JP2006040135A - E-mail distribution device, e-mail distribution time control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system freely controlling distribution time of an e-mail on the information provider side without drastically altering the existing communication protocol. <P>SOLUTION: The e-mail is stored, distributing destination information indicating one or more distributing destinations of the e-mail and distribution time specification information for specifying its distribution time zone are associated with each other and stored in a hard disk 14. Then, time for transmitting the e-mail stored in the hard disk 14 to the distributing destinations indicated by the distributing destination information is matched to time indicated by the distribution time specification information associated with the distributing destination information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for managing the time of electronic mail distribution.

One of the information providing services using the network is a mail magazine distribution service. A person who desires to use this service registers an e-mail address of his / her mobile communication terminal with an information provider (information provider). Then, an e-mail including information corresponding to the genre desired by the registrant is periodically distributed from the information provider. In this service, since e-mails are regularly distributed to the registrant's terminal, unread e-mails become bulky if the reception status cannot be checked frequently. In order to solve such a problem, a technique for automatically discarding unread e-mail for a long time has been proposed. Patent Documents 1 to 3 are cited as disclosures of this type of technology. The techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 are generally as follows. First, an e-mail sender transmits information indicating the expiration date of the e-mail together. Then, the mail receiving server that relays them monitors whether or not the expiration date of the email has passed, and deletes the email that has passed the expiration date from its mailbox.
JP-A-6-276226 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-264032 JP-A-3-217142

A mail magazine distribution service performed for a mobile communication terminal such as a cellular phone is different from the service for a normal PC (personal computer) in that it is performed by a procedure called a push type. In the case of the push type, information is proactively provided from the server device side without waiting for access from the terminal. Therefore, if the delivery time of the e-mail happens to be late at night, it may be left unread. Get higher. Also, since the time period in which mail distribution is preferred varies from person to person, it is also desirable to realize a mail distribution service that is distributed in a time period according to each person's request. The techniques of Patent Documents 1 to 3 attempt to solve this problem by means of automatically deleting an e-mail whose expiration date has passed by a server that manages a mailbox. However, with this method, deletion of e-mails is performed by the server that manages the mailbox, so information is provided without negotiating with the server side about the protocol for e-mail deletion processing that has expired. It was extremely difficult to introduce it only by the intention of the user.
The present invention has been devised in view of such a background, and provides a system in which an information provider can freely control the time of delivery of an e-mail without significantly modifying an existing communication protocol. For the purpose.

  An electronic mail distribution apparatus according to a preferred aspect of the present invention stores electronic mail, and includes distribution destination information indicating one or a plurality of distribution destinations of the electronic mail and time zone specification information for specifying the distribution time zone. Storage means for storing each of them in association with each other, mail reading means for reading an e-mail from the storage means, and delivery for delivering the read e-mail to a delivery destination indicated by delivery destination information stored in the storage means And the time of delivery of the e-mail addressed to the delivery destination to be a time belonging to the time zone indicated by the time zone designation information stored in the storage means in association with the delivery destination information of the delivery destination. And a delivery time control means for controlling the operation of the delivery means.

  An electronic mail distribution apparatus according to a preferred aspect of the present invention stores electronic mail, and includes distribution destination information indicating one or a plurality of distribution destinations of the electronic mail and distribution time specifying information specifying the distribution time, respectively. Corresponding storage means, mail reading means for reading out electronic mail from the storage means, and delivery means for delivering the read electronic mail to the delivery destination indicated by the delivery destination information stored in the storage means And the operation of the delivery means so that the delivery time of the e-mail addressed to the delivery destination is the delivery time indicated by the delivery time designation information stored in the storage means in association with the delivery destination information of the delivery destination. And a delivery time control means for controlling.

In these aspects, a receiving means for receiving a pair of delivery destination information and time zone designation information or delivery time designation information from an external node; and the received delivery destination information and time zone designation information or delivery time designation information; Is stored in the storage means in association with each other, and when an e-mail addressed to a delivery destination indicated by a certain delivery destination information is delivered by the delivery means, a delivery completion notification including the delivery destination information is sent to the external It may further comprise a delivery completion notification means for transmitting to the other node.
In addition, the electronic mail may be further provided with a means for acquiring the electronic mail from an external node and storing it in the storage means.

  Further, the storage means stores the electronic mail, one or a plurality of the delivery destination information, and a set of the time zone designation information or the delivery time designation information for each electronic mail, and the distribution means includes an electronic When mail delivery is instructed, the electronic mail may be delivered to the delivery destination indicated by the delivery destination information stored in the storage means in association with the electronic mail.

  Also, receiving means for receiving an e-mail, one or a plurality of delivery destination information, a set of time zone designation information or delivery time designation information from an external node, and storage control for storing the received set in the storage means And a delivery completion notification means for transmitting a delivery completion notification including the delivery destination information to the external node when an e-mail addressed to a delivery destination indicated by certain delivery destination information is delivered by the delivery means. You may prepare.

  The control method according to another preferred aspect of the present invention stores an electronic mail, and includes distribution destination information indicating one or a plurality of distribution destinations of the electronic mail and time zone specification information specifying the distribution time zone. An electronic system using an electronic mail distribution apparatus comprising storage means associated with each other, a clock that outputs the current time, and an electronic mail distribution request apparatus that requests the electronic mail distribution apparatus to distribute electronic mail. A mail delivery time control method, wherein the e-mail delivery requesting device transmits delivery destination information and time zone designation information to the e-mail delivery device, and the e-mail delivery device comprises the e-mail. A distribution request registration step of associating the distribution destination information received from the distribution request device with the time zone designation information and storing the information in the storage means; and A delivery time management step for determining whether or not a delivery time zone indicated by each time zone designation information stored in the storage means has arrived based on the current time output by the storage means; and When it is determined that the delivery time zone indicated by the information has arrived, a transmission step of sending the e-mail read from the storage means to the delivery destination indicated by the delivery destination information stored in association with the time zone designation information; Have

  In this aspect, the distribution request step includes a step in which the electronic mail distribution request device transmits an electronic mail to the electronic mail distribution device, and the distribution request registration step includes the electronic mail distribution device in the electronic mail. You may make it include the process which memorize | stores the email received from the delivery request apparatus in the said memory | storage means.

  The storage means of the e-mail delivery device stores an e-mail, one or a plurality of delivery destination information, and a set of time zone designation information. In the transmission step, the e-mail delivery device has a time zone. When it is determined that the delivery time zone indicated by the designation information has arrived, the electronic mail stored in the storage means in association with the time zone designation information is read out, and is sent to the delivery destination indicated by the time zone designation information. The read electronic mail may be transmitted.

  Further, when the electronic mail distribution apparatus distributes an electronic mail addressed to a distribution destination indicated by certain distribution destination information, a distribution completion notification step of transmitting a distribution completion notification including the distribution destination information to the electronic mail distribution request apparatus. Furthermore, you may have.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to freely control the delivery time of an electronic mail on the information provider side without significantly modifying an existing communication protocol.

(Embodiment of the Invention)
An embodiment of the present invention will be described.
First, main terms used in the present embodiment are defined. “Carrier” means an operator operating a mobile packet communication network. "Information provider" means a business operator that produces and supplies e-mail magazine content. “User” means a person who has applied for a subscription to an e-mail magazine by presenting his / her name and e-mail address to an information provider. “Shop” means a business operator who is entrusted with an information provider and provides a service for broadcasting an electronic mail to each user. “Mail content” means the content of information provided to each user as a mail magazine.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an e-mail delivery control system according to the present embodiment.
The electronic mail delivery control system according to this embodiment is formed by connecting an Internet communication network and a mobile packet communication network.
The Internet communication network is a procedure conforming to TCP (transmission control protocol) / IP (internet protocol), HTTP (hyper text transfer protocol), SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol), etc. realized on TCP / IP. It is an aggregate of nodes that transmit data, and includes an e-mail distribution request server 10, an e-mail management server 20, and an e-mail transmission server 30. On the other hand, a mobile packet communication network is a collection of nodes that transfer data in accordance with a protocol based on a simplified TCP / IP protocol or a protocol equivalent to HTTP implemented on the TCP / IP. A gateway server 40, an exchange 50, a base station 60, and a mobile communication terminal 70 are included. Data sent from a node of one communication network to a node of the other communication network (for example, e-mail or HTML (hypertext markup language) data) is data that the gateway server 40 complies with the protocol of the other communication network. After being converted to the format, it is transferred to the destination node.

  The configuration of the email delivery request server 10, the email management server 20, and the email sending server 30 connected to the Internet communication network will be described in detail. The e-mail delivery request server 10 is a computer device operated by an information provider. The e-mail management server 20 and the e-mail sending server 30 are both computer devices operated by a shop, and form a local network by a LAN (local area network). When these two servers operate in cooperation, they function as an “electronic mail delivery apparatus” that plays a central role in this embodiment.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the e-mail delivery request server 10. As shown in the figure, this server includes a CPU 11 that controls the operation of the entire apparatus, a RAM 12 that is used as a work area for the CPU 11, a ROM 13 that stores an IPL (initial program loader), a hard disk 14, a computer display 15, a mouse. 16, a keyboard 17, a communication interface 18, and the like.

The hard disk 14 stores a distribution specification information database 14a and a customer profile database 14b.
FIG. 3 is a data structure diagram of the distribution specification information database 14a. One record constituting this database has three fields of “time zone”, “distribution time designation information”, and “interruption time designation information”. The time zone information is stored in the “time zone” field. The time zone information means data representing each time zone of “morning”, “daytime”, “evening”, and “midnight”. In this embodiment, the “morning” time zone corresponds to between 6:00 and 12:00, the “daytime” time zone corresponds to between 12:00 and 18:00, and the “evening” time zone corresponds to between 18:00 and 24:00. Corresponding, the time zone of “midnight” corresponds to between 24:00 and next 6:00.
In the “distribution time designation information” field, distribution time designation information is stored. The delivery time designation information is data for designating the time for starting delivery of electronic mail in each time zone, and is set in advance by the operator of the information provider. In FIG. 4, the distribution designation information of all the records is uniformly set at the time one hour after the arrival of each time zone. The distribution time designation information of a part or all of the records may be set at an earlier time, or conversely, may be set at a later time.

The “interruption designation information” field stores interruption designation information. The interruption designation information is data for designating a time at which the distribution of electronic mail is temporarily suspended in each time zone, and is set in advance by an operator of the information provider. In FIG. 4, the interruption designation information of all records is set uniformly at the end time of each time zone, but even if the interruption designation information of some or all records is set to an earlier time Good.
As will be described in detail later in the explanation of the operation, each user can select the time zone in which the e-mail addressed to himself / herself is desired from “morning”, “daytime”, “night”, and “late night”. The e-mail is delivered to the user's mobile communication terminal 70 when it is selected in advance and the selected time zone is reached. However, since e-mail distribution processing is performed serially for each e-mail address that is the destination, when there are a plurality of users who specify the same time zone, e-mail distribution processing to some users is performed. If the state becomes a waiting state and this waiting state continues for a long time, a situation may be assumed in which delivery to some of the users shifts to a time zone different from the time zone selected in advance. A similar situation can be assumed when a failure occurs in the system during the distribution process. In this embodiment, in order to avoid a deviation between the time zone specified by the user due to such an unexpected situation and the time when the e-mail is actually delivered, in this embodiment, the delivery time designation information and the interruption time A set of designated information is set for each time zone, and an e-mail to be delivered at the time indicated by a certain delivery time designation information becomes the time indicated by the interruption designation information that forms a pair with the delivery time designation information. Is not distributed, the distribution of the day is not performed, but the distribution is retried at the same time on the next day. A detailed operation procedure will be described later with reference to a flowchart.

FIG. 4 is a data structure diagram of the customer profile database 14b. One record constituting this database has three fields of “name”, “address”, and “desired time zone”.
In the “name” field, the name of each user is stored in advance. The e-mail address of each user is stored in advance in the “address” field. The “desired time zone” field stores the time zone information transmitted from the mobile communication terminal 70 of each user in the desired time zone reporting process described later.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the e-mail management server 20. As shown in the figure, this server includes a CPU 21, RAM 22, ROM 23, hard disk 24, computer display 25, mouse 26, keyboard 27, communication interface 28, and timer 29 that generates the current time and supplies it to each unit. ing.
The hard disk 14 stores a distribution schedule database 24a and a distribution control program 24b.

FIG. 6 is a data structure diagram of the distribution schedule database 24a. One record constituting this database has five fields of “scheduled delivery time”, “interruption time”, “delivery deadline”, “electronic mail”, and “destination”. The data stored in this database is supplied as a set from the email distribution request server 10 in the distribution reservation process described later, and stored in the corresponding fields.
The “delivery scheduled time” field stores delivery time designation information. In the “interruption time” field, interruption designation information is stored. In the “delivery time limit” field, time limit information is stored. The term information means data specifying the date and time when the delivery date of electronic mail is reached. In the “electronic mail” field, mail contents are stored. In the “destination” field, one or a plurality of e-mail addresses as e-mail destinations are stored.

  The distribution control program 24b is a program for realizing the functions characteristic of the present embodiment by the e-mail management server 20. As shown in FIG. 7, a CPU 21 that executes this program on an OS (operating system) logically realizes a mail reading unit 21a, a distribution unit 21b, a distribution time control unit 21c, and a storage control unit 21d.

  The e-mail transmission server 30 includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, a hard disk, a computer display, a mouse, a keyboard, a communication interface, and the like (not shown), and a mobile communication terminal 70 that receives an e-mail delivered from the e-mail management server 20. Sequentially.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
The operation of the present embodiment can be broadly divided into desired time zone reporting processing, distribution reservation processing, and distribution processing.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the desired time zone reporting process.
This process is triggered by the fact that a certain user has accessed the e-mail delivery request server 10 from his / her mobile communication terminal 70.

The CPU 11 of the e-mail delivery request server 10 that has received access from the mobile communication terminal 70 transmits display data of a desired time zone report screen (S100).
The mobile communication terminal 70 that has received the display data of the desired time zone report screen displays the desired time zone report screen on its own display device (S110). On this screen, a message such as “Please select the time period you wish to distribute the e-mail magazine” is displayed. Below that, “morning”, “noon”, “evening”, and “midnight” are written. A button is displayed. Further below that, input fields for inputting a name and an e-mail address are displayed. After selecting any of the four buttons on the screen, the user inputs his / her name and e-mail address in the corresponding input fields.

The mobile communication terminal 70 transmits the time zone information indicating the selected time zone, the input name, and the e-mail address to the e-mail delivery request server 10 (S120). The CPU 11 of the e-mail delivery request server 10 temporarily stores the data received from the mobile communication terminal 70 in the RAM 12 (S130).
Subsequently, the CPU 11 refers to the customer profile database 14b using the received name and e-mail address as keys, and specifies a record storing them (S140).

The CPU 11 stores the received time zone information in the “desired time zone” field of the record specified in step 140 (S150). If time zone information has already been stored in the “desired time zone” field of the specified record, the time zone information stored in that field is replaced with the newly received time zone information.
The processing as described above is performed between each user's mobile communication terminal 70 and the e-mail delivery request server 10, so that each user can set the desired delivery time zone of the e-mail magazine addressed to the information provider. It is possible to change the contents of the time zone that has been declared or changed at any time.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the distribution reservation process.
This process is executed each time new content of an e-mail magazine is produced by the information provider. This process is started when an operation for instructing the e-mail distribution request server 10 to start the input of the mail magazine distribution reservation by the operator of the provider is performed.

  When this operation is performed, the CPU 11 of the e-mail distribution request server 10 displays a mail content input screen on the computer display 15 (S200). On this screen, a message such as “Please enter text to be distributed as an e-mail magazine.” And an e-mail content input field are displayed. The operator inputs the newly created mail content in the input field on the same screen. This input may be performed with the keyboard 17 or may be performed by reading a document file of a mail content created in advance.

The CPU 11 temporarily stores the input mail content in the RAM 12 (S210).
Subsequently, the CPU 11 displays a delivery time limit input screen on the computer display 15 (S220). On this screen, a message such as “Please enter the e-mail magazine delivery deadline.” And a delivery deadline input field are displayed. The operator inputs the date and time when the newly created mail content is due for delivery into the input field on the same screen.
When the delivery time limit is input, the CPU 11 temporarily stores time limit information indicating the input delivery time limit in the RAM 12 (S230).

Subsequently, the CPU 11 groups the records constituting the customer profile database 14b for each record group having the same storage contents in the “desired time zone” field (S240). That is, a record group in which the memory content of the “desired time zone” field is “morning”, a record group that is “daytime”, a record group that is “night”, and “midnight” Grouped into records.
The CPU 11 specifies one of the groups obtained in step 240 as a processing target (S250). Then, the CPU 11 reads the distribution time designation information associated with the time zone information of the group specified in step 250 from the distribution time designation information database 14a (S260). Subsequently, the CPU 11 reads out the interruption designation information associated with the time zone information of the group identified in step 250 from the distribution designation information database 14a (S270). Further, the CPU 11 reads out the e-mail address stored in the “address” field of all the records belonging to the group specified in step 250 to the RAM 12 (S280).

  The CPU 11 generates distribution request data and transmits it to the e-mail management server 20 (S290). The distribution request data includes the mail content and time limit information stored in the RAM 12, the information indicating the date of the coming day added to the distribution time specification information read in step 260, and the interruption time specification information read in step 270. And one or a plurality of e-mail addresses read out in step 280. The series of processing from step 250 to step 290 is repeated for all the record groups grouped in step 240, whereby each distribution request data individually generated for each group of users having the same distribution time is managed by e-mail. It is sequentially delivered to the server 20.

The CPU 21 of the e-mail management server 20 temporarily stores the distribution request data sequentially transmitted from the e-mail management server 20 in the RAM 22 (S300).
The CPU 21 adds one new record to the distribution schedule database 24a (S310). Subsequently, the CPU 21 specifies one of the distribution request data stored in the RAM 22 as a processing target (S320).

  The CPU 21 extracts mail content, time limit information, one or a plurality of e-mail addresses, and distribution time designation information from the distribution request data identified in step 320, and stores them in each field of the record provided in step 310 (S330). ). Specifically, the delivery time designation information is stored in the “delivery scheduled time” field, the suspension time designation information is stored in the “interruption time” field, the deadline information is stored in the “delivery deadline” field, and the mail is sent. The content is stored in the “e-mail” field, and the e-mail address is stored in the “destination” field.

If another distribution request data that has not yet been processed is stored in the RAM 22, the process returns to step 310, and the CPU 21 prepares one new record and executes the subsequent processing. When the processing including steps 310 to 330 is repeated to insert a record including data extracted from all the distribution request data stored in the RAM 22 into the distribution schedule database 24a, the CPU 21 configures the distribution schedule database 24a. All records are re-sorted in ascending order of the date and time indicated by the distribution specification information stored in the “scheduled distribution time” (S340).
This completes the distribution reservation process.

10 and 11 are flowcharts showing the distribution process.
This process is started when the current time supplied from the timer 29 to the CPU 21 of the e-mail management server 20 matches the delivery process start time set in advance for each predetermined time length.
When the current time and the distribution processing start time coincide with each other, the CPU 21 of the e-mail management server 20 compares the time limit information stored in each record of the distribution schedule database 24a with the current time supplied from the timer 29, and has already It is determined whether there is a record that stores the missing date and time as time limit information (S500).

When there is a record in which the date and time already missed is stored as time limit information, the CPU 21 deletes the record from the distribution schedule database 24a (S510).
Subsequently, the CPU 21 refers to the “scheduled delivery time” field of each record in the delivery schedule database 24a in ascending order, and there is a record in which the time indicated by the delivery time designation information stored in the field matches the current time. Is determined (S520).
When there is a record in which the time indicated by the distribution time designation information matches the current time, the CPU 21 specifies the record (S530). On the other hand, if there is no such record, the process is terminated.

Subsequently, the CPU 21 reads out the mail content stored in the “electronic mail” field of the record specified in step 530 to the RAM 22 (S540).
The CPU 21 reads the interruption specification information stored in the “interruption time” field of the record identified in step 530 to the RAM 22 (S550).
Based on the current time supplied from the timer 29, the CPU 21 determines whether or not the time indicated by the interruption designation information read into the RAM 22 has arrived (S560).

When the time indicated by the interruption designation information has not arrived, the CPU 21 reads out one of the e-mail addresses stored in the “destination” field of the record identified in step 530 to the RAM 22 and stores it in the field. The e-mail address stored up to is deleted from the distribution schedule database 24a (S570).
The CPU 21 generates an e-mail in which the e-mail content read in step 540 and the e-mail address read in step 570 are embedded, and delivers it to the e-mail transmission server 30 (S580).

Thereafter, the CPU 21 determines whether or not an unread e-mail address remains in the “destination” field of the record specified in step 530 (S590).
When the e-mail address that has not been read remains, the CPU 21 returns to step 560 to determine again whether or not the time indicated by the interruption designated time has arrived, and if the time has not yet arrived, The following processing is repeated for the e-mail address. By repeating these series of processes, e-mails having the same mail contents with different e-mail addresses as destinations are sequentially delivered to the e-mail transmission server 30 until the time indicated by the interruption designation information arrives.

When no unread e-mail address remains, the CPU 21 deletes the record specified in step 530 from the distribution schedule database 24a (S600).
On the other hand, when it is determined in step 560 that the time indicated by the interruption specification information has arrived, the stored contents of the “delivery scheduled time” field of the record specified in step 530 are specified as the distribution time specification indicating the same time tomorrow. Information is changed (S610).
Then, the CPU 21 sorts all the records constituting the distribution schedule database 24a in order from the earliest date and time indicated by the distribution time designation information stored in the “distribution scheduled time” (S620).
The e-mail transmission server 30 to which the e-mail is delivered from the e-mail management server 20 sequentially sends out the e-mail to the Internet communication network (S630). The sent e-mail is transmitted to the gateway server 40 according to a known routing protocol, converted into a data format conforming to the protocol of the mobile packet communication network by the gateway server 40, and then sent to the destination mobile communication terminal 70. Transferred.

In addition, the e-mail transmission server 30 that has sent all e-mails acquired from the e-mail management server 20 sends a distribution completion notification including the e-mail address that was the destination of the e-mail to the e-mail distribution request server 10. (S640).
The CPU 11 of the email delivery request server 10 that has received the delivery completion notification displays a message on the computer display 15 that the delivery of the mail magazine to each email address included in the notification is completed (S650).

According to the present embodiment described above, the information provider's e-mail delivery request server 10 receives a report of a desired time zone for delivery of the e-mail magazine from each user, accumulates it in the database, and creates new e-mail content. At that time, in addition to the mail content and the email address of each user, delivery time designation information corresponding to each user's desired time zone is delivered to the email management server 20. Then, the e-mail management server 20 constructs an e-mail delivery schedule so that the e-mail is delivered at the time indicated by the delivery time designation information delivered together with the mail content. For this reason, the information provider can dramatically increase the probability that the electronic mail addressed to each user is viewed. In addition, it is possible to prevent a situation in which a complaint is entered from the user to the information provider due to the delivery of the electronic mail during a time period that is not desirable for the user.
In this embodiment, the e-mail distribution request server 10 hands over to the e-mail management server 20 the interruption time designation information for designating the time at which the distribution of the e-mail is temporarily interrupted in each time zone together with the distribution time designation information. Then, the e-mail management server 20 that has started distributing e-mails at the time indicated by the delivery time designation information delivers to all e-mail addresses even when the time indicated by the interruption time designation information received together with the delivery time designation information comes. Is not completed, the distribution is temporarily interrupted at that time, and the distribution is attempted on the next day. Therefore, even when many users specify the same time zone, the time zone delivered to some of the users is shifted to a time zone different from the desired time zone specified in advance. Such an inconvenience disappears.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, each time new mail content is produced by the information provider, time limit information for specifying the date and time when the e-mail for the mail content is to be delivered is input. Are automatically deleted from the distribution schedule database of the e-mail management server (step 510 in FIG. 10), and thereafter, e-mail including the e-mail content is not distributed. Therefore, the individual organization of the mail content that has become obsolete due to the expiration of the delivery deadline can be performed very easily.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention can be modified in various ways.
The distribution reservation process of the above embodiment is triggered by the operation of instructing the start of mail magazine reservation input by the operator. In this process, when the mail content and the distribution deadline are input by the operator, The distribution request data is generated in real time according to the input contents. On the other hand, a database is provided in the e-mail delivery request server 10 to input a set of mail contents and a delivery deadline, and delivery request data is sequentially generated in a batch process based on the data accumulated in the database. It may be.
In the desired time zone reporting process of the above embodiment, any one of the four time zones of “morning”, “daytime”, “evening”, and “midnight” is selected by the user, and the selected time zone is selected. The delivery specification information specified by the e-mail delivery request server 10 based on the e-mail delivery request server 10 is delivered to the e-mail management server 20. On the other hand, in the above-described desired time zone reporting process, the delivery time designation information itself is input from its own mobile communication terminal 70, and the input delivery time designation information is electronically transmitted via the electronic mail delivery request server 10. It may be configured to be delivered to the mail management server 20.
In the above embodiment, the “morning” time zone corresponds to between 6:00 and 12:00, the “daytime” time zone corresponds to between 12:00 and 18:00, and the “evening” time zone corresponds to between 18:00 and 24:00. Corresponding, the time zone of “midnight” corresponds to between 24:00 and next 6 o'clock, but it may be operated as applicable between different times.
In the above embodiment, the shop operates the e-mail management server 20 and the e-mail transmission server 30, and causes the e-mail management server 20 to manage the e-mail transmission schedule, while the distribution process is e-mail transmission. The server 30 is used, but such distributed processing is not performed, and a single computer is used as an “e-mail delivery device”, and the roles of both the e-mail management server 20 and the e-mail sending server 30 are assumed. You may do it.

  In the above embodiment, the mail contents broadcasted to the user are uniform for all regions. On the other hand, several types of mail contents corresponding to the area where the mobile communication terminal 70 is located are prepared, and the current position information of each mobile communication terminal 70 acquired from the mobile packet communication network is used. The mail content to be distributed as an electronic mail to each mobile communication terminal 70 may be uniquely selected. Information on the current position of the mobile communication terminal 70 may be acquired by using a GPS (Global Positioning System), or by specifying a base station 60 that can communicate with each mobile communication terminal 70. May be. The configuration and operation of the e-mail management server 20, which is a node that plays a core role in such a modification, are conceptually shown as follows: “Regional information of each region and a set of e-mails to be distributed to each region” Storage means for storing the delivery destination information indicating one or a plurality of delivery destinations of the electronic mail and time zone designation information for designating the delivery time zone, and storing the delivery destination information from the storage means. A region specifying means for specifying the region where the delivery destination indicated by the read delivery destination information is located, and a region-specific mail reading means for reading out the e-mail corresponding to the region information of the specified region from the storage means; , Delivery means for delivering the read e-mail to the delivery destination indicated by the delivery destination information read by the area specifying means, and delivery of the e-mail addressed to the delivery destination And a delivery time control means for controlling the operation of the delivery means so that the time belongs to the time zone indicated by the time zone designation information stored in the storage means in association with the delivery destination information of the delivery destination. E-mail delivery device ".

  Further, as in the above-described modification, not only the delivery time of the email delivered to each region is controlled according to the user who receives the email, but also the content of the email content delivered to each user and the time of delivery. The relationship may be managed by matrix information of regions and times. In this modified example, the information provider who is the sender of the e-mail has several patterns depending on each region for a set of mail contents to be delivered before a predetermined time and mail contents to be delivered after that time. Prepare the database in the email management server 20. The data structure of this database is as shown in FIG. 12. The database in FIG. 12 manages data by a matrix of time and region. For example, for the mobile communication terminal 70 located in the area A, the mail content A1 is distributed from 10:00 am on May 10 to 11:00 am on May 12, and 11:00 am on the 12th. The mail content A2 is transmitted from 15:00 to 15:00 on the 15th. The configuration and operation of the e-mail management server 20, which is a node that plays a core role in such a modification, are conceptually shown as “e-mail to be delivered in the first period and after the first period. Mail storage means for storing, for each region, pairs of emails to be delivered in the second period, delivery destination designation information indicating one or more delivery destinations of the email, and both the first and second A time zone designation information storage means for storing time zone designation information for designating each delivery time zone of the e-mail in a period, and a delivery destination information read out from the time zone designation information storage means Of the two e-mails constituting the pair associated with the specified area and the area specifying means for specifying the area where the delivery destination indicated by the destination information is located, the electronic to be delivered in the first period Email The specified e-mail is identified from the e-mail storage means and delivered to the delivery destination indicated by the read delivery destination information during the first period, and the second of the two e-mails constituting the pair An electronic mail to be delivered from the mail storage means, and a delivery means for delivering the identified email to a delivery destination indicated by the read delivery destination information during a second period; In order to set the time of delivery of the e-mail addressed to the delivery destination as the time belonging to the time zone indicated by the time zone designation information stored in the time zone designation information storage means in association with the delivery destination information of the delivery destination. The electronic mail distribution apparatus includes a distribution time control unit that controls the operation of the distribution unit.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an electronic mail delivery control system. It is a hardware block diagram of an e-mail delivery request server. It is a data structure figure of the distribution time designation | designated information database. It is a data structure figure of a customer profile database. It is a hardware block diagram of an e-mail management server. It is a data structure figure of a delivery schedule database. It is a logic block diagram of each means which CPU implement | achieves. It is a flowchart which shows a desired time zone report process. It is a flowchart which shows a delivery reservation process. It is a flowchart which shows a delivery process. It is a flowchart which shows a delivery process. It is a database formed in an electronic mail management server (modification).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... E-mail delivery request server, 11, 21 ... CPU, 12, 22 ... RAM, 13, 33 ... RAM, 14, 24 ... Hard disk, 15, 25 ... Computer display, 16, 26 ... Mouse, 17, 27 ... Keyboard , 18, 28 ... communication interface, 20 ... email management server, 29 ... timer, 30 ... email transmission server, 40 ... gateway server, 50 ... switch, 60 ... base station, 70 ... mobile communication terminal.

Claims (10)

Storage means for storing the e-mail and storing the destination information indicating one or a plurality of destinations of the e-mail and the time zone designation information for designating the delivery time zone in association with each other;
Mail reading means for reading an e-mail from the storage means;
Delivery means for delivering the read e-mail to a delivery destination indicated by delivery destination information stored in the storage means;
In order for the time of delivery of the e-mail addressed to the delivery destination to be a time belonging to the time zone indicated by the time zone designation information stored in the storage means in association with the delivery destination information of the delivery destination. An e-mail delivery apparatus comprising: a delivery time control means for controlling operation. Storage means for storing the e-mail and correspondingly storing distribution destination information indicating one or a plurality of distribution destinations of the e-mail and distribution time specifying information for specifying the distribution time;
Mail reading means for reading an e-mail from the storage means;
Delivery means for delivering the read e-mail to a delivery destination indicated by delivery destination information stored in the storage means;
The operation of the delivery means is controlled so that the delivery time of the e-mail addressed to the delivery destination is the delivery time indicated by the delivery time designation information stored in the storage means in association with the delivery destination information of the delivery destination. An e-mail delivery apparatus comprising: a delivery time control means. The electronic mail delivery device according to claim 1 or 2,
Receiving means for receiving a pair of delivery destination information and time zone designation information or delivery time designation information from an external node;
Storage control means for storing the received delivery destination information and time zone designation information or delivery time designation information in association with each other in the storage means;
An electronic device further comprising: a delivery completion notification means for transmitting a delivery completion notification including the delivery destination information to the external node when an electronic mail addressed to a delivery destination indicated by a delivery destination information is delivered by the delivery means. Mail delivery device. The e-mail delivery device according to claim 1 to 3,
An electronic mail distribution apparatus further comprising means for acquiring electronic mail from an external node and storing the electronic mail in the storage means. The electronic mail delivery device according to claim 1 or 2,
The storage means
Storing the e-mail, one or more delivery destination information, and a set of time zone designation information or delivery time designation information for each e-mail;
The delivery means includes
An e-mail delivery apparatus that delivers an e-mail addressed to a delivery destination indicated by each delivery destination information stored in the storage unit in association with the e-mail when delivery of the e-mail is instructed. The electronic mail delivery apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
A receiving means for receiving an e-mail, one or a plurality of delivery destination information, and a set of time zone designation information or delivery time designation information from an external node;
Storage control means for storing the received set in the storage means;
An electronic device further comprising: a delivery completion notification means for transmitting a delivery completion notification including the delivery destination information to the external node when an electronic mail addressed to a delivery destination indicated by a delivery destination information is delivered by the delivery means. Mail delivery device. The electronic mail is stored, the storage means storing the distribution destination information indicating one or a plurality of distribution destinations of the electronic mail and the time zone specifying information for specifying the distribution time zone, and the current time are output. An e-mail delivery device comprising a clock that
An e-mail delivery control method by a system comprising: an e-mail delivery requesting device that requests delivery of e-mail to the e-mail delivery device,
A delivery requesting step in which the email delivery requesting device transmits delivery destination information and time zone designation information to the email delivery device;
A distribution request registration step in which the electronic mail distribution apparatus stores the distribution destination information received from the electronic mail distribution request apparatus in association with time zone designation information in the storage unit;
A delivery time management step in which the electronic mail delivery device determines whether or not a delivery time zone indicated by each time zone designation information stored in the storage means has arrived based on a current time output by the clock;
When the electronic mail delivery apparatus determines that a delivery time zone indicated by certain time zone designation information has arrived, the storage means is directed to the delivery destination indicated by the delivery destination information stored in association with the time zone designation information. A method for controlling delivery of emails, comprising: a sending step for sending emails read from the email. In the e-mail delivery control method according to claim 7,
The delivery request process includes
The electronic mail delivery requesting device includes a step of sending an electronic mail to the electronic mail delivery device;
The delivery request registration process includes:
An electronic mail delivery control method, comprising: storing the electronic mail received from the electronic mail delivery requesting apparatus in the storage means by the electronic mail delivery apparatus. In the e-mail delivery control method according to claim 8,
The storage means of the e-mail delivery device includes:
Storing a set of e-mail, one or more destination information, and time zone designation information;
In the transmission step,
The e-mail delivery device is
When it is determined that the delivery time zone indicated by a certain time zone designation information has arrived, the electronic mail stored in the storage means in association with the time zone designation information is read out and addressed to the delivery destination indicated by the time zone designation information A method for controlling the time of e-mail delivery, wherein the read e-mail is transmitted. In the e-mail delivery time control method according to any one of claims 7 to 9,
The e-mail delivery device is
An e-mail delivery time control reporting method further comprising: a delivery completion notifying step for sending a delivery completion notice including the delivery destination information to the e-mail delivery requesting device when an e-mail addressed to a delivery destination indicated by a given delivery destination information is delivered .

Images