JPH1032599A - Electronic mail transmission method between nodes and electronic mail transmission system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an economical electronic mail system in which the number of times of line connection is decreased. SOLUTION: An electronic mail server 20 includes a transmission wait mail storage section 21 storing an electronic mail 10 including at least received immediate transmission information 11 to a transmission mail box 22 and an immediate transmission monitor means 30 monitoring whether or not an immediate transmission request is generated based on the received electronic mail 10. Furthermore, the electronic mail server 20 has the immediate transmission monitor means 30 receiving the electronic mail 10 and discriminating the necessity of immediate transmission, a transmission timer section 42 to check a transmission wait remaining time when the immediate transmission is required, a storage section 34 storing the wait time for immediate transmission, a comparison section comparing the timer setting time of the transmission timer section 42 with the standby time for immediate transmission stored in the storage section 34, and when the transmission remaining time set by the transmission timer section 42 is longer than the time stored in the storage section 34, the transmission timer section 42 is set again to the value stored in the storage section 34 and data are sent.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for transmitting electronic mail between nodes and an electronic mail transmitting system, and more particularly, to a method for charging the number of line connections, and between nodes which preferentially transmits an electronic mail requiring immediacy. The present invention relates to an electronic mail transmission method and an electronic mail transmission system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of e-mail transmission system between nodes, e-mail transmitted from a terminal is collectively stored in an e-mail server in consideration of processing efficiency and line efficiency, and the e-mail is transmitted in predetermined units. In addition to periodically transmitting the accumulated e-mails in a batch, the e-mails required immediately are sent with priority. A specific example of such an electronic mail transmission system is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-77029. The e-mail transmission system described in this publication selects one of a system that prioritizes urgency and a system that prioritizes processing efficiency in accordance with priority designation information set for e-mail transmitted from a terminal. Things.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the electronic mail transmission system. In FIG. 5, a terminal device 100 constituting a system is connected to an e-mail server 104 via a line 102, a mail accepting device 501, a transmission mailbox 503 for storing e-mail to be transmitted, and e-mail transmission for transmitting e-mail. Device 5
02 is provided. The mail transmitting device 502 connects to the electronic mail server 104 serving as a node. In addition,
The mail reception device 501 and the mail transmission device 502 have a function of selecting a mail transmission processing method according to the priority of the mail. For example, the mail reception device 501 transmits a mail in an emergency according to the specified information of the priority of the mail. At the same time as sending the mail to the mail box 503, a forced start signal is sent to the mail sending device 502. When the priority is normal, mail is sent to the sending box 503. On the other hand, the mail transmission device 503 immediately executes the mail transmission process in the transmission box 503 when the forced activation signal is received, and executes the mail transmission process in the transmission mailbox at predetermined time intervals when the priority is normal. I do.

In such an e-mail system, a user directly composes an e-mail using the terminal device 100,
Urgent or ordinary designation is performed according to the priority according to the designation information. The mail created by the user arrives at the mail receiving device 501 of the electronic mail server 104 via the line 102. The operation of the mail receiving device 501 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. When the mail receiving apparatus 501 receives a mail from the user in step 601 (hereinafter, abbreviated as S601), the mail receiving apparatus 501 checks the priority in step S602, and when the priority is urgent (YE).
In S), the process proceeds to S603, and in response to the mail transmission request, a mail indicating forcible activation is issued. Also, in S602,
If the priority does not require urgency (NO), S604
Then, the mail received from the user is input to the transmission mailbox, and the above processing is terminated. At this time,
The mail transmitting device 502 transmits the mail in the transmission mailbox 503 to another electronic mail system.

On the other hand, when the priority is normal, the mail is input to the transmission mailbox 503 without activating the mail transmission device 502. The mail transmission device 502 at this time
Will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in accordance with an operation command from the mail transmitting device 502, S70
In step 1, it is determined whether or not a predetermined interval has elapsed. S7
If it is determined in step S01 that the mail has not been waited for a predetermined time interval (NO), it is determined in step S702 whether a mail indicating forced activation has been issued from the mail receiving apparatus 501.
If the e-mail indicating the forced activation has not been issued in S702 (NO), the flow returns to S701. Also, S702
, When an e-mail indicating forced activation is issued (Y
ES), the process proceeds to S703, and the transmission mailbox 503
It is determined whether or not there is a forced activation mail. In S703, if there is a forced start instruction mail in the outgoing mail box 503 (YES), the outgoing mail box 503
Then, the mail is taken out, the transmission processing is performed, and the above processing ends. If there is no forced start instruction mail in the transmission mailbox 503 in S703 (NO), the above processing is immediately terminated.

[0006]

However, in the conventional e-mail system, when the e-mail server receives a continuous immediate transmission request, line connection is performed without limitation, so that the number of line connections cannot be reduced. . This is because the conventional mail system is set to eliminate the waiting time between nodes in response to an immediate transmission request, and there is a problem that the number of line connections increases and the line efficiency of e-mail transmission decreases. Was.

For example, WAN (Wide Area Network)
In a mail server connection between nodes in (k), etc., in a mail transmission system between electronic mail servers in which a fixed amount is charged for each number of line connections, a certain time interval or When the accumulated mail reaches a certain amount, the connection between the servers is established, so the mail to be sent immediately is also temporarily stored on the sending e-mail server, and is the same as other mail that does not require immediacy There is a problem that the transmission waiting time is required only for the time.

Further, even in a system in which an immediate transmission request is prioritized, there is a problem that the number of line connections cannot be reduced in response to a continuous immediate transmission request because the requested mail is transmitted immediately. Was.

An object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail system that reduces the number of line connections and preferentially transmits e-mail requiring immediacy.

[0010] Another object of the present invention is to suppress an increase in the number of line connections by transmitting the request immediately after receiving a continuous immediate transmission request without transmitting the line every time. .

[0011]

As a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, a method for transmitting e-mail between nodes according to the present invention provides a method for transmitting an e-mail requesting immediacy when a sender requests an immediate transmission. The e-mail server checks the presence or absence of an immediate transmission request, and after confirming the immediate transmission request, the transmission waiting time for the immediate transmission mail is longer than the time required to start reconnection after confirming the immediate transmission request. When the time is shorter than the waiting time, the transmission start time is temporarily advanced to the waiting time set for the immediately-transmitted mail, and is transmitted together with other transmission waiting mails. As a result, it is possible to preferentially transmit an e-mail that requires immediacy while suppressing the charge due to the line connection.

Further, in the electronic mail transmission system between nodes according to the present invention, when the electronic server receives the electronic mail including the immediate transmission information, the immediate transmission monitoring means determines the necessity of the immediate transmission, and the immediate transmission is required. Sometimes, check the remaining transmission waiting time from the transmission timer section of the stored mail transmission means,
When the value is longer than the value set in the waiting time storage unit for immediate transmission, the transmission waiting timer is immediately reset to the value in the waiting time storage unit for transmission, and the transmission is performed with the minimum waiting time. In addition, it is possible to reduce the number of line connections when immediate transmission requests continue. In the case of an immediate transmission request due to the saturated capacity of the transmission mailbox, transmission can be performed immediately without a transmission waiting time.

Therefore, the e-mail transmission system between nodes according to the present invention does not unconditionally connect a line between nodes when an e-mail requiring immediacy arrives, but with a certain allowable time as an upper limit. By suspending the transmission, if another mail that requires immediacy arrives during that time, it is sent together without connecting the line every time, suppressing the increase in the number of line connections E-mails requiring immediacy can be preferentially transmitted while charging is suppressed.

Further, in the present invention, when an e-mail requiring immediacy arrives, the e-mail is made to wait for transmission within a preset allowable range of time as an upper limit. For this reason, even when a new e-mail requiring immediacy arrives during the standby time, transmission is similarly waited until transmission resumes, so that an increase in the number of line connections due to an immediate transmission request is suppressed. Can be. Thereby, in the transmission having the number of line connections also between the nodes of the metered amount to be charged,
Economic effects can be expected while responding to the immediacy transmission request.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electronic mail transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG.
5, the configuration in the present embodiment is the same as that of the conventional configuration shown in FIG. 5, but the configurations of the mail accepting device 501 and the mail transmitting device 502 in FIG. 5 are different. The mail receiving device 501 is different from the mail receiving device 501 in that the e-mail 10 including the immediate transmission information 11 arriving at the e-mail server 20 is stored in the outgoing mail box 22.
1 and an immediate transmission monitoring means 30 for monitoring whether an immediate transmission request has been generated by the incoming electronic mail 10.

The immediate transmission monitoring means 30 searches the transmission waiting mail accumulation amount monitoring means 31 for monitoring whether or not the transmission mailbox 22 is saturated, and searches for immediate transmission information 11 as to whether immediate transmission is requested. An immediate transmission information search means 32; an immediate transmission standby time storage unit 34 for use in determining whether to reset the transmission wait timer value when it is determined that immediate transmission is necessary; And a transmission waiting timer value changing means 33 for checking the current value of the transmission waiting timer value and changing the transmission waiting timer value to a predetermined value.

Next, an electronic mail transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. A user creates an e-mail 10 using the terminal device 1 shown in FIG. At this time, the immediate transmission information 1
1 specifies whether an emergency is required. The e-mail 10 created by the user arrives at the transmission waiting e-mail storage means 21 in the e-mail server 20 via the line 2,
The message is temporarily stored in the transmission mailbox 22. Then, the necessity of immediate transmission is determined by the immediate transmission monitoring means 30,
If necessary, a transmission instruction with a time designation is output to the stored mail transmission means 40, and the electronic mail stored in the transmission mail box 22 is transmitted.

Here, the operation of the immediate transmission monitoring means 30 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step 201 (hereinafter, referred to as S201), the transmission waiting mail accumulation amount monitoring unit 32
Check the free space of the. At this time, if the free space is smaller than the predetermined reference, the process proceeds to S208, and the transmission waiting timer value changing unit 33 requests an immediate transmission instruction without a waiting time. If there is enough free space in the outgoing mail box 22, the immediate outgoing information searching means 32 searches the immediate outgoing information 11 attached to the latest e-mail 10 stored in the outgoing mail box 22 in S202. The analysis is performed, and the process proceeds to S203 to determine whether there is an immediate transmission request.

Here, if there is an immediate transmission request in S203, the transmission standby timer value changing means 33 in S204 causes the maximum standby time for immediate transmission registered in the standby time storage unit 34 for immediate transmission in advance. In addition to reading the time, the current waiting time for transmission is read by the transmission waiting timer control means 41 in S205, and the maximum waiting time for immediate transmission is compared with the current remaining time for transmission in S206.

Next, proceeding to S207, if the current transmission standby remaining time is longer, the transmission standby time is set to the maximum standby time for immediate transmission, and the transmission standby timer Instruct time change. Through the above processing, the transmission wait timer control unit 41 is instructed to change the transmission wait time, and the transmission timer unit 42 is set to a timer value. Next, when the transmission standby time becomes zero, the transmission timer unit 41 activates the stored mail transfer unit 43 by a certain type of interrupt control, and transmits the electronic mail if there is an electronic mail in the transmission mail box 22. After the transmission process is completed, the transmission timer is reset with the value of the normal transmission standby time storage unit 44 in which the normal transmission standby time is set by the transmission standby timer control unit 41 as the transmission standby time. Make the settings and prepare for the next transmission process.

Next, the overall operation of the electronic mail transmission system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described. Referring to FIG. 1, for example, in the system setting of the e-mail server 20, when the empty capacity of the transmission mailbox 22 is 5 megabytes or less, an immediate transmission request is made, the waiting time for immediate transmission is 3 minutes, and the regular periodic transmission is performed. If the waiting time of the e-mail 10 is set to one hour, the transmission waiting mail storage amount monitoring means 31 monitors that the free space remains 5 MB or more every time the e-mail 10 is stored in the transmission mailbox 22, and Is less than 5 megabytes, the transmission wait time is set to 0 second, the transmission timer value is changed to the transmission wait timer value changing means 33, and the e-mail in the transmission mailbox 22 is transmitted.

When the free space of the transmission mailbox 22 is 5
If the size is equal to or more than megabytes, the immediate transmission information search means 32
Retrieves the latest electronic mail 20 in the transmission mail box 22. For example, the control character for immediate transmission additionally inserted in the e-mail 20 is transmitted to the immediate transmission information 1.
If it is set to 1, if the corresponding control character is included, it is determined that there is an immediate transmission request, and the current remaining transmission standby time is read via the transmission standby timer control means 41. Next, this value is compared with 3 minutes which is the maximum standby time at the time of immediate transmission stored in the standby time storage unit 34 for immediate transmission,
If the standby time is longer than three minutes, the timer value of the transmission standby time is reset to the transmission standby timer value control means 41 to three minutes, which is the maximum standby time for immediate transmission.
On the contrary, when the waiting time is 3 minutes or less, nothing is set.

Here, when an immediate transmission request or an event of insufficient free space of the transmission mailbox 22 does not occur, a value of one hour which is a normal transmission standby time is stored in the standby time storage unit 44 for normal transmission. , Email server 20
At the time of activation and at a timing after the stored mail transfer means 43 has transmitted the e-mail in the transmission mailbox 22, the transmission wait timer control means 41 reads the value from the standby time storage section 44 for normal transmission and sends the value to the transmission timer section 42. Set. As described above, the transmission timer unit 42 can repeat the processing of performing the timer processing with the designated value, and activating the stored mail transfer unit 43 when the timer set time comes.

Next, the operation of the electronic mail transmission system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to Table 1. In the figure, the number of line connections when the standby time for immediate transmission is set to 3 minutes and 0 seconds and the standby time for normal transmission is set to 1 hours and 0 minutes and 0 seconds is compared with the conventional e-mail transmission system. It was done.

[0025]

[Table 1]

As is evident from Table 1, after the e-mail server rises at 13: 00: 00: 00, if e-mails without an immediate transmission request for incoming numbers 1 and 2 arrive, the standby state for normal transmission is reached. Each e-mail may be stored in the transmission mailbox 22 in less than one hour. Next, in the conventional system shown in FIG. 5, a line was immediately connected to the incoming call number 3 which received an immediate transmission request at 13:00:20, but in the system shown in the embodiment of the present invention, Starting from the remaining time of the current transmission standby, that is, 13: 00: 00: 00, the current transmission standby time of 59 minutes 40 seconds until the current transmission standby time of 1 hour 0 minutes 0 seconds is immediately transmitted. This is different from the credit waiting time of 3 minutes.

That is, in the case of the embodiment of the present invention, the current transmission waiting time can be made longer, so that the transmission waiting timer is changed to the waiting time for immediate transmission of 3 minutes, and the line is connected. Without doing this, it can be stored in the sending mailbox as it is. By similar processing,
For the e-mail of the incoming numbers 3 and 4 with immediate transmission request, the line is immediately connected in the conventional system of FIG.
In contrast to the transmission of the e-mail in the transmission mailbox, in the embodiment of the present invention, the current transmission standby time is different from the immediate transmission standby time.

That is, in the present embodiment, since the current transmission standby time is shorter than the immediate transmission standby time, electronic mail can be stored in the transmission mailbox without changing the transmission wait timer. Further, in this embodiment, the line is first connected at 13:03:20 when three minutes, which is the immediate transmission standby time set by the immediate transmission request received by the incoming call number 3, has elapsed, and the line is stored in the transmission mailbox 22. The current mail is transmitted, and 1 hour, 0 minute, 0 second, which is a standby time for normal transmission, is set as a new transmission standby time in the transmission standby timer. Thereafter, if no immediate transmission request is made, in the prior art, if the e-mail has been stored in the transmission mailbox, the last connection to the line is made.
A fourth line connection is made at 14: 01: 0, which is one hour, which is a standby time for normal transmission, from 1: 1: 0, while on the other hand, from 13: 3: 20 to 1:01 in the embodiment of the present invention. At 14:04:20 when the time has passed, a second line connection is made,
As a result, it is possible to suppress an increase in the number of line connections by transmitting the two immediate transmission requests that have arrived while waiting for the immediate transmission request.

Next, a modified embodiment of the electronic mail transmission system between nodes according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. FIG. FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are modified examples of the immediate transmission information included in the electronic mail 20. In this modified example, how to implement the immediate transmission information in the standard rule of the e-mail 20 is a part that also affects the implementation of the e-mail transmission means in each terminal. In this modification, the instant transmission information is provided in the text of the electronic mail document which is not affected by the transmission rule of the electronic mail. More specifically, an example will be described in which a character code indicating the immediateness, for example, “α” is entered in a text that can be input from the keyboard of the terminal and an immediate transmission request is made in the body of the electronic mail 10 illustrated in FIG. In this case, the immediate transmission information searching means 32 of FIG. 1 shows in FIG. 4 whether or not there is a line starting with the character code "α" indicating immediate in the body of the incoming mail as shown in the flowchart of FIG. A search is made in step 401 (hereinafter abbreviated as S401). If the character code "α" is found (S401
YES at S402, and it is determined that there is an immediate transmission request at S402. On the other hand, if the character code “α” is not found in S401 (NO), the process proceeds to S404 and determines that there is no immediate transmission request.

In S402, if the text character used as the immediate transmission information is transmitted as it is,
Since the body containing the text of unknown meaning is transmitted to the recipient of the e-mail, S304
And replace the character used as the immediate transmission information with a blank character. According to the above-described mounting method, e-mails including only information necessary for a transmission destination can be sent together without affecting the e-mail transmission means (not shown) of each terminal. In addition, an increase in the number of line connections can be suppressed.

[0031]

As described above, the method for transmitting e-mail between nodes and the system for transmitting e-mail according to the present invention, when receiving a continuous immediate transmission request, do not connect to the line every time and transmit it immediately. By setting an allowable maximum waiting time for a transmission request, it is possible to transmit e-mails that arrive within the waiting time by transmitting them collectively, thereby suppressing an increase in the number of line connections. As a result, it is possible to transmit an e-mail requiring immediacy while giving priority to the e-mail, and without increasing the number of line connections as much as possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an electronic mail transmission method and an electronic mail transmission system between nodes according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an immediate transmission monitoring unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an electronic mail in a modified embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a flowchart illustrating an operation of transmitting the e-mail in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional e-mail transmission system.

FIG. 6 is an example of a flowchart illustrating the operation of the electronic mail transmission system in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an example of a flowchart for explaining the operation of the electronic mail transmission system in FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Terminal device 10 E-mail 11 Immediate transmission information 20 E-mail server 21 Transmission waiting mail storage unit 22 Transmission mailbox 30 Immediate transmission monitoring unit 31 Transmission waiting mail storage amount monitoring unit 32 Instant transmission information search unit 33 Transmission waiting timer value changing unit 34 standby time storage unit for immediate transmission 41 transmission wait timer control unit 42 transmission timer unit 43 stored mail transfer unit 44 standby time storage unit for normal transmission

Claims (4)

[Claims] In a method of transmitting an e-mail between e-mail servers having nodes for which the number of line connections is to be charged, a sender indicates an immediate transmission request when transmitting an e-mail having a content requiring immediacy. Set the information, check the presence or absence of the immediate transmission request, when the transmission waiting time for the immediate transmission mail is shorter than the waiting time of the reconnection start, advance the transmission start time, and the other transmission waiting mail A method for transmitting e-mail between nodes, wherein the method is to transmit the e-mail at once. 2. An e-mail transmission system between e-mail servers having nodes for which the number of line connections is to be charged, wherein the e-mail server sends the e-mail including at least the immediately received incoming transmission information to a transmission mailbox. An electronic mail transmission system between nodes, comprising: a transmission waiting mail storage means for storing; and an immediate transmission monitoring means for monitoring whether the immediate transmission request has been generated by the received electronic mail. 3. The e-mail server receives the e-mail including the immediate transmission information and determines whether or not immediate transmission is required. When the immediate transmission is required, checks the remaining transmission waiting time. Transmission timer means, storage means for storing a standby time for immediate transmission, and comparing means for comparing the timer set time of the transmission timer means and the standby time for immediate transmission stored in the storage means, When the remaining transmission waiting time set by the transmission timer means is longer than the value stored in the storage means, the transmission timer means is immediately reset to a value previously stored in the storage means and transmitted. The electronic mail transmission system between nodes according to claim 2. 4. An immediate transmission monitoring means for monitoring whether or not a transmission mailbox for transmitting an electronic mail is in a saturated state, and a storage means for monitoring an accumulated amount of mail waiting to be transmitted, wherein an immediate transmission is requested as immediate transmission information. An immediate transmission information retrieval means for retrieving whether or not transmission is to be performed; a transmission time waiting time storage means for determining whether or not to reset a transmission wait timer value when it is determined that immediate transmission is required; 4. An electronic mail transmission system between nodes according to claim 3, further comprising transmission wait timer value changing means for checking a current value of the timer value and changing the transmission wait timer value to a predetermined value.