JP2006197241A - Mail sending system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve smooth transfer of an e-mail having large data volume. <P>SOLUTION: In the invented mail sending system; when the data volume of a sending mail received from a client terminal is larger than the reception allowable data volume of a transmission destination recorded in a reception allowable data volume database, the sending mail is converted into data allowed to be read by a browser and stored in a web server and the URL information of the sending mail recorded in the web server is transmitted to a transmission destination address of the sending mail. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a mail transmission system for transmitting electronic mail.

  In recent years, electronic mail is regularly exchanged between communication terminals such as computers and mobile phones via a communication network such as the Internet. The email is transmitted from the sender's communication terminal to the provider's mail server with which the sender has a contract, and based on the destination address recorded in the email, the email is sent to the destination mail server via the communication network. Data is transmitted and transmitted from the destination mail server to the destination communication terminal.

  E-mail can be sent with application files other than text data, program data, digital image data, etc. attached as necessary, and e-mail with a large amount of data as general-purpose application software and digital cameras become popular. The number of exchanges is also increasing. However, when sending an e-mail, there is usually a limitation on the storage capacity of the mail server with which the transmission partner is contracted, so that too large data may not be received by the destination mail server.

  As an e-mail communication technique with such a large amount of data, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-91882 discloses that when there is an attached file, the attached file is separated from the e-mail in advance and stored in a Web server. The URL information of the attached file is added to the e-mail that is separated and transmitted.

Japanese Patent No. 3588102 includes a server that deletes a portion exceeding a predetermined amount and transmits an e-mail including a portion that exceeds a predetermined amount and a portion up to a predetermined amount. It is described that when an e-mail is received, both a portion up to a predetermined amount and a message indicating that a portion exceeding the predetermined amount has been deleted are displayed.
JP 2002-91882 A Japanese Patent No. 3588102

  In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-91882, since the attached file is separated, it is necessary for the transmission partner to access and download the Web server in order to obtain the attached file. In addition, in the one described in Japanese Patent No. 3588102, only a part of the e-mail is transmitted. Similarly, it is necessary for the transmission partner to access the Web server in order to obtain the remaining part. In addition, what is described in these gazettes is to separate the attached file uniformly and delete part of the e-mail, even to the amount of data that can be transmitted smoothly by normal e-mail exchange In some cases, it is inconvenient for the exchange of e-mails of the parties.

  The mail transmission system according to the present invention is a mail transmission system for transferring an electronic mail received from a communication terminal via a communication network to a predetermined transmission destination mail server. The amount of data received for each destination is recorded in the allowable data amount database, the Web server connected to the communication network, and the amount of outgoing mail received from the client terminal is stored in the destination allowable data amount database. When the amount of data that can be received is larger, the transmission mail is converted into data that can be browsed by the browser and stored in the Web server, and the URL information of the transmission mail recorded on the Web server is used as the transmission destination address of the transmission mail. And a mail server for transmission.

  In addition, when the outgoing mail received from the client terminal is transferred to the destination mail server or after an error occurs in the outgoing mail forwarding process, the outgoing mail is converted into data that can be viewed by the browser. The URL information of the outgoing mail recorded in the Web server may be sent to the destination address of the outgoing mail.

  In the mail transmission system according to the present invention, when the data amount of the transmission mail is larger than the reception allowable data amount of the transmission destination recorded in the reception allowable data amount database, the transmission mail received from the client terminal is transmitted to the transmission destination. Use this system because Web processing is performed only for those that cannot be forwarded to the other party, such as when an error occurs in the forwarding processing of the outgoing mail when it is forwarded to the mail server or after forwarding. For the sender, the mail can be transmitted without worrying about the data amount of the e-mail. Moreover, since it is not converted into a Web until it is not necessary, the other party receiving the e-mail can smoothly receive the e-mail without activating the browser more than necessary. In addition, since the Web is used only when necessary, the capacity of the storage medium of the Web server can be kept low.

  Hereinafter, a mail transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mail transmission system 1 includes a mail server 11 that receives an electronic mail from the client terminal 51, a Web server 12, and a reception allowable data amount database 13.

  Each of the mail server 11 and the web server 12 is a device that includes a control unit (CPU) and a computer-readable storage medium, operates according to a predetermined program stored in the storage medium, and executes a predetermined function.

  The mail server 11 is always connected to a communication network 52 such as the Internet, and is configured to always perform processing such as transmission / reception and transfer of electronic mail according to a predetermined program.

  The Web server 12 is always connected to a communication network 52 such as the Internet, stores predetermined URL information in association with data that can be browsed by a browser, and browses data requested for browsing based on the predetermined URL information. It has a function to allow.

  The reception allowable data amount database 13 records the reception allowable data amount that is permitted to be received by the transmission destination mail server for each transmission destination. If the destination mail server determines the amount of data that can be received uniformly regardless of the account, it is only necessary to record the amount of data that can be received by the destination mail server. When the reception allowable data amount that allows reception for each account is set, the reception allowable data amount that allows reception for each mail address of the transmission destination may be recorded. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the data structure of the reception allowable data amount database 13 may be a data structure that records the reception allowable data amount that allows reception for each mail server or mail address of the transmission destination.

  Note that the mail server 11, the Web server 12, and the reception allowable data amount database 13 constituting the mail transmission system 1 may be configured by different hardware, but may be configured in the same hardware. .

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mail server 11 includes a mail reception unit 21, a mail analysis unit 22, a mail transfer determination unit 23, a Web conversion processing unit 24, a mail transfer processing unit 25, and an error processing unit 26. It has. The mail reception unit 21, the mail analysis unit 22, the mail transfer determination unit 23, the Web conversion processing unit 24, the mail transfer processing unit 25, and the error processing unit 26 cause the mail server 11 to execute the functions performed by each. Each program is configured to be stored in a storage medium of the mail server 11 and activated under predetermined conditions. The mail server 11 is always connected to a communication network 52 such as the Internet, and can send and receive and transfer electronic mails at all times.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the mail receiving unit 21 causes the mail server 11 to execute a mail reception process S <b> 1 for storing a transmission mail that has received an electronic mail (hereinafter referred to as “transmission mail”) from the client terminal 51 in a storage medium. Is.

  The mail analysis unit 22 specifies the mail server 53 of the transmission destination based on the mail address of the transmission mail received by the mail server 11 and analyzes the data amount including the attached file of the transmission mail. S2 is executed by the mail server 11. In this embodiment, the mail analysis unit 22 further performs processing of storing the analyzed mail server 53 of the transmission destination and the information regarding the data amount of the transmission mail in the storage medium of the mail server in association with the information of the transmission mail.

  The mail transfer determination unit 23 analyzes the reception allowable data amount recorded in the reception allowable data amount database 13 and the mail analysis unit 22 for the transmission destination mail address or the mail server 53 of the transmission destination specified by the mail analysis unit 22. The data amount of the transmitted mail is compared, and a determination process S3 is performed to determine whether or not the data amount of the transmitted mail is larger than the reception allowable data amount of the destination mail server 53. Furthermore, when the data amount of the transmission mail is larger than the reception allowable data amount of the destination mail server 53, the mail transfer determination unit 23 causes the Web conversion processing unit 24 to perform the Web processing S4 of the transmission mail.

  The Web conversion processing unit 24 converts the outgoing mail into data that can be browsed by a browser and stores it in the Web server 12. The processing to be stored in the Web server 12 may be, for example, determining the registration destination URL by a random number and recording the Web data of the outgoing mail converted into data viewable by the browser in the storage destination specified by the registration destination URL. . If there is an attached file in the outgoing mail, the attached file may be stored in a predetermined storage area of the Web server 12 so that the attached file can be downloaded from the registered URL where the Web data of the outgoing mail is registered. . The Web conversion processing unit 24 performs URL transmission processing S <b> 5 for transmitting an e-mail describing the registration destination URL of the transmission mail to the destination mail address of the transmission mail.

  By this URL transmission processing S5, an electronic mail describing the registration destination URL of the transmission mail is sent to the communication terminal 54 of the transmission destination. As shown in FIG. 1, the transmission destination communication terminal 54 can access the Web server 12 based on the registration URL of the transmission mail described in the received electronic mail (S7), and can view and attach the transmission mail. You can download the file. In addition to sending the e-mail describing the registration destination URL of the outgoing mail to the destination mail address of the outgoing mail, it is preferable to notify the sender's mail address that the outgoing mail has been converted into the Web. As a result, the sender side can also confirm that the Web processing has been performed.

  In the determination process S3 by the mail transfer determination unit 23, when the data amount of the transmission mail is smaller than the reception allowable data amount of the destination mail server 53, the mail transfer processing unit 25 transmits the transmission mail as a normal electronic mail. A mail transfer process S6 for transferring to the previous mail server 53 may be performed.

  In the mail transfer process S6, the transmission mail is sent to the destination mail server 53 even within the reception allowable data amount stored in the reception allowable data amount database 13 due to the capacity of the transmission destination mail server being over. There are cases where it is not received. Therefore, in this embodiment, in the error processing unit 26, whether or not an error has occurred in the transfer process of the e-mail when the e-mail is further transferred as a normal e-mail to the destination mail server 53 or after the transfer. If an error occurs, an error process S7 that causes the Web processing unit 24 to perform the Web processing S4 of the outgoing mail may be performed. Since the Web conversion processing S4 of the outgoing mail in the Web conversion processing unit 24 has already been described, description thereof is omitted here.

  According to this mail transmission system 1, when the data amount of the transmission mail is larger than the reception allowable data amount of the destination mail server 53 or the mail address recorded in the reception allowable data amount database 13, or from the client terminal 51. When the received outgoing mail is transferred to the mail server 53 of the transmission destination or after the transfer, an error occurs in the transfer processing, etc. I have to. For this reason, a sender using this system can send a mail without worrying about the amount of data that the destination mail server allows the reception of the e-mail.

  Moreover, since it is not converted into a Web until it is not necessary, the other party receiving the e-mail can smoothly receive the e-mail without activating the browser more than necessary. Even if there is an attached file and the amount of data is large, the text data of the e-mail and the attached file are not separated, and a part of the e-mail is converted to the Web without being deleted. E-mails are easy to read for the recipients who receive the message.

  Moreover, since the Web is used only when necessary, the capacity of the storage medium of the Web server can be reduced as compared with the case where the Web is uniformly applied.

  As mentioned above, although the mail transmission system concerning one embodiment of the present invention was explained, the mail transmission system concerning the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment.

  In the mail transmission system according to the above embodiment, the mail transfer processing unit 25 performs e-mail processing on the Web based on the information on the reception allowable data amount of the destination mail server recorded in the reception allowable data amount database 13 in advance. Is judged. The information on the reception allowable data amount of the transmission destination mail server recorded in the reception allowable data amount database 13 may be changed by the transmission destination provider. Therefore, it is preferable to periodically update the information on the reception allowable data amount of the destination mail server recorded in the reception allowable data amount database 13. In this case, periodically, a test mail with a data amount slightly larger than the reception allowable data amount already registered is transferred to the destination mail server, and whether or not such a test mail is received is checked. When a test mail is received, the reception allowable data amount of the destination mail server may be updated. Thereby, the reception allowable data amount database can be appropriately updated.

The figure which shows the structure of the mail transmission system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the data structure of the reception allowable data amount database which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The processing flowchart of the mail transmission system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mail transmission system 11 Mail server 12 Server 13 Receivable data volume database 21 Mail receiving part 22 Mail analysis part 23 Mail transfer determination part 24 Web conversion processing part 25 Mail transfer processing part 26 Error processing part 51 Client terminal 52 Communication network 53 Mail Server 54 Transmission destination communication terminal

Claims (2)

In a mail transmission system for transferring an e-mail received from a communication terminal via a communication network to a predetermined destination mail server,
A reception allowable data amount database in which the reception allowable data amount that the transmission destination mail server allows reception is recorded for each transmission destination, and
A web server connected to the communication network;
When the data amount of the transmission mail received from the client terminal is larger than the reception allowable data amount of the transmission destination recorded in the reception allowable data amount database, the transmission mail is converted into data that can be browsed by a browser. A mail transmission system comprising: a mail server stored in the Web server and transmitting URL information of the transmission mail recorded in the Web server to a transmission destination address of the transmission mail. The mail server transmits a transmission mail received from the client terminal when the data amount of the transmission mail received from the client terminal is smaller than the reception allowable data amount of the transmission destination recorded in the reception allowable data amount database. Forward to the destination mail server,
When an error occurs in the transmission process of the transmission mail when it is transferred to the mail server of the transmission destination or after the transfer, the transmission mail is converted into data viewable by a browser and stored in the Web server, 2. The mail transmission system according to claim 1, wherein URL information of a transmission mail recorded in the Web server is transmitted to a transmission destination address of the transmission mail.

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