JP2000232530A - Method for transferring electronic mail to portable terminal, electronic mail center system and portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically transfer an electronic mail from a mail center to a portable terminal. SOLUTION: When an electronic mail reaches a mail center 5 from the Internet 7 or the like, a mail box of a mail server 55 stores the electronic mail. An access server 53 gives an incoming call notice to a portable mail terminal 1 via a PDC radio telephone network 32. The portable main terminal 1 discriminates the incoming call notice from a telephone number of the mail center 5 in the PDC radio telephone network 32 stored in advance to disconnect the line. The terminal 1 calls the mail center 5 via a PHS radio telephone network 31 to request the transfer of the electronic mail. An access server 53 reads the electronic mail from the mail server 55 and transmits the electronic mail to the portable mail terminal 1 via the PHS radio telephone network 31. Since the transfer of the electronic mail is conducted on the basis of a call from the portable mail terminal 1, the commercial mail center 5 can be in operation by allowing user sides to burden the cost of the data transfer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for transferring an electronic mail to a portable terminal that receives an electronic mail at a portable terminal using a mail center, an electronic mail center device, and a portable terminal device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an electronic mail system for connecting a mail center and a mail terminal such as a personal computer via a telephone network has been widely used. An e-mail sent to a user such as a personal computer via the Internet or the like is temporarily stored in a mailbox of a mail center, and the user transfers and receives an e-mail addressed to the user from the mailbox of the mail center. Users do not need to have email available at all times,
If necessary, you can call the mail center to read the e-mail addressed to you, and the sender of the e-mail
You can send email at any time. Such a mail center is operated based on a contract with a user, and the user pays a fee for use. In addition, it is assumed that the user bears both the telephone charge and the communication cost.

A system for notifying a user of a mail terminal from a mail center that an electronic mail addressed to a user has arrived at a mail center is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H5-2070.
55 and JP-A-5-252199.
In these prior arts, a telephone number of a telephone line connected to a mail center by a mail terminal is stored in the mail center in advance, and when an e-mail addressed to the user arrives at the mail center, the mail center is stored. Sends a mail arrival notification to the telephone number you are using.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-107835 discloses that
A system for transmitting an e-mail arriving at a mail center to a user's mail terminal via a wireless telephone network is disclosed. Also, JP-A-6-46166 and JP-A-8-70
In step 359, when the called party is called from the calling party in the ISDN line, information related to the calling party is stored, and based on the stored information, the called party automatically calls back and makes a call. A terminal adapter having a function of calling a side has been proposed.

[0005]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention
5 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-252199 only provide a function that allows a mail terminal to know that an electronic mail addressed to a user has arrived at a mail center. In order to receive the notified e-mail at the mail terminal,
It is necessary for the mail terminal to perform an operation for calling the mail center in accordance with a normal communication procedure. For this reason, it is necessary for the user to call a mail center by operating a portable mail terminal whose operability is not always good for downsizing, and the convenience for the user of the e-mail is not achieved.

In the prior art of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-107835, when an e-mail is received by a mail center for a user of a portable terminal, the mail terminal is called from the mail center to transfer the e-mail. . In this prior art, the transfer of the e-mail is performed by making a call from the mail center to the portable terminal, so that the communication cost required for the transfer of the e-mail is borne by the mail center. Therefore, the communication fee cannot be applied as a service provided by a commercial mail center operated on the assumption that the user bears the communication fee.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. Hei 6-46166 and Hei 8-
In the prior art such as 70359, after the data for identifying the calling party is acquired for the incoming call without confirming the contents of the incoming call, the called party automatically calls back. Neither can the content be identified. Therefore, not only the notification of the incoming e-mail but also the operation of automatically calling the other party should be performed for a general call.

In each of the prior arts described above, data communication is performed via a single telephone network. PH today
S (Personal Handy System) and PDC (Personal Digi
Multiple cell phone systems are available, such as talCellular). Among them, PDC can be used while moving, and has a wide service area. P
Although HS cannot be used while moving,
Data communication can be performed with high transmission quality and transmission speed using a data communication protocol such as PIAFS (PHS Internet Access Forum Standard). Therefore, when only a single telephone network is used for communication as in each prior art, transmission of a mail arrival notification in which the size of the receivable area is important and data in which transmission quality and transmission speed are important are important. It is not possible to select an optimal transmission path and transfer an e-mail with the transmission of a mail text using communication.

An object of the present invention is to notify a portable terminal of incoming electronic mail to a mail center by radio, select a communication transmission path on the portable terminal side, call the mail center, and transfer the arrived electronic mail. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of transferring an electronic mail to a portable terminal, an electronic mail center device, and a portable terminal device.

[0010]

According to the present invention, an electronic mail center having a mailbox for an electronic mail to a user of a portable terminal and a portable terminal are provided with a plurality of communication transmission lines including a radio communication transmission line. When an e-mail addressed to the user arrives in the mailbox of the e-mail center, the e-mail center sends an e-mail arrival notification to the user's portable terminal via the wireless communication transmission path, and the e-mail The mobile terminal that has received the mail arrival notification from the center selects one of the plurality of communication transmission paths, transmits a transfer request to the electronic mail center, and receives the electronic mail transferred from the electronic mail center. This is a method for transferring an e-mail to a portable terminal.

According to the present invention, the portable terminal and the electronic mail center can be connected by a plurality of communication transmission lines including a wireless communication transmission line. When an e-mail to the user of the portable terminal arrives at the mailbox of the e-mail center, the e-mail center sends an e-mail notification to the user's portable terminal via a wireless communication transmission path. Since the mail arrival notification to the portable terminal is transmitted via the wireless communication transmission path, the arrival notification can be reliably received if the portable terminal is within the service area of the wireless communication transmission path. When the portable terminal receives the mail arrival notification from the e-mail center, it selects one of the plurality of communication transmission paths, transmits a transfer request to the e-mail center, and responds to the transfer request by the e-mail center. Receive e-mails forwarded from. Email transfer is based on a transfer request based on a call from a mobile device,
The communication fee is borne by the user of the portable terminal that is the caller,
The e-mail transfer service can be effectively executed as a service of an e-mail center operated on the assumption that the user bears the communication fee.

In the present invention, the portable terminal and the electronic mail center can be connected via a plurality of types of wireless communication transmission lines. And transmitting the mail arrival notification to the portable terminal.

According to the present invention, the portable terminal and the electronic mail center can be connected via a plurality of types of wireless communication transmission lines, and the electronic mail center selects one of the wireless communication transmission lines. The mobile phone sends an email notification to the portable terminal, so it selects the optimal wireless communication transmission path in terms of the service area, transmission speed, etc., according to the moving state of the mobile terminal, and sends the email notification to the mobile terminal. It can be sent to a type terminal.

In the present invention, the selection is performed according to a preset priority.

According to the present invention, the selection of a plurality of communication transmission lines is performed in accordance with a preset priority. Therefore, priorities are determined in advance in accordance with transmission quality, transmission speed, or the size of a service area. Notification of incoming e-mail and transfer of e-mail can be performed under appropriate conditions.

Further, in the present invention, the electronic mail center includes:
For each communication transmission path that can be selected by the portable terminal, association information for authenticating the association with the user is registered, and for a transfer request that matches the registered association information, Only the transfer of the e-mail from the mailbox is performed.

According to the present invention, the electronic mail center registers association information for authenticating the association with the user for each communication transmission path that can be selected by the portable terminal, and registers the information. The e-mail is transferred from the mailbox only for the transfer request that matches the related information, so the e-mail is transferred from the mailbox according to the related information even if the user selects any of the multiple communication transmission paths. Security function to prevent e-mail from being forwarded to a third party or the like.

Further, the present invention provides a connection between a mail server having a mailbox for e-mail to a user of a portable terminal and a portable terminal of the user via a plurality of communication transmission paths including a radio communication transmission path. And a portable terminal that notifies the portable terminal of the arrival of the e-mail to the user's mailbox via a wireless transmission path. If there is an e-mail transfer request from the portable terminal, the transfer request is sent. Control means for controlling the transfer of the electronic mail from the mailbox to the portable terminal via the formed communication transmission path.

According to the present invention, the electronic mail center device includes a mail server, a communication terminal, and dedicated means.
The mail server includes a mailbox for electronic mail to a user of the portable terminal device. The communication terminal can be connected to the user's portable terminal via a plurality of communication transmission lines including a wireless communication transmission line. When an e-mail arrives in the user's mailbox, the portable terminal is notified of the arrival via the wireless communication transmission line, and if there is an e-mail transfer request from the portable terminal, the e-mail is transmitted through the communication transmission line where the transfer request was made Control to transfer the e-mail from the mailbox to the portable terminal via the e-mail, notifies the user of the arrival of the e-mail via the wireless communication transmission path, and in response to the transfer request by the user calling, the user The electronic mail can be transferred through the selected communication transmission path.

Further, the present invention provides an electronic mail center having a mailbox for an electronic mail to a user, a communication circuit connectable through a plurality of communication transmission lines including a wireless communication transmission line, and an output from the communication circuit. When a response is received and an incoming notification from the e-mail center indicating that an e-mail to the user has arrived at the mailbox is received, select one of the communication transmission paths and send the e-mail to the e-mail center. And a control circuit for controlling the communication circuit so as to transmit the transfer request and receive the electronic mail transferred from the electronic mail center.

According to the present invention, a portable terminal device includes a communication circuit and a control circuit. The communication circuit can be connected to an electronic mail center having a mailbox for an electronic mail to a user through a plurality of communication transmission lines including a wireless communication transmission line. The control circuit responds to the output from the communication circuit,
When an incoming notification from the electronic mail center indicating that an electronic mail to the user has arrived in the mailbox is received, one of the communication transmission paths is selected and a request to transfer the electronic mail to the electronic mail center is made. The communication circuit is controlled so as to transmit and receive electronic mail transferred from the electronic mail center. If the portable terminal device receives an incoming notification from the e-mail center, it can select a communication transmission path and transfer the e-mail from the e-mail center. Therefore, the user calls the e-mail center to receive the incoming e-mail. The e-mail can be automatically transferred without performing the operation of confirming the presence or absence of a request to transfer the received e-mail and receiving the e-mail.

[0022]

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a real mode portable electronic mail system as one embodiment of the present invention. The portable mail terminal 1 can communicate with the base station 2 by wireless communication. Portable mail terminal 1
Has two types of mobile phone functions, PHS and PDC, and can communicate between the PHS base station 21 and the PDC base station 22. The base station 2 is connected via a wireless telephone network 3 and a line 4 to a mail center 5 which is an electronic mail center. A PHS wireless telephone network 31 and a PDC wireless telephone network 32, and a PHS line 41 and a PDC line 42 are also provided for the wireless telephone network 3 and the line 4. The mail center 5 is connected to an Internet network 7 via an Internet connection line 6, and is capable of sending and receiving e-mail via the Internet network 7. Such a real mode portable electronic mail system is different from a conventional portable electronic mail system in that it can be connected via two types of wireless communication transmission paths.

Note that the portable mail terminal 1 may be a combination of a real mode portable telephone corresponding to a plurality of telephone networks, a general-purpose information processing device such as a personal computer, a word processor, and the like. As the communication transmission path, a combination with, for example, a satellite telephone network other than the PHS wireless telephone network 31 and the PDC wireless telephone network 32 as the wireless telephone network 3 can be used. The PHS line 41 and the PDC line 42 can be combined into a general telephone line or an ISDN line.

The mail center 5 has a private branch exchange (hereinafter referred to as a private branch exchange).
(PBX is abbreviated from Private Branch eXchange)
51, a local line 52, an access server 53, a LAN communication line 54, a mail server 55, and a router 56. P
The DX 51 is connected to the PHS wireless telephone network 31 and the PDC wireless telephone network 3 via the PHS line 41 and the PDC line 42.
2 can communicate with each other. In the mail center 5,
The PBX 51 is connected to the access server 5 via the private line 52.
3 is connected. The private line is a private line 521 for PHS.
And a PDC private line 522. The access server 53 is connected to a mail server 55 via a LAN communication line 54 such as Ethernet which is a medium of the private network. In the mail server 55, a mailbox of the user of the portable mail terminal 1 is opened. The mail server 55 is connected to the Internet 7 via a router 56. The PHS private line 521 and the PDC private line 522 can be integrated into one private line.

Access server 53 and mail server 5
5 is realized by a workstation or the like, respectively. If there is no problem in performance, a workstation can be used only for the mail server 55, and the access server 53 can be supported by a modem or a terminal adapter compatible with PIAFS. The mail server 55 can be connected to a personal computer communication network or an intranet network together with or instead of the Internet network 7. The LAN communication line 54 can also be realized by a medium such as FDDI or ATM.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the portable mail terminal 1 and the mail center 5 of FIG. 1 in more detail. The portable mail terminal 1 has an independent antenna 11 and a high frequency (hereinafter abbreviated as “RF”) for PHS and PDC, respectively.
The wireless communication with the base station 2 is performed using the circuit 12. That is, wireless communication is performed with the PHS base station 21 using the PHS antenna 111 and the PHS RF circuit 121, and P
Wireless communication is performed with the PDC base station 22 using the DC antenna 112 and the PDC RF circuit 122. The portable mail terminal 1 of the present embodiment also has a function as a portable telephone, and performs conversion of an analog signal into a digital signal and conversion of a digital signal into an analog signal with the AD / DA converter 13. An audio signal converted into an analog signal is output from the speaker 14, and an analog audio signal input to the microphone 15 can be converted into a digital signal. If the telephone function is unnecessary, the AD / DA converter 13, the speaker 14, and the microphone 15 can be omitted. Also,
It is desirable that the PHS antenna 111 and the PDC antenna 112 be integrated into one antenna.

The operation of the portable mail terminal 1 is controlled by a control and interface circuit 16. The control and interface circuit 16 controls storage of information in the storage device 17 as well as control for functions of the conventional mobile phone. The storage device 17 includes a center PHS number storage device 171 for storing a telephone number for connecting the mail center 5 to the PHS wireless telephone network 31 and a center PDC telephone number for storing a telephone number for connecting the mail center 5 to the PDC wireless telephone network 32. It has a storage device 172 and a mail user name storage device 173 that stores a mail user name registered in the mail center 5 by a user using the portable mail terminal 1.
The telephone number used when the mail center 5 connects to the PHS wireless telephone network 31 and the PDC wireless telephone network 32 and the mail user name registered in the mail center 5 are stored in the main storage device 18 by a software method. Otherwise, the center PHS number storage device 171, the center PDC number storage device 172, and the mail user name storage device 173 may not be provided. The incoming call from the mail center 5 or the like is displayed on the input display device 19.

The access server 53 of the mail center 5 includes a line connection unit 531 connected via the PBX 51 and the private line 52, a control device 532, and an adapter 533. The line connection unit 531 is connected to the PHS private line 521.
Line connection unit 5311 connected to PDC line connection unit 5312 and PDC line connection unit 5312 connected to PDC private line 522
Having. The control device 532 communicates with the PHS wireless telephone network 31 and P
Control such as selection of which of the DC wireless telephone networks 32 to use for notifying the portable mail terminal 1 of an incoming call is performed.
The adapter 533 is provided to connect the control device 532 to the LAN communication line 54.

The mail server 55 includes an association table 554 and an authentication device 555 in addition to a control device 551, a storage device 552, and a mailbox 553 mounted on a conventional mail server. The adapter 556 provided for connecting the control device 551 to the LAN communication line 54 is included in the conventional mail 55 equally. The association table 554 is an information table for associating the mail address of the mail user with the telephone number of the portable mail terminal 1, and has an entry for each mail user. Each entry is composed of a mail address and a PHS telephone number and a PDC telephone number of the portable mail terminal 1 used by the mail user. The authentication device 555 is provided to prevent access from a phone number other than the telephone number registered in the association table 554.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration of one entry of the association table 554 of FIG. One entry has a user name 5540, a PHS number 5541, and a PDC number 5
542 are included. The association table 554 may be configured so that user information, for example, a password, is included in the entry.

According to the system configuration of this embodiment, the portable mail terminal 1 and the mail center 5 can communicate with each other using either the PHS wireless telephone network 31 or the PDC wireless telephone network 32. . In the present embodiment, when a line is connected by a call from the mail center 5 for transmitting a mail arrival notification to the portable mail terminal 1, a PD is used.
When the line is selected by selecting the C radio telephone network 32 and calling from the portable mail terminal 1 for receiving the mail, the P
The HS radio telephone network 31 is selected.

FIG. 4 shows a procedure in which the mail center 5 transmits a mail arrival notification to the portable mail terminal 1. In step S101, an e-mail from the Internet 7 arrives at the mail server 55 via the Internet connection line 6, the router 56, and the LAN communication line 54, and is stored in the user area on the mailbox 553 by the control device 551. The procedure by which the mail server 55 receives an e-mail from the Internet 7 is based on the ordinary SMTP protocol, and is based on RFC (R) of W3C (World Wide Web Consortium).
eady For Commissioning).

Next, in step S102, it is determined whether or not the mail user has set an incoming call notification to the portable mail terminal 1. The incoming call notification is a service of the mail center 5 performed for the convenience of the mail user, and the determination of the necessity is left to the selection of the normal user. The setting of the incoming call notification is performed when the user area is secured in the mailbox 553, and can be set or canceled as needed by the user. Whether or not the mail user has set an incoming call notification to the portable mail terminal 1 can be determined based on whether or not there is an entry corresponding to the mail user in the association table 554. That is, the number of entries in the association table 554 is
This is equal to the number of mail users who have set the incoming call notification to the portable mail terminal 1. If the e-mail destination user has set an incoming call notification, the process proceeds to step S103.
The mail server 55 notifies the access server 53 of the PDC number 5542 of the mail user and requests a call.

Next, in step S104, the access server 53 connects to the PDC wireless telephone network 32 via the PDC line connection unit 5312, and calls the portable mail terminal 1. Whether the access server 53 uses the PHS line connection unit 5311 or the PDC line connection unit 5312 to make a call can be automatically determined from the telephone number sent from the mail server 55.

Next, in step S105, it is determined whether or not the line connection with the portable mail terminal 1 via the PDC wireless telephone network 32 has succeeded. Although there are various causes for the failure of the line connection, the processing contents in the case of a failure due to a cause unrelated to the present invention, such as a failure of the device or a power-off of the portable mail terminal 1 itself, are omitted. Portable mail terminal 1
However, the mail server 55 notifies the access server 53 of the PHS number 5541 of the mail user and requests a call in step S106 if the mail server 55 is out of the service area of the PDC unrelated telephone network 32. . In step S107, the access server 53 connects to the PHS wireless telephone network 31 via the PHS line connection unit 5311,
Call the portable mail terminal 1. In step S108,
It is determined whether or not the line connection with the portable mail terminal 1 via the PHS wireless telephone network 31 has been successful. Step S1
If the line connection via the PHS wireless telephone network 31 fails in 08, it means that the line connection with the PDC wireless telephone network 32 has already failed in the determination in step S105, and the failure process in step S109 is performed. Although the processing content at the time of failure is irrelevant to the present invention, for example, it is possible to re-execute the procedure from step S103 after a predetermined time, or to wait for a line connection from the portable mail terminal 1.

Step S105 or Step S108
And the PDC wireless telephone network 32 or the PHS wireless telephone network 31
If the line connection is successful using any one of the above, the process proceeds to step S110, and the access server 53 reports the success of the line connection with the portable mail terminal 1 to the mail server 55. In step S111, the mail server 55 transmits a mail arrival notification to the portable mail terminal 1 via the wireless telephone network that has successfully connected to the line with the access server 53. Next, in step S112, the access server 53 disconnects the line connection with the portable mail terminal 1, and ends the procedure of the incoming call notification. If it is determined in step S102 that the e-mail destination mail user has not set the incoming notification, the incoming notification procedure ends.

By the operation of the mail center 5 as described above, a mail arrival notification is transmitted to the portable mail terminal 1. FIG.
Step S, which is the incoming call notification line selection processing from step S103 to step S108, in the processing procedure shown in FIG.
100 is an important feature of the present invention in the mail center 5. In the procedure of FIG. 4, the line connection by the PDC wireless telephone network 32 is attempted prior to the line connection by the PHS wireless telephone network 31, and the PDC wireless telephone network 32 is prioritized over the PHS wireless telephone network 31. It should be noted that the priority order between the PDC wireless telephone network 32 and the PHS wireless telephone network 31 can easily be reversed by replacing the processing from step S103 to step S105 with the processing from step S106 to step S108.

FIG. 5 shows a procedure in which the portable mail terminal 1 receives an electronic mail transferred from the mail center 5. In step S201, the portable mail terminal 1 receives a call and establishes a line connection. In step S202, it is determined whether or not the incoming call is a mail arrival notification from mail center 5. Whether the incoming call is from the mail center 5 or not is determined by using the caller ID obtained by using an existing service such as the caller ID notification with the call in the center PHS number storage device 171 or the center. The comparison is performed with the data stored in the PDC number storage device 172. It is possible to determine whether the incoming call is a mail arrival notification by using data sent from the mail center 5 after the line connection, but the mail center 5 sets the PHS line 41 and the PDC line 42 If the call to the portable mail terminal 1 is limited to the mail arrival notification, it is possible to easily determine whether or not it is the mail arrival notification without connecting the line. If it is determined in step S202 that there is an incoming call to the portable mail terminal 1 other than a mail arrival notification from the mail center 5, the process proceeds to step S203.
It is a matter of course that the normal incoming call processing is performed at.

If it is determined in step S202 that the notification is a mail arrival notification from the mail center 5, a mail arrival notification is received if necessary in step S204, and the line is temporarily disconnected in step S205. As described above, the PHS line 41 or the PDC line 4 from the mail center 5
If the outgoing call to the portable mail terminal 1 via the communication terminal 2 is limited to the mail arrival notification, the line disconnection in step S205 can be performed without receiving the mail arrival notification in step S204.

Next, in step S 206, the portable mail terminal 1 makes a call using the telephone number read from the center PHS number storage device 171, and attempts a line connection through the PHS wireless telephone network 31. In step S207, it is determined whether or not the line connection has been successful. If the line connection by the PHS wireless telephone network 31 fails, the center PDC
A call is made with the telephone number read from the telephone number storage device 172, and an attempt is made to establish a line connection with the PDC wireless telephone network 32 in step S209.

If line connection fails using either the PHS wireless telephone network 31 or the PDC wireless telephone network 32,
The process proceeds to the failure process of step S211. Although the processing content at the time of failure is irrelevant to the present invention, for example, the processing can be re-executed from step S206 after a certain period of time, or wait for a line connection from the mail center 5.

If the line connection is successful using either the PHS wireless telephone network 31 or the PDC wireless telephone network 32,
At step S210, an authentication process is performed. The authentication process is performed between the portable mail terminal 1 and the authentication device 555 of the mail server 55. The portable mail terminal 1 transmits the message to the mail center 5, and on the mail center 5 side, the authentication device 555 checks whether or not there is a corresponding entry in the association table 554. In this authentication, if the PHS number and the PDC number in the association table 554 are handled equally, when the portable mail terminal 1 calls the mail center 5, the PHS wireless telephone network 31 and the PDC Regardless of which of the wireless telephone networks 32 is used, it is possible to receive the same authentication. Next, in step S212, the e-mail transferred from the mail center 5 is received via the line that has been successfully connected. When the reception is completed, the line is connected in step S213, and the procedure of e-mail reception ends.

As described above, when receiving the electronic mail transferred from the mail center 5, the portable mail terminal 1 performs the mail receiving line selecting process from step S205 to step S210 in step S200. The mail receiving line selection processing in step S200 is an important feature of the portable mail terminal 1 of the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, the line connection by the PHS wireless telephone network 31 is attempted prior to the line connection by the PDC wireless telephone network 32, and the PHS wireless telephone network 31 has priority over the PDC wireless telephone network 32. It should be noted that by replacing the processing from step S206 to step S207 with the processing from step S208 to step S209, it is possible to easily reverse the priority of the PHS wireless telephone network 31 and the PDC wireless telephone network 32. .

Further, in the procedure shown in FIG. 5, an attempt is made to receive an electronic mail transmitted using both the PHS wireless telephone network 31 and the PDC wireless telephone network 32.
E-mail reception can be limited to either one of the wireless telephone networks. Further, for the mail reception, not only a wireless communication transmission path but also a transmission by a wired communication network such as a public telephone line network or ISDN, a wired broadcast network, a wireless broadcast, or the like can be used. When transmitting an e-mail using a cable broadcasting network or a radio broadcast, if the e-mail is transmitted after being encrypted, it is possible to prevent the e-mail from being received by a third party other than the user.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, an incoming e-mail addressed to a user who arrives at an electronic mail center is notified to a portable terminal via a wireless communication transmission line, and the portable terminal selects the electronic mail. A call from the portable terminal can be transferred from the electronic mail center to the portable terminal via the communication transmission path. Since the user bears the data communication cost required for the transfer of the e-mail, the e-mail center does not bear the cost, and the transfer can be effectively performed as a service of the e-mail center established for commercial purposes.

Further, according to the present invention, the radio communication transmission path used when the electronic mail center notifies the portable terminal of the arrival of the e-mail can be selected from a plurality of radio communication transmission paths. An appropriate radio communication transmission path can be selected according to the position of the e-mail, and an incoming e-mail notification can be reliably performed.

Further, according to the present invention, the selection of a plurality of communication transmission lines is performed according to a preset priority order.
For example, it is possible to give priority to transmission quality and transmission speed over the size of the communicable area and the moving speed, and to perform incoming call notification and e-mail transfer.

Further, according to the present invention, no matter which of the plurality of communication transmission paths is selected by the user of the portable terminal, an e-mail is transferred from the e-mail center based on the pre-registered association information. It is possible to avoid a situation in which an e-mail is erroneously transferred to a third party.

Further, according to the present invention, when an e-mail to a user arrives at a mailbox of a mail server, an incoming call notification is sent to the user's portable terminal via a wireless communication transmission line, and a communication transmission line selected by the user is selected. In response to a transfer request via the e-mail center, an e-mail center capable of transferring e-mail from a mailbox to a portable terminal on the user side can be constructed.

Further, according to the present invention, the communication circuit receives the notification of the arrival of the e-mail transmitted from the e-mail center via the wireless communication transmission line, and receives the notification via the communication transmission line selected from the plurality of communication transmission lines. Then, a transfer request of the electronic mail can be transmitted to the electronic mail center, and the transferred electronic mail can be received. In response to the notification of the arrival of the e-mail, the transfer request of the e-mail and the reception of the e-mail to be transferred can be automatically performed by the user's call.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a more detailed system configuration for the portable mail terminal 1 and the mail center 5 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of one entry of a relation table 554 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for transmitting a mail arrival notification in the mail center 5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure in which the portable mail terminal 1 of FIG. 1 receives an electronic mail from the mail center 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Portable mail terminal 21 PHS base station 22 PDC base station 31 PHS radio telephone network 32 PDC radio telephone network 5 Mail center 7 Internet network 111 PHS antenna 112 PDC antenna 121 PHS RF circuit 122 PDC RF circuit 16 Control and Interface circuit 171 Center PHS number storage device 172 Center PDC number storage device 173 Mail user name storage device 18 Main storage device 19 Input display device 51 PBX 53 Access server 55 Mail server 532, 551 Control device 552 Storage device 553 Mailbox 554 Linking Table 555 Authentication device

Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 5B089 GA11 GA21 HA11 JA31 JB15 KA04 KA12 KC05 KC21 KC39 KC58 KF06 KG05 LA13 5K030 GA15 HA06 HC09 JL01 JT02 JT09 KA01 KA06 LB01 LB05 LD14 LD20 LE05 5K011 A0712 FF07 AA11BB BB06 PP07 9A001 CC05 JJ14

Claims (6)

[Claims] An electronic mail center having a mailbox for an electronic mail to a user of a portable terminal and a portable terminal can be connected by a plurality of communication transmission lines including a wireless communication transmission line. When an e-mail addressed to the user arrives in the mailbox of the mail center, the e-mail center sends an e-mail notification to the user's portable terminal via the wireless communication transmission path and receives an e-mail notification from the e-mail center. Wherein the portable terminal selects one of the plurality of communication transmission paths, transmits a transfer request to an e-mail center, and receives an e-mail transferred from the e-mail center. How to forward email to 2. The portable terminal and the electronic mail center can be connected via a plurality of types of wireless communication transmission lines, and the electronic mail center selects one of the wireless communication transmission lines. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting the mail arrival notification to the portable terminal. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selection is performed in accordance with a priority set in advance. 4. The electronic mail center registers, in each communication transmission path selectable by the portable terminal, association information for authenticating an association with the user, and stores the registered information. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transfer of the electronic mail from the mailbox is performed only for the transfer request that matches the association information. 5. A mail server having a mailbox for electronic mail to a user of a portable terminal, and a connection with the portable terminal of the user via a plurality of communication transmission paths including a wireless communication transmission path. The communication terminal and the arrival of the electronic mail to the user's mailbox are notified to the portable terminal via the wireless transmission path, and if there is an electronic mail transfer request from the portable terminal, the transfer request is made. Control means for controlling transfer of the electronic mail from a mailbox to the portable terminal via a communication transmission line. 6. An electronic mail center having a mailbox for an electronic mail to a user, a communication circuit connectable by a plurality of communication transmission lines including a wireless communication transmission line, and responding to an output from the communication circuit; When an incoming notification from the electronic mail center indicating that an electronic mail to the user has arrived at the mailbox is received, any one of the communication transmission paths is selected, and an electronic mail transfer request to the electronic mail center is made. And a control circuit for controlling the communication circuit so as to receive the electronic mail transmitted from the electronic mail center.