JPH08298520A - Electronic mail device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To use an arbitrary electronic mail device and to improve operability capable of suitably and speedily transmitting the arrival of an electronic main addressed to a user and receiving the mail, and to improve convenience, reliability and maintenability. CONSTITUTION: This device is provided with a transmission/reception control part 2a for controlling the transmission/reception of the electronic mail, an electronic mail storage part 5a for storing the electronic mail, a transmission part 3a for distributing the electronic mail and the like, a reception part 4a for receiving the electronic mail and the like, a transfer destination address data holding part 8a for holding the transfer destination address data part recorded as a transfer destination address, a transfer destination address conversion part 6a for referring to the transfer destination address data part and deciding the transfer destination address and a transfer control part 7a for transferring the electronic mail to the transfer destination address obtained by the transfer destination address conversion part 6a at the time of using the terminal of the electronic mail address different from the electronic mail address registered of the user.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving electronic mail including messages in a network environment in which a plurality of terminals are connected by communication lines.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, due to the development of network technology,
2. Description of the Related Art Electronic mail devices that can send and receive electronic mail including messages have come into wide use. E-mail is a means for electronically sending a mail created by using a computer or the like through a communication line or the like, and similar to writing an address on a postcard such as ordinary mail,
Also in the electronic mail device, it is necessary to specify the destination to which the electronic mail is sent, and data called mail address is specified. Then, the e-mail is delivered from the e-mail address to the specified e-mail device and to the specified user therein. Alternatively, if the e-mail is delivered to a designated e-mail device, the destination e-mail device determines from which e-mail device to which user the e-mail is finally delivered, and the e-mail is delivered to the next e-mail device. An email is sent. That is, the e-mail device that receives the e-mail performs the same transmission process, and finally the e-mail is received by the e-mail device in which the user designated by the destination address is registered. Become.

A conventional electronic mail device will be described below. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional electronic mail device. Reference numerals 11a and 11b are conventional electronic mail devices. 12a and 12b are electronic mail devices 11a and 11
A transmission / reception control device that controls b, 13a and 13b are transmission units that transmit electronic mail, 14a and 14b are reception units that receive electronic mail, and 15a and 15b are electronic mail storage units that store received electronic mail. . Further, 16 is a communication line for connecting each electronic mail device and each terminal. Actually, in addition to this, in order to exert the original function of the electronic mail device, a ROM having a built-in communication protocol such as RFC821 and RFC882, a CRT, a source address conversion unit, a destination address conversion unit, and an error generation unit It has a notification unit, a broadcast communication control unit, and the like. These are well-known techniques described in the Information Processing Handbook (published by Ohmsha, edited by Information Processing Society of Japan) and the like.

The operation of the conventional electronic mail device 11a configured as described above will be described below.
First, in response to an electronic mail transmission request from a user, the transmission / reception control unit 12a determines a transmission source address according to a predetermined address conversion rule. This address conversion rule is unique to each e-mail device that sends e-mail. The transmission unit 13a transmits a transmission source address (generally referred to as "From") to a transmission destination address (generally referred to as "To"). Here, the transmission unit 13a is activated by the transmission / reception control unit 12a. The transmission / reception control unit 12a issues an e-mail transmission instruction to the transmission unit 13a based on the source address and the destination address determined by the address conversion rule, and the transmission unit 13a transmits the e-mail via the communication line 16. To do.

On the other hand, in receiving, when an electronic mail arrives at the electronic mail apparatus 11a from the communication line 16, the receiving unit 14a confirms the destination address and the electronic mail apparatus 1a.
Only the email addressed to 1a is fetched, and the other emails are sent to the next email device. Here, when the receiving unit 14a receives an electronic mail addressed to the electronic mail device 11a, it activates the transmission / reception control unit 12a and delivers the received electronic mail to the transmission / reception control unit 12a. The transmission / reception control unit 12a confirms the destination user of this e-mail, and the e-mail storage unit 1
5a is stored in the user storage area. The user can receive the e-mail by searching and retrieving the e-mail storage unit 15a at any time.

A plurality of conventional electronic mail devices 11a, 11b, etc. operating as described above are connected via a communication line 16 and function independently of each other to exchange sentences and the like with each other. Explained. Here, an example is shown in which the user A of the electronic mail device 11a sends an electronic mail to the user B of the electronic mail device 11b. (1) User A using the electronic mail device 11a
(User ID (identifier) = userA) issues an instruction to send an electronic mail to user B. (2) Transmission / reception control unit 12
a is for the user ID according to the address conversion rule,
Determine the source address and destination address. (3)
Next, the transmission / reception control unit 12a activates the transmission unit 13a.
(4) The transmission unit 13a transmits an electronic mail by using the address determined by the address conversion rule as the destination address. (5) On the other hand, when the electronic mail addressed to the electronic mail device 11b arrives, the receiving unit 14a of the electronic mail device 11b.
Receives this email. (6) Next, the receiving unit 14
b activates the transmission / reception control unit 12b. (7) The transmission / reception control unit 12b confirms the destination of the arrived electronic mail.
(8) The transmission / reception control unit 12b stores the electronic mail in the corresponding user storage area of the user B of the electronic mail storage unit 15b. (9) User B can use this e-mail storage unit 1 as appropriate.
By searching the corresponding user storage area of 5b and designating the delivered electronic mail, the corresponding electronic mail can be taken out and viewed. In addition, when the user starts or uses the terminal, the electronic mail device automatically notifies the arrival of the electronic mail, and the corresponding electronic mail can be retrieved.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, when an electronic mail arrives, it can be delivered only by the electronic mail apparatus in which the user is registered and managed. For this reason, when the user is using an email device other than the email device having the defined email address for the convenience of the content of the email, business, processing, etc., the email device will be The problem is that it is necessary to explicitly set it in a predetermined position in a predetermined format so that it can be recognized, and it is necessary to search for an email that lacks operability and does not know whether it is delivered, which is inconvenient. Had. In particular, if the user is using another e-mail device, even if the e-mail arrives, special software or the like that appropriately searches the registered e-mail device is required. If it cannot be used, the registered e-mail device cannot be searched and the arrival of the e-mail cannot be known. As a result, the e-mail cannot be received promptly as appropriate, resulting in lack of operability, convenience and reliability. Had the problem.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an arbitrary electronic mail device can be used, and the arrival of an electronic mail addressed to the user can be promptly and appropriately delivered to the user and received. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic mail device having excellent operability, convenience, reliability and maintainability.

[0009]

In order to achieve this object, an electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention is a transmission / reception control unit for controlling transmission / reception of an electronic mail, and an electronic mail for storing the electronic mail. A storage unit, a transmission unit that delivers e-mails and the like to the destination address as a destination, a reception unit that receives e-mails, and an e-mail address different from the e-mail address registered and managed by the user. A transfer destination address data holding unit that holds a transfer destination address data unit recorded as a transfer destination address, and a transfer destination address conversion unit that determines the transfer destination address of the received e-mail by referring to the transfer destination address data unit. , When the user of the received e-mail is using a terminal with an e-mail address different from the registered and managed e-mail address, It has a configuration which includes a transfer control unit for transferring the e-mail, a transfer destination address obtained by the conversion unit as a transfer destination.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail apparatus according to the first aspect, the transfer destination address data section manages and registers the user ID item storing the user ID of the user and the user. The host address item that stores the e-mail address that is stored, the transfer destination address item that stores the e-mail address that can be used by the user separately from the registered and registered e-mail address, and the currently used user And a flag item for storing an access flag for identifying an e-mail address.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the transfer destination address data holding unit is arranged in the distributed database.

Here, when the user uses a terminal connected to an electronic mail device (e-mail address) different from the electronic mail device (e-mail address) registered and managed, the electronic mail currently used The transmission / reception control unit of the mail device transmits the access data having the user ID and the email address currently used to the transmission / reception control unit of the electronic mail device registered and managed by the user, and A transmission / reception control unit of the registered and managed electronic mail device searches a corresponding transfer destination address data unit from the transferred access data and controls a flag control unit to turn on / off an access flag of the flag item. You can

[0013]

With this configuration, the transfer control unit of the electronic mail device holds the transfer destination address data unit in which an electronic mail address different from the electronic mail address registered and managed by the user is recorded as the transfer destination address. When the user of the received e-mail uses a terminal with an e-mail address different from the registered and managed e-mail address, the received e-mail is transferred. The transfer destination address obtained by the transfer destination address conversion unit based on the information in the destination address data section can be transferred to the electronic mail apparatus currently used by the user as the transfer destination. As a result, multiple e-mail devices can be utilized, and the arrival of e-mail sent to a specific e-mail device can be forwarded to reliably notify the destination user of delivery and receive e-mail. ,
It is possible to improve convenience and reliability.

Further, the transfer destination address data part is the user I
Item D, a host address item that stores an e-mail address that manages and registers the user, and a transfer destination address item that stores an e-mail address that can be used by the user separately from the e-mail address that is managed and registered. And a flag item storing an access flag indicating the email address currently used by the user, the email address different from the email address registered and managed by the user When using the terminal, the transfer control unit of the e-mail device having the e-mail address to be used is currently used by the transmission / reception control unit of the e-mail device having the registered and managed e-mail address of the user with the user ID. Send access data with the email address that you have. In response to this, the flag control unit of the transmission / reception control unit of the electronic mail device in which the user is registered and managed turns on the access flag of the transfer destination address data unit having the transfer destination address from the transmitted access data,
Control by switching off. In this way, the transfer destination address determination means can be automated, and the user does not need to search the electronic mail that has been appropriately sent, and the operability and convenience can be improved. Further, since the transfer destination address data holding unit is arranged in the distributed database, the concentration of data can be prevented, the maintainability can be improved, and the communication cost can be reduced.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electronic mail device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an electronic mail apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the transfer destination address data section of the electronic mail device according to the embodiment of the present invention. 1a, 1b and 1c are electronic mail devices according to an embodiment of the present invention connected to a network environment, and 2a, 2b and 2c are electronic mail devices 1 respectively.
A transmission / reception control unit that controls transmission / reception of a, 1b, and 1c. 3a, 3b, 3c are transmitting units for transmitting electronic mails, 4a, 4b, 4c are receiving units for receiving electronic mails, 5a, 5b, 5c are electronic mail storage units for storing received electronic mails, 6a, Reference numerals 6b and 6c denote transfer destination address conversion units, which have a transfer destination address data portion and are referred to when determining the transfer destination address of the received electronic mail.
When the user of the received e-mail uses a terminal having an e-mail address different from the registered and managed e-mail address, the transfer destination address conversion unit 6 is provided.
This is a transfer control for transferring an electronic mail with the transfer destination address obtained in a, 6b, and 6c as the transfer destination. 8A, 8B
Is a transfer-destination address data holding unit that holds a transfer-destination address data part that records an e-mail address of a part different from the e-mail address registered and managed by the user as the transfer-destination address. A communication line 9 connects each electronic mail device and each terminal, through which electronic mails are sent and received from a plurality of electronic mail devices 1a, 1b, 1c and transfer destination address data holding units 8A, 8B. Is accessible. Here, the transfer destination address data holding units 8A and 8B use a distributed database, and as conceptually shown in FIG. 2, the electronic mail addresses of the electronic mail devices 1a, 1b, and 1c, and the respective electronic mails. A user ID of a user registered and managed in the devices 1a, 1b, 1c, a transfer destination address corresponding to the user,
Transfer destination address data holding unit 8A for determining transfer
Alternatively, in the transfer destination address data portion of the access flag indicating whether the user is currently using the electronic mail device having the transfer destination address registered in 8B, that is, whether the user requests the transfer of the electronic mail. Stores the correspondence table. Also, when the user uses a terminal having an e-mail address different from the e-mail address of the registered and managed e-mail device, the transmission / reception control unit of the currently used e-mail device causes the user to register. An access control unit (not shown) for transmitting and transmitting access data having a user ID and an e-mail address to a transmission / reception control unit of an e-mail device having a managed e-mail address, and an e-mail for which the user is registered and managed. A transmission / reception control unit having an address refers to the transfer destination address data holding unit based on the transferred access data, searches for a corresponding transfer destination address data unit, and controls on / off of the access flag of the flag item. And a flag control unit (not shown). The distributed database is a known technique described in "Introduction to Distributed Database Systems" (published by Sadayuki Hikita, Ohmsha).

With respect to the electronic mail apparatus 1a having the above-described structure according to the embodiment of the present invention, a method for transmitting and receiving electronic mail will be described below. First, in the case of transmission, the transmission / reception control unit 2a responds to an e-mail transmission request from the user by operating the keyboard, and the user ID input from the keyboard by the user, for example, "user ID =
Based on “userA”, the address conversion rule determines the source address corresponding to the user and the designated destination address. The transmission unit 3a includes a transmission / reception control unit 2a.
It is activated by and sends an e-mail according to the communication protocol. On the other hand, in the case of reception, when the electronic mail arrives, the receiving unit 4a receives it, and the receiving unit 4a activates the transmission / reception control unit 2a. The transmission / reception control unit 2a confirms the "user ID" that is the destination of the arrived email, and saves the email in the corresponding user storage area of the email storage unit 5a. Next, the transmission / reception control unit 2a activates the transfer destination address conversion unit 6a and issues a transfer destination address interpretation command. The transfer destination address conversion unit 6a includes a transfer destination address data holding unit 8A or 8B.
The transfer destination address is determined from the transfer destination address data part of the.

Here, the change of the access item of the transfer destination address data section which determines the transfer destination is performed by the following procedure. First, the access control unit of the electronic mail device having the transfer destination address currently used by the user is transmitted to the transmission / reception control unit of the electronic mail device having the electronic mail address registered and managed by the user, and the user ID and the electronic mail Send access data with email address. The flag control unit of the electronic mail device in which the user is registered and managed searches the transfer destination address data holding unit 8A or 8B based on the transmitted access data, and refers to the corresponding transfer destination address data unit. The transfer destination is recorded by controlling the on / off of the access flag of the flag item.

With respect to the electronic mail apparatuses 1a, 1b and 1c of the embodiment of the present invention which operate as described above, a specific method of transmitting and receiving electronic mail will be described below. Here, the user A of the electronic mail device 1a “user ID = userA”
Is a user B registered and managed in the electronic mail device 1b
An example in which, when sending an electronic mail to (user ID = userB), the user B (ID = userB) uses an electronic mail device 1c different from the registered and managed electronic mail device 1b. explain. (1) User A “user ID = userA” inputs a destination address and an e-mail text from the terminal of the e-mail device 1a to send an e-mail from the e-mail device 1a to the e-mail device 1b. . (2) The transmission / reception control unit 2a of the electronic mail device 1a determines the source address and the destination address according to the address conversion rule. (3) E-mail device 1
The transmission / reception control unit 2a of a activates the transmission unit 3a.
(4) The sending unit 3a of the electronic mail device 1a sends an electronic mail by using the determined address as a destination address.
(5) On the other hand, if the user B starts using the terminal of the electronic mail device 1c (hostC) different from the registered and managed electronic mail device 1b, does the user B transfer the arrived electronic mail? When it is possible to select whether or not to transfer the arrived e-mail, the access data is transmitted to the e-mail device 1b. At this time, it is possible to know the reception information of the email that has already arrived from the email device 1b. (6) The electronic mail device 1b receives the access signal from the electronic mail device 1c and turns on the access flag of the transfer destination address data part of the transfer destination address data holding unit 8A or 8B. (7) On the other hand, in the electronic mail device 1b, when the electronic mail from the electronic mail device 1a arrives, the receiving unit 4b receives it. (8) The reception unit 4b of the electronic mail device 1b activates the transmission / reception control unit 2b.
(9) The transmission / reception control unit 2b of the electronic mail device 1b receives the destination of the received electronic mail (here, user ID = user).
Check B). (10) The transmission / reception control unit 2b of the electronic mail device 1b stores the electronic mail in the corresponding user storage area of the user B of the electronic mail storage unit 5b. (11) The transfer control unit 7b of the electronic mail device 1b searches the relevant transfer destination address data unit of the user B of the transfer destination address data holding unit 8A or 8B, refers to the transfer destination address data unit, and determines whether transfer is necessary, If the transfer is necessary, the transfer destination address is determined. That is, user B (user ID = userB)
Sets the transfer destination address to userB × hostA and use
Although rB × hostC is registered, the use of userB × hostC is currently determined by the access flag, and userB × hostC is determined as the transfer destination address.
(12) The transmission control unit 2b activates the transmission unit 3b according to a command from the transfer control unit 7b of the electronic mail device 1b.
(13) The transmission control unit 2b of the electronic mail device 1b transmits the electronic mail to the electronic mail device 1c by using the transfer destination address obtained from the transfer destination address conversion unit 6b as the destination address. At this time, the e-mail remains stored in the corresponding user storage area of the e-mail storage unit 5b. (14)
In the electronic mail device 1c, when the electronic mail is transmitted from the electronic mail device 1b, the receiving unit 4c receives the electronic mail. (15) The receiver 4c of the electronic mail device 1c activates the transmission / reception controller 2c. (16) Transmission / reception control unit 2 of the electronic mail device 1c
c is the destination of the arrived email (user B "user ID
= UserB ”). (17) The transmission / reception control unit 2c of the electronic mail device 1c stores the electronic mail in the corresponding user storage area of the electronic mail storage unit 5c. (18) User B “User ID = userB” is the electronic mail device 1
From c, the arrival of the electronic mail addressed to the user is automatically notified and can be received. At this time, after browsing the e-mail, it is possible to specify that the e-mail in the e-mail device 1c is deleted and at the same time the e-mail in the e-mail device 1b is deleted. If the user stops using the terminal without browsing, the e-mail stored in the e-mail device 1b remains, but the e-mail transferred to the e-mail device 1c by the user is automatically Data is being erased, ensuring data integrity and improving operability and convenience.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the transfer control unit searches the delivered electronic mail for the transfer destination address data holding unit as shown in FIG. Based on the obtained transfer destination address of the electronic mail device currently used by the user, the delivered electronic mail can be transferred by the transmitting unit. As a result, even when the user is using a terminal of an electronic mail device other than the registered electronic mail device, the arrival of the electronic mail is surely transmitted to the user,
E-mail transfer can be automated, and operability, convenience, and reliability can be improved. Further, since the distributed database is adopted, the load can be distributed, the contents can be read and written quickly and efficiently, and the maintainability can be improved.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, even when the terminal of the electronic mail device other than the registered electronic mail device is used, the user needs to search the electronic mail sent at any time. It is possible to realize an e-mail device that can transfer e-mail more reliably, can transmit information to a user as quickly as possible, and is excellent in operability, convenience, and reliability. . Further, the transfer destination address data section makes it easy for the user to selectively transfer an e-mail to an e-mail device having an e-mail address different from the registered and managed e-mail address.
It is possible to realize an electronic mail device with excellent operability and convenience. Further, since the transfer destination address data holding unit is arranged in the distributed database, the concentration of data can be prevented, the communication cost can be reduced, and an electronic mail device excellent in maintainability can be realized. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a transfer destination address data section of an electronic mail device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional electronic mail device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b, 1c E-mail device 2a, 2b, 2c, 12a, 12b Transmission / reception control unit 3a, 3b, 3c, 13a, 13b Transmission unit 4a, 4b, 4c, 14a, 14b Reception unit 5a, 5b, 5c, 15a, 15b E-mail storage unit 6a, 6b, 6c Transfer destination address conversion unit 7a, 7b, 7c Transfer destination control unit 8A, 8B Transfer destination address data holding unit 9,16 Communication line 11a, 11b Conventional electronic mail device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A transmission / reception control unit for controlling transmission / reception of e-mail, an e-mail storage unit for storing the e-mail, a transmission unit for delivering the e-mail etc. to a destination address as a destination, and an e-mail. A receiving unit for receiving,
A transfer destination address data holding unit that holds a transfer destination address data unit in which an electronic mail address different from the electronic mail address registered and managed by the user is recorded as a transfer destination address, and the transfer destination address data unit. A transfer destination address conversion unit that determines the transfer destination address of the received electronic mail by reference, and an electronic mail address different from the electronic mail address registered and managed by the user of the received electronic mail. An electronic mail device comprising: a transfer control unit that transfers the electronic mail using the transfer destination address obtained by the transfer destination address conversion unit as a transfer destination when using the terminal. 2. The transfer destination address data section stores a user ID item for storing a user ID of the user, a host address item for storing an electronic mail address for managing and registering the user, and management. A transfer destination address item that stores an email address that can be used by the user separately from the registered email address, and a flag that stores an access flag that identifies the email address currently used by the user The electronic mail device according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transfer destination address data holding unit is arranged in a distributed database.