JPH1174928A - Electronic mail center device and non-reading information notice method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic mail center device constituting an electronic mail system informing a transmitter of a non-reading electronic mail with the increase of less traffic and to provide a non-reading information notice method. SOLUTION: An input/output interface 111, an input part 112, an output part 113, a command processing means 114 decoding a command from inputted information and executing a necessary processing, a storage part 115 storing the arrived electronic mail until read access from the user of a destination, a non-reading mail processing part 116, a lapse time retrieval part 117, a system clock 118 outputting informant of time and a control part 119 are provided. The non-reading mail processing part 116 retrieves the arriving time of the electronic mail stored in the storage part 115. The lapse time retrieval part 117 calculates lapse time from information on arrival time and information of time from the system clock 118, automatically returns the electronic mail to which non-reading information is added to the transmitter or the electronic mail exceeding prescribed lapse time and informs him of a non-reading state.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail system, and more particularly to an electronic mail central unit connected to a plurality of electronic mail devices via a communication line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronic mail system of this type which has been conventionally used generally employs the structure shown in FIG. That is, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional electronic mail system. In the figure, reference numeral 310 denotes an electronic mail central unit, 311 denotes an input / output interface, 312 denotes an input unit, 313 denotes an output unit, 314 denotes a command processing unit, and 315
Is a storage unit, 315a is a mail storage area, 319 is a control unit, 321, 322, and 32n are electronic mail devices, 330
Is a network.

In a conventional e-mail system, an e-mail sender sends an e-mail from his / her own e-mail apparatus to a destination address of the destination e-mail apparatus, an identification number of a destination user, an address of a source e-mail apparatus, and a transmission. The e-mail text with the identification number of the user in a predetermined order is sent to the e-mail central unit 310 via the network 330.
Send to Here, the sender's e-mail device is 32
1. A description will be given assuming that the destination e-mail device is 322.

When an e-mail from the e-mail device 321 arrives at the input / output interface 311 of the e-mail central device 310 to which the destination e-mail device 322 belongs, the e-mail central device 310 inputs the contents of the e-mail into an input unit. The command is received by 312, the command is analyzed by the command processing unit 314, and the contents of the e-mail are stored in a predetermined position of the mail storage area 315 a of the storage unit 315.

[0005] The user sends an inquiry to the electronic mail central unit 310 via the network 330 to check whether an electronic mail addressed to his own identification number is stored at the address of his own electronic mail device 322. An inquiry from the electronic mail device 322 is input / output interface 311
Is received by the electronic mail central unit 310, the content of the inquiry is received by the input unit 312, and the command processing unit 31
4 to analyze the command, search the mail storage area 315a of the storage unit 315 for an e-mail with the specified address and identification number, and if there is a stored e-mail, output the contents of the e-mail from the output unit 313 to the input / output interface. 31
1 and transmitted to the e-mail device 322 of the user who transmitted the inquiry via the network 330, and the received user deletes the e-mail from the mail storage area 315a, and the transmission / reception of the e-mail is completed.

As an application of this conventional electronic mail system, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-268253 discloses a memory for storing mail for each mail receiving subscriber in a storage section of an electronic mail central unit, and a memory provided in each memory. An e-mail module equipped with a display indicating the presence of a memory and an e-mail arrival guidance message sending unit is provided, and searches for the presence of an e-mail during a certain time after the e-mail presence display is set or at a predetermined time. In addition, there is disclosed an e-mail arrival guidance service system for sending a mail arrival guidance message to a receiving subscriber of a memory in which a mail presence display is set.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 5-344148 discloses a method in which a read information code is provided in an electronic mail, and when an electronic mail apparatus receives an electronic mail addressed to the user whose read information symbol is an unread symbol, the electronic mail is automatically sent to the electronic mail. The destination address and identification number of the mail are exchanged with the sender's address and identification number, the read information code is switched to the read code, and the sender is used as reception confirmation information together with predetermined information capable of identifying the electronic mail. Send to When the sender's e-mail device receives an e-mail whose read information code is the read code, the e-mail is automatically determined to be the read information e-mail, and the corresponding e-mail in the e-mail management list created when the e-mail was sent. The e-mail device that can change the read information code in the section from the unread code to the read code and allow the sender to confirm that the transmitted e-mail has been transmitted to the destination by browsing the e-mail management list is disclosed. Have been.

[0008]

In the above-described conventional e-mail system, a sender who starts an e-mail via an e-mail central unit determines whether the e-mail has been received by a destination user. I can't get information about In order to confirm receipt, it is necessary to confirm the destination by telephone or send an e-mail to the destination user to confirm receipt of the e-mail and wait for the answer from the destination user It takes time and trouble, and there is a problem that an answer cannot be obtained until the user of the destination retrieves and retrieves the e-mail for confirmation from the e-mail central unit.

The incoming call guidance service disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-268253 has the effect of prompting a destination user to retrieve an e-mail, thereby facilitating retrieval of the e-mail. Cannot confirm that the e-mail has been received by the intended user.

In the method disclosed in JP-A-5-344148, in which a read information mail is automatically generated by a destination user's e-mail device and transmitted to a sender's e-mail, the sender transmits the read information mail. Although it can be confirmed that the e-mail has been received, a means for creating and managing an e-mail management list, a means for identifying the received e-mail, and a read-in based on the identification result are provided in all the e-mail devices of the user. It is necessary to add a means to create an information e-mail and send it to the sender or to process it into an e-mail management list, and there is a problem of increased cost, and all e-mails arriving at the destination user are On the other hand, the transmission of the read information e-mail has a problem that the traffic per one e-mail is approximately doubled.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail central unit and an unread information notification method which constitute an electronic mail system capable of notifying a sender of an unread electronic mail with a small increase in traffic.

[0012]

An electronic mail central device according to the present invention is an electronic mail central device which is a server of an electronic mail system, and is an input / output means for receiving and transmitting information including an electronic mail to / from a network. Command processing means for decoding a command from input information and performing necessary processing; storage means for storing an incoming e-mail until there is a read access from a destination user;
Unread mail processing means, comprising a control means having a storage medium and controlling each means, the unread mail processing means monitors the elapsed time of the e-mail stored in the storage means, and when the elapsed time exceeds a predetermined elapsed time It has means for notifying the sender of the e-mail of the unread information.

The unread mail processing means includes an unread mail processing section, an elapsed time search section, and a system clock for outputting time information to the elapsed time search section. The unread mail processing section is stored in the storage means. At least one of the sending and receiving times of the e-mail is searched and output to the elapsed time searching unit, and unread by the sender of the e-mail having passed the predetermined elapsed time based on information from the elapsed time searching unit. A means for reporting information, wherein the elapsed time search unit calculates an elapsed time from at least one of the outgoing and incoming time information from the unread mail processing unit and the time information from the system clock, and It is desirable to have means for outputting information of an e-mail exceeding the elapsed time to the unread e-mail processing unit.

The method for reporting unread information of an electronic mail central device according to the present invention is a method for reporting unread information of an electronic mail central device, which is a server of an electronic mail system, wherein the method for extracting unread information stored in a storage means of the electronic mail central device. A step of retrieving and outputting at least one of the outgoing and incoming times of the e-mail waiting for access, and an elapsed time from the at least one of the outgoing and incoming times information and the time information from the system clock Calculating the e-mail information and outputting e-mail information exceeding a predetermined elapsed time;
Reporting the unread information to the sender of the e-mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time.

The unread information is an electronic mail addressed to the sender of the electronic mail, with information indicating that the other party is unread added to a predetermined position in the content of the electronic mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time. An e-mail destined to an e-mail sender, in which a part of the contents of the e-mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time is extracted, information indicating that the other party is unread is added to a predetermined position, and Is also good.

Further, a step of transmitting unread information to a sender of the e-mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time and deleting the e-mail from the storage means may be added.

[0017]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an e-mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic layout diagram of an e-mail. FIG. 1 (a) shows the contents of a reception state, and FIG. Indicates the added state. In the figure, reference numeral 110 denotes an electronic mail central unit, 111 denotes an input / output interface, 112 denotes an input unit, 113 denotes an output unit, 11
4 is a command processing unit, 115 is a storage unit, 115a is a mail storage area, 116 is an unread mail processing unit, 117 is an elapsed time search unit, 118 is a system clock, 119 is a control unit, 119a is a recording medium, 121 and 122, 12n is an e-mail device, 130 is a network, 201 is a sender, 202 is a reception time, 203 is a title, 204 is unread information, and 205 is a transmission time.

In the e-mail system of the present invention, the e-mail sender sends the destination address of the destination e-mail device, the identification number of the destination user, and the source e-mail device in the same manner as before. The e-mail text in which the address of the e-mail and the identification number of the sender are added in a predetermined order is transmitted to the e-mail central device 110 as a server via the network 130. Here, the e-mail device of the sender is described as 121, and the e-mail device of the destination is described as 122.

When an electronic mail from the electronic mail device 121 arrives at the input / output interface 111 of the electronic mail central device 110 to which the destination electronic mail device 122 belongs,
In the electronic mail central device 110, the content of the electronic mail is received by the input unit 112 according to the instruction of the control unit 119, and is transferred to the command processing unit 114 according to the instruction of the control unit 119. The command of the e-mail is analyzed, and the contents of the e-mail are transferred to the storage unit 115. The storage unit 115 stores the e-mail at a predetermined position in the mail storage area 115a according to an instruction from the control unit 119.

As in the prior art, the user inquires whether the e-mail addressed to his / her own identification number is stored at the address of his / her e-mail device 122 via the network 13.
0 to the electronic mail central unit 110. When an inquiry from the e-mail device 122 arrives at the input / output interface 111 of the e-mail central device 110, the e-mail central device 110 receives the contents of the inquiry at the input unit 112 according to the instruction of the control unit 119, and the input unit 112 The content of the inquiry is transferred to the command processing unit 114 according to the instruction of the unit 119, and the command processing unit 114
Then, the command is analyzed in accordance with the instruction of the control unit 119, the electronic mail of the designated address and the identification number stored in the mail storage area 115a of the storage unit 115 is searched, and if there is the stored electronic mail, the storage unit 115 The e-mail device 12 of the user who transmitted the inquiry from the output unit 113 via the input / output interface 111 and the network 130 according to the instruction of the control unit 119.
2 to the mail storage area 115
The e-mail is deleted from "a", and transmission / reception of the e-mail is completed as in the conventional e-mail system.

In the electronic mail central unit 110 of the present invention,
In response to an instruction from the control unit 119, the unread mail processing unit 116 selects the e-mail sender 201 and the reception time 202 from the e-mail information stored in the mail storage area 115a.
The elapsed time is calculated by comparing the e-mail reception time 202 searched by the elapsed time search unit 117 with the system clock 118, and the elapsed time set in the elapsed time search unit 117 is set in advance. Is exceeded, the content of the e-mail is called from the mail storage area 115a, and the title (Subject) 2 of the e-mail is read.
03 to the unread information 204
Is automatically added, the current mail address of the e-mail is moved to the sender field, the e-mail sender is edited as the e-mail destination, the e-mail is sent to the e-mail sender as an e-mail, Is stored in the mail storage area of the electronic mail central unit to which the electronic mail device belongs.
A storage area for each user is provided in the mail storage area 115a, and the e-mails of a plurality of destinations store the same e-mail in a storage area for each user of each destination,
The unread e-mail processing unit 116 stores the mail in the mail storage area 115
The received time is searched from the storage area for each destination in “a”, and the elapsed time is calculated by comparing the e-mail reception time 202 searched by the elapsed time search unit 117 with the system clock 118, and the elapsed time is searched. If the elapsed time set in advance in the section 117 is exceeded, the content of the e-mail is called from the user-specific storage area of the mail storage area 115a, and the title of the e-mail (Subje
ct) 203, the character code of <other party unread mail> is automatically added as unread information 204, the mail address of the user in the storage area where the e-mail is stored is moved to the sender column, and the e-mail sender is By editing as a destination and sending it as an e-mail, it is possible to notify the sender of which e-mail of a plurality of destinations the e-mail is unread. Figure 2 is from hanako to taro
Jiro received e-mail to jiro
Since aro is unread, the unread information is e-mailed to hanako.

In the above description, the reception time 202 of the e-mail is searched, but the transmission time 205 may be used, or both may be searched. The addition position of the unread information 204 may be a predetermined position other than the title 203, and the unread information 20
4 may also be another code that conveys unread.

The e-mail sender sends an inquiry as to whether an e-mail addressed to his / her own identification number is stored at the address of his / her e-mail device 122 or not.
Is sent to the e-mail central unit 110 via e-mail, the e-mail title 2 together with e-mails from other senders
It is possible to receive the e-mail sent by the user automatically added with the character code of <unread e-mail> to 03, and confirm that the e-mail has not arrived at the destination.

Here, the character code of <unread mail> is automatically added to the title of the sender's e-mail and the entire e-mail is transmitted to the sender as unread information. Part of the email title and body,
Alternatively, a part of the contents of the e-mail such as the reception time, the destination, and the title of the e-mail may be extracted, edited, and transmitted. As a result, the traffic volume can be reduced.

[0025] In addition, the unread e-mail which has passed a predetermined time from the reception time is transmitted to the sender as an e-mail with <other unread e-mail deleted> added to the title, and the e-mail is stored in the storage unit of the e-mail central unit. The e-mail may be deleted. This makes it possible to organize e-mails stored in the storage unit for a long time.

The above-described control program of the electronic mail central unit 110 is read from the recording medium 119a into a data processing device (not shown) of the control unit 119, and controls the operation of the data processing device. The control unit 119 executes processing in the following procedure under the control of the control program.

That is, when an electronic mail arrives at the input interface unit 111, the contents of the electronic mail are received by the input unit 112 and transferred to the command processing unit 114.
The command processing unit 114 analyzes the command of the e-mail, and if the e-mail is addressed to the e-mail device 122 to which the e-mail belongs, the contents of the e-mail are transferred to the storage unit 115. The procedure for storing in the location and the e-mail device 12 of the belonging user
2, when an inquiry about whether an electronic mail addressed to the own identification number is stored at the address of the electronic mail device 122 arrives at the input / output interface 111, the contents of the inquiry are received by the input unit 112, and the input unit 112 is inquired. A procedure for causing the command processing unit 114 to analyze the command and searching for an e-mail with the specified address and identification number stored in the mail storage area 115a of the storage unit 115; If there is a stored e-mail, a procedure for transmitting the contents of the e-mail from the storage unit 115 to the e-mail device 122 of the user who transmitted the inquiry from the output unit 113 via the input / output interface 111 and the network 130, The mail processing area 116 stores the mail storage area 1
The e-mail sender and the reception time are retrieved from the e-mail information stored in the e-mail information 15a, and the retrieved e-mail reception time is compared with the system clock 118 and the elapsed time is calculated by the elapsed time retrieval unit 117. If the elapsed time exceeds the preset elapsed time set in the elapsed time search unit 117, the unread mail processing unit 116 calls the e-mail from the mail storage area 115a, and the e-mail title (Subject) is set to < The process is performed according to the procedure of automatically adding the character code of the unread mail of the other party and transmitting it as an electronic mail to the electronic mail sender.

It can be easily inferred that each of the above procedures can be realized by software such as a program recorded on the recording medium 119a.

[0029]

As described above, in the e-mail system of the present invention, the e-mail central unit for storing the e-mail from the sender addressed to the user uses the stored e-mail from the arrival time or the outgoing time of the stored e-mail. The elapsed time is monitored, unread information is added to the e-mail that has passed the predetermined time, and the e-mail is sent to the sender as an e-mail. This has the effect of preventing leakage.

Further, since the information of the e-mail not received by the destination user is transmitted to the sender, the traffic is reduced as compared with the method of transmitting the information of the e-mail received by the destination user to the sender. This has the effect of helping you.

Further, since there is no need to modify the user's e-mail device, and it can be carried out only by using the e-mail central device, there is an effect that the execution is easy and the equipment cost is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a schematic layout diagram of an electronic mail. (A) shows the contents of the reception state. (B) shows a state where unread information is added.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional electronic mail system.

[Explanation of symbols]

110, 310 Electronic mail central unit 111, 311 Input / output interface 112, 312 Input unit 113, 313 Output unit 114, 314 Command processing unit 115, 315 Storage unit 115a, 315a Mail storage area 116 Unread mail processing unit 117 Elapsed time search unit 118 System clock 119, 319 Control unit 119a, 319a Recording medium 121, 122, 12n, 321, 322, 32n
E-mail device 130, 330 Network 201 Sender 202 Reception time 203 Title 204 Unread information

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An electronic mail central device which is a server of an electronic mail system, comprising: an input / output means for receiving / transmitting information including an electronic mail from / to a network; A command processing means for performing processing, a storage means capable of storing an incoming e-mail until there is a read access from a destination user, an unread mail processing means, and a storage medium for controlling the respective means Control means, wherein the unread mail processing means monitors the elapsed time of the e-mail stored in the storage means, and notifies the sender of the e-mail of unread information when a predetermined elapsed time is exceeded. An electronic mail central unit, comprising: 2. The unread mail processing unit includes an unread mail processing unit, an elapsed time search unit, and a system clock that outputs time information to the elapsed time search unit. At least one of the stored outgoing and incoming times of the e-mail is retrieved and output to the elapsed time search unit, and the sender of the e-mail having passed a predetermined elapsed time based on information from the elapsed time search unit Means for reporting unread information, and the elapsed time search unit calculates the elapsed time from at least one of the outgoing and incoming times from the unread mail processing unit and the time information from the system clock. 2. The electronic mail central device according to claim 1, further comprising means for outputting information of the electronic mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time to the unread mail processing unit. 3. A method for reporting unread information of an electronic mail central unit, which is a server of an electronic mail system, comprising the steps of sending and receiving time of an electronic mail waiting for retrieval access stored in storage means of the electronic mail central unit. A step of retrieving and outputting at least one of the information; calculating an elapsed time from at least one of the outgoing and incoming times information and time information from a system clock; A method of reporting unread information of an electronic mail central unit, comprising: outputting mail information; and reporting unread information to a sender of the electronic mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time. 4. The unread information, wherein information indicating that the other party is unread is added to a predetermined position in the content of the e-mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time, and the e-mail addressed to the e-mail sender is added. 4. The method for reporting unread information of the electronic mail central unit according to claim 3, wherein 5. The unread information is obtained by extracting a part of the content of the e-mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time, adding information indicating that the other party is unread at a predetermined position, and sending the e-mail to an e-mail sender. 4. The e-mail as described in claim 3.
The unread information reporting method of the electronic mail central unit described in the above. 6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising a step of transmitting unread information to a sender of the e-mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time and deleting the e-mail from the storage unit. The unread information reporting method of the electronic mail central unit described in the section. 7. A control program for notifying a sender of unread information of an e-mail stored in a storage means for storing a received e-mail until a read access is made from a destination user for a predetermined elapsed time. A procedure for causing the unread mail processing means to search for information on at least one of the outgoing and incoming times of the e-mail waiting for retrieval access stored in the storage means of the e-mail central device, wherein Causing the unread mail processing means to calculate the elapsed time from the information on at least one of the outgoing and incoming times and the time information from the system clock, and to output information on the e-mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time; Causing the unread mail processing means to report the unread information to the sender of the e-mail exceeding a predetermined elapsed time. A machine-readable recording medium that stores a program to be executed.