JP2013183447A - Relay communication system, relay server and management server - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a relay communication system capable of transmitting an electronic mail even if a mail address is not directly known.SOLUTION: A management server 22 includes a message receiver unit 36, a destination address acquisition unit 37 and a mail transmitter unit 38. From a relay server that receives a message to be transmitted as an electronic mail and destination designation information to identify the message destination, the mail receiver unit 36 receives the message and the destination designation information. The destination address acquisition unit 37 acquires a mail address corresponding to the destination identified by the destination designation information transferred from the relay server. The mail transmitter unit 38 transmits an electronic mail including the message to the mail address acquired by the destination address acquisition unit 37.

Description

  The present invention mainly relates to a relay communication system in which communication between terminal devices is relayed by a relay server.

  A VPN (Virtual Private Network) that connects LANs (Local Area Networks) at remote locations via a WAN (Wide Area Network) such as the Internet has been developed. Such a technique is described in Patent Document 1, for example.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a remote maintenance system constructed for the purpose of remote maintenance of an apparatus or a machine provided in a customer factory. This remote maintenance system communicates between a terminal operated by a service person during maintenance work and a maintenance target device installed at a customer factory, and the dispatch destination server and customer server communicate via the WAN. Are configured to relay. As a result, the service person stationed at the service person dispatch destination can maintain (remote maintenance) the maintenance target apparatus installed at the customer factory by operating the maintenance terminal.

  In the remote maintenance system described in Patent Document 1, a call center server (management server) is installed in a call center (service base). The call center server is configured to manage and monitor communication between the dispatch destination server and the customer server.

  In addition, such a remote maintenance system may have an instant message function (such as a text-based chat) for exchanging messages between terminals. For example, a message can be exchanged between a maintenance work terminal operated by a serviceman and a terminal operated by a call center operator. In this case, for example, messages can be exchanged in real time between a service person performing remote maintenance work and a call center operator. Using this instant message function, for example, a work instruction can be issued from the call center to the service person, or various reports can be sent from the service person to the call center.

JP 2011-55455 A

  When a service person performs remote maintenance work using the remote maintenance system as described above, there may be a situation in which it is desired to contact the person in charge at the customer factory in an urgent manner. Therefore, it is conceivable to use the instant message function to transmit a message from a maintenance work terminal operated by a service person to a maintenance target apparatus installed at a customer factory.

  However, since the person in charge at the customer factory is not always resident in front of the apparatus to be maintained, there is a possibility that the above message may be missed. For this reason, even if the instant message function as described above is provided in the remote maintenance system, it cannot be used for the purpose of urgently contacting the person in charge at the customer factory.

  Of course, the service person who performs the remote maintenance work may directly contact the person in charge at the customer factory by telephone or e-mail. In this case, however, the service person must know the telephone number or mail address of the person in charge at the customer factory. For this reason, it may take time to confirm the telephone number and mail address, and may not be able to contact at the necessary timing.

  In addition, in order to make an emergency contact, a private mobile phone number or e-mail address may be required. However, there is a case where the person in charge at the customer factory does not want the service person to know such private information.

  Further, when the service person directly contacts the person in charge at the customer factory by telephone or e-mail, the exchange cannot be managed or recorded in the call center. For this reason, it cannot be said that it is preferable from the viewpoint of business management.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a main object of the present invention is to provide a relay communication system capable of transmitting an e-mail without directly knowing a mail address.

Means and effects for solving the problems

  The problems to be solved by the present invention are as described above. Next, means for solving the problems and the effects thereof will be described.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, a relay communication system having the following configuration is provided. That is, this relay communication system includes one or more relay servers and a management server. The relay server includes a message reception unit and a message transfer unit. The message receiving unit receives a message to be transmitted as an e-mail and destination designation information for designating the destination of the message from a terminal device under its control. The message transfer unit transfers the message and the destination designation information to the management server. The management server includes a destination address acquisition unit and a mail transmission unit. The destination address acquisition unit acquires a mail address corresponding to a destination specified by the destination designation information transferred from the relay server. The mail transmission unit transmits an e-mail including the message to the mail address acquired by the destination address acquisition unit.

  According to this configuration, a message can be transmitted by e-mail from a terminal device under the relay server to a specified destination. Since the destination mail address is acquired by the management server, it is not necessary to know the mail address on the terminal device side of the transmission source. Also, the message can be received on the destination side of the message without the e-mail address being known to the terminal device side of the transmission source.

  In the relay communication system, it is preferable that the management server includes a destination address storage unit that stores a mail address in association with a destination specified by the destination designation information.

  As described above, by storing the mail address in the management server in advance, the mail address of the destination specified based on the destination designation information can be easily acquired.

  The relay communication system is preferably configured as follows. That is, the management server includes a reply mail receiving unit and a reply message transmitting unit. The reply mail receiving unit receives a reply e-mail to the sent mail transmitted by the mail sending unit. The reply message transmission unit transmits information including the text of the reply mail to a relay server under the control of a work terminal operated by the sender who created the text of the sent mail.

  According to this configuration, a message can be returned to the terminal device side via the management server. In this way, the terminal device side and the destination side can exchange messages by electronic mail without knowing each other's mail address.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, a management server having the following configuration is provided. That is, the management server includes a message receiving unit, a destination address acquiring unit, and a mail transmitting unit. The message receiving unit receives the message and the destination designation information from a relay server that has received a message to be transmitted as an e-mail and destination designation information for designating the destination of the message. The destination address acquisition unit acquires a mail address corresponding to a destination specified by the destination designation information. The mail transmission unit transmits an e-mail including the message to the mail address acquired by the destination address acquisition unit.

  By sending a message via this management server, the message can be sent by e-mail to the destination designated by the destination designation information. Since the destination mail address is acquired by the management server, it is not necessary to know the mail address on the transmission source relay server side. Also, the message can be received on the destination side of the message without the e-mail address being known by the relay server side of the transmission source.

  According to the 3rd viewpoint of this invention, the relay server of the following structures is provided. That is, the relay server includes a communication destination designation information transmission unit, a message reception unit, and a message transfer unit. The communication destination designation information transmission unit transmits communication destination designation information for designating a terminal device under the control of a relay server other than itself as a communication destination to the terminal device under its own control. The message receiving unit receives a message to be transmitted as an e-mail and destination designation information for designating the communication destination terminal device as a destination of the message from the terminal device under its control. The message transfer unit transfers the message and the destination designation information to a management server holding a mail address corresponding to the destination specified by the destination designation information.

  As described above, the terminal device can be designated as the destination of the message in the terminal device by notifying the terminal device under its control in advance of the information specifying the communication destination terminal device. .

The figure which shows the whole structure of the relay communication system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram of a management server. The figure which illustrates the contents of use equipment information. The figure which illustrates the contents of job information. The figure which illustrates the contents of a customer information table. The block diagram of a relay server. The sequence diagram explaining a mode that the message transmission by an email is performed by a relay communication system.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of a relay communication system 1 according to the present embodiment.

  The relay communication system 1 is a virtual private network (VPN) for connecting remote LANs via a WAN 3 such as the Internet. For example, in the relay communication system 1 shown in FIG. 1, the maintenance company A is provided with a LAN 5, the maintenance company B is provided with a LAN 6, the customer company A is provided with a LAN 7, and the customer company B is provided with a LAN 8. Yes.

  The configuration of each LAN is not particularly limited, but usually one or more client terminals (terminal devices) are connected in each LAN. For example, client terminals 10 and 11 are connected in the LAN 5, client terminals 12 and 13 are connected in the LAN 6, client terminals 14 and 15 are connected in the LAN 7, and client terminals 16 and 17 are connected in the LAN 8. .

  The relay communication system 1 according to the present embodiment assumes that an operator who belongs to a maintenance company performs remote maintenance on a client terminal connected to a customer company's LAN. The worker who performs the remote maintenance work operates the client terminal connected to the LAN of the maintenance company to which he belongs and performs the maintenance work on the client company's client terminal. Therefore, the client terminals 10, 11, 12, and 13 connected to the LANs of the maintenance company A and the maintenance company B are called work terminals in the sense of terminals for performing maintenance work. Further, the client terminals 14, 15, 16, and 17 connected to the LANs of the customer company A and the customer company B are called maintenance target terminals in the sense that they are terminals to be maintained.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a relay server 18 is connected to the LAN 5, a relay server 19 is connected to the LAN 6, a relay server 20 is connected to the LAN 7, and a relay server 21 is connected to the LAN 8. Each relay server 18, 19, 20, 21 is configured to be connectable to the WAN 3.

  The relay servers 18, 19, 20, and 21 are provided for relaying communication between client terminals connected to different LANs. For example, when the operator Op1 who belongs to the maintenance company A operates the work terminal 10 connected to the LAN 5 of the maintenance company A, the maintenance target terminal 14 connected to the LAN 7 of the customer company A is changed. Consider remote maintenance. Since the work terminal 10 and the maintenance target terminal 14 belong to different LANs, they cannot communicate directly with each other. On the other hand, the relay servers 18 and 20 can communicate with each other via the WAN 3. Therefore, when the relay servers 18 and 20 relay the communication between the work terminal 10 and the maintenance target terminal 14 via the WAN 3, the work terminal 10 and the maintenance target terminal 14 can communicate with each other. Thus, the operator Op1 can maintain the maintenance target terminal 14 installed in the remote customer company A by operating the work terminal 10.

  In the relay communication system 1, a call center is provided separately from the maintenance company and the customer company. This call center is provided with a LAN 9, and a management server 22 is connected to the LAN 9. The management server 22 is configured to be connectable to the WAN 3. This management server 22 is for centrally managing communications performed using the relay communication system 1.

  An operator Op4 is resident in the call center. The call center operator Op 4 can perform various settings for the management server 22 by operating the management terminal 25 connected to the LAN 9.

  The configuration of the management server 22 is shown in the block diagram of FIG. The management server 22 has an interface 30 and a control unit 31. The interface 30 is for communicating with other devices via the WAN 3 or the LAN 9. The control unit 31 includes hardware such as a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM, and software for controlling the hardware, and implements various functions through cooperation of the hardware and software. It is configured as follows. Specifically, the control unit 31 includes a login management unit 32, a used device information management unit 33, a job management unit 34, a customer information management unit 35, a message reception unit 36, a destination address acquisition unit 37, a mail transmission unit 38, a reply It is configured to function as a mail receiver 39, a reply message transmitter 40, and the like.

  The login management unit 32 stores an account name (identifier) and a password of each worker who belongs to the maintenance company A and the maintenance company B. An operator who performs remote maintenance work using the relay communication system 1 of the present embodiment appropriately operates the work terminal to input an account name and password, and asks the login management unit 32 of the management server 22 for login permission. There is a need. The login management unit 32 permits the worker to log in only when the account name and password input by the worker match the stored contents.

  The used device information management unit 33 manages used device information of the logged-in worker. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the used device information includes the account name of the logged-in worker, the identifier of the device (specifically, the work terminal and the relay server) used by the worker during login, Are stored in association with each other. For example, in the case of FIG. 3, it is stored that the operator Op <b> 1 of the maintenance company A is operating the work terminal 10 and is logged in to the relay communication system 1 via the relay server 18.

  The job management unit 34 manages information (job information) related to remote maintenance work performed using the relay communication system 1. As shown in FIG. 4, the job information is information in which the identifier of the maintenance target terminal is associated with the account name of the worker (maintenance person) in charge of the maintenance work of the maintenance target terminal. Each job information is given an identifier (job ID) of the job. For example, according to the job information “JobA” in FIG. 4, it can be understood that the maintenance person in charge of the maintenance work of the maintenance target terminal 14 is the worker Op1. The job management unit 34 can manage a plurality of job information. For example, in the case of FIG. 4, three job information of Job A, Job B, and Job C are managed by the job management unit 34.

  The customer information management unit (destination address storage unit) 35 manages the customer information table. As shown in FIG. 5, for example, this customer information table stores information specifying the customer company side and the mail address of the person in charge on the customer company side in association with each other. For example, in the example of FIG. 5, the email address of the person in charge of customer company A is admin @ aaa. co. jp is registered. In the example of FIG. 5, the name of the customer company and the identifier (customer ID) of the customer company are stored as information for specifying the customer company side. However, only one of the name and the identifier may be registered. In addition, a plurality of e-mail addresses of the person in charge at the customer company may be registered.

  Next, the configuration of the relay server is simply shown in FIG. Note that the relay servers included in the relay communication system all have the same configuration. Here, the relay server 18 will be described as a representative. The relay server 18 includes an interface 47 and a control unit 48. The interface 47 is for communicating with other devices via a WAN or a LAN. The control unit 48 includes hardware such as a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM, and software for controlling the hardware, and realizes various functions through the cooperation of the hardware and software. It is configured as follows. Specifically, the control unit 48 is configured to function as a communication destination designation information transmission unit 50, a message reception unit 51, a message transfer unit 52, and the like.

  Next, a flow of performing remote maintenance work using this relay communication system 1 will be briefly described.

  Here, as an example, a case where a failure occurs in the maintenance target terminal 14 will be described as an example. When a failure occurs in the maintenance target terminal 14, the maintenance target terminal 14 notifies the relay server to which the maintenance target terminal 14 belongs (in this case, the relay server 20) that the failure has occurred. The relay server 20 that has received the notification notifies the call center management server 22 that a failure has occurred in the maintenance target terminal 14.

  The operator Op4 stationed in the call center assigns a worker (maintenance person) who is in charge of remote maintenance of the maintenance target terminal 14 in which the failure has occurred to an operator belonging to the maintenance company A or the maintenance company B. Select from among them. Which worker should be selected as the maintenance staff may be determined in consideration of the skill, experience, specialized field, etc. of each worker. Here, it is assumed that the worker Op1 of the maintenance company A is selected as the maintenance person of the maintenance target terminal 14.

  In this case, the call center operator Op4 appropriately operates the management terminal 25 to generate job information in which the operator Op1 is the maintenance person and the maintenance target terminal 14 is the maintenance target, and the job management of the management server 22 is performed. Is stored in the unit 34 (connection job information “JobA” on the first line in FIG. 4).

  Subsequently, the call center operator Op4 notifies the operator Op1 selected as the maintenance person that the remote maintenance work should be performed. The contact with the worker Op1 may be made by an appropriate means other than the telephone and the e-mail.

  The worker Op1 who has received the communication from the call center logs in the relay communication system 1 by operating an appropriate work terminal in the maintenance company A. At this time, the worker may use any work terminal in the relay communication system 1. Here, description will be made assuming that the worker uses the work terminal 10. First, the operator appropriately operates the work terminal 10 and inputs his / her account name and password. The input account name and password are transmitted from the work terminal 10 to the management server 22 via the relay server 18.

  The login management unit 32 of the management server 22 determines whether or not the login of the worker Op1 is permitted based on the received account name and password. When the login of the worker Op1 is permitted, the used device information management unit 33 of the management server 22 identifies the identification name of the device used by the worker Op1 (in this case, the identification names of the work terminal 10 and the relay server 18). Is stored in association with the account name of the operator Op1 (FIG. 3).

  When the login of the worker Op1 is permitted, the management server 22 searches the job information held by the job management unit 34 for job information in which the worker Op1 is designated as a maintenance person. For example, when the stored content of the job management unit 34 is FIG. 4, the job information of “JobA” in which the worker Op1 is designated as the maintenance person is found.

  When there is job information in which the logged-in operator Op1 is designated as a maintenance person (job information of “JobA” in FIG. 4), the control unit 31 of the management server 22 displays the job information as the operator. This is transmitted to the relay server used by Op1 (in this case, the relay server 18). The control unit 48 of the relay server 18 to which the job information is transmitted from the management server transmits the job information to the work terminal 10 used by the worker Op1.

  The job information includes the identification name of the maintenance target terminal 14 to be remotely maintained by the worker Op1 who is the person in charge of maintenance. Accordingly, the work terminal 10 that has received the job information can detect the communication destination terminal (in this case, the maintenance target terminal 14) with which the work terminal 10 should communicate by referring to the job information. Thus, it can be said that the job information is communication destination designation information that designates a terminal device that is a communication destination of the work terminal. Therefore, it can be said that the control unit 48 of the relay server 18 functions as the communication destination designation information transmission unit 50.

  The work terminal 10 that has received the job information displays the content of the transmitted job information on the display. The worker Op1 can confirm the presence / absence of job information designated as a maintenance person by confirming the display on the display of the work terminal 10. For example, in the case of this example, the job information “JobA” of the job information shown in FIG. 4 is transmitted to the work terminal 10, so that the worker Op1 who operates the work terminal 10 is displayed on the display. By confirming the received job information, it can be confirmed that it is designated as the person in charge of maintenance of the maintenance target terminal 14. Note that when there are a plurality of pieces of job information in which the worker is designated as a maintenance person, the plurality of pieces of job information are displayed side by side on the display.

  The worker Op1 selects one from one or a plurality of job information displayed on the display by appropriately operating the work terminal 10. When the job information is selected by the worker Op1, the work terminal 10 starts communication with the maintenance target terminal related to the selected job information. In this example, when the job information “JobA” is selected on the work terminal 10, communication between the work terminal 10 and the maintenance target terminal 14 is started via the relay servers 18 and 20. Thereby, the operator Op1 can perform remote maintenance of the maintenance target terminal 14 by operating the work terminal 10.

  The job information transmitted from the relay server 18 to the work terminal 10 is only the job information in which the worker Op1 who operates the work terminal 10 is designated as the maintenance person. That is, job information in which the worker Op1 is not designated as a maintenance subject (job information not related to the worker Op1) is not transmitted to the work terminal 10 operated by the worker Op1 (for example, “ The job information “JobB” and “JobC” is not transmitted to the work terminal 10 operated by the worker Op1). For this reason, the work terminal 10 operated by the worker Op1 cannot be connected to a maintenance target terminal in which the worker Op1 is not designated as a maintenance person. In this way, the worker cannot connect to the customer company side if he / she is not designated as a maintenance person. As a result, unauthorized access can be prevented and security can be improved.

  In the relay communication system 1 of the present embodiment, an instant message service is provided. This is mainly used for contact between a call center operator and a worker performing maintenance work in real time. The instant message service provided by the relay communication system 1 is a kind of text chat, and has a function of exchanging text messages between the work terminal of the maintenance company and the management terminal 25 of the call center.

  For example, the worker Op1 of the maintenance company A can operate the work terminal 10 to transmit a message to the management terminal 25 operated by the call center operator Op4. Similarly, the operator Op4 of the call center can send a message to the work terminal 10 operated by the worker Op1 by operating the management terminal 25. Message exchange between the work terminal 10 and the management terminal 25 can be realized by relaying the message between the relay server 18 and the management server 22. With the above instant message service, the operator Op1 and the call center operator Op4 can easily communicate with each other. The instant message service is not limited to text chat, but may be video chat, for example.

  When the maintenance target terminal 14 is recovered from the failure, the worker Op1 performs an operation to end the remote maintenance work. The management server 22 is notified that the remote maintenance work has been completed. The job management unit 34 of the management server 22 deletes the connection job information related to the completed remote maintenance work from the stored contents of the job management unit 34.

  Finally, the operator Op1 performs logout processing from the relay communication system 1 by appropriately operating the work terminal 10. The management server 22 is notified that the worker Op1 has logged out. The used device information management unit 33 of the management server 22 deletes the used device information related to the logged-out worker Op1.

  Next, a characteristic configuration of the present embodiment will be described.

  The customer company has a customer-side person in charge of managing and operating the LAN and the client terminal. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the customer company A has a customer-side person in charge Ad1 who is in charge of management and operation of the LAN 7 and the maintenance target terminals 14 and 15.

  In the system according to the present embodiment, the remote maintenance work by the worker of the maintenance company can basically be performed without involving the customer person in charge. Therefore, even during the remote maintenance work, the customer-side person does not need to stand by before the maintenance target terminal. In addition, since there is no need for the customer-side staff to be involved, the maintenance staff does not normally contact the customer-side staff.

  However, when an unexpected situation occurs during the remote maintenance operation, the maintenance staff may want to contact the customer staff in an urgent manner.

  Therefore, the relay communication system according to the present embodiment is configured such that a message can be transmitted from the work terminal operated by the maintenance staff to the customer-side staff.

  However, since the person in charge on the customer side is not resident in front of the terminal subject to maintenance, even if an instant message is sent to the terminal subject to maintenance, the person in charge on the customer side is likely to miss the message. . Therefore, the instant message service provided in the relay communication system 1 cannot be used when making an urgent contact with a customer-side person in charge.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, a message from the maintenance staff to the customer-side staff can be transmitted by e-mail. That is, if it is an e-mail, a message can be sent to the mail address of the device that the customer-side contact person normally uses, such as a customer-side contact person's PC, mobile phone, etc. You can get in touch.

  The person in charge on the customer side notifies the call center in advance of the contact e-mail address. For example, the customer-side person in charge Ad1 who is enrolled in the customer company A notifies his / her mail address (admin@aaa.co.jp) to the call center. The call center operator Op4, who has received the email address from the customer representative, registers the email address in the customer information management unit 35 of the management server 22 by appropriately operating the management terminal 25.

  The e-mail address notified from the customer side person in charge Ad1 is registered only in the customer information management unit 35 of the call center management server 22, and is not notified to the relay server and work terminal on the maintenance company side. As described above, since the mail address of the customer-side person in charge Ad1 is not known to the maintenance company, the customer-side person in charge Ad1 does not want to be known to others so much (for example, a private mobile phone). Phone e-mail addresses) are also easier to register.

  Next, the flow of processing for transmitting a message from the worker Op1 to the customer-side person in charge Ad1 in the relay communication system 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG.

  First, the worker Op1 operates the work terminal 10 to designate an e-mail destination (sequence number S101). As described above, since the mail address of the customer-side person in charge Ad1 is not known to the maintenance company, the worker Op1 cannot directly specify the mail address. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when transmitting a message, destination designation information that can identify the customer-side person in charge Ad1 as a destination is designated instead of an email address.

  The destination designation information may be any information as long as it can identify the customer-side person in charge Ad1. In the present embodiment, the maintenance target terminal is designated as the destination designation information. That is, since the customer-side person in charge Ad1 is in charge of management and operation of the maintenance target terminal 14, the customer-side person in charge Ad1 can be specified by specifying the maintenance target terminal.

  The work terminal 10 of the present embodiment is configured to designate a maintenance target terminal for which the worker Op1 is in charge of maintenance work as destination designation information. For example, the work terminal 10 refers to the job information, lists the maintenance target terminals for which the worker Op1 is in charge of the maintenance work, and displays the list on the display. The worker Op1 selects an e-mail destination from the maintenance target terminals displayed on the display of the work terminal 10. In the case of the job information in FIG. 3, since the terminal that the worker Op1 is in charge of the maintenance work is only the maintenance target terminal 14, the operator Op1 can designate only the maintenance target terminal 14 as the destination of the e-mail. It is.

  Subsequently, the worker Op1 inputs a message to be transmitted as an e-mail (sequence number S102), and then performs an appropriate message transmission operation (for example, pressing a “send” button) (sequence number S103).

  When a message transmission operation is performed by the worker Op1, the work terminal 10 inputs information (address designation information) for designating a destination (maintenance target terminal 14 in this example) designated by the worker Op1. Is added to the message body (sequence number S104) and transmitted to the relay server 18 (sequence number 105).

  At this time, the message body and the destination designation information transmitted from the work terminal 10 to the relay server 18 are not the e-mail itself, and need not be transmitted using the e-mail mechanism. Therefore, it is not limited to an e-mail protocol (for example, SMPT: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), and can be transmitted by any protocol. Moreover, the format of the data to be transmitted may be arbitrary. For example, the message body and destination designation information can be transmitted in a text format, an XML format, or any other format. In addition, the message and destination designation information may be transmitted as binary data that is encrypted or data-compressed.

  The message receiving unit 51 of the relay server 18 receives the destination designation information and the message text transmitted from the work terminal 10. The message received by the relay server 18 was created with the intention of being sent by e-mail to the customer-side person in charge Ad1. Therefore, the message transfer unit 52 of the relay server 18 transfers the message text and the destination designation information to the management server 22 that holds the mail address of the customer-side person in charge Ad1 (sequence number S106).

  At this time, the message body and the destination designation information transferred from the relay server 18 to the management server 22 are not the email itself, and therefore do not need to be transmitted using the email mechanism. Therefore, similarly to the above, it can be transmitted in any protocol and in any format.

  The message receiving unit 36 of the management server 22 receives the destination designation information and the message text transferred from the relay server 18. The destination address acquisition unit 37 of the management server 22 is configured to acquire a mail address corresponding to the destination specified by the destination designation information. For example, in the case of this example, since the maintenance target terminal 14 is specified in the destination specification information, the destination address acquisition unit 37 uses the person in charge of the customer company A where the maintenance target terminal 14 is located as an electronic destination. You can identify what you need to do by sending an email. As described above, the customer information management unit 35 stores the information for identifying the customer company and the mail address of the person in charge of the customer company in association with each other. By referring to the contents of the information management section 35, the mail address (admin@aaa.co.jp) of the person in charge Ad1 of the customer company A is acquired (sequence number S107).

  Subsequently, the mail transmission unit 38 of the management server 22 creates an e-mail including the text of the message transferred from the relay server 18, and sends the e-mail to the mail address acquired by the destination address acquisition unit 37. Transmit (sequence number S108).

  As described above, the message from the worker Op1 can be transmitted to the customer-side person in charge Ad1 by e-mail. Since the worker Op1 can send the message without knowing the mail address of the customer-side person in charge Ad1, the message can be sent promptly without taking time and effort to confirm the other party's mail address. Further, the customer-side person in charge Ad1 can also be notified by e-mail without knowing the mail address from the worker Op1.

  Next, a case where the customer-side person in charge Ad1 replies to the mail transmitted as described above will be described.

  The management server 22 is the transmission source of the electronic mail (sent mail) transmitted to the customer-side person in charge Ad1. For this reason, when the customer-side person in charge Ad1 sends a reply e-mail (reply mail) to the sent mail, the reply mail is sent to the management server 22.

  The reply mail receiving unit 39 of the management server 22 receives the reply mail from the customer side person in charge Ad1 (sequence number S109). Since the reply mail is a reply to the message created by the worker Op1, the content of the reply mail may be transferred to the work terminal operated by the worker Op1. However, as described above, since the worker Op1 can use any work terminal in the relay communication system 1, it is assumed that the terminal (working terminal 10 in the above case) that has previously transmitted a message is still being used. Is not limited. Therefore, the reply message transmission unit 40 of the management server 22 refers to the used device information management unit 33 to detect the relay server and work terminal currently used by the worker Op1 (sequence number S110).

  For example, it is possible to detect that the worker Op1 is using the relay server 18 and the work terminal 10 by referring to the use terminal information in FIG. The reply message transmission unit 40 transmits information (reply message) including the body of the reply mail from the customer-side person in charge Ad1 to the relay server (in this case, the relay server 18) acquired as described above ( Sequence number S111).

  At this time, since the reply message transferred from the management server 22 to the relay server 18 is not an e-mail itself, it is not necessary to transmit using the e-mail mechanism. Therefore, similarly to the above, it can be transmitted in any protocol and in any format.

  The relay server 18 that has received the reply message from the management server 22 transfers the reply message to the work terminal (in this case, the work terminal 10) used by the worker Op1 (sequence number S112). At this time, since the reply message transferred from the relay server 18 to the work terminal 10 is not an e-mail itself, it is not necessary to transmit it using the e-mail mechanism. Therefore, similarly to the above, it can be transmitted in any protocol and in any format.

  The work terminal 10 that has received the reply message displays the reply message body on the display (sequence number S113). According to the above configuration, the worker Op1 and the customer-side person in charge Ad1 can exchange messages by e-mail without knowing each other's mail address.

  Further, the relay communication system 1 according to the present embodiment is configured such that the message exchanged between the worker Op1 and the customer-side person in charge Ad1 is logged by the management server 22 as described above. That is, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, since the message between the worker Op1 and the customer-side person in charge Ad1 is always transmitted and received via the management server 22, the management server 22 can record the exchange.

  As described above, the relay communication system 1 of this embodiment includes a plurality of relay servers and the management server 22.

  Each relay server includes a message receiving unit 51 and a message transfer unit 52. The message receiving unit 51 receives a message to be transmitted as an e-mail and destination designation information for designating the destination of the message from its own terminal device. The message transfer unit 52 transfers the message and destination designation information to the management server 22 that holds a mail address corresponding to the destination specified by the destination designation information.

  On the other hand, the management server 22 includes a message reception unit 36, a destination address acquisition unit 37, and a mail transmission unit 38. The message receiving unit 36 receives the message and the destination designation information from the relay server that has received the message to be transmitted as the electronic mail and the destination designation information for designating the destination of the message. The destination address acquisition unit 37 acquires a mail address corresponding to the destination specified by the destination designation information transferred from the relay server. The mail transmission unit 38 transmits an electronic mail including the message to the mail address acquired by the destination address acquisition unit 37.

  According to this configuration, a message can be transmitted by e-mail from a terminal device under the relay server to a specified destination. Since the destination e-mail address is acquired by the management server 22, it is not necessary to know the e-mail address on the terminal device side of the transmission source. Also, the message can be received on the destination side of the message without the e-mail address being known to the terminal device side of the transmission source.

  In the relay communication system 1 of the present embodiment, the management server 22 includes a customer information management unit 35 that stores a mail address in association with a destination specified by the destination designation information.

  As described above, by storing the mail address in the management server 22 in advance, it is possible to easily acquire the mail address of the destination specified by the destination designation information.

  Further, the relay communication system 1 of the present embodiment is configured as follows. That is, the management server 22 includes a reply mail reception unit 39 and a reply message transmission unit 40. The reply mail receiver 39 receives a reply mail for the transmitted mail transmitted by the mail transmitter 38. The reply message transmission unit 40 transmits information including the text of the reply mail to the relay server under the control of the work terminal operated by the operator who created the text of the sent mail.

  According to this configuration, a message can be returned to the work terminal side via the management server 22. In this way, the terminal device side and the destination side can exchange messages by electronic mail without knowing each other's mail address.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the above configuration can be modified as follows, for example.

  The relay communication system described above can be used not only for remote maintenance work but also for various purposes.

  In the above embodiment, the case where an e-mail is transmitted from the worker Op1 who operates the work terminal 10 to the e-mail address of the customer-side clerk Ad1 has been described. The above configuration can also be applied to the case where the target terminal 14 is operated to send an e-mail to the mail address of the worker Op1. In this case, for example, the mail address of the worker Op1 and the identification name of the worker Op1 may be associated with each other and stored in the management server 22.

  In the customer information table illustrated in FIG. 5, the mail address of the person in charge is registered for each customer company, but this is not restrictive. For example, the mail address of the person in charge may be registered for each maintenance target terminal.

  In the above embodiment, the information for designating the maintenance target terminal is the destination designation information, but the destination designation information is not limited to this. For example, the customer company name may be designated as the destination designation information. In this case, for example, when it is desired to send an e-mail to the person in charge Ad1 of the customer company A, “customer company A” is designated and sent as the destination designation information. By referring to the stored contents (FIG. 5) of the customer information management unit 35 based on the name of the customer company designated in this way, the corresponding mail address can be acquired.

  In addition to this, for example, a job ID may be designated as the destination designation information. For example, when the worker Op1 wants to send an email to the person in charge Ad1 of the customer company A, the job ID of the job information related to the maintenance target terminal 14 of the customer company A (“JobA” in the case of FIG. 4) is Specify as destination specification information. The management server 22 can detect that “JobA” designated as the destination designation information is job information related to the maintenance target terminal 14 by referring to the stored contents (FIG. 4) of the job management unit 34. Therefore, the destination address acquisition unit 37 of the management server 22 can appropriately acquire the corresponding mail address.

  As described above, any information can be used as the destination designation information as long as the information can finally specify the destination mail address.

10 work terminal 18 relay server 22 management server 35 customer information management unit (destination address storage unit)
36 Message Receiving Unit 37 Destination Address Obtaining Unit 38 Mail Sending Unit 51 Message Receiving Unit 52 Message Transfer Unit

Claims (5)

A message receiving unit that receives a message to be transmitted as an e-mail, destination designation information that designates a destination of the message, from a terminal device under its control;
A message transfer unit that transfers the message and the destination designation information to a management server;
One or more relay servers comprising:
A destination address acquisition unit that acquires a mail address corresponding to a destination specified by the destination designation information transferred from the relay server;
A mail transmission unit that transmits an email including the message to the mail address acquired by the destination address acquisition unit;
The management server comprising:
A relay communication system comprising: The relay communication system according to claim 1,
The relay communication system, wherein the management server includes a destination address storage unit that stores a mail address in association with a destination specified by the destination designation information. The relay communication system according to claim 1 or 2,
The management server
A reply mail receiving unit that receives a reply e-mail to the sent mail sent by the mail sending unit;
A reply message sending unit that sends information including the text of the reply mail to a relay server under the control of the work terminal operated by the sender who created the text of the sent mail;
A relay communication system comprising: A message receiving unit that receives the message and the destination designation information from the relay server that has received the message to be transmitted as an e-mail and the destination designation information that designates the destination of the message;
A destination address acquisition unit that acquires an email address corresponding to a destination specified by the destination designation information;
A mail transmission unit that transmits an email including the message to the mail address acquired by the destination address acquisition unit;
A management server comprising: A communication destination designation information transmitting unit for transmitting communication destination designation information for designating a terminal device under a relay server other than itself as a communication destination to the terminal device under its own;
A message receiving unit that receives a message to be transmitted as an e-mail, destination designation information that designates the terminal device of the communication destination as a destination of the message, from the terminal device under its control;
A message transfer unit for transferring the message and the destination designation information to a management server holding a mail address corresponding to the destination specified by the destination designation information;
A relay server comprising:

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