JP5534152B2 - Mail system, terminal, and mail transmission method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mail system for a mobile terminal that transmits and receives mail via a mobile communication network, a terminal, and a mail transmission method.

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, mobile communication systems typified by mobile phones have an e-mail and short mail transmission / reception function. In addition, the service providing area of the mobile communication system has been expanded more and more.
However, there are still many areas where communication is impossible due to poor radio wave environment.
In addition, communication may be impossible in a predetermined area such as a base station failure or damage, a long power failure, or a communication network failure. Factors that cause the base station or the like to become unusable are diverse, such as disasters and program problems. There are also factors such as large-scale disasters that are likely to result in long-term inability to communicate. In addition, for example, a congestion problem may occur exceeding the number of simultaneous calls of the base station, such as an evacuation center at the time of a large-scale disaster, and an incommunicable state may occur for a long time.

  E-mail and short mail cannot be transmitted in the communication disabled area.

For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 describe techniques relating to transmission of electronic mail and short mail.
In Patent Document 1, if wireless communication is impossible, information (e-mail, short mail, etc.) that failed to be transmitted is accumulated, and automatically retransmitted when wireless communication becomes possible. A mobile phone is described. In addition, the mobile phone described in Patent Document 1 can select whether or not to use the retransmission function for each transmission.
Patent Document 2 describes a portable terminal having a retransmission function that allows a transmission standby period to be set and cancels retransmission if the communication environment does not recover before the set transmission standby period is exceeded.

JP 2001-077939 A JP 2004-248159 A

  The re-transmission technology such as e-mail described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 performs retransmission processing by restoring the communication environment of the mobile phone to an environment where communication is possible. In other words, electronic mail cannot be transmitted (retransmitted) while the communication environment is in a communication disabled state.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a better mail system and method capable of sending an e-mail or the like to a transmission partner even when the communication state of the mobile terminal continues. With the goal.

One aspect of a mail system according to the present invention includes a server that performs mail transmission / reception processing, a first communication unit based on a mobile communication standard that can be used for transmission of a mail having a desired content, and a communication different from the first communication unit. A first terminal having a second communication means that is a standard and having a mail transmission function; and a second terminal capable of communicating with the second communication means and capable of communicating with the server. The first terminal includes a shared mail transmission unit that transmits a shared mail including the contents of the mail created in the second terminal using the second communication unit, and the shared mail When communication with the server becomes possible using the first communication means after transmission of the shared mail by the transmission means, the second mail is sent to the second terminal without retransmitting the mail desired to be transmitted. The sent shared mail Is transmitted to the server using the first communication means, and the second terminal is provided with shared mail transfer means for transmitting the shared mail received from the shared mail transmitting means to the server. The shared mail is forwarded, and the server includes a mail transmitting means for identifying the received shared mail and transmitting the content desired to be transmitted by the first terminal to the destination of the mail, the first terminal and When the shared mail of the same content received at each timing from the second terminal is identified, the content of the mail is transmitted to the destination at the first reception, while it is transmitted to the destination at the time of the next reception of the shared mail. It is characterized by not.
Also, an aspect of the mail system according to the present invention includes a server that performs mail transmission / reception processing, a first communication unit based on a mobile communication standard that can be used for transmission of a mail having a desired content, and the first communication unit. A plurality of second terminals that are capable of communicating with the first communication terminal and the second communication means, and are capable of communicating with the server. And the first terminal includes a shared mail transmitting means for transmitting a shared mail including the contents of the mail created in the second terminal using the second communication means. In addition, a plurality of shared mails are created by dividing the contents of the mail so that the contents of the mail transmitted when the shared mail is transmitted are divided, and the plurality of shared mails are respectively set to different second terminals. Distributed to the The second terminals include a shared mail transfer unit that transmits the shared mail received from the shared mail transmission unit to the server, and transfers the received shared mail. The server receives the plurality of shared mails It is characterized by comprising mail transmitting means for identifying the mail and restoring the content desired to be transmitted by the first terminal, and then transmitting it to the mail destination.

One aspect of a mail transmission method in mobile communication according to the present invention is a first communication means based on a mobile communication standard that can be used for transmission of mail having a desired content, and a communication standard different from the first communication means. A first terminal having a second communication means and having a mail transmission function, and using the second communication means, the first terminal sends a shared mail including the contents of the mail created in the second terminal. The shared information transmitted to the second terminal without retransmitting the mail desired to be transmitted when the first communication means becomes communicable after transmitting the shared mail. The second terminal that transmits the mail to the server that performs mail transmission / reception processing using the first communication unit, is communicable with the second communication unit, and is communicable with the server. The shared mail The server identifies the shared mail of the same content received at the respective timings from the first terminal and the second terminal, and transmits the content of the mail to the destination at the first reception. On the other hand, when the shared mail is received after the next time, it is not transmitted to the destination.
Also, one aspect of a mail transmission method in mobile communication according to the present invention includes a first communication unit based on a mobile communication standard that can be used for transmitting a mail having a desired content, and a communication standard different from the first communication unit. The first terminal having the second communication means and having the mail transmission function includes the contents of the mail created in the plurality of second terminals using the second communication means. In order to provide confidentiality to the mail content to be transmitted when the shared mail is transmitted, a plurality of shared mails are created by dividing the content of the mail, and the plurality of shared mails are respectively sent to different second terminals. Each of the second second terminals that can communicate with a server that distributes and transmits the mail and performs mail transmission / reception processing transfers the received shared mail to the server, and the server receives the plurality of shares received. Identify the email The content desired to be transmitted by the first terminal is restored and then transmitted to the destination of the mail.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a better mail system and method capable of sending an electronic mail or the like to a transmission partner even when the communication state of the mobile terminal continues.

It is explanatory drawing which showed roughly the flow of the communication regarding the mail in the mail system of embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the portable terminal 100 in embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the portable terminal 200 in embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the server 400 in embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of communication of this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the schematic structure of the mobile communication system of an Example. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the mobile communication system of an Example. It is explanatory drawing which showed roughly the flow of the communication regarding the shared mail in a mobile communication system.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, about description of the part with little relation with this invention, description is simplified or abbreviate | omitted. Further, in the following description, it will be described as mail including electronic mail and short mail.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a flow of communication related to mail in the mail system of the embodiment. In FIG. 1, a portable terminal 100 is an information processing terminal that has a mail transmission function and is a transmission source that transmits a mail having a desired content to a desired destination (address).
The portable terminal 200 is an information processing terminal that can communicate with the portable terminal 100 using the second communication standard described later and can communicate with the server 400 that performs mail transmission / reception processing.

Base station 300 is a base station belonging to an existing mobile communication network, and can communicate with each terminal based on a mobile communication system. Note that the description of the communication processing of the exchanges and gateways belonging to the core network is omitted.
The server 400 is a server that functions as a mail server for the mobile terminal 100.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the mobile terminal 100 according to the embodiment.
The mobile terminal 100 includes a communication unit 120 (first communication unit) that performs communication based on the mobile communication standard (first communication standard), that is, communication via the base station 300, with the control unit 110 that performs arithmetic processing and control. ) And a second communication unit 130 (second communication means) that communicates with other terminals using a communication standard (second communication standard) different from the mobile communication standard.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the mobile terminal 200 according to the embodiment.
The portable terminal 200 includes a control unit 210 that performs arithmetic processing and control, communication based on a mobile communication standard (first communication standard), that is, a communication unit 220 that performs communication via the base station 300 , and a mobile communication standard. A second communication unit 230 that communicates with other terminals using a different communication standard (second communication standard). The second communication unit 230 is a communication unit that performs communication of the same communication standard as the second communication unit 130 of the mobile terminal 100.
The mobile terminal 200 includes an input unit 240 such as a keypad and an output unit 250 such as a display screen, and operates the control unit 210 as various units based on a program recorded in the storage unit 260.
In addition, the mobile terminal 200 includes a shared mail transfer unit that transmits (transfers) the shared mail received from the mobile terminal 100 to the server 400.
The above means may record an application program for performing the above operation in the storage unit 260 and cause the control unit 110 to operate at a predetermined timing, or may be integrated with the program constituting the mail function of the terminal. It is also possible to operate the control unit 210 by inserting it.
Note that description of general processing operations related to the mobile terminal 200 is omitted.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the server 400 according to the embodiment.
The server 400 includes a control unit, a ROM, a RAM, an input unit, an output unit, a network interface, and an auxiliary storage device 410 connected by a bus.
The auxiliary storage device 410 stores various programs and data such as an operating system, a mail server program, a shared mail identification program 411 that causes the control unit to function as various means, a mail proxy transmission program 412, and a shared mail database 413. Used as needed.
When the shared mail is received from the mobile terminal 200, the server 400 includes a mail transmission unit that identifies the received mail and transmits the content that the mobile terminal 100 desires to transmit to the mail destination. The mail transmission means includes shared mail identification means that functions based on the shared mail identification program 411 and proxy mail transmission means that transmits mail from the shared mail data to the destination that functions based on the mail proxy transmission program 412. The shared mail database 413 is a database that centrally manages received shared mail, and manages the history of received shared mail and transmitted mail.

Here, the mail destination indicates a mail destination that the mobile terminal 100 desires to transmit. For example, a mail server determined based on an e-mail address (domain: IP address) input by the mobile terminal 100 or a destination terminal if the input e-mail address is an address managed by itself.
The mail destination is determined by the type of mail to be applied, and is not limited to the example of the e-mail.
The server 400 may be functionally added to an existing mail server, or may be provided as another server.

With the above configuration, the mail system according to the present embodiment operates as shown in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing a communication flow of the present embodiment.
The control unit 110 of the portable terminal 100 detects that a desired mail cannot be transmitted using the communication unit 120 (step S01).
The mobile terminal 100 operates the shared mail transmission unit, creates a shared mail including the content and destination of the mail desired to be transmitted, and uses the second communication unit 130 to be able to communicate in the vicinity of the mobile terminal The created shared mail is transmitted to 200 (step S02).
The mobile terminal 200 receives the shared mail from the mobile terminal 100, operates the shared mail transfer means, and transmits it to the server 400 using the mobile communication unit 220 (step S03). At this time, if the shared mail transfer means is out of the mobile communication area, it waits for transmission, and after detecting movement within the mobile communication area, transmits the shared mail to the server 400 .
The server 400 identifies the received shared mail using the mail transmission means, and transmits the content desired to be transmitted by the portable terminal 100 to the mail destination (step S04).

  By operating in this way, the mail system according to the present embodiment can send an e-mail or the like to a transmission partner even if the portable terminal 100 cannot be connected to the mobile communication network.

Next, a mail system according to the second embodiment will be described. In the second embodiment, the mail system of the first embodiment is provided with various functions.
In the second embodiment, the shared mail transmission unit of the mobile terminal 100 resends the mail desired to be transmitted when the communication mail can be communicated with the server 400 using the communication unit 120 after transmitting the shared mail. Without using the communication unit 120, the shared mail transmitted to the mobile terminal 200 is transmitted to the server 400.
This is to transmit a created shared mail without retransmitting the mail that could not be sent as it is, as in the retransmission technique described in Patent Document 1. At this time, the shared mail to be sent is attached with information capable of identifying that it is a shared mail transmitted from the creator of the shared mail.

The shared mail identifying means of the server 400 identifies whether the received shared mail is sent from the creator (mobile terminal 100) or the shared destination (mobile terminal 200), and is shared Record in the mail database 413.
The mail proxy transmission means of the server 400 refers to the shared mail database 413 when receiving the shared mail and transmitting the mail to the destination, and when the received shared mail is the shared mail from the creator, Notify the creator of the email transmission results (such as the email transmission time and the time taken from the creation of the shared email to the email transmission). The notification may be in the form of an e-mail or may be notified using a technique for notifying the terminal that mail has arrived at the server.

  The mail proxy transmission means of the server 400 refers to the shared mail database 413 when receiving the shared mail and transmitting the mail to the destination, and the received shared mail is the same as the previously received shared mail. In such a case, no mail is sent when the shared mail is received. The server 400 identifies the shared mail having the same content received from the mobile terminal 100 and the mobile terminal 200 at the respective timings, and sends the content desired to be transmitted by the mobile terminal 100 only at the first (first time) reception to the mail destination. Send to.

In the above description, the form in which the shared mail is transmitted to one mobile terminal 200 has been described. However, a plurality of mobile terminals 200, that is, the same shared mail may be transmitted through many routes. In this way, the arrival rate of the shared mail to the server 400 is improved. Further, the shared mail may be transmitted from the mobile terminal 200 to another mobile terminal 200.
In other words, the control unit 110 of the mobile terminal 100 may transmit the same shared mail to a plurality of mobile terminals when the shared mail transmitting unit transmits the shared mail to the mobile terminal. In addition, means for limiting the maximum number of sharing destinations to which the shared mail is transmitted may be provided. Similarly, there may be provided means for limiting the number of transfers and the valid time of the sharing destination for transmitting the shared mail.

  Moreover, it is desirable that the control unit 110 of the mobile terminal 100 negotiates the shared mail with the mobile terminal 200 that is the transmission destination before the shared mail is transmitted. That is, information such as whether or not the mobile terminal 200 can accept the shared mail, various setting states, and if necessary, the mobile communication network to be used, the packet communication status, the current position, and the location status of the mobile communication network Confirm. The location status with respect to the mobile communication network is the current location status and the rate of being in the mobile communication network within a predetermined period in the past.

  It is desirable for each user to set in advance settings related to mail sharing of the mobile terminal 100 and the mobile terminal 200 via an application or the like. In addition, you may provide the means to set whenever a shared mail is implemented. This may be done depending on whether or not the user himself / herself wants to recognize whether or not to use the shared mail when transmitting the mail. The mobile terminal 200 that receives the shared mail may also be provided with a means for setting whether or not to accept the shared mail after receiving a notification from the mobile terminal 100 that the shared mail is to be sent.

  In addition, when the mobile terminal 100 transmits the shared mail to the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal 100 transmits the shared mail to the mobile terminal that is within the communicable range of the second communication unit 130 and does not generate a price associated with the transmission of the shared mail. May be transmitted preferentially. This is because when performing inter-terminal communication for sharing a shared mail, the user of the second portable terminal sets whether or not his / her terminal is a terminal with no communication packet restriction. The setting may be identified by the mobile terminal 100. Alternatively, after performing a certain amount of packet communication, the mobile terminal 200 may identify that the charge has become a fixed amount, and may automatically set or notify the mobile terminal 100 of it.

  In addition, when transmitting the shared mail to the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal 100 preferentially transmits the shared mail to the mobile terminal that is within the communicable range of the second communication unit 130 and is located in a remote place. You may make it do. In this way, since the portable terminal that transmits the shared mail is physically moved to a remote place, the possibility of being able to connect to the mobile communication network is improved. Whether or not it exists in a remote place is calculated from position information of the own terminal and the partner terminal. Further, a mobile terminal that can communicate and has a weak radio wave intensity may be selected from the communication radio wave intensity between the second communication units. Alternatively, a remote terminal may be obtained from the radio field strength of the three terminals by performing mutual communication with a third mobile terminal having the same setting.

  In addition, when the mobile terminal 100 transmits a shared mail to the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal 100 is shared with a mobile terminal that is within a communicable range of the second communication unit 130 and uses a base station of another carrier (operator). You may make it send an email preferentially. In this way, even if the mobile terminal that sends the shared mail exists in almost the same location as the mobile terminal that is the transmission source, there is a possibility that the mobile terminal is in the mobile communication network of another carrier, The possibility that mail can be transmitted to the server 400 is improved. As for the selection of another carrier, when transmitting a plurality of shared mails, different carriers may be selected. For example, a portable terminal using the communication network of company A of the 3G mobile communication standard sends a shared mail to each of the portable terminals using the 2G network of company A, the 3G network of company B, and the PHS network of company C. To do.

In addition, when transmitting the shared mail to the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal 100 sends the shared mail to the mobile terminal that is within the communicable area of the second communication unit 130 and has a good location in the mobile communication network. You may make it transmit preferentially. In this way, the probability that the shared mail can be notified to the server 400 is improved.

  Further, it is desirable that the content of the shared mail cannot be identified from the mobile terminal of the sharing destination. Therefore, the content of the mail is encrypted in the mobile terminal 100 and converted into a shared mail, and the shared mail in which the content of the mail is encrypted is transmitted to the destination mobile terminal. When the server 400 identifies the received shared mail, the server 400 decrypts the content desired to be transmitted by the mobile terminal 100 and transmits it to the mail destination.

  In addition, the mobile terminal 100 may divide an email that is desired to be transmitted so as to have confidentiality, create a plurality of shared emails, and distribute and send them to different second terminals. The server 400 identifies the received plurality of shared mails, restores the content desired to be transmitted by the mobile terminal 100, and transmits the contents to the mail destination. At this time, the mail is not transmitted until all the divided contents are obtained. The received shared mail is recorded and managed in the shared mail database 413 of the server. Further, the divided shared mail including the same content may be allocated to a plurality of mobile terminals. For example, if the content of the mail is divided into three, three types of the same shared mail are sent to three mobile terminals each, and a total of nine types of shared mail are received from each mobile terminal on the server side. At that time, the mail is restored and sent to the destination.

  Further, as a means for transmitting a shared mail from the mobile terminal 100 to the mobile terminal 200, the mail may be manually shared using an IrDA or Felica function. This is effective when the mobile terminal 100 cannot automatically detect a communication partner or when depositing a shared mail to a desired partner. Even when a wireless LAN or Bluetooth is used, it is desirable to have a means for sharing a shared mail for manually communicating between terminals.

  Further, it is desirable that the portable terminal that is the sharing destination of the shared mail deletes the shared mail when the shared mail is transmitted to the server 400. Similarly, it is desirable that the mobile terminal to which the shared mail is shared deletes this mail after holding the shared mail for a predetermined time. By doing in this way, the confidentiality as a mail system can be improved.

  When many mobile terminals use shared mail, communication concentration occurs, for example, when a malfunctioning base station returns or when a subway vehicle arrives at the home (entrance into the base station area). To do. For this, it is required to take measures against congestion.

  As a countermeasure against congestion of this mail system, the mobile terminal 200 detects that communication with the mobile terminal 100 is impossible after sending the shared mail to the server 400 after receiving the shared mail. If there is, the shared mail is transmitted to the server 400. By doing in this way, while the portable terminal 200 is located at substantially the same position as the portable terminal 100 that is the transmission source, the shared mail is not transmitted from the portable terminal 200, so that congestion is unlikely to occur.

  Further, when a plurality of shared mails are transmitted from the mobile terminal 100 to the mobile terminal 200, intermittent transmission of the shared mail is also effective as a congestion countermeasure.

  In the above description, the mobile terminal 100 and the mobile terminal 200 have been described separately. However, it is desirable that the mobile terminal 100 and the mobile terminal 200 have both functions and can be shared mail destinations.

Next, in order to describe the present invention, a part of the above embodiment is extracted and described in detail as an example.
The mobile communication system according to the embodiment includes a mobile terminal 1000 that is a mail creation source, a mobile terminal 2000 that is a mail sharing destination, a base station 3000 and a server 4000 of the mobile communication system. Each component of this system is shown in FIG. The schematic configuration shown in FIG. 6 is obtained by extracting a part of the means of the above embodiment.
In the following, the portable terminal 1000 fails to send mail between portable terminals that can perform settings related to the shared mail, and transmits the shared mail to the server 4000 via the portable terminal 2000, so that the radio wave environment of the portable terminal 1000 is improved. After that, an example of an operation for transmitting a shared mail and complementing the mail transmission history will be described.

<Mobile terminal 1000: Transmission failure mail creation source>
Terminal-base station communication unit 1001: Performs wireless communication with the base station 3000.
Inter-terminal communication unit 1002: Performs wireless communication between terminals such as a wireless LAN and bluetooth.
Mail function unit 1003: At least creation and storage of mail and confirmation of mail status (sent, failed to send, shared) can be performed.
Communication environment identification unit 1004: It is possible to confirm whether or not the environment is such that communication is possible via the terminal / base station communication unit 1001.
Transmission failure mail sharing setting unit 1005: Sets whether to send a mail whose transmission has failed as a shared mail. It also sets the number of shared mails to be sent and the lifetime (survival time).
Shared information attachment unit 1006: When sharing a transmission failure mail, the terminal that created this mail attaches information for identifying that this mail is a shared mail.
Mail ID attachment unit 1007: When sharing a transmission failure mail, the terminal that created this mail attaches a mail ID to this mail. The ID may be any type of information as long as the mail can be uniquely identified. The server 4000 may use existing information instead of attaching a new identification code like a mail ID. For example, the sending time of the original mail, the sending time of the first shared mail from the mobile terminal 1000, the mobile terminal ID, the sending mail address, the sending mail address, or a combination of these may be used.
Mail creator information attachment unit 1008: When sharing a transmission failure mail, the terminal that created this mail attaches information for recognizing that it is the mail creator to this mail.
Shared mail transmission unit 1009: Sends a shared mail when it recognizes that it is a communicable environment while holding the shared mail. If the number of shared mail transmissions is 1, the same shared mail is not transmitted many times when the shared mail is successfully transmitted to any one of the mobile terminals. On the other hand, if the number of shared mails to be transmitted is plural, the same shared mail is transmitted up to the set number.
-Transmission notification confirmation unit 1010: When receiving information including the shared mail sending status from the server 4000, it notifies the mail function of the status change of the shared mail. That is, the state (result) of the mail presented to the user is changed from the transmission failure state to the sent state, and the time when the mail is sent is also displayed. Note that sharing may be displayed instead of displaying transmission failure.
Encrypting unit 1011: Encrypts the contents (address and mail text) of the transmission failure mail.

<Mobile terminal 2000: Transmission failure mail sharing destination>
Terminal-base station communication unit 2001: Performs wireless communication between the base station and the terminal.
Inter-terminal communication unit 2002: Communicates between terminals via a wireless LAN, bluetooth, or the like.
Communication environment identification unit 2003: Checks whether the environment is communicable via the terminal-base station communication unit 2001.
Transmission failure mail sharing acceptance setting unit 2004: Sets whether or not to recognize the own terminal as a sharing destination of mail that has failed to be transmitted. Moreover, you may make it set the approximate distance which receives a shared mail using the 2nd radio | wireless part with the said setting. This is used for the detection of a terminal existing in a remote place with the portable terminal 1000 together with the adjustment of the output power of the second wireless unit and the like. For example, a terminal using Bluetooth can have a maximum transmission distance of several tens of meters depending on the standard. In addition, the maximum transmission distance of the wireless LAN is a few tens of meters. On the other hand, it is not necessary for the receiving side of the shared mail to adopt the maximum distance, as long as a desired distance can be set. In addition, with this setting, the mobile terminal 1000 can detect a mobile terminal far from its own terminal by searching for the destination of the shared mail while adjusting the communicable distance.

Shared mail storage unit 2005: Stores data of shared mail. Even the owner of the mobile terminal 2000 cannot view the contents of the shared mail received and stored from other mobile terminals.
Mail share destination information attachment unit 2006: attaches information for identifying that the share mail is a share destination to the share mail. It should be noted that the information can be performed in either way because the same effect can be achieved regardless of whether the creation source is attached to the shared mail or the shared destination.

Shared mail transmission unit 2007: When the shared mail is held and it is recognized that the environment is communicable, the shared mail is transmitted. Note that the same shared mail is not transmitted many times when the shared mail is successfully transmitted based on various settings.

<Base station 3000>
Terminal-base station communication unit 3001: Performs wireless communication between the base station and the mobile terminal.
Base station / server communication unit 3002: performs communication between the base station and the server.

<Server 4000>
Base station / server communication unit 4001: Communicates between a base station and a server.
Shared information identification unit 4002: identifies whether the received mail is a shared mail.
Search / registration unit 4003: Searches for information including a mail ID registered in the database and registers information including an unregistered mail ID.
Database storage unit 4004: Stores at least the mail ID and transmission time information of the received shared mail. Further, the received time may be stored for all of the plurality of shared mails. Also, how many times the same shared mail is received may be registered.

Shared mail filtering unit 4005: Determines whether or not to send the shared mail to the destination depending on whether or not the database of the mail ID of the received shared mail is registered.
Creation source identification unit 4006: It identifies whether the sender of the received shared mail is the shared mail creation source or the sharing destination.
Transmission notification unit 4007: Notifies the mail creator of the time when the shared mail was sent.
Decryption unit 4008: Decrypts the shared mail that has been encrypted.

The operation and flow of the embodiment are shown in FIG.
1. The user of the portable terminals 100 and 200 sets whether to share mail between terminals when mail transmission fails. In addition, it is set whether or not to accept the mail whose transmission has failed as an accepting destination for sharing (steps S101 and S201).
2. The server 400 holds and manages the mail ID of the shared mail sent from the mobile terminal and the time when the shared mail is transmitted as a database.
3. In the case where the mobile terminal 100 fails to send mail, the mobile terminal 100 checks whether the mail that has failed to be sent is set as a shared mail, and there is a mobile terminal that can communicate between terminals via the second communication unit. Is searched (steps S102 and S103). At this time, the mobile terminals that transmit the shared mail are ranked based on the number of shared mails to be transmitted and the priority setting of the transmission destination.
4). The portable terminal 200 replies to the portable terminal 100 that has inquired about the shared mail setting by inter-terminal communication whether or not it has accepted the acceptance of the shared mail and other setting information (S202).
5. When the mobile terminal 100 determines the mail sharing destination mobile terminal 200, the server 400 sends the mail that failed to be transmitted to the server 400 to identify the shared mail as the shared mail, and the server 400 sends each mail to the destination. A shared mail is created by attaching information (mail ID) for identifying whether or not it is completed (step S104). In addition, when encrypting the mail to be transmitted, at this time, the address and contents of the mail that failed to be transmitted are encrypted by a method that can be decrypted only by the server 400, and various information is obtained for the encrypted data. Create a shared email by attaching.
6). The portable terminal 100 sends the shared mail to the sharing destination portable terminal 200 using the second communication means (step S105).
7). The mobile terminal 100 attaches information for identifying that it is a shared mail creation source to the shared mail, and stores the shared mail (step S106).
8). When the shared mail sharing destination mobile terminal 200 receives the shared mail from the mobile terminal 100 via the second communication means, the shared mail is attached to the shared mail with information for identifying that it is the shared destination. Save (step S203).
9. When the mobile terminal 200 that is the shared mail sharing destination detects an environment in which communication between the terminal and the base station using the mobile communication method is possible, the mobile terminal 200 transmits a shared mail to the server 400 (steps S204 and S205).
10. When the mobile terminal 100 that is the shared mail sharing source detects that communication using the mobile communication method is possible, for example, by moving to an environment where communication between the terminal and the base station is possible, the shared mail is sent to the server 400. It transmits to (step S107, S108).
11. When the server 400 receives the mail, the server 400 determines whether the received mail is a shared mail (step S402).
12 When the server 400 identifies that the mail is a shared mail, the server 400 searches whether the mail ID included in the shared mail is registered in the database storage unit. If the target mail ID does not exist in the database, the mail ID and the shared mail are registered in the database together with time information indicating the time when the mobile terminal 200 transmitted the shared mail (step S403). Note that the time when the mobile terminal 100 transmits the shared mail to the mobile terminal 200 may be included in the stored information in the database. Further, when the mail included in the shared mail that has failed to be transmitted is encrypted, decryption processing is performed at this point.
13. If the mail ID does not exist in the database, the server 400 restores the shared mail to the form of the original mail that failed to be transmitted, and sends the restored mail to the destination. When the corresponding mail ID exists in the database, the mail is not sent from the server 400 (step S404). Note that the case where the corresponding mail ID exists in the database indicates that the same mail is first sent to the destination through any route. In addition, even if the mail form is modified so that the recipient of the mail can know that the shared mail has been sent from the server 400 via the shared mail mechanism without restoring the original form of the mail that failed to be sent. good. Also, if it is within a predetermined time from the sending time, it will be in the form of a normal mail, and only when the delay time exceeds the predetermined time, notify the recipient that the mail is sent via the shared mail mechanism Anyway.
14 The server 400 determines whether the shared mail sending source is the shared mail creation source or the sharing destination (step S405).
15. If the server 400 identifies that the shared mail sender is the creator of the shared mail, the server 400 sends the time information corresponding to the mail ID of the database registered on the server to the shared mail sender (mobile terminal 1000). Notification is made (step S406).
16. The shared mail creation source mobile terminal 100 acquires the time when the mail is sent to the destination from the time information notified from the server 400, and corrects the stored transmission history to “sent”.
By constructing a mobile communication system in this way, for example, in a state where it is desired to send an e-mail with a mobile phone, an e-mail is sent in a place where the communication state is poor and there is some traffic. Those who want to send e-mails without having to move to a communicable environment.
In other words, even if you want to send an email in an environment where the communication status is poor, you can create an email by moving the email to an environment where you can communicate with a mobile device that moves back and forth and where the shared device can communicate. The person can deliver the mail to the transmission destination while staying in an environment where the communication condition is poor.
This effect is particularly excellent in that the mail can be sent to the other party even if the mobile terminal that wants to send the mail stays in an environment where the communication state is poor.

In another example, if the communication environment is poor, such as a disaster evacuation site, or if you want to send an e-mail when the communication environment is poor, each user must move to a location where they can communicate. It becomes possible for one person to take e-mail on behalf of the person, move to a place with good communication environment, and send e-mail for all.
In other words, by sharing the emails of multiple people in the disaster-stricken areas that cannot be sent by email, the emails shared in the disaster-stricken area can be transferred to an environment where one person with physical fitness can communicate with them alone. Can all be sent.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram schematically illustrating the flow of shared mail in a mobile communication system according to another embodiment.
When the mobile terminal that is the mail transmission source detects that it cannot connect to the mobile communication network, it acquires the preset number of shared mail transmissions and can share using the second communication means. Detect the candidate mobile terminal that is the destination. As shown in FIG. 8, when there are a large number of candidates, ranking is performed based on the setting from among the candidates, and the shared mail is transmitted until the set number of shared mails is reached.
In addition, when there are a plurality of second communication means, the mobile terminal serving as the transmission source can select which one to use based on the power saving setting of the own terminal, and can communicate with the selected second communication means. A shared mail is transmitted to a certain second terminal. For example, a terminal equipped with a wireless LAN and Bluetooth uses Bluetooth first to transmit a shared mail, and then uses the wireless LAN to transmit the shared mail.
In addition, the mobile terminal that is the transmission source selects the second communication means and the number of shared mails to be transmitted based on the reachability setting of the shared mail to the server, and transmits the shared mail based on the selection. You may do it. At this time, it communicates with a terminal serving as a mail sharing destination, and uses information such as a location status and a carrier used.
In FIG. 8, based on the settings, a shared mail is transmitted to five sharing destination terminals. In addition, one of the five devices selects a mobile terminal of another carrier. Moreover, communication is possible, and a terminal in a remote place is preferentially selected.
The mobile terminal that has accepted the shared mail transmits the shared mail to the server at each timing.
The server identifies the same shared mail that is sequentially received, and at the time of the first reception, transmits the mail having the content desired to be transmitted to the mail destination. Also, when a shared mail is received from a portable terminal that is a mail transmission source, a transmission notification is returned, and the time when the mail that was desired to be transmitted is transmitted.

  As described above, the mail system to which the present invention is applied can provide a mail system and method capable of sending an electronic mail or the like to a transmission partner even when the communication state of the mobile terminal continues.

  In addition, the specific configuration of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and examples, and modifications within a range not departing from the gist of the present invention are included in the present invention.

  The present invention can be applied to a mobile communication system having a mail function. Further, even between terminals having different mobile communication systems, a common communication system can be used as a shared mail sharing destination.

100 mobile terminal 110 control unit 120 communication unit 130 second communication unit 140 input unit 150 output unit 160 storage unit 200 mobile terminal 210 control unit 220 communication unit 230 second communication unit 240 input unit 250 output unit 260 storage unit 300 base Station 400 Server 410 Auxiliary storage device 411 Shared mail identification program 412 Mail proxy transmission program 413 Shared mail database 1000 Portable terminal 1001 Terminal-base station communication section 1002 Terminal communication section 1003 Mail function section 1004 Communication environment identification section 1005 Transmission failure mail Share setting unit 1006 Shared information attachment unit 1007 Mail ID attachment unit 1008 Mail creation source information attachment unit 1009 Shared mail transmission unit 1010 Transmission notification confirmation unit 1011 Encryption unit 2000 Mobile terminal 2001 Terminal-base station communication unit 2002 Terminal Communication unit 2003 Communication environment identification unit 2004 Transmission failure mail sharing acceptance setting unit 2005 Shared mail storage unit 2006 Mail sharing destination information attachment unit 2007 Shared mail transmission unit 3000 Base station 3001 Terminal-base station communication unit 3002 Between base station and server Communication unit 4000 Server 4001 Base station / server communication unit 4002 Shared information identification unit 4003 Search / registration unit 4004 Database storage unit 4005 Shared mail filtering unit 4006 Creation source identification unit 4007 Transmission notification unit 4008 Decoding unit

Claims (30)

Comprising a server for e-mail transmission and reception processing, and the second communication means is a first communication means and said first communication means with different communication standards based on mobile communication standard that can be used to send mail desired content A first terminal having a mail transmission function and a second terminal capable of communicating with the second communication means and capable of communicating with the server,
The first terminal includes a shared mail transmitting unit that transmits a shared mail including the content of the mail created in the second terminal using the second communication unit, and the shared mail transmitting unit When communication with the server becomes possible using the first communication means after transmission of the shared mail by the server, the mail desired to be transmitted is transmitted to the second terminal without being retransmitted. Sending the shared mail to the server using the first communication means;
The second terminal includes a shared mail transfer unit that transmits the shared mail received from the shared mail transmission unit to the server, and transfers the received shared mail.
The server includes a mail transmission unit that identifies the received shared mail and transmits the content desired to be transmitted by the first terminal to the destination of the mail , from the first terminal and the second terminal. When a shared mail with the same content received at each timing is identified, the content of the mail is transmitted to the destination at the first reception, but is not transmitted to the destination at the next reception of the shared mail. A mail system in mobile communications characterized by A server that performs transmission / reception processing of mail, first communication means based on a mobile communication standard that can be used for transmission of mail of desired contents, and second communication means that is a communication standard different from the first communication means A first terminal having a mail transmission function, and a plurality of second terminals capable of communicating with the second communication means and capable of communicating with the server,
The first terminal includes a shared mail transmitting unit that transmits a shared mail including the contents of the mail created in the second terminal using the second communication unit, and transmits the shared mail. In order to give confidentiality to the mail contents to be transmitted, a plurality of shared mails are created by dividing the mail contents, and the plurality of shared mails are distributed to different second terminals and transmitted. ,
The plurality of second terminals include shared mail transfer means for transmitting the shared mail received from the shared mail transmission means to the server, and transfers the received shared mail.
The server includes a mail transmission unit that identifies the plurality of shared mails received, restores the content desired to be transmitted by the first terminal, and transmits the mail to a destination of the mail.
A mail system in mobile communication characterized by the above. The first terminal uses the second communication unit to detect the first communication unit when the first terminal detects that the mail cannot be transmitted by attempting to transmit the desired mail. The mail system according to claim 1, wherein the process shifts to a process of attempting to transmit a shared mail including the contents of the mail in the terminal of 2. From the first terminal, the server determines whether the mode of the email to be sent to the destination of the email is recognizable that a shared email mechanism is used or the normal email mode. The mail according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the mail is classified based on a delay time obtained from a time when the mail is transmitted and a time when the contents of the mail can be transmitted to a destination. system. The server, when receiving the shared mail from the first terminal, according to claim 1, the transmission result at the time of sending the contents of the mail to the destination, and notifies to the first terminal Thru | or 4. The mail system as described in any one of 4. The first terminal, when transmitting the shared mail to the second terminal, accompanied physician of the second to send the shared mail in the second communication possible within the plurality of the second terminal in the communication means 6. The mail system according to claim 1 , wherein the user of the terminal transmits the shared mail preferentially to the second terminal for which no payment is made. When the first terminal transmits the shared mail to the second terminal, it can be determined that the first terminal is located in a more distant place within the plurality of second terminals within the communicable range of the second communication means . The mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein the shared mail is transmitted preferentially to the second terminal. When the first terminal transmits a shared mail to a plurality of second terminals, the second terminal that is within the communicable range of the second communication means and uses a base station of another carrier has priority. The mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a shared mail having the same content is transmitted. When the first terminal transmits a shared mail to the second terminal, the first terminal within a plurality of second terminals within the communicable range of the second communication means within a past predetermined period with respect to the mobile communication network preferentially relative better the second terminal in the visited probability, the mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that transmitting the shared mail. When the first terminal transmits a shared mail to the second terminal, the server transmits the contents of the mail desired to be transmitted contained in the shared mail after being encrypted so that the server can decrypt it,
10. The server according to claim 1, wherein the server identifies the received shared mail, decrypts the content desired to be transmitted by the first terminal, and transmits the decrypted content to the destination of the mail. The mail system described in. The mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the second terminal has a distance from the first terminal as one of the conditions for accepting the shared mail. The second terminal can be set as one of the transfer conditions of the shared mail that communication with the first terminal that is the transmission source of the shared mail is impossible , and the shared mail is sent to the server according to the transmission condition . The mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the mail system is transmitted. The first terminal has communication means based on a plurality of communication standards as the second communication means, and when the shared mail is transmitted to the second terminal, based on the power saving setting, the first terminal 13. A communication standard used as the second communication means is automatically selected, and a shared mail is transmitted to a second terminal that can communicate with the communication means of the selected communication standard. The mail system according to any one of the above. The first terminal, when transmitting the shared mail to the second terminal, transmission based on the reachability configuration to the server shared mail, the second communication means to be used, and shared mail The mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the number of second terminals to be selected is automatically selected, and the shared mail is transmitted based on the selection. When the first terminal transmits a shared mail having the same content to a plurality of second terminals, the first terminal intermittently transmits the shared mail having the same content to each of the plurality of second terminals. The mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 14. The 1st terminal as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 15 . The second terminal according to claim 11 or 12 .


Terminal having a first terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 15, both the function of the second terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 15. The server according to any one of claims 1 to 15 . And a second communication means is a first communication means and said first communication means and different communication standard based on mobile communication standard that can be used for transmission of the desired content of the mail, having a mail transmission function The first terminal uses the second communication means to transmit a shared mail including the contents of the mail created in the second terminal, and after transmitting the shared mail, the first communication means When the communication becomes possible, the shared mail transmitted to the second terminal is transmitted / received using the first communication means without retransmitting the mail desired to be transmitted. To the server that
Can communicate with the second communication means, the second terminal is capable of communicating with the server, the shared mail received, and transmitted to the server,
Said server, said first terminal and to identify the shared mail having the same content received at respective timing from the second terminal, while sending to the destination of the contents of the mail on first reception, the next time after A mail transmission method in mobile communication, wherein the shared mail is not transmitted to a destination when the shared mail is received . A first communication means based on a mobile communication standard that can be used for sending a mail having a desired content, and a second communication means having a communication standard different from the first communication means, and having a mail transmission function The first terminal uses the second communication means to give confidentiality to the mail contents transmitted when transmitting the shared mail including the mail contents created in the plurality of second terminals. As described above, a plurality of shared mails obtained by dividing the content of the mail are created, and the plurality of shared mails are distributed and transmitted to different second terminals, respectively.
  Each of the different second terminals capable of communicating with a server that performs mail transmission / reception processing transfers the received shared mail to the server,
  The server identifies the plurality of shared mails received, restores the content desired to be transmitted by the first terminal, and then transmits the mail to the mail destination
An e-mail transmission method in mobile communication. The first terminal uses the second communication unit to detect the first communication unit when the first terminal detects that the mail cannot be transmitted by attempting to transmit the desired mail. The mail transmission method according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the process shifts to a process of attempting to transmit a shared mail including the contents of the mail to the terminal of (2). From the first terminal, the server determines whether the mode of the email to be sent to the destination of the email is recognizable that a shared email mechanism is used or the normal email mode. 23. The mail according to claim 20, wherein the mail is classified based on a delay time obtained from a time when the mail is transmitted and a time when the contents of the mail can be transmitted to a destination. Transmission method. The server, the case of receiving the shared mail from a first terminal, according to claim 20 in which the transmission result at the time of sending the contents of the mail to the destination, and notifies to the first terminal 24. The mail transmission method according to any one of items 23 to 23 . The first terminal, when transmitting the shared mail to the second terminal, accompanied physician of the second to send the shared mail in the second communication possible within the plurality of the second terminal in the communication means The mail transmission method according to any one of claims 20 to 24 , wherein the terminal user preferentially transmits the shared mail to the second terminal for which no payment is made. When the first terminal transmits the shared mail to the second terminal, it can be determined that the first terminal is located in a more distant place within the plurality of second terminals within the communicable range of the second communication means . preferentially to the second terminal, the mail transmission method according to any one of claims 20 to 25 and transmits the shared mail. When the first terminal transmits a shared mail to a plurality of second terminals, the second terminal that is within the communicable range of the second communication means and uses a base station of another carrier has priority. and included in the mail transmission method according to any one of claims 20 to 26 and transmits the shared mail having the same content. The second terminal can be set as one of the transfer conditions of the shared mail that communication with the first terminal that is the transmission source of the shared mail is impossible , and the shared mail is sent to the server according to the transmission condition . 28. The mail transmission method according to any one of claims 20 to 27 , wherein transmission is performed. When the first terminal transmits a shared mail to the second terminal, the contents of the mail desired to be transmitted included in the shared mail are encrypted and transmitted so that the server can decrypt them. The mail transmission method according to any one of claims 20 to 28. The first terminal has communication means based on a plurality of communication standards as the second communication means, and when the shared mail is transmitted to the second terminal, based on the power saving setting, the first terminal 29. A communication standard used as the second communication means is automatically selected, and a shared mail is transmitted to a second terminal that can communicate with the communication means of the selected communication standard. The mail transmission method according to any one of the above.

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