JP2001005752A - Network mail device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To share information and to make cooperation processing possible by effectively utilizing an electronic mail as a communication tool among a plurality of users. SOLUTION: This network mail device is constructed by mutually connecting a plurality of workstations 1,..., N through a communication network 10. An electronic mail is sent according to an address list, and when additional information exists, the electronic mail is also transmitted in the reverse direction and also subjected to feedback to the respective workstations including a transmission source. It is possible to easily perform information sharing and cooperation processing among the workstations 1,..., N.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network mail device in which a plurality of computer devices are connected to a network to form an electronic mail system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, computer devices such as a plurality of personal computers, workstations, and communication terminals have been used in local area networks (hereinafter referred to as Local Area Networks).
Network is abbreviated as “LAN”), a public telephone network, a communication line, and the like to form a network system. In such a network system, transmission and reception of e-mail is one of the main uses, and is frequently used for communication between general users as well as telephones and facsimile machines. Network systems are roughly classified into a LAN that performs communication within a limited range such as within a company, and a WAN (Wide Area Network) that performs communication over a wide area. Network computing includes time sharing in the 1960s, distributed processing in the 1970s,
It has been developed into full-scale network computing in the 1990s through LANs and the like in the 1980s. In recent years, dial-up networks using digital data exchange networks such as public telephone networks and ISDN have been widely used in offices and homes along with LANs.

[0003] In connection with electronic mail, for example, Patent No. 2
No. 744,024 discloses that an e-mail is applied to a document in a forwarding format, and the forwarding is sequentially forwarded to the next recipient while the recipient responds to the sender according to the list of recipients, and the content is changed during that time. The prior art which can interrupt the forwarding and the like is disclosed. According to such prior art, a document in a forwarding format can be applied to an organization such as a company by using an e-mail from a position having a low position or responsibility to a position having a high responsibility.

[0004]

Today, electronic mail is
It is used for communication communication and news distribution through the Internet, an intranet, and other general networks. For this reason, the e-mail system has been developed as a convenient tool capable of handling a large amount of mail quickly and efficiently. However, the processing form is
The level of replacing a method using a personal computer or the like connected via a communication line by programming a manual processing method has not been eliminated. For example, at present, no particular progress has been made in cooperative processing between e-mail users or in cooperation between e-mail systems and other software. In addition, even in relation to other information files, they remain at a level such as "file attachment" and basically do not leave the area of exchanging individual messages in one way.

Although the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2744024 can forward an e-mail according to a mail list, it is not a tool for communication between members of a mail list, but a so-called groupware. It cannot function. In addition, since the forwarding of the e-mail is performed in one way, even if the e-mail stagnates or disappears in the middle of the forwarding, it is not possible to respond to the prompt for forwarding or the trace.

An object of the present invention is to provide a network which can be effectively used as a communication tool between a plurality of users, and which enables information sharing and cooperative processing by forwarding electronic mail among users. To provide a mail device.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a plurality of workstations are interconnected via a network,
In a network mail device that constitutes an e-mail system in which each workstation sends and receives an e-mail to and from any other workstation, a combination of addresses of the workstations to which the e-mail is forwarded in the e-mail system. A storage means for registering and storing a plurality of types in advance as an address list, responding to an input operation from a user of the workstation, transmitting information based on the operation content to an e-mail system,
User interface means for transmitting information from another workstation to the user, and requesting transmission of an e-mail accompanied by designation of at least one address list stored in the storage means via the user interface means. The transmitting means for transmitting the information content of the e-mail together with the address list information to the workstation corresponding to the head address and the ending address of the address list, and the electronic information transmitted from the transmitting means of another workstation. The information content of the mail is received, the information content of the received email is transmitted to the user through the user interface means, and the address list information stored in the storage means according to the information content of the received email. Receiving means for updating the information content of the e-mail, Workstations respectively, wherein the transmitting means transmits, via the user interface means, a user via the user interface means to a next workstation defined according to the address list with respect to the information content of the e-mail received from another workstation. A network mail apparatus for transmitting information content of an electronic mail including additional information from a network mail apparatus.

According to the present invention, a plurality of workstations are mutually connected via a network, and each workstation constitutes an electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving electronic mail to and from any other workstation.
In the storage means of each workstation, a plurality of combinations of addresses of the workstations to which the e-mail is forwarded in the e-mail system are registered and stored in advance as an address list. The user interface means of each workstation responds to an input operation from the user of the workstation, transmits information based on the operation content to the e-mail system, and transmits information from another workstation to the user. I do. The transmission means of each workstation, when a request for transmission of an e-mail accompanied by designation of at least one address list stored in the storage means is made via the user interface means, starts and ends of the address list. The information content of the e-mail is transmitted together with the address list information to the workstation corresponding to the address. The receiving means of each workstation receives the information content of the e-mail transmitted from the transmitting means of the other workstation, and transmits the information content of the received e-mail to the user through the user interface means,
The address list and the information content of the e-mail stored in the storage unit are updated according to the information content of the received e-mail. Further, the transmitting means transmits the e-mail including additional information from the user via the user interface means to the next workstation defined according to the address list in response to the information content of the e-mail received from the other workstation. The content of the information is sent, so while sending the email according to the address list, the information content of the email of each workstation is updated, sharing information and coordinating processing among members of the email system etc. It can be done easily.

In the present invention, the transmitting means judges whether or not information has been added to the electronic mail transmitted from another workstation at its own workstation. In addition to the information content of the mail, according to the address list information received together with the information content of the email in the email, while transmitting from the workstation of itself to a workstation in the direction opposite to the direction of the other workstation, A reply is also sent to the other workstation or a workstation in the direction, and if there is no additional information, the e-mail is sent from the own workstation to a workstation in the opposite direction of the other workstation. It is characterized by the following.

According to the present invention, when information is added to an e-mail forwarded by each workstation, the transmitting means according to the address list, together with the next-working workstation, the workstation which transmitted the e-mail. Alternatively, the electronic mail is also transmitted to the workstation in that direction, so that the workstation on the electronic mail transmitting side can easily know the added information content.

[0011] In the present invention, the receiving means according to address list information received together with the information content as the response from the transmitting means of another workstation.
The transmitting unit determines whether the other workstation is located on the head side or the tail side of the address list when viewed from its own workstation, and the transmitting unit determines from the own workstation according to the determination result of the receiving unit. When the position of the other workstation is at the head of the address list, the address list is forward-ordered, that is, in the direction from the head to the end. The electronic mail is transmitted to a next workstation adjacent to the own workstation.

According to the present invention, the receiving means of each workstation is different from the transmitting means of the other workstation in that
According to the address list information received together with the information content added in response to the previously transmitted e-mail, the direction of the workstation from which the e-mail is transmitted is determined. The transmitting means of each workstation transmits an e-mail to a workstation adjacent to its own workstation in the forward or reverse order on the address list according to the result of the determination by the receiving means. The workstation on the sending side of the e-mail can know the information content added during the forwarding according to the address list.

In the present invention, when the receiving means receives an electronic mail from the another workstation,
Compare the address list information received with the information content as the e-mail and the address list and the information content of the e-mail stored in the storage means, to determine whether the information content has already been received, When the receiving means determines that the email has already been received, the email is forwarded to the workstation from which the email was sent, with information added to notify that the email has been forwarded and an intersection has occurred. It is provided with a forwarding notification means.

According to the present invention, when an e-mail that has already been received in one of the forwarding operations is received while the e-mail is being forwarded in the forward and backward directions of the address list, the forwarding notifying means intersects the forwarding of the e-mail. May be notified to the source workstation. The source workstation can know that the e-mail is forwarded forward and backward in the address list without fail.

[0015]

FIG. 1 shows a schematic electrical configuration of a network mail apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the network mail apparatus of the present embodiment, a plurality of workstations 1,.
And are connected to each other via a. In the following description, a “workstation” indicates a device on which network mail operates, and includes not only a so-called workstation but also other information processing devices such as a personal computer. Each workstation 1, ..., N
, 1N, transmission means 21,..., 2 for connecting to a communication network and performing communication control.
, 3N, user interface sections 41,..., 4N, display means 51,..., 5N, and storage means 61-M for storing an address list.
.., 6N-M are provided.

Transmission means 21,..., 2N and reception means 31,..., 3N are provided for transmitting and receiving information as an electronic mail system under the control of the communication control units 11,. I have. The user of each of the workstations 1,..., N can operate the user interface units 41,. Each user interface unit 41, ...,
The 4N uses the display means 51,..., 5N to display information to the user.

FIG. 2 shows mail control information MCIB (Mail Control Information) used for controlling the configuration of an electronic mail system by the network mail apparatus shown in FIG.
Block). The mail control information is composed of header information 60 and individual information 61,..., 6N for each of the workstations 1,.
The mail system control information is updated in the network and becomes a target of control communication.

The header information 60 includes identification information indicating the mail control information MCIB, and mail system configuration information for grasping the status of the workstations 1,..., N constituting the network mail device. The state of each workstation 1,..., N is reflected in the workstation status. The individual information 61,..., 6N of the workstations 1,.
Address information, processing status, date and time, and the like are included. The processing status includes each workstation 1,
…, Start processing of network mail in N
Status such as continuation, interruption, or termination is indicated. At the time of day, the request, start or end time, etc. are shown for the network mail processing at each of the workstations 1,.

FIG. 3 shows each workstation 1,..., N
An example of the information format of the application information 70 communicated between is shown. The application information 70 includes communication control information 71, header information 72, address list 73, display section 74, identification code 75, information content 76, and the like. The communication control information 71 includes packet control information and is transmission / reception control information on a network. The header information 72 includes a source workstation number (#) of information such as e-mail, a destination workstation number (#), respective address information, a subject, a date and time, a division, and the like. And are included.

The address list 73 is a set of address information of workstations to which the information is forwarded. Each address is unique and determined, and is a name set and registered in the network in advance. Necessary mail addresses are collected, a plurality of address lists are created, and stored and registered in predetermined storage means 61-M,..., 6N-M or the like. The mail forwarding is started by specifying the registered address list. The address list 73 includes address information of the workstations 1,..., N, information on the state of each of the workstations 1,..., N, for example, a mark indicating the source workstation, and information on the current workstation. A mark indicating the arrival date, reference date, etc.

The display section 74 displays the received content,
Decide whether to do all or just some. Identification code 75
Indicates the type of information to be forwarded. For example, a forwarding crossing notification code or other arrangement between workstations. The information content 76 includes commands such as execution processing condition formulas and calculation formulas, various data type designations, data information, and the like.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the display of the application information 80 performed using the display means 51,..., 5N of FIG. The application information 80 includes an application information name 81, a mail toolbar 82, a mail status 83, various icons 84, an address list 85, a mark 86 indicating a source workstation, and the like, and an application information content 90. In addition,
Hereinafter, the workstation may be described as “WS” on the drawings.

The application information name 81 indicates the name of the application information. Mail toolbar 82
, Various operations as an e-mail are displayed in a toolbar format. The mail status 83 indicates the current state of the electronic mail. Various icons 84
It is provided for the user to perform operations such as displaying a mail list (Mail List), displaying a mail header (Mail Header), and specifying a display configuration.

The application information content 90 includes, for example, a date (Date) and workstation numbers (WS #) 1 to N in the horizontal direction, forwarding information (Contents) as mail information 91 and additional information (Fe).
edbak). Therefore, in the vertical direction, it is displayed as a history information group in date order. However, it may not be possible to display all information due to restrictions on the display screens of the display means 51,..., 5N. In such a case, a part is displayed and scrolled.

FIG. 5 shows the operation of the network device of FIG. 1 constituting a network mail system. The operation starts from step s0, and in step s1, each workstation performs an initial process. Step s2
So, one of the workstations is a provisional starting point,
Start the system. In step s3, the work station serving as the provisional starting point sequentially issues a start command to each work station registered in the system. afterwards,
In step s4, each workstation waits for a request for transmission of application information from the user.
In a next step s5, it is determined whether or not there is a request, and if there is a request, the process proceeds to step s11.

In step s11, it is determined whether or not it is the first transmission of application information. When it is determined that the transmission is the first transmission, preparation is made for transmitting the application information requested to be transmitted in step s12. This includes preparation for initial transmission from the transmission source and preparation for transmission to an address immediately before or immediately after its own address in the address list. In the next step s13, confirmation of transmission preparation is performed, and if it is not OK, the flow returns to step s12 to retry.

If it is determined in step s11 that this is not the first transmission of the application information, step s14
To determine whether to forward. If it is determined that forwarding is performed, the forwarding flag is turned on in step s15. If it is determined in step s14 that it is not forwarding, it is determined that some abnormality has occurred, an error is displayed in step s16, and the operation is stopped in step s17. Steps
When it is determined to be OK in step S13, or when the process of step s15 is completed, the process proceeds to step s21.

In step s21, the application information 80 as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. Next steps
At 22, a mail is transmitted and its contents are stored.
In the next step s23, it is determined whether or not the transmission has been completed normally. If not, the process returns to step s22 and starts over. If it is determined in step s23 that the process has been completed normally, it is determined whether the type of the application information requested to be transmitted in step s24 is a random response type that does not necessarily require a response. When the response type is determined as needed, the process proceeds to step s25, and the flag for receiving the response is turned off.

If it is determined in step s24 that the type is not a response at any time, the process proceeds to step s26, and it is determined whether the type of application information requested to be transmitted is a sequential response type requiring a response. If it is determined that the response is of the sequential response type, in step s27, a flag for receiving the response is turned on, and the response is registered in a queue (Queue) which is a response queue. If it is determined in step s26 that the type is not the sequential response type, the process proceeds to step s28, and an error is displayed. In this case, since it is assumed that some abnormal situation has occurred, step s
At 29, the operation of the system is stopped.

When the processing in step s25 or s27 is completed, it is determined in step s30 whether or not the forwarding flag is on. If the forwarding flag is on, the forwarding flag is turned off in step s31, and the process proceeds to step s32 to compare the received content with the forwarding content. In step s33, it is determined whether or not the comparison results are not equal and information is added. When it is determined that the information is added, if it is determined in step s34 that the transmission is a transmission to an address immediately following the own address in the address list in the forward direction, the address immediately before the own address in the address list is determined. Is prepared, the forwarding flag is turned off, the process proceeds to step s21, and the transmission process is performed. At step s30 in the process, the forwarding flag is determined to be off.

If it is determined in step s5 that there is no transmission request, if the forwarding flag is determined to be off in step s30, or if it is determined in step s33 that there is no additional information, the process proceeds to step s41. Step s41
Then, a response wait or a reception wait is performed. Step s42
To determine whether there is a response or reception. When it is determined that there is not, the process returns to step s4. This is to determine whether there is a request from another user in a state where there is no response or reception.

When it is determined in step s42 that there is a response or reception, a mail is received in step s43, and in step s44, the information content is checked using the mail address information. In step s45, it is determined based on the result of the check in step s44 whether or not the response is to the information that has already been transmitted and transmitted as mail. In step s45, if it is determined that there is a registration in the response queue in step s27 and that the response has been received, the response queue is reset, and in step s46, the transmission information and the reception information are combined and used. The information is displayed to the user and stored, and the process returns to step s4. The user looks at the display,
It is possible to instruct addition of information.

If it is determined in step s45 that there is no response queue, the process from step s51 is performed as normal reception instead of response reception. In step s51,
It is determined whether the received mail is normal. If determined to be normal, display and storage of application information as shown in FIG.
Return to If it is not determined in step s51 that it is normal, a retransmission request is issued in step s53, and step s41 is performed.
Return to

FIG. 6 shows that, in the present embodiment, the workstation WS-A is the transmission source, and sends the application information to the destination workstation WS-B. Then, the workstation WS-B transmits the application information to the destination workstation WS-B. The description will be made assuming a case where the value is -N. The application information as e-mail can be obtained from (1) WS-
A (from WS-B), (2) WS-B (from WS-A as feedback), (3) WS-
B (from WS-N), (4) WS-N (from WS-B as feedback), (5) WS-
N (from WS-A).
Although turning in the opposite direction is performed in the same manner, illustration and description are omitted.

In the transmission from the workstation WS-A to the workstation WS-B, the destination workstation WS-B normally receives from the source workstation WS-A, displays the received content and Store and send to workstation WS-N.
If information is added to the content received from the workstation WS-A and forwarded to the workstation WS-N, as described above, the information is transmitted to the workstation WS-N and, at the same time, transmitted to the workstation WS-N. A
Also, the content is transmitted as feedback information. When the destination workstation WS-B further receives the feedback information from the workstation WS-N, it also transmits the received content to the source workstation WS-A.

If, for example, a workstation WS-AB exists between the workstation WS-A and the workstation WS-B, the feedback information is sent from the workstation WS-B to the workstation WS-AB. Forward, workstation WS
-AB further forwards to the workstation WS-A to share information.

The transmitted / received e-mail includes application information contents 81, 90 and 91 displayed as application information 80 in FIG. 4, and address lists 85 and 86. When application information is transmitted from the source workstation to the first and last workstations of the address list, it is forwarded forward and backward in the address list. At the workstation in the middle of the address list, application information transmitted in both directions crosses. A workstation that receives both information and sends in each direction,
A forwarding crossing notification indicating that the forwarding application information has crossed may be made to the source workstation. When the forwarding crossing notification arrives at the source workstation, it can be confirmed that the application information has been successfully forwarded to all the workstations registered in the address list. In the workstation where the forwarding is intersected, further forwarding of the application information can be terminated. Further, if the bidirectional forwarding is completed, it is possible to prevent inconveniences such as forgetting forwarding and dropping of forwarding content.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of workstations are mutually connected via a network, and a plurality of types of address combinations of workstations to which e-mails are forwarded are stored in advance as an address list. Is registered and stored. The transmission means of each workstation, when a request for transmission of an e-mail accompanied by designation of at least one address list stored in the storage means is made via the user interface means, starts and ends of the address list. The information content of the e-mail is transmitted together with the address list information to the workstation corresponding to the address. The receiving means of each workstation receives the information content of the e-mail transmitted from the transmitting means of the other workstation, and transmits the information content of the received e-mail to the user through the user interface means, The address list and the information content of the e-mail stored in the storage unit are updated according to the information content of the received e-mail.
Further, the transmitting means, when additional information is input from the user via the user interface means to the information content of the e-mail received from another workstation, the next information determined according to the address list Since the information content of the email including the additional information is sent to the workstation, the information content of the email is updated while forwarding the email according to the address list, and the information sharing and the email system are configured. Cooperation between members can be easily performed. When sending information to a group that is set in advance, it is difficult to deal with inconvenience during the forwarding in the forward or reverse order one-way forwarding of the address list, but in the forward and reverse bidirectional forwarding. If so, the forwarding time is short, and the forwarding can be stopped at a workstation whose forwarding timing matches from both sides. In addition, if the forwarding from both sides is completed, it is possible to prevent inconveniences such as forgetting to forward or dropping the forwarding content.

Further, according to the present invention, when the information content is added to the e-mail forwarded at each workstation, the added information content can be easily known at other workstations including the transmission source. Thus, information sharing and cooperative processing can be achieved.

According to the present invention, the e-mail transmitted between the workstations and the information content added as a response thereto are forwarded according to the address list.
The contents of the response to the transmission information can be held in another workstation including the transmission source, and the information can be shared.

According to the present invention, if the electronic mail is forwarded smoothly in the forward and backward directions of the address list,
An intersection occurs and the originating workstation can be notified. The source workstation can know that the e-mail is forwarded forward and backward in the address list without fail.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of mail control information used in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of application information transmitted and received in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of application information display displayed in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation content of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state of application information circulation in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 , N workstation 10 communication network 11, ..., 1N communication control unit 21, ..., 2N transmission means 31, ..., 3N reception means 41, ..., 4N user interface unit 51, ..., 5N display means 61- M, ..., 6N-M storage means 70 application information 73,85 address list 80 application information display

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A network mail apparatus comprising: a plurality of workstations connected to each other via a network; each workstation constituting an electronic mail system for transmitting / receiving electronic mail to / from any other workstation; In the mail system, a combination of addresses of workstations to which e-mails are forwarded is stored in a plurality of types as an address list in advance and stored in response to an input operation from a user of the workstation. ,
The information based on the operation content is transmitted to the e-mail system,
A user interface means for transmitting information from another workstation to the user; and a request for transmission of an e-mail accompanied by designation of at least one address list stored in the storage means. Via the transmission means for transmitting the information content of the e-mail together with the address list information to the workstation corresponding to the head address and the end address of the address list, and from the transmission means of the other workstation. Receiving the information content of the received e-mail, transmitting the information content of the received e-mail to the user through the user interface means, and storing the address list stored in the storage means according to the information content of the received e-mail. Recipients who update information and email content The door,
Each of the workstations includes: a transmitting unit configured to transmit the information content of an e-mail received from another workstation to a workstation defined according to the address list from a user via the user interface unit; A network mail device for transmitting information content of an e-mail including additional information. 2. The transmission means judges whether or not information has been added at its own workstation to an e-mail transmitted from another workstation, and if there is information added, adds the additional information to the e-mail information. In addition to the content, according to the address list information received together with the information content of the e-mail in the e-mail, the e-mail is transmitted from the own workstation to the workstation in the direction opposite to the direction of the other workstation, and the other A response is also sent to a workstation or a workstation in that direction, and if there is no additional information, the e-mail is sent from the own workstation to a workstation in the direction opposite to the other workstation. The network mail device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The receiving means, according to the address list information received together with the information content from the transmitting means of the other workstation as the response, sees from the own workstation that the other workstation has the address list. The transmitting means determines whether the position is located on the head side or the tail side, and according to the determination result of the receiving means, when the position of the other workstation is the head side of the address list when viewed from its own workstation. The e-mail is sent to the next work station adjacent to the own work station on the address list in the normal order, that is, in the direction from the head to the end, and in the reverse order when it is on the tail side of the address list, that is, in the direction from the end to the head. 3. The network according to claim 2, wherein the network is transmitted. Lumpur apparatus. 4. The receiving means, when receiving an e-mail from the another workstation, address list information received together with information content as an e-mail, an address list stored in the storage means, and an e-mail The information content is compared with the information content of the above, and it is determined whether or not the information content has already been received. When the receiving means determines that the information content has already been received, the e-mail is sent to the workstation of the e-mail transmission source. 3. The network mail device according to claim 2, further comprising: a forwarding notification unit that transmits an e-mail with information content added to notify that the intersection has occurred due to being forwarded.