JP3249770B2 - Mail transmission notification device and mail transmission notification method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mail transmission notifying apparatus and method for separately notifying a mail recipient that a mail has been transmitted from an information terminal, and more particularly to the versatility of the apparatus and reduction of the transmission cost of a mail transmission notification message. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many business information terminals that can be connected to a network, whether wired or wireless, have a mail system. In particular, with the rapid development of mobile computing in recent years, portable terminals that integrate telephone functions and personal organizers are also on the market, and mail can be sent from outside the office based on an address book or the like registered at any time. It can be carried out.

[0003] However, while it has become possible to send an e-mail at a desired time, it is not known whether or not an e-mail recipient will read the e-mail unlike a conversation by telephone or the like which can surely transmit a message. In particular, I want you to read emails that are important for your business, and read emails that require urgentness as soon as possible.

[0004] Therefore, conventionally, the provider has provided a service of once receiving the transmitted mail, transmitting the mail to the recipient side, and reporting to the mail recipient that the mail has been transmitted. By contracting with the provider, the mail transmission notification function was realized.

[0005]

As described above, in the related art, since the information terminal itself did not have the mail transmission notification function, the function was realized by using the service provided by the provider. .

Further, in order to realize the mail transmission notification function, the receiver side, not the sender side, has to make a contract with the provider. That is, the mail sender who wants to use the function has to subscribe to the mail receiver side.

[0007] Further, since a contract with the provider is required, a certain cost or more is incurred due to the contract or the like regardless of the frequency of use of the mail transmission notification function. In addition, since some providers do not provide such services, a contract with the provider may be required separately from the current subscriber of the mail receiver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mail which can notify a mail recipient that the mail has been transmitted to the information terminal which has transmitted the mail. A transmission notification device and a method thereof are provided.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a mail transmission notifying apparatus according to the present invention is mounted on an information terminal having a mail system for transmitting a mail to a destination designated by input. In the mail transmission notification device, message receiving device information in which a message receiving device owned by each individual that can be specified as a mail destination and a call number specified when transmitting a message to the message receiving device is registered. Personal information storage means,
That the mail is transmitted to the mail receiver by automatically transmitting a mail transmission notification message to the message receiving device owned by the mail receiver designated as the destination by referring to the personal information storage unit after transmitting the mail. Message transmission means for notification, message notification destination information input control means for selecting a destination of a mail transmission notification message from mail recipients specified as destinations, and group information in which a notification destination group to which each individual belongs is set. Storage means, the message transmission means,
The mail transmission notification message is transmitted only to the mail recipients belonging to the notification destination group specified as the message notification destination information by the message notification destination information input control means among the mail recipients specified as the destinations. .

[0010] A mail transmission notification method according to the present invention is an information terminal having a mail system for transmitting a mail to a destination specified by input, from among the mail recipients specified as destinations of the mail transmission notification message. A message notification destination designation step to be selected, a device identification step to identify a message reception device owned by the mail recipient designated by the message notification destination designation step, and a message reception device different from the designated destination; Automatically transmitting a mail transmission notification message to the message receiving device specified by the device specifying step, the message notification destination specifying step,
Based on the notification destination group specified separately from the destination, the mail recipient to be the destination of the mail transmission notification message is selected by searching the group information storage means in which the notification destination group to which each individual belongs is set. is there.

[0011]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a mail transmission notification device according to the present invention. The mail transmission notification device 1 according to the present embodiment is mounted on an information terminal 2. In the present embodiment, a mobile terminal having a telephone function and a notebook function is assumed as the information terminal 2. The notebook function is realized by installing an address book application and the like. The input / output unit 3
This is a means for starting and switching various loaded applications and referring to personal data, and includes an LCD panel forming an input / output screen, an input pen for touching the LCD panel, and the like. Mail system 4
Implements an e-mail function such as transmitting an e-mail to a destination specified by input on the e-mail transmission screen displayed on the input / output unit 3 and receiving the transmitted e-mail and storing it in a predetermined folder. The mail system 4 is realized by an application running on the CPU. The network communication unit 5 performs transmission and reception of mail exchanged with another information terminal via a public network and transmission of a mail transmission notification message generated by the mail transmission notification device 1. The network communication unit 5 has a built-in PHS (Personal Handyp) for realizing the telephone function.
and a communication application for controlling communication hardware. In the present embodiment, the above-described LC
The hardware and software of the conventional information terminal 2, such as a D panel, an input pen, an RF module, and a mail system, can be used as they are.

The mail transmission notification device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a personal information storage unit 6, a notification message storage unit 7, a message notification destination information input control unit 8, and a message transmission unit 9.
And a message resending control unit 10 for notifying that the mail has been sent to the mail recipient by automatically sending a mail sending notification message after sending the mail using means other than the mail system. In the present embodiment, by mounting the mail transmission notification device 1 on the information terminal 2, the information terminal itself can have a mail transmission notification function.

The personal information storage unit 6 stores message receiving device information in which a message receiving device owned by each individual is associated with a call number specified when transmitting a message to the message receiving device. . In addition, a mail address is registered in the personal information storage unit 6, and this mail address is designated as a destination of the outgoing mail. In addition, since the e-mail address is specified in the "address" field of the outgoing e-mail, the e-mail address is not strictly an individual (e-mail recipient) but an e-mail address owned by each individual or its e-mail address. It is considered that this means an information terminal (or a mailbox) to which an address is assigned. Since an e-mail address and each individual are usually associated with each other on a one-to-one basis, each individual is designated as a destination for convenience. I will. Personal data of each individual is registered in the personal information storage unit 6, and each individual specified as a destination is a mail recipient. The above-mentioned message receiving device is an information communication device owned by each individual (mail recipient) designated as the destination of the outgoing mail other than the information terminal receiving the mail, and is capable of transmitting a message other than the mail. A device that can receive data. For example, at present, a telephone that can receive a message by voice, a pager that can receive a message by text or the like, a mobile phone that can receive a message by voice or text, and a PHS correspond to the message receiving device.

FIG. 2 shows an example of personal data registered in the personal information storage unit 6. Each personal data includes a name, a mail address used as a mail destination, and a telephone (number), a pager (call number), a mobile phone (number), and a call number of each device representing the information communication device as message receiving device information. , The subscriber number is set. Also, each message receiving device information is added with an area `` device priority '' for registering message receiving device priority information, and if one person owns a plurality of message receiving devices, The message is transmitted to the message receiving device specified in accordance with the priority specified in the message receiving device priority information. Note that the personal information storage unit 6 in the present embodiment can use an address book application possessed by the notebook function of the information terminal 2. Therefore, an address not particularly used in the present embodiment is illustrated as one of the personal data. Further, the personal information storage unit 6 in the present embodiment is also provided as a group information storage unit, and a notification destination group to which each individual belongs is registered. Each individual can belong to multiple notification destination groups. Details of the notification destination group will be described later.

The message transmission unit 9 includes a personal information storage unit 6
And sends a mail transmission notification message to the message receiving device owned by the mail recipient designated as the destination. The message transmission unit 9 uses the function of the network communication unit 5 while using the function of the network communication unit 5.
Will send the message via
Do not use the mail transmission function.

A mail transmission notification message is registered in the notification message storage unit 7 as shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 shows a voice message to be transmitted to a telephone or the like, a text message to be transmitted to a pager, and a text message to be transmitted to a PHS with a short message function as an example of the mail transmission notification message. For example, when the mail receiver owns the mobile phone, the message transmitting unit 9 refers to the notification message storage unit 7 to notify the message with the voice message “Mail has been sent”. The messages are stored in a table in the notification message storage unit 7 so that they can be freely added or changed.

The message notification destination information input control unit 8 is means for selecting a destination of a mail transmission notification message from mail recipients designated as destinations. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a mail transmission screen according to the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, a notification destination field 11 for allowing a part of the display screen to specify a destination of a message is provided. To be selected from the selection candidates displayed in the list. In this selection candidate, group identification information to be used is displayed together with “all members” and “no notification”.

The message retransmission control unit 10 retransmits the mail transmission notification message to the message receiving device when the transmission of the mail transmission notification message to each message receiving device by the message transmission unit 9 is not completed normally. .

Next, a process for notifying a mail recipient of mail transmission in the present embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

First, it is assumed that mail transmission to a plurality of destinations specified and input by the mail sender has all been completed normally. At this time, the mail sender needs to further specify the notification destination information on the mail transmission screen. As described above, the notification destination information is information on the transmission destination of the mail transmission notification message selected from the destinations of the mail transmission screen. If "No notification" is selected as the notification destination information on the e-mail transmission screen,
The message transmitting unit 9 ends the processing without transmitting the mail transmission notification message to each individual designated as the destination (step 100). By preparing “no notification” as a selection candidate, for example, in the case of an email that does not require urgency, it is possible to prevent transmission of an email transmission notification message. If a candidate other than “no notification” is selected as the notification destination information, an email transmission notification message will be transmitted in the procedure described below.
Here, it is necessary to specify a message transmission target person (step 110). When "all" is selected as the notification destination information, a mail transmission notification message is transmitted to all mail recipients specified as destinations. When a notification destination group such as “A” is selected as the notification destination information, the mail recipients belonging to the notification destination group selected from the mail transmission screen among the mail recipients specified as the destinations are stored in personal information. The notification destination group set in the section 6 is selected by searching. In this way, the mail transmission is notified to all the specified persons (step 120).

The message transmitting section 9 refers to the personal data of the specified mail recipient and specifies a message receiving device that transmits a message to the mail recipient (step 130). In this case, the message receiving device having the highest priority is selected with reference to the “device priority” in the personal information storage unit 6. If each individual has only one message receiving device, the message receiving device to which the message is to be sent can be specified by the presence or absence of the setting of the call number area of the personal data,
Priority can now be set in consideration of cases where multiple message receiving devices are owned. In the present embodiment, it is possible to cope with a case where one individual has, for example, a plurality of pagers in a kitchen. If the mail receiver does not own the message receiving device, the message is not transmitted (step 140).

When the message transmitting unit 9 specifies the message receiving device, the message transmitting unit 9 acquires a mail transmission notification message corresponding to the message receiving device by referring to the notification message storage unit 7 and transmits the message to the message receiving device (step 150). ). For example, if the specified message receiving device is a pager, a pager message “mail message” is acquired. Then, the call number of the pager is acquired from the personal information storage unit 6, and a transmission command is generated according to a predetermined procedure to transmit the message. Although not described in detail because it is not the gist of the present invention, if information on the maker and model of the pager owned by the mail receiver is also registered, an appropriate transmission frame according to the model can be generated. . FIG. 6 shows an example of a procedure for transmitting a voice message when the message receiving device is a telephone.

If the message receiving device is a telephone, call setting is performed using the telephone number obtained from the personal information storage unit 6 (step 151), and a timer based on the number of calls is set (step 152). For example, when a call is received within eight times set as a timer, a voice message is transmitted (steps 153 and 154). In this embodiment, the voice message is repeatedly transmitted a predetermined number of times so that the receiver, that is, the mail receiver, can surely hear the message. On the other hand, if the call is not received within eight times due to absence or the like, the message transmission is not completed normally, and the notification incomplete flag is set (steps 153 and 155).

When the message receiving device is a PHS or a mobile phone, it is basically the same as a telephone, but it may be out of the service area or not in a receivable state due to a power switch OFF or the like. In such a case, the message incomplete flag is set because the message transmission is not completed normally.

When the message receiving device is a pager, PHS, or the like (in the case of transmitting a short message) or the like, it is basically the same as a mobile phone or the like. You do not need to send a message.

As described above, the notification incomplete flag is set for each mail recipient when the transmission of the message is not completed normally, so that the notification incomplete flag is set for each personal data in the personal information storage unit 6. Can be prepared inside. Of course, the notification incomplete flag may be set in an area provided separately.

In the case of a telephone or the like having a so-called answering machine function, a message may be recorded on the answering machine. In addition, if operation is taken into consideration, such as changing the tone of the ringing tone by setting the telephone set on the receiving side, it is possible to avoid calling charges.

If the transmission of the message has been completed normally, the target of the message transmission processing is moved to the next mail recipient (step 160). Then, when the message transmission processing for all the target persons is completed, the mail transmission notification processing ends (step 120).

On the other hand, if the transmission of the message to the mail recipient has not been completed normally, a retry timer is set for resending the message (step 17).
0). If it has already been set, it is not set again. When the time of the retry timer elapses, retransmission processing in the message retransmission control unit 10 is executed by interrupt processing. This message retransmission process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The message retransmission control unit 10 performs the following processing for all mail recipients for which the notification incomplete flag is set (step 201). First, the message retransmission control unit 10 retransmits the mail transmission notification message to the corresponding mail recipient (step 20).
2). In this case, the same processing as in step 150 described above may be performed. When the retransmission is completed normally, the notification incomplete flag set for the mail recipient is cleared (steps 203 and 204). If the retransmission is not completed normally, it is checked whether the retransmission process has been repeated a predetermined number of times or more, and if not, the count is incremented by 1 (steps 203 and 20).
5,206). Further, the retransmission process is repeated a predetermined number of times or more, and when retry is over, the retry over flag is set and the notification incomplete flag set for the mail recipient is cleared (step 20).
5,207). The processing here is performed based on the following purpose.

That is, in the present embodiment, the resending process of a message to a certain mail recipient is repeated a predetermined number of times, and if the message cannot be resent normally during that time, the resending process is terminated as a retry over. For this reason, the number of retries in the retransmission processing performed for each mail recipient is set in advance, and a retry counter is provided for each mail recipient, and if retransmission is not possible, 1 is added to the retry counter. I made it.
If the message retransmission is not completed successfully even after performing the predetermined number of retries, it is determined that the message cannot be transmitted, the retry over flag provided for each mail recipient is set, and the current message retransmission processing is performed. Has been cleared the notification incomplete flag so that it will not be repeated in the future. The number of retries, the retry counter, and the retry over flag used in this process are as follows:
What is necessary is just to hold | maintain in the appropriate area | region in an apparatus. If the retry counter and the retry over flag are provided for each mail recipient, the area may be secured in the personal information storage unit 6 as in the case of the notification destination group. Of course, the number of retries may also be set for each mail recipient. Alternatively, the number of retries can be set for each type of message receiving device.

After the retransmission process has been performed for all the subjects, it is next checked whether or not any of the subjects has the notification incomplete flag set (step 201,
208). As is clear from the above processing, the state in which the notification incomplete flag is kept set means that the retransmission of the message has not been completed normally and the number of retries has not been reached. Therefore, in this case, the message is retransmitted again, so that the retry timer is set again as in step 170 shown in FIG. 5 (steps 208 and 209). As a result, in the next interrupt processing, retransmission of the message is tried again. On the other hand, the notification incomplete flag is cleared when retransmission is completed normally and when retry over is reached. Which is cleared can be determined by referring to the state of the retry over flag. Therefore,
If the retry over flag is set, it means that the message could not be transmitted as a result, and a list of the message transmission non-delivery names is displayed (steps 210 and 211). If the retry over flag is not set, it means that retransmission of all the target persons has been completed normally, and the process is terminated as it is. When there are a plurality of persons to be subjected to the retransmission processing, there is a case where a person with the notification incomplete flag set and a person with the retry over flag set together, so that after the retry timer is set (step 209). Check the retry over flag (step 21)
0).

As described above, even when the transmission of the mail transmission notification message cannot be performed normally, the retransmission processing as described above can be performed to reliably notify the message that the mail has been transmitted. Even if a message cannot be transmitted as a result for some reason, the mail sender can be notified of the fact by displaying a list of message transmission non-delivery names. In the present embodiment, the message transmission process (step 1)
Although the mail recipients 50) which have not been completed normally are collectively retransmitted, a retry timer may be set for each mail recipient, an interrupt may be generated, and the message may be retransmitted.

As described above, by mounting the mail transmission notifying apparatus 1 of the present embodiment on the information terminal 2, each mail recipient who has specified the mail transmission notification message from the information terminal 2 itself that has transmitted the mail as the destination of the mail. Since it can be automatically sent to the Internet, it is no longer necessary to use the service provided by the provider. This eliminates the need for email recipients to contract with a specific provider,
No more than a certain amount of expenses due to contracts, etc., only the costs corresponding to the frequency of use are required.

Further, since there is no restriction on the provider, the mail sender can transmit the mail transmission notification message to anyone who has the message receiving device, and various mails can be sent without depending on the provider. Settings can be easily changed. In the above embodiment, some information such as group information is set in advance, but this case can be easily realized by providing means for updating the setting of various information.

Although the present embodiment has been described above, it can be applied to various other applications.

For example, the personal information storage unit 6 contains message receiving device priority order information.
By referring to this, even when one individual owns a plurality of message receiving devices, the message receiving device to which the message is to be transmitted can be specified. Normally, one priority is assigned to each order as 1, 2, 3,..., But if one of the highest rankings is assigned to a plurality of message receiving devices, it is assigned to one individual. On the other hand, a message can be transmitted to a plurality of message receiving devices. This allows
Even if any message receiving device owned by the mail recipient is in a state where reception is not possible, an e-mail transmission notification message can be sent to a message receiving device that is in a receivable state. Can be reliably notified.

In the method of use described in the above embodiment, the message receiving device priority order information may be provided as flag information. However, by setting the priority, the following application can be made.
That is, if the message cannot be sent successfully,
In the above description, the message is retransmitted to the message receiving device that could not be transmitted, but the message is transmitted according to the message receiving device priority information at the time of retransmitting the message or after repeating the message retransmission several times. The destination can be switched to another message receiving device.

Also, in the above description, the message notification destination can be selected from the mail recipients specified as destinations on the mail transmission screen. At this time, it is necessary to display the selection candidates in a list. However, in this embodiment, since the data for list display is not separately created, all the notification destination groups of the individual data in the personal information storage unit 6 are searched. Otherwise, the notification destination group included in the selection candidate cannot be displayed. Therefore, in the above description, the personal information storage unit 6 is used as the group information storage means.
However, it is also possible to provide a separate storage means and collectively register information about the notification destination group of each individual and information for display in the storage means.

In the above description, one and only one of the selection candidates displayed in the list is selected. However, a plurality of notification destination groups may be selected. Also,
As examples of the notification destination group, “A” and “B” are used.
Names such as “Sales Section 1”, “General Manager”, “Managers and above” can be freely set. In the present embodiment,
It is characterized by sending an e-mail notification message only to the e-mail recipients selected from among them, instead of always sending e-mail notification messages to all e-mail recipients specified as e-mail recipients. In the "Destination" column, various selection methods such as attaching a special symbol directly to the mail address are conceivable, but these various methods are also within the scope of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the destination of the mail transmission notification message can be specified separately, so that the message can be transmitted only to the mail recipient who needs truly urgency. In addition, communication costs can be reduced, and unnecessary device load can be reduced.

Although the transmission destination of the message is "destination", "CC (Carbon Copy)" may be added thereto.

In this embodiment, an example in which an RF module is built in to realize a telephone function as a communication means has been described.
Since the present invention can be applied to, for example, sending an e-mail via an AN and transmitting a message at an extension, it can be applied not only to a wireless line but also to a wired line, thereby being applicable to an intranet.

[0044]

According to the present invention, the information terminal that has transmitted the mail can automatically transmit the mail transmission notification message to the mail recipient specified as the destination of the mail, so that the service provided by the provider can be used. You no longer need to. For this reason, there is no need to make a contract with a specific provider, so that a certain amount of cost due to a contract or the like does not occur, and only a cost corresponding to the use frequency is generated. In addition, since there is no restriction on the provider, various settings can be easily changed without being aware of the provider.

Further, since the notification message storage means is provided, it is possible to set and register an appropriate mail transmission notification message according to the message receiving device.

Further, by adding the message receiving device priority information to the message receiving device information, even if the mail receiver owns a plurality of message receiving devices, the mail transmission notification message is transmitted to the appropriate message receiving device. can do.

Also, since the mail transmission notification message can be transmitted only to the mail recipients selected from the mail recipients specified as the mail destinations or those who belong to the notification destination group, it is truly necessary. Can notify only those who have sent the e-mail. Further, since the mail transmission notification message can be transmitted only to the desired mail recipient, communication costs can be reduced and unnecessary device load can be reduced.

Also, since the retransmission of the mail transmission notification message can be performed, the transmission of the mail transmission notification message can be more reliably performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a mail transmission notification device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of personal data registered in a personal information storage unit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of personal data registered in a notification message storage unit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a mail transmission screen according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a mail transmission notification process according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a mail transmission notification process when the message receiving device is a telephone according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a message retransmission process according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 mail transmission notification device, 2 information terminal, 3 input / output unit, 4 mail system, 5 network communication unit, 6
Personal information storage unit, 7 notification message storage unit, 8 message notification destination information input control unit, 9 message transmission unit, 10 message retransmission control unit, 11 notification destination field

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04L 12/58 G06F 13/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A mail transmission notifying apparatus mounted on an information terminal having a mail system for transmitting a mail to a destination specified by an input, comprising: a message receiving device owned by each individual that can be specified as a mail destination; A personal information storage unit in which message reception device information corresponding to a call number specified when transmitting a message to a reception device is registered; and a mail receiver specified as a destination by referring to the personal information storage unit Message transmission means for notifying that the mail has been transmitted to the mail recipient by automatically transmitting a mail transmission notification message to the message receiving device owned by the user after transmitting the mail, and designating a destination of the mail transmission notification message as a destination Message notification destination information input control means to select from selected mail recipients And a group information storage unit in which a notification destination group to which each individual belongs is set, wherein the message transmission unit transmits a message by the message notification destination information input control unit among the mail recipients designated as destinations. An e-mail transmission notification device that transmits an e-mail transmission notification message only to e-mail recipients belonging to a notification destination group specified as destination information. 2. An information terminal having a mail system for sending an e-mail to a destination specified by an input, a message notification destination specifying step for selecting a destination of a mail transmission notification message from mail recipients specified as the destination. A device specifying step for specifying a message receiving device owned by the mail receiver specified by the message notification destination specifying step and different from the specified destination; and after the mail transmission, the device specified by the device specifying step. Automatically transmitting a mail transmission notification message to a message receiving device, wherein the message notification destination specifying step sets a notification destination group to which each individual belongs based on a notification destination group specified separately from the destination. By searching the group information storage means, an e-mail Mail transmission notification method characterized by selecting a mail recipient to over-di destination.