JP2002101118A - Electronic mail relaying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To overcome the problem of a prior art such that complicated works were needed for receiving electronic mails at a plurality of terminals. SOLUTION: A party user 70 transmits an electronic mail to a user. An electronic mail relaying apparatus 20 transfers this mail to mail addresses of a plurality of users' terminals 30a, 30b. The user receives the electronic mail at both user terminals A30a, B30b. It suffices that the user previously registers transferring addresses in the mail relaying apparatus 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic mail relay technology. The present invention particularly relates to a relay device that performs a predetermined process when sending or receiving an e-mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of mobile phones and various mobile devices (hereinafter, also simply referred to as terminals) that can be connected to the Internet, the number of people who use e-mail (hereinafter, also simply referred to as e-mail), both public and private, has increased rapidly. did. There are many reasons why email is preferred, but it is convenient to be able to make contact even when the other party is absent and that all sent and received emails are kept as a record inside the terminal, and recently, quite important business memos and documents are important. The number of scenes exchanged by e-mail is increasing.

[0003] In recent years, a large number of programs for handling the transmission and reception of mail (hereinafter referred to as mail software) have been commercialized, and a variety of functions such as those specialized for personal use and those focused on business use have been provided. It became so. The user uses one or a plurality of mail software according to each use and preference.

[0004] Among such mail software, there is a mail software in which a plurality of mail accounts are set, and mail reception, that is, download from a POP (Post Office Protocol) server is sequentially executed to the accounts. Some users have separate email addresses for business and personal use, and downloading from multiple accounts is a very useful feature.

[0005]

On the other hand, as a result of the miniaturization and weight reduction of terminals, it is a fact that the input of mail addresses including alphabets is very complicated. Even if you have multiple accounts, registering and setting up a mobile phone is a hassle.

[0006] Further, in such a terminal, the caller number is often uniquely assigned as the user name of the user's e-mail address at the time of sale, which does not fit the idea that the user sets up a plurality of accounts by himself. Many. In such terminals, mail is usually exchanged using an e-mail address set from the beginning. Therefore, when someone sends an e-mail to another address of the user, the user cannot receive the e-mail at this terminal.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for improving the convenience of mail transmission and reception by a user having a plurality of accounts, that is, mail addresses. One object of the present invention is to
Particularly, the present invention is to improve the convenience at the time of receiving a mail, and another object of the present invention is to reduce complicated work at the time of sending a mail, as described later.

[0008]

One embodiment of the present invention relates to an electronic mail relay device. The e-mail relay device includes a communication unit, a mail reception unit that receives an e-mail via the communication unit, a mail transmission unit that transmits an e-mail via the communication unit, and a plurality of mail addresses as one representative. An address table held in association with an address, an inspection unit for detecting whether or not a destination address of the e-mail received by the mail receiving unit exists as the representative address in the address table; and A modifying unit that sets all mail addresses associated with the representative address as destination addresses of the received e-mail when the address is present in the address table as a representative address, and generates a corrected e-mail; An e-mail is transmitted via the mail transmission unit.

The e-mail transmitted to the representative address of the user is transferred to another e-mail address owned by the user by the e-mail relay device, so that the user receives the e-mail at all the terminals owned by the user. be able to.

When the destination address is stored at a predetermined position of the received e-mail, the correction unit sets the destination address as the destination address of the received e-mail, and generates the corrected e-mail. Is also good.

When a user sends an e-mail to another user, the e-mail relay device transmits the e-mail to a representative address of the user with the e-mail address of the transmission destination stored in a predetermined position of the e-mail. The e-mail is sent to both the user's own e-mail address and the e-mail address of the destination user. As a result, the e-mail transmitted from one terminal of the user can be stored in another terminal of the user.

[0012] The electronic mail relay device may further include a transfer condition setting unit for determining whether to transmit the corrected electronic mail.

[0013] Whether or not to forward the received mail may be determined based on the reception date and time, transmission date and time, source address, destination address, subject, contents of the text, security state, importance, and the like. For example, in order to receive an e-mail related to a business on a mobile device during a business trip, it is possible to set a condition that a business partner forwards an e-mail which is a source address to the mobile device only during a business trip period. it can.

It is to be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements, and those obtained by converting the expression of the present invention among apparatuses, methods, and systems are also effective as embodiments of the present invention.

[0015]

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an electronic mail relay system 10 according to an embodiment. In the electronic mail relay system 10, the user terminals 30a, 30b, and 70 are connected to the electronic mail relay device 20 via a network, here, the Internet 50. The user terminal A30a is, for example, a personal computer, and is connected to the Internet 50 via an Internet service provider (hereinafter, simply referred to as a provider) A company 40a. The user terminal B30b is, for example, a mobile phone or a PHS, and has a mobile phone packet network 6
0 and the Internet 50 via the provider B company 40b. The user terminal 70 with which the e-mail is exchanged is connected to the Internet 50 via the provider C company 40c. Hereinafter, when the user is simply referred to as "user", the user and the user's terminal are not particularly distinguished.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which an electronic mail is transmitted from the partner user 70 to the user terminal A 30a in a usual manner. When the partner user 70 sends an e-mail to the user, first, the SMTP of the provider C 40c
Connect to server and send e-mail. Provider C Company 4
The SMTP server 0c sends the electronic mail to the SMTP server of the provider A 40a with reference to the destination address of the electronic mail. When the SMTP server of the provider A 40a confirms that the received e-mail address is addressed to its own domain, it spools it. The user uses the user terminal A 30a to connect the provider A company 40
Connect to the POP server a and receive the spooled e-mail.

Here, if the user terminal B 30b can connect to the POP server of the provider A 40a, the user terminal B 30b can also receive the e-mail sent to the mail account of the provider A 40a. it can. However, as described above, some devices, such as mobile phones, cannot connect to other providers. In such a case, the user terminal B 30b cannot receive an e-mail addressed to the mail account of the provider A company 40a.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which an electronic mail is transmitted from the partner user 70 to the user via the electronic mail relay device 20 of the present embodiment. The e-mail relay device 20
It has a function as an SMTP server and relays e-mail. When the other user 70 sends an e-mail to the user, first, it connects to the SMTP server of the provider C 40c and sends the e-mail to the representative address of the user. Since the representative address is the mail address of the domain to which the electronic mail relay device 20 belongs, the electronic mail is sent to the electronic mail relay device 20.

When receiving the e-mail transmitted to the representative address of the user, the e-mail relay device 20 transfers the e-mail to another e-mail address registered by the user. Here, the e-mail is transmitted to the mail addresses of the provider A 40a and the provider B 40b. The user sends the user terminal B30 from the user terminal A30a to the POP server of the provider A company 40a.
b respectively connects to the POP server of the provider B company 40b and receives spooled e-mail.

As described above, the electronic mail relay device 20
Since the user transfers the e-mail to the mail address desired to be transferred, the user can receive the same e-mail at a plurality of terminals owned by the user.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which an electronic mail is transmitted from the user terminal A 30a to the partner user 70 in a usual manner. When the user sends an e-mail from the user terminal A 30a to the partner user 70, the user first connects to the SMTP server of the provider A company 40a and sends the e-mail. The SMTP server of the provider A 40a refers to the destination address of the e-mail,
Send an e-mail to the SMTP server 0c. When the SMTP server of the provider C 40c confirms that the received e-mail address is addressed to its own domain, it spools it. The partner user 70 connects to the POP server of the provider C company 40c and receives the spooled e-mail.

At this time, the e-mail transmitted by the user can be stored in the user terminal A 30a, but cannot be stored in the user terminal B 30b. If the user wants to store the e-mail also in the user terminal B30b, the user terminal B30b
Cc (carbon copy) or bc
It is necessary to send an e-mail to the e-mail address of the user terminal 30b by, for example, putting it into a c (blind carbon copy). If the user wants to store the e-mail in all the terminals owned by the user, the above operation must be performed when the e-mail is transmitted from any terminal, which is troublesome.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which an electronic mail is transmitted from the user terminal A 30a to the partner user 70 via the electronic mail relay device 20 of the present embodiment. When a user sends an e-mail to the partner user 70 using the user terminal A 30a, the user first sends an e-mail to a representative address of the user. At this time, the mail address of the partner user 70 is stored in a predetermined position of the e-mail. The SMTP server of the provider A 40a is the e-mail relay device 2
Send e-mail to 0.

When receiving the electronic mail in which the transmission destination address is stored in the predetermined position, the electronic mail relay device 20 transfers the electronic mail to the transmission destination address. Thereby, the e-mail can be delivered to the partner user 70. At the same time, the e-mail is transferred to another e-mail address registered by the user. Thereby, the e-mail transmitted from the user terminal A 30a can be received by the user terminal B 30b.

FIG. 6 shows the internal configuration of the electronic mail relay device 20. This configuration is realized by a hardware component such as a CPU of any computer, a memory, a program having an e-mail relay function loaded in the memory, and the like. I'm drawing. Therefore,
It is understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by hardware only, software only, or a combination thereof.

The e-mail relay device 20 mainly includes a main control unit 100, a communication unit 102, and a storage device 101, and functions as a Web server and an SMTP server. The communication unit 102 exchanges information between the main control unit 100 and other devices and terminals. The communication unit 102
It includes hardware such as a modem necessary for communication and a driver and other programs for controlling communication.

The storage device 101 stores various data and tables. The screen template 118 holds the screen provided to the user terminal 20 by the electronic mail relay device 20 as a Web server as text data describing the markup language such as HTML or XML.

The user database 120 is an example of an address table, and stores user information, user representative addresses, and transfer destination mail addresses in association with each other. FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration, in which a user ID column 200, a name column 202, a first mail address column 204, a second mail address column 206, a third mail address column 208, a representative address column 210, and a transfer condition flag A column 212 is provided.

As an example, as information of the user having the user ID “0001”, the name “XX Taro”, the first mail address “taro@a.com”, and the second mail address “taro @
b.co.jp ", a third email address" taro@c.ne.jp ",
The representative address “taro@sanyo.com” and the transfer condition flag “1” are recorded. Based on this information, the electronic mail relay device 20 sends the representative address “taro@sanyo.com”
When the e-mail transmitted to the e-mail is received, the e-mail is transferred to the first e-mail address, the second e-mail address, and the third e-mail address.

The mail address registration unit 104 reads a screen for prompting registration of a mail address desired to be transferred from the screen template 118 and displays the screen on the user terminal 30 via the communication unit 102. Email address registration part 1
04 has a CGI function, and stores information input by the user according to the guidance on the displayed screen in the user database 1.
Record to 20.

FIG. 8 shows a transfer destination address registration screen 300 displayed on the user terminal 30 by the mail address registration section 104. In the transfer destination address registration screen 300,
Name entry field 302, account name entry field 304 of representative address, first transfer destination address entry field 306, second transfer destination address entry field 308, third transfer destination address entry field 310, and transfer condition selection entry field 312 Is provided. In the transfer condition selection column 312, a check box 314 for selecting whether or not to transfer the received mail, and a check box 3 for selecting whether to transfer the outgoing mail.
16 are provided. When the user inputs his / her name, the mail account name of the representative address, and the mail address desired to be transferred, and clicks the registration button 318, the mail address registration unit 104 uses the CGI function to execute the mail account name of the representative address. Check that is not duplicated with another. If there is a duplicate, prompt the user to enter another email account name. If there is no overlap, the mail account is issued, and each input value is registered in the user database 120.

When the check box 314 is checked in the transfer condition selection field 312, the transfer condition setting section 106 sets “1” in the transfer condition flag field 212 of the user database 120. In this case, the e-mail relay device 20 transfers the e-mail to the transfer destination address when receiving the e-mail transmitted to the user.
If the check box 316 is checked, the transfer condition setting unit 106 sets “2” in the transfer condition flag column 212.
Is set. In this case, the email relay device 20
When the user receives an e-mail sent, the e-mail is forwarded to the forwarding address. If both are checked, “3” is set in the transfer condition flag column 212. In this case, the electronic mail relay device 20 transfers both the electronic mail addressed to the user and the electronic mail sent by the user to the transfer destination address.

The transfer conditions may also be set for items such as the reception date and time, transmission date and time, source address, destination address, subject, body content, security status, and importance of the received mail. In FIG. 8, transfer destination address registration and transfer condition setting are performed simultaneously on the transfer destination address registration screen 300, but different screens may be presented, of course. Further, a screen for correcting information may be presented after setting is once performed.

The mail transfer unit 108 includes the mail receiving unit 11
0, including an inspection unit 112, a correction unit 114, and a mail transmission unit 116, and performs processing for transferring an e-mail transmitted to a representative address of the user to a registered transfer destination address.

When mail receiving section 110 receives an electronic mail, inspection section 112 detects whether or not the destination address of the electronic mail exists as a representative address in user database 120. If the destination address does not exist as the representative address, the e-mail is not addressed to the user using the e-mail relay device 20 and is relayed to another SMTP server.

If the destination address is present as a representative address, it is determined by referring to the transfer condition flag column 212 of the user database 120 whether or not the electronic mail should be transferred. If it is determined that the e-mail should not be forwarded, the e-mail is spooled without being forwarded. If it is determined that the data should be transferred, processing for transfer is performed.

If the electronic mail is an electronic mail transmitted from another sender to the user, the correction unit 1
14 sets all mail addresses associated with the representative address as destination addresses of the e-mail and generates a modified e-mail. Then, mail transmitting section 116 transmits the corrected electronic mail via communication section 102. As a result, the e-mail addressed to the user is
It is forwarded to all registered forwarding addresses.

If the source address of the e-mail matches the e-mail address associated with the representative address, the e-mail was sent by the user himself. At this time, the correction unit 114 detects a true destination address stored at a predetermined position of the e-mail. The transmission destination address may be described, for example, in the first line of the text, or may be described in a form surrounded by a predetermined tag. The correction unit 114 sets all the mail addresses associated with the representative address and the detected destination address as the destination address of the electronic mail, and generates a corrected electronic mail. Then, the mail transmitting unit 116
Transmits the modified e-mail via the communication unit 102. As a result, the e-mail sent by the user is transferred to all the registered transfer destination addresses and destination addresses.

According to the e-mail relay device of the present embodiment, the user only needs to register the transfer destination e-mail address in the e-mail relay device to hold the e-mail addressed to the user and the e-mail transmitted by the user. Can be received by all terminals.

The present invention has been described based on several embodiments. These embodiments are exemplifications, and it is understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the combination of each component and each processing process, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. Is about to be done.

As an example of such a modification, the electronic mail is transmitted not only when the electronic mail is transmitted using the mail software but also on a Web screen presented by the electronic mail relay device 20, that is, the electronic mail is transmitted as a so-called Web mail. In such a case, the e-mail can be transferred in a similar manner.

In this embodiment, the electronic mail relay device 20
Although the e-mail was transmitted to the representative address which is the e-mail address of the domain to which the e-mail belongs, the e-mail can be transferred in the same manner as the e-mail addressed to another e-mail address. At this time, the SMTP server of the domain to which the mail address belongs may be set to transfer the electronic mail to the representative address of the electronic mail relay device 20.

[0043]

According to the present invention, a highly convenient e-mail transmission / reception technique can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an electronic mail relay system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which an electronic mail is transmitted by a normal method.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which an electronic mail is relayed by an electronic mail relay device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which an electronic mail is transmitted by a normal method.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which an electronic mail is relayed by an electronic mail relay device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the electronic mail relay device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a user database.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a transfer destination address registration screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 electronic mail relay system, 20 electronic mail relay device, 100 main control unit, 101 storage device,
102 communication unit, 104 mail address registration unit,
106 transfer condition setting unit, 110 mail receiving unit,
112 inspection unit, 114 correction unit, 116 mail transmission unit, 120 user database.

Claims (3)

[Claims] A communication unit; a mail reception unit that receives an e-mail via the communication unit; a mail transmission unit that transmits an e-mail via the communication unit; An address table that is held in association with a check address; a check unit that detects whether a destination address of the e-mail received by the mail receiving unit exists in the address table as the representative address; When the address is present in the address table, sets all mail addresses associated with the representative address as the destination address of the received electronic mail, and generates a corrected electronic mail. An e-mail relay device, wherein an e-mail is transmitted via the e-mail transmission unit. 2. When a destination address is stored in a predetermined position of the received e-mail, the correction unit sets the destination address as a destination address of the received e-mail, and corrects the destination address. The electronic mail relay device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail relay device generates an electronic mail. 3. The electronic mail relay device according to claim 1, further comprising a transfer condition setting unit that holds a transfer condition for determining whether to transmit the modified electronic mail.