JP2003186804A - Electronic mail system with mail transfer function and mail transfer method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make utilizable a mail transfer service using a mail transfer address that is different from an original mail address of a sender of electronic mail by a usual mail sending image without accessing a web server, and also make the history of sending able to be left in a terminal. <P>SOLUTION: There are provided a first destination address translation means for translating the destination address of the electronic mail into the electronic mail address of the specified other party, by specifying the account and domain of the electronic mail address of the other party to whom the sender wants to send, based on a virtual destination mail address being set in an accounting part of the destination address of electronic mail received from the communication terminal of a sender; and a mail sending server having a first original address translation means for translating the original mail address of the sender being set in the original address of the electronic mail into the mail transfer address. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail system having a transfer mail function for transmitting and receiving mail to and from a partner at a transfer mail address different from the original mail address of the sender of the electronic mail, and a transfer mail method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile phones and PHS (Personal Hand)
mobile phone terminals such as y phone System) and PDAs (Persona
With the development of mobile tools such as digital assistants) and portable personal computers, e-mail between portable information processing devices, which is not restricted by the location of oneself or the other party, is used as a means of transmitting information. The e-mail address used for e-mail is the only address in the world, which is composed of an account (user ID) and domain, and the former and the latter are separated by "@" (at mark). . The domain is composed of an organization name (such as the name of a provider or a company), an organization code (the type of organization of the person who owns this address), and a country code (the name of the country or region), and "." (Dot) ) Are separated. The account in the email address is your personal name,
If it is unique within the domain, the user can freely specify it.

Conventionally, one account has been registered for one user, and electronic mails have been sent and received by an e-mail address peculiar to an individual. In recent years, however, it has become possible to register a plurality of accounts and one user can make a plurality of accounts. It is becoming more common for people to have their own email address. In such a system having a service function for a plurality of accounts, a plurality of accounts are registered in advance in a DB (for example, a database of a mail server) of a computer managed by an Internet provider, and transmission / reception is performed by the mail address of the account. , Such as for friends and work, an email address is assigned to each usage pattern so that incoming and outgoing emails can be separated.

On the other hand, in a system that provides an e-mail service by a mobile phone terminal such as a mobile phone or PHS, only one account can be acquired from a carrier (telecommunication carrier). Therefore, in order to be able to use a plurality of accounts, it is necessary to have an e-mail address conversion function.

An example of a conventional electronic mail system that enables an electronic mail service with a transfer mail address different from the original mail address will be described below. Below, the original email address is the "basic email address," the account within that email address is the "basic account," the email address different from the basic address is the "forwarding email address," and the account within that forwarding address is the "basic email address." An electronic mail system having a transfer account "and a transfer mail function will be referred to as a" transfer mail system ", respectively.

[0006] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of a transfer mail system for mobile phone terminals. The transfer mail system in this example is a communication terminal 1 (a mobile phone terminal such as a mobile phone or PHS in this example) having a function of transmitting and receiving an electronic mail according to an electronic mail transfer protocol.
Web server 3 (Web
Server) and SMTP (Simple
A mail transfer protocol (server) 4 and a mail receiving server (POP (Post Office Protocol ver.
The communication terminal 1 that uses the transfer mail service transmits electronic mail via the web server 3.

An example of the operation when the sender 2a of the electronic mail uses the transfer mail address in the above-mentioned configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In addition,
Here, for the sake of convenience, the sender 2a's basic mail address is "1234@aaa.co.jp", the sender 2a's forwarding mail address is "xyz@xyz.co.jp", and the recipient's (receiver 2b) mail Change the address to "56
78 @ bbb. co. jp ”as an example.

The sender 2a logs in to the web server 3 which can be transmitted by the transfer mail address so as to be transmitted by the transfer mail address (in the figure: step S1). Then, enter the content of the email to be sent according to the guide screen of the web server displayed on the display unit of the communication terminal 1,
Click the send button to send the mail (step S
2). Here, by the program on the web server 3 side,
Forwarding mail address (xyz @ xy) to the sender address
z. co. jp) is set and transmitted (in the figure:
Step S3). Then, the electronic mail from the sender 2a is transmitted to the web server 3, and the sender of the electronic mail is the transfer mail address (xyz@xyz.co.jp) and the other party 2b (destination address=5678@bbb.co.j).
p) is transferred (step S4).

The recipient 2b inputs the reply content of the received mail, and the forwarding mail address (xy) arrived from the sender 2a.
z @ xyz. co. jp) (in the figure: step S5). This email has the domain "xyz.
co. Since it reaches the SMTP server 4 of the system of “jp”, the SMTP server 4 refers to the database 5 in which the basic account and the transfer account are registered, and the original sender “basic mail address = 1234 @ aaa.
co. jp ”as the destination (in the figure: step S6),
The e-mail having the sender address "5678@bbb.co.jp" is transferred to the communication terminal 1 of the other party (1234@aaa.co.jp) (step S7).

[0010]

As described above, in the conventional forwarding mail system, the web server must always be accessed when sending with the forwarding mail address, and therefore, compared with the general mail server electronic mail system. Then, there is a problem that communication cost is required and mail operation also takes time. In addition, since the transmission history does not remain on the terminal, it is necessary to access the web server and browse the web page each time to check the history. There was a problem of being lost.

The present invention has been made under the circumstances as described above, and an object of the present invention is to use a transfer mail service with a normal mail transmission image without the need to access a web server. A forwarding mail system and a forwarding mail method thereof are provided.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an electronic mail system having a transfer mail function for transmitting / receiving mail to / from a partner at a transfer mail address different from the original mail address of the sender of the electronic mail, and a transfer mail method thereof. The above object of the present invention relates to an electronic mail system, in which the sender's communication terminal based on the virtual destination mail address set in the account part of the destination address of the electronic mail received from the sender's communication terminal. First destination address conversion means for specifying the account and domain of the e-mail address of the person to be sent, and converting the destination address of the e-mail into the e-mail address of the specified person, and the sender of the e-mail The original email address of the sender set in the Is accomplished I by providing the outgoing mail server having a first source address converting means for converting the scan.

Further, the virtual destination mail address is
It must be an address indicating the email address of the other party in which the "@" part is replaced with another delimiter code; when the email addressed to the forwarding email address is received, the forwarding email address is originally the destination. Second destination address converting means for converting to the virtual mail address of the recipient; the recipient mail address set in the sender address of the electronic mail is changed to the virtual destination mail address. By further providing the sending mail server with a second sender address converting means for converting a mail address into a mail address having an account name, each of them can be more effectively achieved.

Further, the first destination address converting means converts the transfer mail address of the sender to the transfer mail address based on registration information; the communication terminal of the sender is a mobile phone terminal. The transmission protocol of the sender's communication terminal is SMTP (Simple M
It is a general-purpose information processing terminal having a communication function according to ail Transfer Protocol), and the sending mail server is SMT.
Being a P server; each is achieved more effectively.

Further, regarding the transfer mail method, the account part of the e-mail address of the other party to which the sender wants to send is composed of a virtual destination e-mail address indicating the other party's e-mail address, and the domain of the other party's e-mail address. Where the part is the domain name of the transfer mail system, the sending mail server of the transfer mail system receives an email from the sender's communication terminal at the sender's original mail address, and the account part receives the virtual destination mail. If the address is set,
This is achieved by converting the original mail address into the transfer mail address based on the registration information of the sender's transfer mail address and transmitting the electronic mail to the party indicated by the virtual destination mail address.

Further, when the outgoing mail server receives an electronic mail addressed to the transfer mail address, the transfer mail address is converted into the original mail address of the destination and the electronic mail is transmitted; The transmission history of the electronic mail is recorded in the recording medium of the communication terminal;

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Normally, in order to use a forwarding address, it is necessary to set a plurality of accounts in a mail browser. Also, a mobile phone terminal or the like can acquire only one account. Therefore, in the present invention, without changing the hardware or software on the communication terminal side,
By constructing a mechanism to handle multiple accounts with one account, we have realized a forwarded mail system that can use the forwarded mail service with the usual image of sending mail. In the embodiment described below, the transfer mail function using a virtual destination mail address described below is used for SMT.
An electronic mail system having the above-mentioned forwarding mail function is realized by being equipped in the P server, and it becomes possible to send mail with an account different from the original one without accessing the web server, and the sender's original mail address. Is used as a source address in the same manner as usual, so that the transmission history remains in the communication terminal.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the communication protocol is SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer).
Protocol), and the transfer mail function is provided in the SMTP server. The present invention also provides
It is particularly suitable for an e-mail system in a mobile phone terminal that can acquire only one account, but is not limited to the mobile phone terminal, and a PDA (Personal Digital Ass
istants) and mobile tools such as portable PCs, PCs
An information processing apparatus having a function of transmitting and receiving electronic mail, such as a portable or stationary general-purpose computer such as (Personal Computer) or WS (Work Station), can be applied.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an electronic mail system having a transfer mail function according to the present invention (hereinafter referred to as "transfer mail system") in association with a general transfer mail system (FIG. 3). There is. The forwarding mail system in this example has a communication terminal 1 having an e-mail sending / receiving function and a function (forwarding mail function) for sending / receiving mails to / from a partner at a forwarding mail address different from the original sender's mail address. E-mail transmission server (SMT
P server) 10 and a mail receiving server (P
OP server). By providing the following address conversion means in the SMTP server 10,
The sender's 2a communication terminal 1 and the SMTP server 10 send and receive with the sender's original mail address as usual, and the sender's transfer mail is sent between the SMTP server 10 and the receiver 2b's communication terminal 1. I try to send and receive by address.

In FIG. 1, when the SMTP server 10 has a virtual destination mail address (information indicating the mail address of the other party that the sender wants to send) set in the account section of the destination address of the electronic mail, A first destination that identifies the email address of the other party (recipient 2b) that the sender 2a wants to send based on the information of the virtual destination email address, and converts the email address set in the above destination address into the email address of the other party An address converting means and a first sender address converting means for converting the original mail address of the sender 2a set as the sender address of the electronic mail into a transfer mail address registered in advance, and transmitting The original email address in the email received from the communication terminal 1 of the person 2a is converted to the forwarding email address. It is to be transferred to the communication terminal 1 of the hand (receiver 2b).

Further, when the transferred e-mail is returned from the other party, or when the e-mail is transmitted with the transfer e-mail address notified to the other party, that is, the transfer e-mail address is set as the destination address of the e-mail. In the case where the SMTP server 10 is present, the transfer mail address set in the above destination address is provided with a second destination address conversion means for converting the transfer mail address into the original mail address, and the transfer mail address in the electronic mail received by the SMTP server 10 is converted into the original mail address. Converted to an address and the other party (user 2 of the forwarding email address
It is transferred to a). In this example, the forwarding e-mail address is an e-mail address that consists of the forwarding e-mail account name different from the original account name registered by the user, the delimiter code "@", and the forwarding e-mail system domain name. Composed of.

Furthermore, the SMTP server 10 converts the mail address of the recipient set in the sender address of the electronic mail into a mail address whose account name is changed to a virtual destination mail address. The source address converting means is provided, and the virtual destination mail address is used as the account name of the other party's mail address.

When the sender uses the forwarding mail service, the account used for the forwarding mail is registered in the forwarding mail system, and at the time of sending the mail, the sender indicates a virtual mail address of the recipient. If the mail address having the destination mail address as the account part and the domain name of the transfer mail system as the domain part is input, the transfer mail address is transmitted.

Here, a specific configuration of the virtual destination mail address will be described. The destination address on the e-mail communication protocol is usually the e-mail address of the other party (the recipient of the e-mail) that the sender wants to send. At that e-mail address, the system specified by the domain to which the other party subscribes. The mail is transmitted to the receiving server of.
In the present invention, the domain of the mail address is used as the transfer mail system, and the other party's mail address is set in the account part of the mail address, thereby enabling conversion of the mail address by the SMTP server of the transfer mail system. , It is possible to identify the other party's email address from the information in the account section. However, since the other party's email address contains "@" used as a delimiter code between the account and the domain, the address cannot be set as it is in the account section.

The label forming the domain name is "ASCI
I character label ", specifically ASCII alphabetic characters (" A "
To "Z"), numbers ("0" to "9"), and hyphens ("-"). Therefore, in the present invention, the coded address (“/” or “=”) that cannot be used as the domain name is used instead of “@” as the “virtual destination mail address”. That is, the "virtual destination mail address" referred to in the present invention is a symbol string that can specify the mail address of the other party to send and is the account name of the destination address.

The virtual destination mail address is composed as follows.
The configuration is not limited to the same arrangement in which the "@" of the other party's email address is replaced with the above code (the code that indicates the delimiter between the account and the domain), as long as the other party's email address can be specified by a predetermined logic. good.
However, in this example, the sender himself directly inputs the virtual destination email address, or indirectly inputs the virtual destination email address,
Further, since the transmission history is recorded on the communication terminal in a displayable manner at that address, it is preferable to use a virtual destination mail address having the same arrangement as the other party's mail address. Even if the account name of the other party's email address includes the code indicating the delimiter, the code can be specified as the delimiter code by searching from the character string on the domain side of the email address.

An operation example in the case where the sender of the electronic mail uses the transfer mail address in the above-mentioned configuration will be described with reference to the configuration example of FIG. 1 and the flowchart of FIG. For comparison with the transfer mail system described in [Prior Art], the basic mail address, which is the sender's original mail address, will be referred to as "1234 @ aaa.
co. jp ”, and the forwarding email address of the sender is“ xyz
@Xyz. co. jp ”and the e-mail address of the person (recipient) who wants to send is“ 5678@bbb.co.jp ”.

The sender 2a uses "5678 / bbb.c" as the mail address of the other party (recipient 2b) that the sender wants to send in order to send an electronic mail with the transfer mail address.
o. jp @ xyz. co. jp ”and send.
That is, the email address of the recipient 2b "5678 @ b
bb. co. Virtual destination mail address "56" in which "@ (at mark)" of "jp" is replaced with a delimiter code "/"
78 / bbb. co. "jp" in the account part of the other party's e-mail address, and the domain name "xyz.co.j" of the transfer mail system including the SMTP server 10 is set.
Set "p" to the domain part and send (in Fig. 1):
Step S11).

In this e-mail, the sender address is "1.
234 @ aaa. co. jp ”and the destination address is“ 56 ”
78 / bbb. co. jp @ xyz. co. jp ”,
First, it reaches the SMTP server 10 of "xyz.co.jp". In the SMTP server 10 receiving the e-mail, "@" is sent from the beginning of the character string of the destination address to the last character.
Search up to and extract the character string in the account section. In this example, it is "5678 / bbb.co.jp" (step S12). Then, whether the character string of this account part is the virtual destination mail address (step S13) or the account name of the transfer mail address (step S13)
14), it is determined whether the account name is the basic mail address (step S15) by referring to the registration information of the database 20. If the account name of the basic email address is set, leave it as the original email address.

When the virtual destination mail address is set, the sender (the receiver 2b) whom the sender 2a wants to send based on the information of the virtual destination mail address by the above-mentioned first destination address converting means. Specify the email address of and convert the email address set as the destination address to the email address of the other party. In this example,
Virtual destination email address "5678 / bbb.co.j
Change "/" part of "p" to "@" (step S1)
6). Then, by the above-mentioned first sender address converting means, the original mail address of the sender 2a set as the sender address of the electronic mail is registered in advance as a transfer mail address "xyz@xyz.co.jp". "
(Step S17). By these address conversion processes, the original email address "1234 @ aa
a. co. jp ”is the forwarding email address“ xyz @ xy
z. co. jp "(in Fig. 1), and the sender's mail address is the transfer mail address" xyz @ xy "
z. co. The email that is "jp" is SMTP
The other party 2b (5678 @ bbb.
co. jp) (step S1 in FIG. 1)
8).

When replying to a mail, as usual, the recipient of the mail (recipient 2b) receives the sender's mail address from the sender (the transfer mail address "xyz @ xy" above).
z. co. jp ”). The same applies to the case where an electronic mail is sent using the transfer mail address notified by the sender 2a (in FIG. 1).

When the SMTP server 20 having received the reply mail determines in step S14 that the transfer mail address is set as the destination address of the electronic mail, it uses the second destination address conversion means described above. , The database 20 is referred to, and the transfer mail address “xyz @ xyz.
co. jp ”to the original email address“ 1234 @ aa
a. co. jp ". Furthermore, the recipient's mail address "567" set as the sender address of the electronic mail by the above-mentioned second sender address conversion means.
8 @ bbb. co. The account part of "jp" is changed to the virtual destination mail address "5678 / bbb.co.jp" and the domain name is converted to the destination address used as the transfer mail system (step S1 in FIG. 1).
9).

As a result of the above address conversion processing, the original sender 2a (1234@aaa.co.jp) has the reply recipient 2b's mail address "5" as the virtual destination mail address.
678 / bbb. co. jp @ xyz. co. The e-mail having "jp" is transferred (in FIG. 1, step S20).

In the above-described embodiment, the case in which the transfer mail address of the sender is converted into a specific transfer mail address based on the registered information has been described as an example. It is possible to register a plurality of transfer mail addresses as a configuration including the IDs (for example, identifiers of 1, 2, etc.) of the transfer mail addresses of the above, and correspond to the above-mentioned identifiers based on the registration information of at least one transfer mail address of the sender. It is also possible to perform conversion to the transfer mail address.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The sender's original email address is converted to a forwarding email address and sent to the other party by simply setting the virtual destination email address that indicates the email address of the person the sender wants to send in the account section and sending it to the sending mail server Therefore, it is possible to use the forwarding mail service (mail sending / receiving service by anonymous account code) with the usual image of sending mail. Further, since it is not necessary to access the web server, the mail operation time and communication cost can be significantly reduced as compared with the conventional transfer mail system, and the transfer mail can be processed at high speed. Also, it can be used only with the existing mail sending browser installed in mobile phone terminals,
There is no need to develop a dedicated browser or set up a website. Furthermore, since the processing is performed by the transmission mail server, the transmission history remains in the terminal, and it is not necessary to access the web server to browse the transmission history, which is a remarkable effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a configuration of a transfer mail system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example and a transfer mail form of the system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional transfer mail system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation example of a conventional transfer mail system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 communication terminal 2a sender 2b Recipient 10 SMTP server 20 databases

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An electronic mail system having a transfer mail function for transmitting and receiving mail to and from a partner at a transfer mail address different from the original mail address of the sender of the electronic mail, the electronic mail being received from a communication terminal of the sender. The account and domain of the sender's e-mail address that the sender wants to send are specified based on the virtual destination e-mail address set in the account part of the e-mail destination address, and the e-mail destination address is specified as described above. First destination address converting means for converting to the other party's e-mail address, and first source for converting the sender's original e-mail address set in the source address of the e-mail to the transfer e-mail address A transfer mail function characterized by having a transmission mail server having an address conversion means Have an email system. 2. The virtual destination mail address is “@”
The electronic mail system having the transfer mail function according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail system has an address indicating the electronic mail address of the other party in which the part of is replaced with another delimiter code. 3. The transmission mail server further comprises second destination address conversion means for converting the transfer mail address into the original mail address of the destination when an electronic mail addressed to the transfer mail address is received. An electronic mail system having the transfer mail function according to claim 1 or 2. 4. A second sender address conversion for converting a recipient's mail address set as a sender address of the electronic mail into a mail address whose account name is changed to the virtual destination mail address. An electronic mail system having a transfer mail function according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising means in the outgoing mail server. 5. The first destination address conversion means is adapted to perform conversion into the transfer mail address based on registration information of the transfer mail address of the sender. An electronic mail system having the transfer mail function described in. 6. The electronic mail system having a transfer mail function according to claim 1, wherein the communication terminal of the sender is a mobile phone terminal. 7. The communication terminal of the sender is a general-purpose information processing terminal having a communication function with a transmission protocol of SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), and the transmission mail server is an SMTP server. Through 6
An electronic mail system having the transfer mail function described in any one of 1. 8. A transfer mail method for transmitting and receiving mail to and from a partner at a transfer mail address different from the original mail address of the sender of the electronic mail, wherein the account part of the sender's email address of the sender is From the communication terminal of the sender by the sending mail server of the forwarding mail system, the domain name of the other party's email address is used as the domain name of the forwarding mail system, and the recipient is composed of a virtual destination email address indicating the other party's email address. Is received by the sender's original mail address and the virtual destination mail address is set in the account section, the original mail is sent based on the registration information of the sender's forwarding mail address. Convert the address to the forwarding email address and A transfer mail method characterized in that the mail is sent to the other party indicated by the destination mail address. 9. When the sending mail server receives an electronic mail addressed to the transfer mail address, the transfer mail address is converted into the original mail address of the destination and the electronic mail is transmitted. The transfer mail method according to claim 8. 10. The transmission history of the electronic mail is recorded in a recording medium of the communication terminal.
Alternatively, the transfer mail method described in 9.