line of the body of the mail. That is, in this case, the partial data signal that is a data signal indicating a part of the mail illustrated in FIG. 15A indicates the content illustrated in FIG. Further, the part extracted by the mail content extraction unit 43 from the incoming mail may be always set to a predetermined item regardless of the mail address that is the destination of the incoming mail, and the mail server device 1 can notify the incoming mail. It may be set individually for all mail addresses.

When the sender and the subject of the mail and the first line of the body part are used as the parts indicating the main points, the procedure for creating the above partial data signal is as follows. The mail content extraction unit 43 firstly receives the incoming mail 61
From the inside, the mail header part 62 of the mail is extracted, and the sender part 66 and the title part 67 are extracted from the header part 62.
For each header. After the search, the mail content extraction unit 43 extracts the description content in the field corresponding to the header obtained as a result of the search, that is, the mail address and the title of the sender. The extracted mail content extraction unit 43
The mail body part 63 is searched from the incoming mail 61, and the first line 65A in the body part 63 is extracted. After the first line is extracted, the mail content extracting unit 43 arranges the extracted three items in a predetermined format, and creates a data signal indicating the arranged result as a partial data signal. The above is the description of the creation processing.

The incoming mail notifying section 23 and the mail server device 1 of this embodiment are examples of the incoming mail notifying device and the mail server device of the present invention. Can be implemented.
In particular, detailed operations of each device and unit are not limited thereto and may be realized by other operations as long as the same processing result is obtained. Further, the incoming mail notification unit 23 of the present embodiment may be realized by a computer, or may be configured by combining electric circuits for realizing the units 41 to 46 in the device 1. When the incoming mail notification unit 23 is realized by a computer, the computer reads out software including a program and data for causing the central processing unit of the computer to perform the incoming mail notification processing described in FIGS. It is stored in a possible storage medium. Examples of the storage medium include a CD-ROM and a floppy disk. To operate the computer as the incoming mail storage unit 23, first, the storage medium is mounted on the computer, the software in the storage medium is installed on the computer, and then the software in the installed software is installed. And causing the central processing unit to execute the program. Thereby, the central processing unit in the computer is controlled by the main control unit 41, the mail analyzing unit 42, the mail content extracting unit 43, and the image processing unit 44.
And the memory in the computer operates as the two storage units 45 and 46, so that the entire computer operates as the incoming mail storage unit 23. This makes it possible to easily realize the incoming mail notification unit 23 of the present embodiment using a general-purpose computer.

[0143]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the incoming mail notifying device includes the mail incoming to the mail server device in the predetermined communication terminal in the mail among the plurality of notifying means. Notification is performed using any one of the notification means selected based on the control information to be transmitted. As a result, the mail arrival notification device can reflect the intention of the creator of the mail in the notification method of the mail arrival notification.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the information designating the notification means to be used for the notification of the arrival of the mail is directly written in the mail, the incoming mail notification device is provided with the notification means specified by the information. Notification of incoming mail using.
As a result, the incoming mail notification device can directly reflect the intention of the creator of the mail in the notification method of the mail incoming notification. Still further, according to the third invention, the incoming mail notification device stores in advance the correspondence between the control information and the notification means, and selects the notification means based on the control information in the mail and the correspondence. I do. As a result, the incoming mail notification device can reflect the intentions of the creator of the mail and the setter of the correspondence in the notification method of the incoming mail notification.

According to the fourth aspect, the control information is the importance of the mail specified by the creator of the mail. As a result, the incoming e-mail notification device can use the notification means according to the importance of the e-mail to notify the incoming mail. Still further, according to the fifth aspect, the incoming mail notification device, when the control information is not obtained from the mail, selects one of the plurality of notification units.
Choose one. As a result, when the creator of the mail does not add control information related to the selection of the notification means to the mail, the incoming mail notification device can reliably notify the incoming of the mail using a predetermined notification method. it can. According to the sixth invention, the incoming mail notification device of the invention further stores the correspondence between the notification means and the communication terminal of the notification destination, and selects the communication means of the notification destination according to the selected notification means. . As a result, the incoming mail notifying apparatus can properly notify the incoming mail while properly using the notifying means according to the intention of the creator of the mail.

Further, according to the seventh aspect, the incoming mail notification device further includes, as one of a plurality of notification means, means for transmitting a predetermined image message using a facsimile communication function. Accordingly, if the operator can use a facsimile device or a communication terminal having a facsimile communication function as a communication terminal, the incoming mail notification device can change the mail server device according to the intention of the mail creator. Irrespective of whether or not mail can be sent and received between the user and the device, the operator can be notified of the incoming mail via the device.

According to the eighth invention, the incoming mail notification device further includes, as one of a plurality of notification means, means for transmitting a predetermined voice message using a voice communication function. Accordingly, if the operator can use a communication terminal having a voice call function as a communication terminal, for example, a telephone, the incoming mail notification device can change the communication terminal to a mail server device according to the intention of the mail creator. Regardless of whether or not mail can be sent and received between the user and the user, the operator can be notified of the incoming mail.

Further, according to the ninth aspect, the incoming mail notifying device further includes, as one of the plurality of notifying means, means for performing a calling process to the communication terminal of the notification destination. As a result, the incoming mail notification device has a configuration in which the communication terminal can identify the calling device based on a signal transmitted / received in accordance with the calling process and a calling device from the incoming mail notification device. In such a case, the incoming mail notification device can notify the incoming of the mail only by performing the calling process under the condition that the mail incoming notification can be presented to the operator in the case of. According to the tenth invention, the incoming mail notification device of the invention further includes, as one of the plurality of notification means, means for delivering at least a part of the mail to the communication terminal of the notification destination. As a result, the incoming e-mail notification device allows the creator of the e-mail to copy at least a part of the e-mail at the same time as the incoming notification of the e-mail under a situation where the communication terminal of the notification destination has a configuration capable of receiving and displaying the e-mail If it is desired to use the notification operation of the communication terminal, at least a part of the mail can be delivered to the notification destination terminal also as an incoming notification of the mail.

Further, according to the eleventh aspect, the incoming mail notification device performs communication for notifying of incoming mail at the time when sending / receiving mail is requested from the communication terminal of the notification destination. As a result, it is possible to prevent the notification from failing due to the use status of the incoming mail notification device and the notification destination communication terminal. As described above, the twelfth
According to the invention, the incoming mail notification device is built in the mail server device. As a result, the incoming e-mail notification device is used in combination with a configuration for e-mail distribution, so that the e-mail can be provided to the user even in a situation where notification of an e-mail arrival cannot be made according to the usage status of the notification destination terminal. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a mail server device including an incoming mail notification unit 23 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an electronic mail device including the mail server device 1 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a mail 61 based on a reference mail format used in the incoming mail notification unit 23 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a first part of a flowchart for describing a main control operation of notification processing of incoming mail in a main control unit 41 of the incoming mail notification unit 23;

FIG. 5 is a second part of the flowchart for explaining the main control operation of the incoming mail notification process.

FIG. 6 is a third part of the flowchart for explaining the main control operation of the incoming mail notification process.

FIG. 7 is a fourth part of the flowchart for explaining the main control operation of the incoming mail notification processing.

FIG. 8 is a fifth part of the flowchart for explaining the main control operation of the incoming mail notification process.

FIG. 9 is a sixth part of a flowchart for explaining the main control operation of the incoming mail notification processing.

FIG. 10 is a signal sequence diagram between the mail server device 1 and a communication terminal of a notification destination when a third notification method is used in the incoming mail notification process.

FIG. 11 is a signal sequence diagram between the mail server device 1 and a communication terminal of a notification destination when a third notification method is used in the incoming mail notification process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a mail notification presenting process of a communication terminal of a notification destination when a third notification method is used in the incoming mail notification process.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a format of an incoming signal S1 in ISDN.

FIG. 14 is a signal sequence diagram between the mail server device 1 and a communication terminal of a notification destination when a fourth or fifth notification method is used in the incoming mail notification process.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a mail that is a source of the mail content extraction processing in the incoming mail extraction unit 43 and a result of extracting a part of the mail in the extraction unit 43.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 mail server device 3 electronic mail device 5 transmission line 7 information terminal 8 communication terminal 23 incoming mail notification unit 26 line control unit 28 voice communication modem 29 facsimile communication modem 30 data communication modem 31 mail storage unit 32 mail transmission / reception unit 41 Main control unit 42 Email analysis unit 43 Email content extraction unit 44 Image processing unit 45 Notification control data storage unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page F term (reference) 5B089 GA11 GA21 GA26 GA36 JA31 JB03 JB05 JB22 KA01 KA04 KB06 KC21 KC39 KG01 LA13 LB14 5K030 GA17 HA06 HC01 HC09 HC14 JT01 JT03 JT09 KA02 LD13 5K101 KK11 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 NN01 CC07 JJ14 JJ25 KK56

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An incoming mail notification device used in a mail server device provided with a plurality of mail storage areas for respectively storing mail addressed to a plurality of predetermined mail addresses, wherein the mail is an incoming mail. At least one of a plurality of predetermined control information related to selection of a notification method is included, and the incoming mail communication device is configured to at least notify each of the mail addresses of an incoming mail to each of the mail addresses. Notification destination terminal storage means for storing one communication terminal in association with each other; a plurality of notification means for respectively performing notification of mail arrival to the mail server device by different predetermined methods; Based on the mail arriving at the server device, the mail address as the destination of the mail and the Mail analyzing means for obtaining at least one piece of control information; and at least one of the all notifying means is selected based on an analysis result of the mail, and a mail address of a destination of the mail is provided to the at least one notifying means. And a notification control unit for notifying the notification destination communication terminal, which is at least one communication terminal corresponding to the above, of the arrival of the mail. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of pieces of control information are pieces of information respectively specifying all the notifying means, and the notifying control means includes a notifying means specified by the control information obtained by the mail analyzing means. The at least one
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said notification means is selected as one of the two notification means.
Incoming mail notification device as described. 3. A first notification control information storage means for storing at least one of said all notification means in association with each of said control information pieces, and said notification control means includes: 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least one notification means corresponding to the control information obtained by said mail analyzing means is selected as said one notification means based on the storage content of said one notification control information storage means. Incoming mail notification device as described. 4. The incoming mail notification device according to claim 3, wherein the control information indicates the importance of the mail. 5. When the control information is not acquired from the received mail by the mail analysis means, the notification control means sets one of the all incoming mail notification means to the predetermined one. 2. The incoming mail notification device according to claim 1, wherein the notification is selected as one notification means. 6. When a plurality of communication terminals are associated with each mail address, a second notification control information storage means for storing the plurality of communication terminals of each mail address and the plurality of notification means in association with each other is further provided. Wherein the notification control means is further selected based on a result of analysis of the mail among all communication terminals corresponding to the mail address to which the mail is addressed, based on the storage content of the second notification control information storage means. The communication terminal corresponding to the notification means,
2. The incoming mail notification device according to claim 1, wherein the notification mail is selected as the notification destination communication terminal. 7. The at least one communication terminal is a facsimile device, the incoming mail receiving device is an image data signal generating means for generating an image data signal indicating an image, and a predetermined communication protocol for facsimile communication. And facsimile communication means for transmitting and receiving image data signals. Any one of the notifying means may include an image data signal indicating an image representing the contents of the mail after receiving the mail. 2. The image data signal generating means, and the facsimile communication means transmits the image data signal to the notification destination communication terminal.
Incoming mail notification device as described. 8. The communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the communication terminals is a telephone, and the incoming mail receiving device is a communication device for transmitting and receiving a sound data signal indicating sound based on a predetermined communication protocol for a call. Further comprising: a sound storage unit for storing a notification sound data signal indicating a predetermined sound for notification of an incoming mail, wherein one of the all notification units is configured to perform the communication after the reception of the mail. 2. The incoming mail notification device according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit transmits the notification sound data signal to the notification destination communication terminal. 9. The at least one communication terminal executes a predetermined notification operation for notifying of mail reception in response to the reference telephone number transmitted along with a call based on the predetermined reference telephone number. The incoming mail notification device may further include a network control unit capable of calling the communication terminal using the reference telephone number, and any one of the all notification units 2. The incoming mail notification device according to claim 1, wherein after receiving the mail, the network control means causes the notification destination communication terminal to make a call using the reference telephone number. 10. At least one of the communication terminals is capable of displaying the contents of mail, and the incoming mail notification device is capable of transmitting and receiving at least a part of mail to all of the terminal devices. Further comprising: a receiving unit that, after receiving the mail, causes the mail communication unit to transmit at least a part of the received mail to the notification destination communication terminal. The incoming mail notification device according to claim 1, wherein: 11. The notification control means, when a request relating to delivery of a mail addressed to any one of the mail addresses is given to the mail server device from a single communication terminal,
2. The incoming mail notification device according to claim 1, wherein a process for notifying of an incoming mail to the mail address is performed. 12. A mail server device connected to at least one mail client device, wherein: a plurality of mail storage areas for storing mail addressed to a plurality of predetermined mail addresses; An e-mail receiving unit that receives the e-mail and stores the e-mail in the e-mail storage area; an incoming e-mail notification device according to any one of claims 1 to 11; Receiving means for receiving a mail delivery request addressed to any one of the above;
The mail in the mail storage means addressed to one mail address,
A mail transmitting unit that transmits the mail to the client device.