JPH11298522A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic mail system where a mail with a high emer gency is informed and acquired via a public network and no telephone charge is imposed. SOLUTION: A mail with a transmission destination address and emergency information added thereto that is sent from a mail transmission terminal 21 is temporarily stored in a reception mail storage section 27 of a mail server 20. The mail server 20 references the emergency information at the arrival of the sent mail and dials a telephone number of a portable mail reception terminal 22 that becomes the transmission destination depending on the emergency. The portable mail reception terminal 22 extracts a caller number of a received call via an incoming/outgoing call processing section 4 and forcibly interrupts the incoming call without accepting the call when the call is identified to be from the server so as to recognize it that a mail with high emergency is addressed to its own terminal. The portable mail reception terminal 22 uses a telephone number of the mail server 20 to acquire a reception mail addressed to its own terminal having been stored in the reception mail storage section 27.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an electronic mail system, and more particularly, to an electronic mail system that receives mail contents according to the degree of urgency.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electronic mail systems provide a service for exchanging messages between a number of geographically isolated users via a data communication network. Such an electronic mail system is composed of a mail transmitting terminal and a receiving terminal for transmitting and receiving the contents of a mail to each other, and a mail server. The mail server temporarily stores the contents of the e-mail sent from the e-mail sending terminal, so that the contents of the sent e-mail are not lost irrespective of the operation state due to the power-on state of the e-mail receiving terminal. Like that. The mail receiving terminal on the receiving side can obtain mail addressed to itself by accessing this mail server.

As described above, a user of a receiving terminal cannot receive a mail unless the user accesses the mail server and confirms whether or not a mail addressed to the user has arrived.
Therefore, even if a mail with high urgency arrives, there are many cases where such mail arrival confirmation is delayed due to various reasons, and it must be said that it is not suitable for sending and receiving mail with high urgency. Therefore, an e-mail system that can cope with such urgent mail has been proposed.

FIG. 8 shows an outline of the configuration of an electronic mail system proposed in the prior art. This e-mail system includes a mail server 2 via a transmission network 1,
The first and second mail transmitting and receiving terminals 3 _1, 3 ₂ and are connected. First and second mail sending / receiving terminals 3 ₁ , 3 ₂
Have the same configuration, and in the following, the first mail transmitting / receiving terminal 3
₁ will be described. Also, the first mail transmitting / receiving terminal 3 ₁
It is referred to as the transmission side, the second mail reception terminal 3 ₂ reception side.

[0005] The mail server 2, the mail server 11 that controls the entire mail server, the emergency mail determination unit 12 for determining the mail urgency transmitted from the first mail transmitting and receiving terminals 3 _1, the emergency mail determination unit the emergency mail display instruction section 13 for instructing the content display of the mail to the second mail reception terminal 3 ₂ is the reception side when the transmission mail is determined that the urgent by 12, the emergency mail determination unit 12 second mail transmitting and receiving terminals are receiving side when it is determined that the outbound mail does not require an emergency by 3 ₂
And an arrival notifying unit 14 for notifying an e-mail arrival message. The first e-mail transmission and reception terminals 3 _1,
A mail transmission unit 15 ₁ for transmitting a mail to the mail server 2 ₁
When a mail reception unit 16 ₁ for receiving the mail from the mail server 2, the mail server 2 emergency mail display instruction section 13
The arrival of an emergency mail display unit 17 ₁ to display the contents of the mail urgent by the instruction, the arrival display section 18 ₁ for displaying the mail arrival messages by notification unit 14 of the mail server 2, the mail contents or mail and a display device 19 ₁ to display the message.

[0006] In the electronic mail system having the above-described configuration, the first mail transmitting / receiving terminal 31 on the transmitting side adds the urgency information indicating whether the urgency of the mail is high or not, and transmits the mail via the transmission network 1. For the mail, the emergency mail determination unit 12 of the mail server 2 determines whether the urgency of the mail is high. When it is determined that there is a high urgency of outgoing mail, emergency mail display instruction section 13 instructs the content display of a transmission mail to the emergency mail display part 17 ₂ of the receiving second side mail reception terminal 3 _2. The emergency mail display section 17 ₂
On the display device 19 ₂ to display the contents of the e-mail. Further, when it is judged to be low urgency of outgoing mail, notification section 14 instructs the display of the arrival message that mail has arrived at the arrival display section 18 ₂ of the second reception side mail transmitting and receiving terminals 3 ₂ I do. The arrival display section 18 ₂ causes the display device 19 ₂ to display the arrival message. In this way, by displaying the contents or notifying the arrival thereof to the receiving side according to the urgency of the transmitted mail to the mail server 2, the mail recipient can quickly know the contents of the mail.

A technique relating to such an electronic mail system is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-30134, "E-mail System".

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-252317, "E-mail system", a server transmits a control command to each mail transmitting / receiving terminal so that the server can transmit the request even if there is no request from the transmitting / receiving terminal. There has been disclosed a technology relating to an e-mail system that can transmit an e-mail to a receiving terminal and can grasp a transmission state of the e-mail transmitted by a sender.

By the way, there are various message exchange methods depending on the form of the data communication network in the above-mentioned electronic mail system, for example, those using the Internet or a wireless communication network. Furthermore, with the improvement of integrated circuit technology in recent years, portable mail transmission / reception terminals such as outdoors have been used, and mail transmission / reception via a public network using a portable mail transmission / reception terminal outdoors. can do. In such an e-mail system, a portable mail terminal on the receiving side makes a telephone call to a mail server at regular intervals, checks whether or not mails addressed to the user are stored by an automatic reception method based on timer monitoring, and stores the mail. If so, they would get the email.

[0010]

In such a conventional e-mail system, the mail server side can promptly notify the receiving user of the arrival of the mail under the control of the mail server and receive the mail. However, JP
In the technology relating to the electronic mail system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. -30134 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-252317, notification or notification control from a mail server is via a dedicated network. In other words, the present invention is useful in an environment where it is not necessary to consider communication costs charged during communication, such as a local area network laid in the same business office. However, when attempting to receive mail outdoors using a portable mail terminal or the like, communication via a dedicated network is not possible, and a public network, which is the largest infrastructure, must be used.

When the public network is used, the portable mail terminal calls the mail server at regular intervals to determine whether or not the received mail is stored by the automatic reception method based on the timer monitoring as described above. After confirming and keeping it, you will get this received mail. Alternatively, the stored e-mail is obtained by making a call from the mail server to the portable mail terminal when a mail with a high degree of urgency arrives by the mail server charging method. At that time, a communication cost is incurred, the mail server charges the telephone charge, and the mail server administrator later charges the telephone charge to the user.

[0012] However, in the automatic reception system based on timer monitoring, regardless of the presence or absence of stored received e-mails, telephone calls are made at regular intervals for confirmation of storage, and telephone charges are charged. It will be very high. Therefore, if the interval of the automatic reception is increased, it is not possible to quickly obtain a mail having a high degree of urgency, and if the interval of the automatic reception is reduced, there is a problem that the telephone fee to be paid increases. .

Further, in the mail server charging method, it is necessary for the mail server to manage telephone charges to be charged for each user, and it is also necessary to work for charging the charges. As a result, there is a problem that the system becomes complicated and it is difficult to keep costs low.

An object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail system which notifies and obtains urgent mail via a public network and does not charge a telephone charge.

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail by adding (a) destination information indicating a destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency. A transmitting terminal, (b) number storage means for storing a subscriber number of the destination corresponding to the destination, mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means, and a mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail receiving means. Calling means for making a call using the destination subscriber number stored in the number storage means based on the destination information added to the mail in accordance with the urgency information added to the received mail The e-mail system includes a server and (c) a receiving terminal including a notifying unit for notifying that a highly urgent mail has arrived at the mail server by an incoming call from the calling unit.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the transmission terminal transmits an e-mail to which destination information indicating the destination and urgency information indicating the degree of urgency are added. The mail server receiving the mail makes a call using the subscriber number of the transmission destination stored in the number storage means in accordance with the urgency information of the mail, so that the mail with high urgency arrives Is notified to the receiving terminal to which the mail is sent.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transmission terminal having mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail by adding (a) destination information indicating a transmission destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency; ) Number storage means for storing the subscriber number of the destination corresponding to the destination, mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means, and mail attached to the mail received by the mail receiving means. Urgency determining means for identifying the urgency information to determine whether or not the received mail has a high degree of urgency; and when the urgency of the received mail is determined to be high by the urgency determining means, A mail server comprising: calling means for sending a call to which an identification number of its own station has been added using the destination subscriber number stored in the number storage means based on the destination information added to the mail server; A) identification number extracting means for extracting an identification number from an incoming call from a calling means, and determining whether or not the identification number extracted by the identification number extracting means is a mail server identification number stored in advance. Determining means for determining, when the identification number extracted by the determining means is the identification number of a mail server stored in advance, notifying that a mail having a high degree of urgency has arrived at the mail server; And a receiving terminal having a call disconnecting means for forcibly disconnecting the call without responding to the request.

That is, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the transmission terminal transmits a mail to which destination information indicating the transmission destination and urgency information indicating the degree of urgency are added. When the mail server receives the mail, if the urgency is high based on the urgency information of the mail, the mail server uses the subscriber number of the transmission destination stored in the number storage means to make a call so that the urgency is high. The arrival of the mail is notified to the receiving terminal that is the destination of the mail. Further, the receiving terminal extracts the identification number of the caller from the call,
When the ID number matches the identification number of the mail server, an incoming call as an incoming notification from the mail server is not accepted, and the call is forcibly disconnected.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transmission terminal having mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail by adding (a) destination information indicating a transmission destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency; A) first number storage means for storing the subscriber number of the destination corresponding to the destination, mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means, and adding to the mail received by the mail receiving means; Urgency determining means for identifying whether the urgency of the received mail is high by identifying the received urgency information, and when the urgency of the received mail is determined to be high by the urgency determining means Calling means for transmitting a call to which an identification number of the own station has been added using the subscriber number of the destination stored in the first number storage means based on the destination information added to the mail; of Incoming call accepting means for accepting an incoming call from a recipient, and sending an e-mail sent by the mail transmitting means to the destination when the incoming call from the destination of the e-mail is accepted by the incoming call accepting means. A mail server having server transmitting means for performing
A second number storing means for storing an identification number and a subscriber number of the mail server corresponding to the mail server; an identification number extracting means for extracting an identification number from an incoming call from the calling means; Determining means for determining whether the extracted identification number is the mail server identification number stored in the second number storage means; and the identification number extracted by the determining means is the mail server identification number. When it is determined that the mail with high urgency has arrived at the mail server, the call is forcibly disconnected without responding to the incoming call, and the outgoing call of this incoming call is referred to by referring to the second number storage means. Receiving terminal calling means for making a call using the subscriber number of the original mail server, and a server transmitting means for transmitting the call in response to the outgoing call by the receiving terminal calling means. And a receiving terminal and a receiving terminal mail receiving means for receiving the mail is provided in the e-mail system.

That is, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the transmission terminal transmits a mail to which destination information indicating the destination and urgency information indicating the degree of urgency are added. The mail server that has received the e-mail, when the degree of urgency is high based on the urgency information of the e-mail, makes a call using the destination subscriber number stored in the first number storage means. The arrival of a mail with a high message is notified to the receiving terminal that is the destination of the mail. In addition, the receiving terminal extracts the identification number of the caller from this call, and if the identification number matches the identification number of the mail server, the receiving terminal does not accept an incoming call as an incoming call notification from the mail server and forcibly disconnects the call. ing. At the same time, the receiving terminal obtains the subscriber number of the mail server stored in the second number storage means, and makes a call using this subscriber number, so that the received mail stored in the mail server can be received. I'm trying to get it.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transmission terminal having mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail by adding (a) destination information indicating a destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency; A) first number storage means for storing the subscriber number of the destination corresponding to the destination, mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means, and adding to the mail received by the mail receiving means; Urgency determining means for identifying whether the urgency of the received mail is high by identifying the received urgency information, and when the urgency of the received mail is determined to be high by the urgency determining means Calling means for sending a call to which the subscriber number of the own station has been added using the destination subscriber number stored in the first number storage means based on the destination information added to the mail; Email Incoming call accepting means for accepting an incoming call from a destination, and sending the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means to the destination when the incoming call from the destination of the mail is accepted by the incoming call accepting means. A mail server comprising server transmitting means for performing
(C) Second number storage means for storing the subscriber number of the mail server corresponding to the mail server, number extraction means for extracting the subscriber number from the incoming call from the calling means, and extraction by this number extraction means Determining means for determining whether the determined subscriber number is the subscriber number of the mail server stored in the second number storage means, and determining whether the subscriber number extracted by the determining means is a subscriber of the mail server. If it is determined that the number is a number, it notifies that the mail with high urgency has arrived at the mail server, and forcibly disconnects the call without answering the incoming call. Receiving terminal calling means for calling using the subscriber number, and receiving terminal mail receiving the mail transmitted by the server transmitting means in response to the outgoing call by the receiving terminal calling means. And a receiving terminal and a receiving means is provided in the e-mail system.

That is, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, a mail to which destination information indicating a destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency are added is transmitted from the transmitting terminal. The mail server that has received the e-mail, when the degree of urgency is high based on the urgency information of the e-mail, makes a call using the destination subscriber number stored in the first number storage means. The arrival of a mail with a high message is notified to the receiving terminal that is the destination of the mail. In addition, the receiving terminal extracts the subscriber number of the caller from this call, and if it matches the identification number of the mail server, it does not accept the incoming call as an incoming notification from the mail server and forcibly disconnects the call as it is I am trying to do it. At the same time, the receiving terminal originates a call using the extracted subscriber number to obtain the received mail stored in the mail server.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail system of the third or fourth aspect, the receiving terminal sends a mail to the user when the receiving terminal mail receiving means receives the mail from the server transmitting means. And a user notifying means for notifying that the contents of the information have been received.

That is, in the invention according to claim 5, when the receiving terminal receives a highly urgent mail from the mail server, the receiving terminal notifies the user of the fact.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail system according to any one of the third to fifth aspects, the receiving terminal has a built-in radio telephone, and the identification number extracted by the judging means is stored in advance. When it is determined that it is not the identification number of the server, a voice call is made with the source of the incoming call.

That is, according to the invention of claim 6, by incorporating a wireless telephone, if there is an incoming call from a predetermined mail server, a mail with high urgency is received from the mail server, and an incoming call from the predetermined mail server is received. If there is no call, voice communication as a normal telephone function is enabled.

[0027]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0028]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of the configuration of an electronic mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This e-mail system includes a mail server 20, a mail transmission terminal 21, and a portable mail reception terminal 22. The mail server 20 stores the mail transmitted from the mail transmitting terminal 21 on the transmitting side by the radio wave 23 after receiving the mail, and stores the mail stored on the radio wave 24 from the portable mail receiving terminal 22 on the receiving side. An instruction is sent to the portable mail receiving terminal 22.

The mail server 20 includes a mail transmitting / receiving unit 25 for controlling transmission / reception of mail, a mail urgency monitoring unit 26 for monitoring the urgency of received mail, a received mail storage unit 27 for storing received mail, A user management unit 28 that stores and manages the telephone numbers of a plurality of subordinate portable mail receiving terminals, and a mail arrival notifying unit 29 that notifies the subordinate portable mail receiving terminals of the arrival of highly urgent mail. ing. Further, it has an outgoing / incoming call processing unit 30 that processes incoming / outgoing calls with the portable mail receiving terminal 22. The outgoing / incoming call processing unit 30 has a wireless communication unit 31 and a modem 32, and receives the portable mail receiving terminal 2 via the modem 32.
2 and a radio wave 24 for data communication.

The mail transmitting terminal 21 is connected to the mail server 20
A mail transmitting unit 33 that transmits a mail to which a destination address for identifying the portable mail receiving terminal 22 to be a destination of the mail is transmitted, and urgency information indicating the degree of urgency of the mail transmitted from the mail transmitting unit 33 And an urgency information adding unit 34 for adding the information. The mail to which the destination address and the urgency information are added is transmitted to the mail server 20 by the radio wave 23.

The portable mail receiving terminal 22 transmits the radio wave 2
4, a calling number recognition unit 35 for detecting a calling number included in an incoming call from the mail server 20 and recognizing whether or not the notification is an incoming call from the mail server; and a calling number corresponding to the mail server. Server management unit 36 for storing and managing telephone numbers and telephone numbers; a mail acquisition unit 37 for controlling mail acquisition to the mail server based on the incoming call notification recognized by the calling number recognition unit 35; A mail data receiving unit 38 for receiving the mail data transmitted from the electronic mail 20 and a mail data acquisition notifying unit 39 for notifying the user that the desired mail data has been received by the mail data receiving unit 38 are provided. Further, it has an outgoing / incoming call processing unit 40 for processing incoming and outgoing calls with the mail server 20, so that a voice call can be made by a normal telephone function. Incoming / outgoing call processing unit 4
0 has a wireless communication unit 41 and a modem 42,
Data communication can be performed with the mail server 20 via the modem 42 by radio waves 24.

FIG. 2 shows an outline of a configuration of a user management table which is a storage content stored in the user management section 28 of the mail server 20 shown in FIG. The user management table 43, the telephone number 43 ₂ of the portable mail receiving terminal corresponding to the destination 43 ₁ of mail sent from the mail transmitting terminal 21 is registered. That is, these telephone numbers are stored in correspondence with each of the plurality of portable mail receiving terminals which the mail server 20 makes gray.
The mail server 20 receives the outgoing mail from the mail transmitting terminal 21, and sends the user management table 4 to the portable mail receiving terminal 22 as a destination according to the urgency.
By obtaining the telephone number of the portable mail receiving terminal with reference to 3, the call processing unit 30 can make a call.

FIG. 3 shows an outline of the configuration of a server management table which is the storage content stored by the server management unit 36 of the portable mail receiving terminal 22 shown in FIG. The server management table 44 includes one or more servers 44 _{1 serving} as servers of the portable mail receiving terminal 22.
Corresponding to each, and caller ID 44 ₂ and the server telephone number 44 ₃ of the server is registered. Caller ID 4
4 _2, respectively server is assigned to a unique, it can be used to identify the server by the caller number 44 _2. The server directory number 44 _3, is used to access the mail server 20 to retrieve the mail stored from the portable mail receiving terminal to the mail server.

In the e-mail system configured as described above, the mail transmitted from the mail transmitting terminal 21 with the transmission destination address and the urgency information added thereto is transmitted to the received mail storage unit 27 of the mail server 20 by the radio wave 23. Stored temporarily. In the mail server 20, the mail urgency monitoring unit 26 determines whether or not the urgency of the mail is high when the mail transmitted from the mail transmitting terminal 21 arrives. And when it is determined that the urgency is high,
Under the control of the mail transmitting / receiving unit 25, a call is originated from the calling / incoming call processing unit 30 using the telephone number of the portable mail receiving terminal 22 as the transmission destination stored in the user management unit 28. At the time of calling, a caller number for identifying the mail server 20 is added. Calling number recognition unit 35 of portable mail receiving terminal 22
Then, the caller number of the incoming call from the mail server 20 is extracted through the caller / incoming / outgoing call processing unit 40, and is compared with the server caller number stored in the server management unit 36. When it is determined that the incoming call is from the mail server 20, the incoming call is not accepted and the call is forcibly disconnected. At the same time, the portable mail receiving terminal 22 recognizes that a mail with a high degree of urgency has arrived at the mail server 20. Therefore, the mail server managed by the server management unit 36 under the control of the mail acquisition unit 37. Call from the incoming / outgoing call processing unit 40 to the mail server 20 using the telephone number to obtain the received mail addressed to the own terminal stored in the received mail storage unit 27 and notify the user. Has become.

The communication between the mail server 20 and the portable mail receiving terminal 22 can be performed according to a control procedure based on a call control message having a predetermined format transmitted and received by the radio wave 24. Has become.

FIG. 4 shows an outline of the format configuration of such a call control message. The call control message 45 has a protocol identifier 46, a call number 47, a message type 48, and an information element 49. The protocol identifier 46 is information for identifying the call control message. The call number 47 identifies a plurality of different calls on the radio channel of the radio wave 24, whereby a plurality of calls can be transmitted simultaneously on one radio channel of the radio wave 24. The message type 48 is information for indicating the meaning of call control, and predetermined call control such as call setting, release, and response is specified as a message. Information element 49
Is a portion where necessary information is added to each control message specified by the message type 48.

As described above, the call control message includes a protocol identifier 46, a call number 47, a message type 48
, And the information element 49 includes information specific to the message type. For example, in the case of a call setup message, an identification number indicating "call setup" is entered in the message type 48, and the information element 49 contains the caller's attribute as the attribute of the communication path to be included in the call setup message and the number of the communication partner. Number included. Thereby, when the mail arrival notification unit 29 of the mail server 20 notifies of the arrival of the mail when the urgency of the mail transmitted from the mail transmission terminal 21 is high, the portable mail reception terminal 22 transmits the predetermined mail in the format of FIG. By referring to the item in which the caller number is entered, it is possible to easily identify from which mail server the call originated.

FIG. 5 shows an outline of a procedure for controlling a call disconnection by the call control message shown in FIG. 4 in this embodiment. That is, the portable mail receiving terminal 22 sends the mail from the mail server 20 via the public network when the mail arrival notifying unit 29 of the mail server 20 notifies the arrival of the mail when the urgency of the mail transmitted from the mail transmitting terminal 21 is high. The call setting message is transmitted to the portable mail receiving terminal 22 (50 and 51 in FIG. 5). The portable mail receiving terminal 22 identifies the caller number as described above, and identifies whether or not the incoming call is from the mail server 20 (52 in FIG. 5). On the other hand, public network 50
After receiving the call setting message 50, a call setting acceptance message is returned to the mail server 20 that is the source of the call setting message 50 (53 in FIG. 5).

When the portable mail receiving terminal 22 identifies that the call setting message is due to an incoming call from the mail server 20, the portable mail receiving terminal 22 forcibly disconnects the incoming call without accepting the incoming call. A call disconnection request message is transmitted to the network (54 in FIG. 5). When the call disconnection completion message is notified from the public network to the mail server 20 and the portable mail receiving terminal 22, respectively, the call disconnection is completed (55 and 56 in FIG. 5). As described above, when an incoming call from a predetermined mail server is identified, the telephone charge is not charged by disconnecting the incoming call without responding to the incoming call.

The mail server 20 and the portable mail receiving terminal 22 that enable such control are provided with a central processing unit (CP) (not shown).
U), and an external storage device such as a magnetic disk or a read-only memory (Re
Various controls can be executed based on a program stored in a predetermined storage device such as an ad only memory (ROM).

FIG. 6 shows an outline of the control in the mail server 20 to which the mail has been transmitted from the mail transmitting terminal 21. The mail server 20 monitors the transmission of mail data from the mail transmission terminal 21 by the radio wave 23 (step S60). When the mail data is received (step S60: Y), the mail server 20 controls the mail transmission / reception unit 25. It is stored in the received mail storage unit 27 (step S61). Then, the mail urgency monitoring unit 26
Then, the urgency information added by the urgency information adding unit 34 at the time of mail transmission from the mail transmission terminal 21 is extracted (step S62). It is determined whether or not the urgency of the mail transmitted from the mail transmitting terminal 21 is higher than the urgency information extracted in step S62 (step S63). If it is determined in step S63 that the urgency of this mail is high (step S63: Y), the user management unit 28
Portable mail receiving terminal 2 as a destination stored in
The telephone number 2 is acquired (step S64). Using the obtained telephone number, the mail arrival notifying unit 29 notifies the portable mail receiving terminal 22 of the arrival of the mail with high urgency via the call originating and terminating processing unit 30 (step S).
65).

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S63 that the urgency of the mail is low (step S63: N), the mail is stored in the received mail storage unit 27 as it is. The stored received mail is stored until there is a request to receive the received mail from the portable mail receiving terminal 22 as the transmission destination. That is, the reception request is monitored from the portable mail receiving terminal 22 (step S66), and when the reception request is received (step S66: Y), the received mail stored corresponding to the source of the reception request is deleted. The message is transmitted via the incoming / outgoing call processing unit 30 under the control of the mail transmitting / receiving unit 25 (step S67).

FIG. 7 shows an outline of the mail reception control in the portable mail receiving terminal 22. The portable mail receiving terminal 22 monitors an incoming call as an incoming notification due to the arrival of a highly urgent mail from the mail server 20 via the radio wave 24 (step S70), and upon receiving this (step S70: Y),
The calling number identification unit 35 extracts a caller number included in the received call received by referring to predetermined items of the call control format shown in FIG. 4 (step S71). Based on the caller number of the incoming call extracted in step S71, it is determined whether or not the incoming call is from the mail server 20 by referring to the server management unit 36. When it matches the sender number of the mail server 20 stored in the server management unit 36 (step S72:
In Y), the call is forcibly disconnected without accepting the incoming call (step S73). At this time, the mail server 20
The user can be notified that the mail addressed to the user has arrived. Then, the telephone number of the mail server 20 stored in the server management unit 36 is extracted (step S7).
4) A call is made to the mail server 20 using the number, thereby requesting the reception of the arrival mail with high urgency and acquiring the received mail (step S75). When the urgent mail addressed to the user is thus received, the user is notified of the reception (step S76).

On the other hand, in step S72, the server management unit 36
If it does not match the caller number of the mail server 20 stored in (step S72: N), the incoming / outgoing call processing unit 4
0 allows a voice call to be made as a normal telephone function.

It should be noted that the urgency information in the present embodiment described above may be simply two levels of urgency, "high" and "low", or may be ranked at three or more levels. That is, it is only necessary that the mail server 20 can identify the “high urgency” mail and the “low urgency” mail with reference to the added urgency information.

In this embodiment, the mail is transmitted via the radio wave 23. However, the mail may be transmitted by wire using a predetermined dedicated line.

Further, in this embodiment, the caller number included in the incoming call notification for notifying that the mail with a high degree of urgency has arrived from the mail server 20 to the portable mail receiving terminal 22 as the transmission destination is the server management information. The description has been made assuming that the telephone number is different from the telephone number of the server stored and managed by the unit 36. However, since the telephone number 44 ₃ of course also be server-specific shown in FIG. 3, by filling out the telephone number 44 ₃ as the caller number 44 _2, it is possible to suppress the capacity to be stored in the server management table 44. On the other hand, by distinguishing between telephone numbers 44 ₃ for use in the caller number 44 ₂ and the calling time used during incoming call, indicating the in use by the calling processing unit 40 of the portable mail receiving terminal "Busy state" The occurrence can be suppressed, and the incoming call and the outgoing call can be processed simultaneously.

[0049]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a call is made to the receiving terminal using the subscriber number according to the degree of urgency, so that there is no dedicated line such as outdoors. Even in an environment, it is possible to recognize that a highly urgent mail has arrived. Therefore, it is only necessary to access the mail server to obtain the received mail after recognizing the arrival, so that there is no need to spend unnecessary telephone charges.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the arrival of a highly urgent mail is called using the subscriber number to the receiving terminal, and the receiving terminal responds to the call. Disconnection forcibly without having to use a dedicated line, so that it is possible to recognize that an urgent mail has arrived in an environment where there is no dedicated line, such as outdoors, and to notify the arrival of a highly urgent mail The telephone charges at the time will not be charged. Therefore, it is possible to receive mail using the public network at lower cost.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the arrival of the mail having a high degree of urgency is called using the subscriber number to the receiving terminal, and the receiving terminal responds to the call. In addition to the forcible disconnection, a call is made to a subscriber telephone of a pre-registered mail server to obtain the received mail. This makes it possible to quickly acquire the arrival of a highly urgent mail. Since there is no need to uselessly access the mail server and check the arrival of the received mail, it is possible to minimize the communication cost from the receiving terminal. Further, since the telephone charge is not wastefully charged from the mail server side, it is not necessary to manage the telephone charge to be charged corresponding to each receiving terminal on the mail server side and to perform the billing work. Can be simplified.

According to the invention of claim 4, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 3, the receiving terminal does not need to store the identification number of each mail server, so that the receiving terminal can be downsized. And simplification.

Further, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, by notifying the user that a highly urgent mail has been received, it is possible to prompt the user to confirm the contents of the mail.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 6, it is determined whether or not the identification number of the extracted call is the identification number of the mail server stored in advance. Thus, the functions of sending and receiving mails and voice calls can be realized with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a table configuration diagram showing an outline of a configuration of a user management table of a user management unit 28 in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a table configuration diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration of a server management table of a server management unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a format configuration diagram showing a format of a call control message in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a connection sequence diagram illustrating an outline of a control procedure of call disconnection in the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an outline of control in the mail server 20 to which mail has been transmitted from the mail transmitting terminal 21 in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an outline of mail reception control in the portable mail receiving terminal 22;

FIG. 8 is a system configuration diagram showing an outline of the configuration of a conventionally proposed e-mail system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 mail server 21 mail transmission terminal 22 portable mail reception terminal 23, 24 radio wave 25 mail transmission / reception unit 26 mail urgency monitoring unit 27 received mail storage unit 28 user management unit 29 mail arrival notification unit 30, 40 call arrival / departure call processing unit 31 , 41 wireless communication unit 32, 42 modem 33 mail transmission unit 34 emergency information addition unit 35 calling number recognition unit 36 server management unit 37 mail acquisition unit 38 mail data reception unit 39 mail data acquisition notification unit

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] March 23, 1999

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Claims]

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0009

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

By the way, there are various message exchange methods depending on the form of the data communication network in the above-mentioned electronic mail system, for example, those using the Internet or a wireless communication network. With the further increase of the recent integrated circuit technology, and so portable mail transmitting and receiving terminals and outdoor is used, the transmission and reception of mail through the public network by using a mail transmitting and receiving terminals for mobile outdoor can do. In such an e-mail system, a portable mail terminal on the receiving side makes a telephone call to a mail server at regular intervals, checks whether or not mails addressed to the user are stored by an automatic reception method based on timer monitoring, and stores the mail. If so, they would get the email.

[Procedure amendment 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0014

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to notify and obtain a mail having a high degree of urgency via a public network, and obtain a mail having a high degree of urgency.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic mail system in which a telephone charge is not charged when notifying a new mail .

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0015

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail by adding (a) destination information indicating a destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency. A transmitting terminal, (b) number storage means for storing a subscriber number of the destination corresponding to the destination, mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means, and a mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail receiving means. Identifying the urgency information attached to the received
An urgency determining means for determining whether or not the urgency is high;
The urgency of the email received by the urgency determination means is high
And calling means for transmitting a call by adding the identification number of its own station using the subscriber number of the destination stored in the number storage means based on the added transmission destination information to the mail when it is determined that (C) an identification number extracting means for extracting an identification number from an incoming call from the calling means ;
The identification number extracted by the identification number extracting means is preset.
Is the mail server identification number stored?
Determining means for determining the
Identification number of the mail server in which the identification number is stored in advance
If it is determined that the phone number is
Call is forcibly disconnected before accepting an incoming call
And a receiving terminal provided with a call disconnecting means .

[Procedure amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0016

[Correction method] Deleted

[Procedure amendment 6]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0017

[Correction method] Deleted

[Procedure amendment 7]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0018

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0018] That is, in the first aspect of the present invention to transmit the mail added with the urgency information indicating an emergency degree and destination information indicating a transmission destination from a transmission terminal. When the mail server receives the mail, if the urgency is high based on the urgency information of the mail, the mail server uses the subscriber number of the transmission destination stored in the number storage means to make a call so that the urgency is high. The arrival of the mail is notified to the receiving terminal that is the destination of the mail. Further, the receiving terminal extracts the identification number of the caller from the call,
When it matches the mail server identification number ,
Mandatory before accepting incoming call for billing
To disconnect the call to

[Procedure amendment 8]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0019

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided (a) a transmission terminal including mail transmission means for transmitting a mail by adding destination information indicating a transmission destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency; A) first number storage means for storing the subscriber number of the destination corresponding to the destination, mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means, and adding to the mail received by the mail receiving means; Urgency determining means for identifying whether the urgency of the received mail is high by identifying the received urgency information, and when the urgency of the received mail is determined to be high by the urgency determining means Calling means for transmitting a call to which an identification number of the own station has been added using the subscriber number of the destination stored in the first number storage means based on the destination information added to the mail; of Incoming call accepting means for accepting an incoming call from a recipient, and sending an e-mail sent by the mail transmitting means to the destination when the incoming call from the destination of the e-mail is accepted by the incoming call accepting means. A mail server having server transmitting means for performing
A second number storing means for storing an identification number and a subscriber number of the mail server corresponding to the mail server; an identification number extracting means for extracting an identification number from an incoming call from the calling means; Determining means for determining whether the extracted identification number is the mail server identification number stored in the second number storage means; and the identification number extracted by the determining means is the mail server identification number. If it is determined that the telephone billing conditions
The call is forcibly disconnected at a stage before accepting the incoming call, and the receiving terminal originating the call using the subscriber number of the mail server which is the origin of the incoming call with reference to the second number storage means. An e-mail system is provided with a receiving terminal having a calling means and a receiving terminal mail receiving means for receiving a mail transmitted by the server transmitting means in response to an outgoing call by the receiving terminal calling means.

[Procedure amendment 9]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0020

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

That is, in the invention according to the second aspect , the transmission terminal transmits a mail to which transmission destination information indicating the transmission destination and urgency information indicating the degree of urgency are added. The mail server that has received the e-mail, when the degree of urgency is high based on the urgency information of the e-mail, makes a call using the destination subscriber number stored in the first number storage means. The arrival of a mail with a high message is notified to the receiving terminal that is the destination of the mail. In addition, the receiving terminal extracts the identification number of the caller from this call, and when it matches the identification number of the mail server, the telephone charge is
Strong before accepting an incoming call that is a condition of gold billing
Calls are cut off systematically . At the same time, the receiving terminal obtains the subscriber number of the mail server stored in the second number storage means, and makes a call using this subscriber number, so that the received mail stored in the mail server can be received. I'm trying to get it.

[Procedure amendment 10]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0021

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided (a) a transmitting terminal including mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail by adding destination information indicating a destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency; A) first number storage means for storing the subscriber number of the destination corresponding to the destination, mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means, and adding to the mail received by the mail receiving means; Urgency determining means for identifying whether the urgency of the received mail is high by identifying the received urgency information, and when the urgency of the received mail is determined to be high by the urgency determining means Calling means for sending a call to which the subscriber number of the own station has been added using the destination subscriber number stored in the first number storage means based on the destination information added to the mail; Email Incoming call accepting means for accepting an incoming call from a destination, and sending the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means to the destination when the incoming call from the destination of the mail is accepted by the incoming call accepting means. A mail server comprising server transmitting means for performing
(C) Second number storage means for storing the subscriber number of the mail server corresponding to the mail server, number extraction means for extracting the subscriber number from the incoming call from the calling means, and extraction by this number extraction means Determining means for determining whether the determined subscriber number is the subscriber number of the mail server stored in the second number storage means, and determining whether the subscriber number extracted by the determining means is a subscriber of the mail server. If it is determined that the number is a number, the call is forcibly disconnected at a stage before accepting an incoming call which is a condition for charging a telephone charge, and a mail server which is a source of the incoming call is joined. And a receiving terminal mail receiving means for receiving a mail transmitted by the server transmitting means in response to an outgoing call by the receiving terminal calling means. To and a terminal to the e-mail system.

[Procedure amendment 11]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0022

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

That is, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the transmission terminal transmits a mail to which destination information indicating the transmission destination and urgency information indicating the degree of urgency are added. The mail server that has received the e-mail, when the degree of urgency is high based on the urgency information of the e-mail, makes a call using the destination subscriber number stored in the first number storage means. The arrival of a mail with a high message is notified to the receiving terminal that is the destination of the mail. Further, the receiving terminal extracts the subscriber number of the caller from this call, and when the subscriber number matches the identification number of the mail server, the telephone is called.
Stage before accepting an incoming call, which is a condition for charging the talk charge
To forcefully disconnect the call . At the same time, the receiving terminal originates a call using the extracted subscriber number to obtain the received mail stored in the mail server.

[Procedure amendment 12]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0023

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

According to the invention described in claim 4 , claim 2 or
4. The electronic mail system according to claim 3 , wherein the receiving terminal includes a user notifying unit that notifies the user that the contents of the mail have been received when the receiving terminal mail receiving unit receives the mail from the server transmitting unit. It is characterized by having.

[Procedure amendment 13]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0024

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

In other words, in the invention according to claim 4 , when the receiving terminal receives a highly urgent mail from the mail server, the receiving terminal notifies the user of the fact.

[Procedure amendment 14]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0025

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0025] According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the second aspect.
5. The electronic mail system according to claim 4 , wherein the receiving terminal has a built-in wireless telephone and, when it is determined that the identification number extracted by the determination means is not the identification number of the mail server stored in advance, the receiving terminal transmits the incoming call. It is characterized by making a voice call with the original.

[Procedure amendment 15]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0026

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

In other words , according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, by incorporating a wireless telephone, if there is an incoming call from a predetermined mail server, a highly urgent mail is received from the mail server and the incoming call from the predetermined mail server is received. If there is no call, voice communication as a normal telephone function is enabled.

[Procedure amendment 16]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0049

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0049]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is determined that a mail with high urgency has arrived at the receiving end.
Call the subscriber using the subscriber number, and
The receiving terminal forcibly disconnects without answering this call.
In an environment where there is no dedicated line, such as outdoors.
To recognize that an urgent email has arrived
Not only will you be able to do it, but you will receive urgent mail
The telephone charge at the time of notification will not be charged. But
To receive mail using the public network at lower cost.
Will be able to do it.

[Procedure amendment 17]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0050

[Correction method] Deleted

[Procedure amendment 18]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0051

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the arrival of a mail having a high degree of urgency is called using the subscriber number to the receiving terminal, and the receiving terminal responds to the call. In addition to the forcible disconnection, a call is made to a subscriber telephone of a pre-registered mail server to obtain the received mail. This makes it possible to quickly acquire the arrival of a highly urgent mail. Since there is no need to uselessly access the mail server and check the arrival of the received mail, it is possible to minimize the communication cost from the receiving terminal. Further, since the telephone charge is not wastefully charged from the mail server side, it is not necessary to manage the telephone charge to be charged corresponding to each receiving terminal on the mail server side and to perform the billing work. Can be simplified.

[Procedure amendment 19]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0052

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0052] According to the third aspect of the present invention, claim
In addition to the effects of the invention described in 2 , the receiving terminal does not need to store the identification number of each mail server, so that the receiving terminal can be reduced in size and simplified.

[Procedure amendment 20]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0053

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, by notifying the user that a highly urgent mail has been received, the user can be prompted to confirm the contents of the mail.

[Procedure amendment 21]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0054

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Further, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether or not the identification number of the extracted call is the identification number of the mail server stored in advance. Thus, the functions of sending and receiving mails and voice calls can be realized with a simple configuration.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A transmitting terminal comprising a mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail by adding destination information indicating a destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency, and a destination subscriber corresponding to the destination. A number storage unit for storing a number, a mail receiving unit for receiving a mail transmitted by the mail transmitting unit, and a mail attached to the mail according to the urgency information added to the mail received by the mail receiving unit. A mail server having calling means for making a call using the subscriber number of the destination stored in the number storage means based on the destination information, and an incoming call from the calling means having a high urgency. An e-mail system comprising: a receiving terminal including a notifying unit for notifying that the mail has arrived at the mail server. 2. A transmission terminal comprising a mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail by adding destination information indicating a destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency, and a subscriber of the destination corresponding to the destination. Number storing means for storing a number, mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means, and mail received by identifying the urgency information added to the mail received by the mail receiving means Urgency determining means for determining whether the urgency of the mail is high, and when it is determined that the urgency of the mail received by the urgency determining means is high, based on the destination information added to the mail. A mail server comprising: a calling unit for sending a call to which an identification number of the own station is added using a subscriber number of a transmission destination stored in the number storage unit; and an incoming call from the calling unit. Identification number extracting means for extracting the identification number, determining means for determining whether or not the identification number extracted by the identification number extracting means is a previously stored identification number of the mail server; When it is determined that the identification number extracted by the means is the identification number of the mail server stored in advance, it is notified that a mail with high urgency has arrived at the mail server and to answer the incoming call. An e-mail system comprising: a receiving terminal including a call disconnecting unit for forcibly disconnecting the call. 3. A sending terminal comprising a mail sending means for sending a mail with sending destination information indicating a sending destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency, and a subscriber of the sending destination corresponding to the sending destination. First number storing means for storing a number, mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means, and identifying and receiving the urgency information added to the mail received by the mail receiving means. Urgency determining means for determining whether or not the urgency of the received mail is high; and when it is determined that the urgency of the mail received by the urgency determining means is high, the transmission destination information added to the mail is Calling means for sending a call to which the identification number of the own station is added using the subscriber number of the transmission destination stored in the first number storage means, and receiving an incoming call from the transmission destination of the mail. Incoming call receiving means to be attached, and server transmitting means for transmitting the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means to the destination when the incoming call receiving means receives an incoming call from the destination of the mail. A mail server provided; second number storage means for storing an identification number of a mail server and a subscriber number corresponding to the mail server; and identification number extracting means for extracting the identification number from an incoming call from the calling means Determining means for determining whether or not the identification number extracted by the identification number extracting means is the identification number of the mail server stored in the second number storage means; and identifying the identification number extracted by the determining means. When it is determined that the number is the identification number of the mail server, it notifies that the mail with high urgency has arrived at the mail server. And forcibly disconnect the call without responding to the incoming call and refer to the second number storage means to make a call using the subscriber number of the mail server from which the incoming call originates. An e-mail comprising: a receiving terminal comprising: a calling unit; and a receiving terminal mail receiving unit that receives a mail transmitted by the server transmitting unit in response to an outgoing call by the receiving terminal calling unit. system. 4. A transmitting terminal comprising a mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail by adding destination information indicating a destination and urgency information indicating a degree of urgency, and a subscriber of the destination corresponding to the destination. First number storing means for storing a number, mail receiving means for receiving the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means, and identifying and receiving the urgency information added to the mail received by the mail receiving means. Urgency determining means for determining whether or not the urgency of the received mail is high; and when it is determined that the urgency of the mail received by the urgency determining means is high, the transmission destination information added to the mail is Calling means for sending a call to which the subscriber number of the own station is added using the subscriber number of the transmission destination stored in the first number storage means, Incoming call accepting means for receiving, and server transmitting means for transmitting the mail transmitted by the mail transmitting means to the destination when the incoming call receiving means receives an incoming call from the destination of the mail. A mail server provided with: a second number storage means for storing a subscriber number of the mail server corresponding to the mail server; a number extraction means for extracting the subscriber number from an incoming call from the calling means; Determining means for determining whether the subscriber number extracted by the number extracting means is the subscriber number of the mail server stored in the second number storing means; When it is determined that the number is the subscriber number of the mail server, it is notified that a mail with high urgency has arrived at the mail server. Receiving terminal calling means for forcibly disconnecting the incoming call without answering the incoming call and calling using the subscriber number of the mail server from which the incoming call is originated; and A receiving terminal for receiving a mail transmitted by the server transmitting means in response to an outgoing call; and a receiving terminal including mail receiving means. 5. The receiving terminal includes user notification means for notifying a user that the contents of the mail have been received when the receiving terminal mail receiving means receives the mail from the server transmitting means. The e-mail system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein: 6. The receiving terminal has a built-in wireless telephone,
4. A voice call with the originator of the incoming call when it is determined that the identification number extracted by the determination means is not the identification number of the mail server stored in advance. An electronic mail system according to claim 5.