JP2001077843A - Mail delivery system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a sender terminal to confirm that a recipient terminal receives mail as much as possible by confirming that the recipient terminal receives mail after the mail is delivered to the recipient terminal and then sending delivery notice information to the sender terminal. SOLUTION: When mail received from a PHS terminal 10 is put in the mailbox on an E-mail server(EMS) 104 corresponding to a PHS terminal 12, the EMS 104 sends a reception notification request to a reception notification server 103. The reception notification server 103 sends a call setting message including reception notice to call the PHS terminal 12 as the sender terminal of the mail When the PHS terminal 12 once confirms the reception notice included in the call setting message, the terminal 12 sends a request to read the mail out to a center 100 together with a specific message for call control. When the EMS 104 once confirms the mail readout request included in the message for call control, the EMS 104 establishes a call with the PHS terminal 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mail communication system for distributing mail received from a source terminal to a destination terminal. More specifically, the present invention relates to a mail terminal that informs a source terminal that a mail has been received. Related to a mail delivery system that can be confirmed by the user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a mail distribution system, when a mail is received from a source terminal, the mail is stored in a mailbox corresponding to a destination terminal of a mail server. Then, the mail stored in the mailbox is delivered to the destination terminal based on a request to read the mail from the destination terminal to the mailbox.

[0003]

In such a mail distribution system, there is generally no way at the source terminal to confirm that the mail has been received at the destination terminal. On some terminals, software (mailer) that controls the sending and receiving of mails has information that the mail has been received.
Some have a function of requesting (service notification) and a function of returning such information in accordance with the request, but there is no guarantee that the source terminal and the destination terminal always have such software.

[0004] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to receive mail at a destination terminal even if each terminal does not necessarily have a function of requesting information indicating that mail has been received and a function of returning the information. An object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail distribution system that allows a sender terminal to check as much as possible.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mail delivery system for delivering mail received from a source terminal to a destination terminal. After the delivery processing of the mail to the destination terminal is performed, the reception confirmation means for confirming that the destination terminal has received the mail, and the reception confirmation means confirming that the destination terminal has received the mail. And a delivery notification unit that sends delivery notification information to the source terminal when the transmission is performed.

In such a mail distribution system, after the mail received from the source terminal is distributed to the destination terminal, and when it is confirmed that the destination terminal has received the mail, the delivery notification information is transmitted. Sent to the sender terminal. The sender terminal can confirm that the mail has been received at the destination terminal based on the delivery notification information.

The source terminal and the destination terminal may be mobile terminals such as PHS terminals and portable information terminals or ordinary computers (personal computers, etc.) as long as they have functions of sending and receiving mail. The form is not particularly limited. From the viewpoint that when a request from the source terminal is received, the mail reception at the destination terminal can be confirmed at the source terminal, the present invention provides the above-mentioned mail distribution system as described in claim 2. Has a delivery notification request determining means for determining whether there is a request to receive a delivery notification of the mail from the sending terminal, and determines that there is a request to receive the delivery notification of the email from the sending terminal. When the notification request determination means makes a determination, the delivery notification information may be transmitted from the delivery notification means to the source terminal.

[0008] In view of the fact that it is possible to determine whether a request to receive a mail delivery notification has been made without establishing a call when the source terminal is a PHS terminal, the present invention is described in claim 3. As described above, in the mail distribution system, the delivery notification request determination unit may be configured to determine whether the request is included in a call control message from a PHS terminal serving as a source terminal. it can.

The call control message is not particularly limited, and may be a call setup message (for example, SET UP) or a call disconnection recovery message (for example, DISC).
When a call disconnection recovery message is used as the call control message, after sending a request to receive a mail delivery notification in the call disconnection recovery message to the mail distribution system, the PHS terminal serving as a sending terminal is: After the call setup message (SET UP) is transmitted again and the call is established, mail is transmitted.

In this manner, the call setting message (SET
Since it is not necessary to transmit (UP), it is preferable to use a call setting message as the call control message. Further, when the sender terminal is a PHS terminal, the present invention provides the mail delivery system, wherein the delivery notification request determination unit determines the user / user information in the call control message. (UU
It can be configured to determine whether or not the request is included in I).

When the sender terminal is connected to the mail distribution system via a predetermined network such as the Internet, it is possible to easily determine whether or not there is a request to receive a mail delivery notification. Is
As described in claim 5, in the mail distribution system, the delivery notification request determining means includes the request in a mail to be delivered to a destination terminal received from a source terminal via a predetermined network. Can be determined.

In this case, the sending terminal needs to have a function of adding the request to the mail to be sent. The predetermined network is not particularly limited, and may be the Internet or a public line network. When the sender terminal is connected to the mail distribution system via a predetermined network such as the Internet as described above, from the viewpoint that the delivery notification information can be reliably sent to the sender terminal,
According to the present invention, in the above-mentioned mail distribution system, when a mail received from a source terminal via a predetermined network is distributed to a destination terminal, the delivery notifying means comprises It can be configured to have a delivery notification mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail including the delivery notification information to the original terminal via the network.

When the source terminal is a PHS terminal, the PHS terminal
From the viewpoint that the delivery notification information can be sent to the PHS terminal that is the source terminal without establishing a call with the HS terminal,
According to the present invention, as described in claim 7, in the mail distribution system, when a mail received from a PHS terminal serving as a source terminal is delivered to a destination terminal, the delivery notification unit transmits the mail to the PHS terminal. On the other hand, it is possible to have a delivery notification message transmitting means for transmitting the delivery notification information included in the call control message.

In this case, the call control message that should include the delivery notification is a call setup message (for example, SET UP).
However, it may be a call disconnection recovery message (for example, DISC). Further, according to the present invention, in the mail distribution system, the delivery notification message transmitting means transmits the delivery notification information by including the delivery notification information in user / user information (UUI) in a call setting message. Can be configured.

[0015] From the viewpoint of transmitting the delivery notification information to the PHS terminal as much as possible even if the PHS terminal serving as the transmission source terminal is temporarily unreceivable, the present invention is described in claim 9. In the mail distribution system, when a call disconnection recovery message is not returned within a predetermined time from a PHS terminal serving as a source terminal in response to a call setting message transmitted from the delivery notification message transmitting unit, The transmission notification message transmitting means may be configured to include a transmission notification retransmission control means for retransmitting the call setting message including the transmission notification to the PHS terminal.

In such a mail distribution system, even if the call setting message includes the delivery notification information and transmits the message to the PHS terminal serving as the mail sending terminal, the call disconnection recovery message is returned within a predetermined time. If not, the call setting message including the delivery notification information is transmitted to the PHS terminal again. If the PHS terminal receives the call setting message retransmitted in this way, according to an appropriate procedure,
The PHS terminal returns a call disconnection recovery message to the mail distribution system.

If the call disconnection recovery is not returned from the PHS terminal within a predetermined time even after the call setting message is retransmitted, the call setting message including the delivery notification information is repeatedly transmitted to the PHS terminal.
It can be transmitted to the terminal. In this case, from the viewpoint of preventing the transmission of the call setting message, the present invention provides a mail delivery system, wherein the delivery notification message is transmitted from the delivery notification message transmitting means by the delivery notification retransmission control means. State determining means for determining whether or not a PHS terminal serving as a source terminal can receive a call setting message transmitted from an acknowledgment message transmitting means when a call setting message including is repeatedly transmitted. And P as the source terminal
When the state determination means determines that the HS terminal is not in a state in which the call setting message can be received, the delivery notifying retransmission control means stops the retransmission of the call setting message from the transmission notification message sender by the delivery notification retransmission control means. And a notification stop control unit.

In such a system, the PHS terminal
Retransmission of call setting message including delivery notification information from mail delivery system stops when call setting message cannot be received, such as when out of communication range, during a call, when power is turned off, etc. Is done. in this case,
The PHS terminal serving as the mail sending terminal cannot receive the delivery notification.

The state determining means can determine whether or not the PHS terminal serving as the source terminal is in a state capable of receiving the call setting message based on the number of repetitions of the call setting message including the delivery notification. Alternatively, it may be determined whether or not the state is in accordance with another method. In a case where the destination terminal is connected to the mail distribution system via a predetermined network such as the Internet, the present invention is described in claim 11 from the viewpoint that it is possible to reliably confirm that mail has been received. As described above, in the above-mentioned mail distribution system, the above-mentioned reception confirmation means, after distributing the mail from the source terminal to the destination terminal via the predetermined network, notifies the destination terminal including the predetermined information from the destination terminal to the source terminal. By receiving the mail, the destination terminal can be configured to confirm that the mail has been received.

In such a system, after the mail received from the source terminal is distributed to the destination terminal via a predetermined network, a notification mail including predetermined information addressed to the source terminal is received from the destination terminal. At this time, it is confirmed that the mail from the source terminal is received at the destination terminal. The predetermined information is predetermined as information indicating that the mail has been received. In this case, the destination terminal needs to have a function of returning a notification mail including the predetermined information when the mail is received.

When a call control message including a request to receive a delivery notification of a mail from a PHS terminal serving as a sending terminal is transmitted separately from the mail, the mail distribution system is transmitted via a predetermined network such as the Internet. From the viewpoint that the request can be easily notified to the destination terminal connected to the mail delivery system, the present invention provides the mail delivery system, wherein the delivery request determination unit includes a call setting message. When it is determined that there is a request to receive a mail delivery notification based on the above request included in the
A transmission notification request adding unit for adding information indicating the request to the mail received from the HS terminal, and transmitting the mail to which the information is added by the delivery notification request adding unit to the destination terminal via a predetermined network Can be configured.

The mode of adding the request to receive the mail delivery notification to the mail is not particularly limited as long as the request is unified in advance in the system. For example, the request can be added to the header of the mail. Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem of the present invention, the present invention provides a method according to claim 13.
As described in, the mail received from the source terminal is stored in the mail storage unit corresponding to the destination terminal, and the mail stored in the mail storage unit is stored in the destination terminal based on a request from the destination terminal. In a mail distribution system configured to transmit, when a mail received from a source terminal is stored in a mail storage unit, a reception notification transmitting unit that transmits a reception notification notifying the reception of the mail to a destination terminal; After transmitting the mail in the mail storage means to the destination terminal based on the read request from the destination terminal in response to the incoming notification from the transmission means, confirming receipt of the mail at the destination terminal Means, and when the reception confirmation means confirms that the destination terminal has received the mail, the delivery notification information is transmitted to the source terminal. Configured with a delivery notification means for transmitting.

In such a mail distribution system, when the mail received from the sender terminal is stored in the mail storage means corresponding to the destination terminal, a mail arrival notification is transmitted to the destination terminal. Then, the mail in the mail storage means is distributed to the destination terminal based on a read request from the destination terminal that has received the incoming call notification. Thereafter, when the destination terminal confirms that the mail has been received, the delivery notification information is transmitted to the source terminal.

The sender terminal can confirm that the sent mail has been received by the destination terminal based on the delivery notification information. Also in this case, similarly to the above-described invention, the source terminal and the destination terminal can be moved by a normal computer (personal computer) even if they move, such as a PHS terminal or a portable mobile terminal, as long as they have an e-mail sending / receiving function. There may be.

When the source terminal is a PHS terminal, the PH
In view of the fact that a delivery notification can be sent to the PHS terminal based on a request made separately from the mail from the S terminal, the present invention provides the mail delivery system as described in claim 14, A delivery notification request determining means for determining whether or not the call control message from the PHS terminal serving as a terminal includes a request to receive the delivery notification of the mail; and the request is included in the call control message. A delivery notification request adding means for adding information indicating the request to a mail received from the PHS terminal serving as the source terminal to be stored in the mail storage means when the delivery notification request determining means determines that Additional information determining means for determining whether or not information indicating a request that the source terminal receive the delivery notification is added to the mail transmitted to the terminal. When the additional information determination unit determines that the information indicating the request is added to the mail transmitted to the destination terminal, the delivery notification information is transmitted from the delivery notification unit to the PHS terminal serving as the source terminal. It can be configured to be.

In such a mail distribution system, if the call control message transmitted separately from the mail from the PHS terminal serving as the sender terminal includes a request to receive the mail delivery notification, the mail storage means Is added to the mail to be stored in the mail. And
The mail in the mail storage means is transmitted to the destination terminal with information indicating the request added thereto. Upon receiving the mail, the destination terminal can determine that the destination terminal has requested to receive the delivery notification of the mail.

From the viewpoint that a delivery notification can be sent to a PHS terminal serving as a sending terminal without establishing a call, the present invention provides a mail delivery system comprising: The above-mentioned delivery notification means,
It is possible to have a delivery notification message transmitting means for transmitting the delivery notification information included in the call control message to the PHS terminal serving as the transmission source terminal.

From the viewpoint that it is possible to easily determine whether or not there is a request to receive a delivery notification of a mail when the mail is received from a sender terminal connected via a network such as the Internet. , Claim 17
To determine whether or not information indicating a request to receive a delivery notification is added to the mail received from the source terminal via the predetermined network and stored in the mail storage means, as described in Information determining means, and when the additional information determining means determines that the information relating to the request is added to the mail stored in the mail storing means, the delivery notification information is transmitted from the delivery notifying means to the network. Configured to be transmitted to the source terminal via the Internet.

In such a system, when it is determined that information indicating a request to receive a delivery notification is added to the mail received from the sender terminal and stored in the mail storage means, the delivery notification information Is transmitted to the source terminal via the network. In this case, the sender terminal needs a function of adding information indicating a request to receive a delivery notification to the mail.

[0030] In the above case, in view of the fact that the delivery notification information can be easily sent to the source terminal, the present invention provides, as set forth in claim 18, wherein the delivery notification means comprises the delivery notification information. It is possible to have a mail creating means for creating a notification mail including: the notification mail created by the mail creating means is transmitted by the delivery notifying means to the sender terminal via the network. it can.

In such a system, the delivery notification information is transmitted to the sender terminal in a mail format. The sender terminal can confirm that the mail has been received at the destination terminal by receiving the mail. Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention includes a mail storage unit corresponding to each terminal belonging to a predetermined system, and stores the mail received from the source terminal. The mail stored in the mail storage means corresponding to the destination terminal belonging to the system, the mail stored in the mail storage means is transmitted to the destination terminal based on a request from the destination terminal, and the predetermined mail not belonging to the predetermined system is transmitted. A mail received from a source terminal belonging to the system without storing the mail received from the source terminal belonging to the system to a destination terminal on the network, After receiving the delivery notification mail from the destination terminal that the above-mentioned mail addressed to the source terminal has been received, A notification mail deletion unit for deleting the stored notification mail from the storage unit when the notification mail is stored in the mail storage unit, and a delivery notification unit for transmitting delivery notification information to the sender terminal. Is done.

In such a mail distribution system, when a mail addressed to a destination terminal not belonging to the system is received from a source terminal belonging to the system, the mail is stored in a predetermined network without being stored in the mail storage means. Is delivered to the destination terminal via. Thereafter, when a delivery notification mail indicating that the mail has been received from the destination terminal via the predetermined network to the source terminal is received, the delivery notification mail is stored in the mail storage unit corresponding to the source terminal. You. Then, after the delivery notification mail is deleted from the mail storage unit, the delivery notification information is transmitted to the source terminal.

[0033] In the above system, the delivery notification mail from the destination terminal not belonging to the system is not transmitted to the source terminal belonging to the system, and the delivery notification information is transmitted by another means (delivery notification means). Sent to the terminal. Therefore, by arranging the process of sending and receiving the delivery notification information between the terminal belonging to the system and the mail delivery system as being more efficient than the process of sending and receiving the email, the delivery notification information can be more efficiently used. Can be transmitted to the sender terminal.

The terminal belonging to the predetermined system is a terminal provided with mail storage means in the mail distribution system. Apart from mail from the PHS terminal that is the sender terminal,
The present invention is directed to claim 20 that, when a call control message including a request to receive the mail delivery notification is received, the request can be easily transmitted to a destination terminal that does not belong to the system. As described in the above, in the mail distribution system, when receiving a call control message including a request to receive a mail delivery notification from the PHS terminal serving as the source terminal, the PHS serving as the source terminal A delivery request adding unit that adds information related to the request to the mail received from the terminal, and sends the mail to which the information related to the request is added by the delivery request adding unit via the predetermined network; It can be configured to transmit to the terminal.

Such a mail distribution system, when receiving a call control message including a request to receive a delivery notification of the mail, separately from the mail from the PHS terminal serving as the sender terminal, sends the request to the PHS terminal. It is added to the email and sent to the destination terminal. Thus, the destination terminal that has received the mail can know that the source terminal has requested delivery notification of the mail.

In a case where the source terminal is a PHS terminal, from the viewpoint that the delivery notification information can be obtained without establishing a call, the present invention provides the above-mentioned mail distribution system, The above-mentioned delivery notification means,
It is possible to have a delivery notification message transmitting means for transmitting the delivery notification information included in the call control message to the PHS terminal serving as the transmission source terminal.

[0037]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A communication system including a mail distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention is configured, for example, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, the center 100 includes an authentication server 101, a delivery notification server 102, an incoming notification server 103, an e-mail server (EMS) 104, a mail gateway (MGW) 105, an Internet gateway (IGW) 106, and a dial-up router 110. Have been. Then, each server 101, 1
02, 103, 104, gateways 105, 106, and dial-up router 110 are connected to each other by, for example, a LAN. In this example, the center 100
Constitute a mail delivery system. The dial-up router 110 is connected to the INS network 200 and has a PHS (Personal Handy Phone System) base station (CS) 5.
0 is also connected to the INS network 200. Then, the PHS terminals 10 and 20 perform wireless communication with the base station (CS) 50, and
Mail can be transmitted and received between the S terminals 10, 20 and the center 100.

The authentication server 101 is provided with the ISN network 200
It is determined whether or not the call is from a PHS terminal for which use of the mail distribution system is permitted, based on the ID information, the password, and the like included in the call from the PHS terminal received via the. If the call is from a PHS terminal to which use of the mail distribution system is not permitted, the call is disconnected.

When the mail is received from the source terminal, the delivery notification server 102 performs processing for transmitting the notification information indicating that the mail has been received at the destination terminal to the source terminal. The above e-mail server (EM
In S) 103, a mailbox corresponding to the PHS terminal for which use of the mail distribution system is permitted is prepared. When the mail is stored in the mailbox of the E-mail server (EMS) 103, the incoming notification server 103 transmits information indicating that the mail has arrived to the corresponding PHS terminal.

The Internet gateway (IG)
W) is connected to the Internet 300, transmits a mail addressed to the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 to the Internet 300, and sends a mail from the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 to an E-mail corresponding to the PHS terminal as the destination. The message is sent to a mailbox in the server (EMS) 104. Further, the mail gateway (MGW) 105 determines whether the received mail is addressed to the PHS terminal or the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300. And the mail gateway (MG
W) 105, if the received mail is addressed to the PHS terminal, sends the mail to an e-mail server (EMS) 10.
4 in the corresponding mailbox, the Internet 300
If the mail is addressed to the above information terminal 30, the mail is distributed to the Internet gateway (IGW) 106.

For example, the PHS terminal 10 (hereinafter, PS (
A) to send a mail to the PHS terminal 12 (hereinafter, PS (B)), the processing is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG. When a paging operation to PS (B) is performed after a predetermined operation for a delivery notification request is performed in PS (A), the delivery notification request information is displayed in UUI
(User / user information), ID information,
A call setup message (SET UP) including a password, calling number, called number, and the like is transmitted from PS (A). The call setup message (SET UP) is transmitted to the base station 50 and the INS network 2
00 and the center 1 via the dial-up router 110
00, the authentication server 101 performs an authentication process based on the ID information and the password in the call setup message (SET UP).

When the user is authenticated, as shown in FIG. 2, the delivery notification server 102 confirms the delivery request information set in the UUI of the call setup message (SET UP) (1). After that, negotiations (ALERT, CONNECT, etc.) in a predetermined call control procedure are performed, and a call between the PHS (A) and the center 100 is established. In this state, PS
From (A), a mail addressed to PS (B) is transmitted to the center 100, and the mail is received by the delivery notification server 102 (2).

This mail is sent from the delivery notification server 102 to the mail gateway (MGW) 105 (3),
From the mail gateway (MGW) 105, it is further stored in a mailbox corresponding to PS (B) in the e-mail server (EMS) 104 (4). In the above process, the delivery notification server 102 and the mail gateway (MG
The W) 105 and the e-mail server (EMS) 104 are specifically performing processing according to the procedure shown in FIG. 3, for example.

In FIG. 3, the delivery notification server 102
When the call setup message (SET UP) is received, it is determined whether or not the delivery notification request information is set in the UUI of the call setup message (SET UP) (S1). If the delivery notification request information is set in the UUI of the call setting message, the delivery notification server 102 adds the delivery notification request information to the header of the received mail (S2), and the delivery notification request information is added to the header. Mail to the mail gateway (M
GW) 105.

The mail gateway (MGW) 105
It is determined whether the received mail is addressed to the PHS terminal or to the information terminal 30 on the Internet (S
3). In this case, since the mail is addressed to PS (B), mail gateway (MGW) 105 sends the mail to E (E).
Send it to the mail server (EMS) 104 and send the mail to PS
(B) is stored in the mailbox corresponding to (B)
4).

If the delivery notification request information is not set in the UUI of the received call setup message (SET UP) (NO in S1), delivery notification server 102 adds the delivery notification request information to the header of the received mail. The mail is sent to the mail gateway (MGW) 105 without being given. When the mail gateway (MGW) 105 determines that the received mail is addressed to the information terminal 30 on the Internet (S3, Internet), the mail gateway (MGW) 105 transmits the received mail to the Internet gateway (IGW) 104.

Returning to FIG. 2, as described above, the PS
Email received from (A) is an email server (EMS)
After being stored in the mailbox corresponding to PS (B) in 104, the e-mail server (EMS) 104 sends an incoming notification request to the incoming notification server 103 (5). Then, the incoming call notification server 103 transmits the call setup message (SET UP) including the incoming call notification, thereby calling the PS (B) which is the destination terminal of the mail (6). PS (B) transmits the call setup message (SET U
When the incoming call notification included in P) is confirmed, a mail read request is included in a predetermined call control message (for example, ALERT) and transmitted to the center 100 (7).

When confirming the read request of the mail included in the call control message, the E-mail server (EMS) 104 establishes a call with PS (B) (CONNEC
T), the mail addressed to PS (B) stored in the mailbox is transmitted to PS (B) (8). When the transmitted mail is received by PS (B) via dial-up router 110, ISN network 200 and base station 50, the PS
(B) sends the reception completion notification to the e-mail server (EMS) 1
04 (9). Thereafter, the call between the center 100 and the PS (B) is disconnected according to a predetermined call control procedure of the PHS (DISC).

The e-mail server (EMS) 104 confirms that the e-mail has been received by the PS (B), which is the destination terminal of the e-mail, by receiving the reception completion notification. And an e-mail server (EMS) 104
Confirms that the delivery notification request information has been added to the header of the mail sent to PS (B), sends a delivery notification information creation request to delivery notification server 102 (1).
0).

When receiving the request for creating the delivery notification information, delivery notification server 102 transmits a call setup message (SET UP) in which the delivery notification information is set in the UUI to PS (A) serving as the source terminal of the mail. (11). afterwards,
According to the predetermined call control procedure of PHS (ALERT, DISC
Etc.), the communication between PS (A) and center 100 ends.

As described above, the e-mail server (ESM) 104 that has received the e-mail reception completion notification at the PS (B) serving as the e-mail destination terminal and the creation of delivery notification information from the e-mail server (EMS) 104 The delivery notification server 102 that receives the request is specifically performing a process as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, an e-mail server (EMS) 104 is a PHS terminal (in the above example,
When the reception completion notification is received from the PS (B)), it is determined whether the delivery notification request information is added to the header of the mail read from the mailbox (S11). If the delivery notification request information is not added to the header of the mail, the process is terminated. On the other hand, if the delivery notification request information is added to the header of the mail, the source address, the destination address, the subject (Subject)
) Is sent to the delivery notification server 102 as described above.

The delivery notification server 102, having received the request for creating the delivery notification information, sets the mail sending terminal to the PH based on the source address contained in the received request.
It is determined whether the terminal is the S terminal or the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 (S12). Here, if it is determined that the mail sending terminal is a PHS terminal, the delivery notification server 102 registers data (telephone number or the like) specifying the PHS terminal to which the delivery notification information is to be sent, in the retry management table. Then, the delivery notification server 102 sets the delivery notification information in the UUI of the call setup message (SET UP), and makes a call to the telephone number of the PHS terminal that is the mail source terminal (S13).

Thereafter, the delivery notification server 102 determines whether or not a call disconnection message (DISC) is returned from the calling PHS terminal (S14), and starts a timer t (S15). Measured value t is a predetermined time T
Is determined (S16). When the delivery notification server 102 receives the call disconnection message (DISC) from the PHS terminal before the measured value t of the timer t reaches the predetermined time T, as shown in FIG. The corresponding data is deleted, and the process ends.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, if the measured value t of the timer t reaches the predetermined time T before receiving the call disconnection message (DISC) from the PHS terminal, the PH
The counter is counted up by +1 assuming that the reception notification reception at the S terminal has failed (S17). Then, it is determined whether or not the count value n of the counter has reached the predetermined value N (S18). If the count value n does not reach the predetermined value N, the delivery notification server 102 sets the delivery notification information in the UUI of the call setup message (SET UP) again, and makes a call to the telephone number of the PHS terminal. Yes (S1
3).

Thereafter, the processing described above (S14, S15, S
16, S17, S18, S13) are repeatedly executed, and in the process, if a call disconnection message (DISC) is received from the PHS terminal, as described above, the data specifying the PHS terminal is deleted from the retry management table. , Processing is quantified. On the other hand, if the count value n of the counter reaches the predetermined value N in the course of the above processing, the PHS terminal is determined to be in a state where it cannot receive (busy, out of service area, power off, etc.) Further retransmissions of are stopped.

As described above, the PS (A) serving as the mail sending terminal receives, for example, based on the delivery notification information set in the UUI of the call setup message (SET UP) received from the delivery notification server 102, for example. Is displayed on the display screen to the effect that the transmitted mail has been delivered to PS (B) of the destination terminal. As a result, the user of PS (A) can confirm that the mail sent by himself has been reliably received at the destination terminal.

Next, for example, when a mail is transmitted from the PS (A) to the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300, the processing is executed according to the procedure shown in FIG.
In FIG. 7, as in the case described above, the delivery notification server 102 receives a call setup message (SET UP) in which the delivery notification request information is set in the UUI from the PS (A) serving as the mail sending terminal (1). ). When the user is authenticated, the delivery notification server 102 checks the delivery notification request information set in the received call setup message (SET UP). Thereafter, a call is established between the PS (A) and the center 100, a mail addressed to the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 is transmitted from the PS (A) to the center 100, and the mail is received by the delivery notification server 102. (2). At this time, the delivery notification server 102 adds the delivery notification request information to the header of the received mail based on the confirmed delivery notification request information (S1 and S2 in FIG. 3).

The mail in which the delivery notification request information is added to this header is sent to the delivery notification server 1 in the same manner as described above.
02 is sent to the mail gateway (MGW) 105 (3). When the mail gateway (MGW) 105 confirms that the destination terminal of the mail is the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 (S3 in FIG. 3), the mail is further transmitted to the Internet gateway (IGW).
Pass it to 106 (4). Internet Gateway (I
The GW 106 transmits a mail addressed to the information terminal 30 to the Internet 300 (5).

Here, for example, when the information terminal 30 serving as the mail destination terminal has a mailer having a delivery notification function, the information terminal 30
Based on the delivery request information added to the header of the mail received via the PC, a notification mail describing a delivery notification indicating that the mail has been received is transmitted to the PS (A).

When the Internet gateway (IGW) 106 in the center 100 receives the notification mail sent from the information terminal 30 via the Internet 300 (6), the Internet gateway (IG)
W) 106 transmits the notification mail to an e-mail server (EM).
S) Send to 104 (7). Email server (EMS) 1
At this time, the step 04 performs processing according to the procedure shown in FIG. That is, it is determined whether the received mail is a normal mail addressed to the PHS terminal or a notification mail in which the above-described delivery notification is described (S21). If it is a normal mail, the e-mail server (EMS) 104 stores the mail in a mailbox corresponding to the PHS as the destination.

On the other hand, if the received mail is the above-mentioned notification mail, the E-mail server (EMS) 104 deletes the received notification mail without storing it in the mailbox corresponding to the destination PS (A) ( S22). Then, the E-mail server (EMS) 104 sends a creation request for the delivery notification message to the delivery notification server 102 in the same manner as described above (8).

As described above, the delivery notification server 102 that has received this delivery notification message, according to the procedure shown in FIG. 4, calls the PS (A) serving as the mail sending terminal with the delivery notification information set in the UUI. Control message (SET U
By transmitting P), PS (A) is called. Thereafter, according to the call control procedure of the PHS, the delivery notification server 1
02 and PS (A) are terminated.

In this case as well, the P which is the mail source terminal
In S (A), based on the delivery notification information set in the UUI of the call setup message (SET UP), confirm that the mail has been received by the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 as the destination terminal. Can be. Also, for example, the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300
When a mail is transmitted to (A), processing is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG. In this case, it is assumed that the information terminal 30 serving as the mail sending terminal includes a mailer having a function of adding the delivery notification request information to the mail header.

In FIG. 8, when the Internet gateway (IGW) 106 receives a mail addressed to PS (A) from the information terminal 30 via the Internet 300 (1), the Internet gateway (IGW) 106
Sends the received mail to the e-mail server 104 (2). Email server 104 that received this email
Stores the mail in the mailbox corresponding to the destination PS (A) (S21 in FIG. 4).

Thereafter, the e-mail server (EMS) 104
Sends an incoming notification request to the incoming notification server 103 (3). Then, the incoming call notification server 103 transmits the call setup message (SET UP) including the incoming call notification, thereby calling the PS (A) serving as the mail destination terminal (4). PS (A) transmits the call setup message (SET U
When confirming the incoming call notification included in P), a mail read request is included in a predetermined call control message (for example, ALERT) and transmitted to center 100 (5).

When the e-mail server (EMS) 104 confirms the read request in the same manner as described above,
A call to (A) is established (CONNECT), and the mail addressed to PS (A) stored in the mailbox is transmitted to PS (A).
(6). Upon receiving this mail, PS (A) sends a reception completion notification to e-mail server (EMS) 104
(7). Thereafter, the call between the center 100 and the PS (A) is disconnected according to a predetermined call control procedure of the PHS (DISC).

The e-mail server (EMS) 104
(A) The received mail is PS
When it is confirmed that the message is received in (A), a request for creating a delivery notification mail is sent to the delivery notification server 102 (S8). At this time, when it is determined that the destination of the delivery notification mail is the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 according to the procedure shown in FIG. 4 (S12), the delivery notification mail 102 creates a notification mail including the delivery notification information (S23). ). The created notification mail is sent from the delivery notification server 102 to the Internet gateway (IGW) 1
06, and the notification mail is sent from the Internet gateway (IGW) 106 to the Internet 30.
The message is transmitted to the information terminal 30 which is the source terminal of the mail via "0" (10).

In the information terminal 30 receiving this notification mail, the delivery notification information described in the notification mail indicates
It can be confirmed that the transmitted mail has been received by the PS (A) serving as the destination terminal. According to the above-described mail delivery system, when sending and receiving mail between PHS terminals belonging to a system under the mail delivery system, each PHS terminal does not have a mailer having a function of sending and receiving a delivery notification. However, in the PHS terminal that is the source terminal of the mail, it can be confirmed that the PHS terminal that is the destination terminal has received the mail. Also, a PHS belonging to a system under the mail distribution system
When a mail is transmitted from the terminal to the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 that does not belong to the system, if the information terminal 30 has a mailer having a function of sending the delivery notification information as a mail, Even if the PHS terminal does not have a mailer having the function of receiving the delivery notification, the PHS terminal can confirm that the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 as the destination terminal has received the mail.

Further, from the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 which does not belong to the system under the mail distribution system,
When a mail is transmitted to a PHS terminal belonging to the system, if the information terminal 30 has a mailer having a function of adding the delivery notification information to the mail, the function of the PHS terminal serving as the mail destination terminal transmitting the delivery notification Even if the mail server does not have a mailer, the information terminal 30 on the Internet 300 serving as a mail destination terminal can confirm that the PHS terminal has received the mail.

In the above example, the terminal belonging to the system under the mail distribution system is a PHS terminal.
The present invention is not limited to this, and may be another type of terminal, for example, a mobile phone. Also, the information terminal on the Internet has been described as a terminal that does not belong to the system under the mail distribution system.
Similar processing can be performed for mail from another type of terminal connected to the ISN network 200 and mail addressed to this type of terminal.

Further, a part of the functions of the above-described mail distribution system can be provided in the base station 50 of the PHS terminal.

[0072]

As described above, according to the present invention as set forth in claims 1 to 22, the mail delivery system transmits the delivery notification to the sender terminal.
Even if both the source terminal and the destination terminal of the mail do not always have a mailer having the function of transmitting and receiving the delivery notification information, the source terminal can confirm that the destination terminal has received the mail.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a communication system to which a mail distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a communication procedure in the communication system shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a delivery notification server, a mail gateway, and an e-mail server when a mail is received from a PHS terminal.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in an e-mail server and a delivery notification server when a PHS terminal serving as a destination terminal has completed reception of mail and when mail has been received from the Internet.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating a communication procedure when transmitting a delivery notification from a delivery notification server to a normal PHS terminal.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing a communication procedure when transmitting a delivery notification from a delivery notification server to a PHS terminal that is not in a receivable state.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing another example of the communication procedure in the communication system shown in FIG. 1;

8 is a sequence diagram showing still another example of the communication procedure in the communication system shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 12 PHS terminal 30 Information terminal 50 Base station 100 Center 101 Authentication server 102 Delivery notification server 103 Incoming notification server 104 Email server (EMS) 105 Mail gateway (MGW) 106 Internet gateway (IGW) 110 Dial-up router 200 ISN network 300 Internet

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Claims (22)

[Claims] In a mail delivery system for delivering a mail received from a sender terminal to a destination terminal, after the delivery process of the mail to the destination terminal is performed, the destination terminal receives the mail. And a delivery notifying means for sending delivery notification information to the sending terminal when the receiving checking means confirms that the destination terminal has received the mail. system. 2. The mail delivery system according to claim 1, further comprising: a delivery notification request determining unit configured to determine whether there is a request to receive a delivery notification of the mail from the sending terminal; A mail delivery system, wherein when the delivery notification request determining means determines that there is a request to receive a delivery notification, the delivery notification information is transmitted from the delivery notification means to the source terminal. 3. The mail delivery system according to claim 2, wherein said delivery notification request determination means is a PHS serving as a source terminal.
A mail delivery system for determining whether or not the request is included in a call control message from a terminal. 4. The mail delivery system according to claim 3, wherein the delivery notification request determination means determines whether or not the request is included in user / user information in the call control message. Delivery system. 5. The mail delivery system according to claim 2, wherein the delivery notification request determining means includes the request in a mail to be delivered to a destination terminal received from a source terminal via a predetermined network. A mail delivery system that determines whether or not it has been sent. 6. The mail delivery system according to claim 1, wherein when the mail received from the sender terminal via the predetermined network is delivered to the destination terminal, the delivery notification means transmits the mail to the sender terminal. A mail delivery system having a delivery notification mail transmitting means for transmitting a mail including delivery notification information to the network via the network. 7. The mail delivery system according to claim 1, wherein when the mail received from the PHS terminal serving as the source terminal is delivered to the destination terminal, the delivery notifying means sets the PH to the destination terminal.
A mail delivery system having a delivery notification message transmitting means for transmitting delivery notification information included in a call control message to an S terminal. 8. The message delivery system according to claim 7, wherein the delivery notification message transmitting means transmits the delivery notification information while including the delivery notification information in the user / user information in the call setting message. 9. The mail delivery system according to claim 7, wherein said call setting message transmitted from said delivery notification message transmitting means is used to recover a call disconnection within a predetermined time from a PHS terminal as a source terminal. A mail delivery system comprising a delivery notification retransmission control unit that causes the delivery notification message transmission unit to retransmit a call setting message including a delivery notification to the PHS terminal when a message is not returned. 10. The mail delivery system according to claim 9, wherein when the call notification message including the delivery notification is repeatedly retransmitted from the delivery notification message transmission unit by the delivery notification retransmission control unit, the delivery notification message is transmitted from the delivery notification message transmitting unit. PHS that is the source terminal of the call setup message
State determining means for determining whether or not the terminal is in a receivable state; and when the state determining means determines that the PHS terminal serving as the source terminal is not in a state capable of receiving the call setup message, A mail delivery system comprising: a delivery notification stop control unit for stopping the delivery of the call setting message from the delivery notification message sender by the delivery notification retransmission control unit. 11. The mail delivery system according to claim 1, wherein the reception confirmation means distributes the mail from the source terminal to the destination terminal via a predetermined network and then includes the predetermined information. Receiving a notification e-mail addressed to the source terminal from the destination terminal, thereby confirming that the destination terminal has received the e-mail. 12. The mail delivery system according to claim 3, wherein said delivery request determination means receives a request to receive a delivery notification of a mail based on said request included in a call setting message. Has been determined, the service notification request adding means for adding information indicating the request to the mail received from the PHS terminal serving as the sender terminal, and the information has been added by the service notification request adding means. A mail distribution system for transmitting mail to a destination terminal via a predetermined network. 13. A mail received from a source terminal is stored in a mail storage unit corresponding to a destination terminal, and the mail stored in the mail storage unit is transmitted to the destination terminal based on a request from the destination terminal. In the above-described mail distribution system, when mail received from a source terminal is stored in a mail storage unit, a reception notification transmission unit that transmits a reception notification notifying the reception of the mail to a destination terminal; Receiving confirmation means for confirming that the mail has been received at the destination terminal after transmitting the mail in the mail storage means to the destination terminal based on a read request from the destination terminal in response to the incoming call notification from When the reception confirmation means confirms that the destination terminal has received the mail, the transmission notification information is transmitted to the source terminal. Mail delivery system including a delivery notification means to be. 14. A delivery notice for determining whether or not a call control message from a PHS terminal serving as a source terminal includes a request to receive a delivery notification of a mail in the mail delivery system according to claim 13. Request determining means; and a mail received from the PHS terminal which is the source terminal to be stored in the mail storing means when the delivery notification request determining means determines that the request is included in the call control message. Means for adding a service notification request that adds information indicating the request to the destination terminal; and additional information determination for determining whether information indicating a request for the source terminal to receive the service notification is added to the mail transmitted to the destination terminal. Means for sending notification information when the additional information determining means determines that the information indicating the request is added to the mail transmitted to the destination terminal. Is transmitted from the delivery notifying means to the PHS terminal serving as the sender terminal. 15. The mail delivery system according to claim 14, wherein the delivery notification request determination means determines whether or not the request is included in user / user information in the call control message. Delivery system. 16. A mail delivery system according to claim 14, wherein said delivery notification means transmits delivery notification information to a PHS terminal serving as a source terminal by including delivery notification information in a call control message. A mail delivery system having means. 17. The mail distribution system according to claim 13, wherein information indicating a request to receive a delivery notification is added to the mail received from the sender terminal via the predetermined network and stored in the mail storage means. Has additional information determining means for determining whether or not the service notification information has been added when the additional information determining means determines that the information relating to the request is added to the mail stored in the mail storing means. A mail distribution system configured to be transmitted from the delivery notifying means to the sender terminal via the network. 18. The mail delivery system according to claim 17, wherein said delivery notification means has a mail creation means for creating a notification mail including said delivery notification information, and said notification mail created by said mail creation means. Is transmitted to the sender terminal via the network by the delivery notifying means. 19. A mail storage means corresponding to each terminal belonging to a predetermined system, the mail received from the source terminal is stored in the mail storage means corresponding to the destination terminal belonging to the system, and a request from the destination terminal is stored. The mail stored in the mail storage means is transmitted to the destination terminal based on the above, and the mail received from the source terminal belonging to the system is transmitted to the destination terminal on the predetermined network which does not belong to the predetermined system. In a mail distribution system configured to distribute without storing, after distributing a mail received from a source terminal belonging to the system to a destination terminal via a predetermined network, the mail is destined from the destination terminal to the source terminal. When the delivery notification mail indicating that the received notification mail has been received and stored in the corresponding mail storage unit, the stored notification mail is stored in the storage device. A mail distribution system comprising: a notification mail deletion unit that deletes the notification notification from the stage; 20. The mail delivery system according to claim 19, wherein when a call control message including a request to receive a mail delivery notification is received from the PHS terminal serving as the source terminal, the message is transmitted to the source terminal. A delivery request adding unit that adds information related to the request to the mail received from the PHS terminal, and transmits the mail to which the information related to the request is added by the delivery request adding unit via the predetermined network. A mail distribution system that sends messages to destination terminals. 21. The mail delivery system according to claim 20, wherein the delivery notification means includes a delivery notification message transmitting means for transmitting delivery notification information to a PHS terminal serving as a source terminal by including the delivery notification information in a call control message. Mail distribution system to have. 22. The message delivery system according to claim 21, wherein said delivery notification message transmitting means transmits the delivery notification information while including the delivery notification information in the user information of the call setting message.