JP2001273204A - Electronic mail transmitting/receiving method and electronic mail charging method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for transmitting/receiving electronic mail with advertisement, with which the effect of an advertisement can be improved and further, a receiving contract can be promoted by displaying the advertisement only when an electronic mail recipient desires to watch the advertisement. SOLUTION: This method has a step S2 for selecting whether or not the advertisement is to be attached to transmitting electronic mail by an electronic mail transmitter, a step S3 for selecting the advertisement to be attached when attaching the advertisement and a step S6 for selecting whether or not the advertisement is to be watched by the electronic mail recipient and when the electronic mail recipient watches the advertisement, the rate of the electronic mail is discounted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to transmission and reception of an e-mail with an advertisement in which an e-mail sender selects and inserts an advertisement in an e-mail, and an e-mail receiver can select whether or not to refer to the advertisement. Method and e-mail billing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of the Internet in recent years, electronic mail has been actively used like a telephone for transmitting and receiving information and enjoying conversation. E-mail is personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as personal computer)
Since characters and images are transmitted and received using a screen such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a mobile phone, it is easier to recognize and store information than transient voice.
From such a viewpoint, an attempt has been made to insert an advertisement into an e-mail, and a free mail system with an advertisement has been put to practical use.

In this free mail system with advertisements, a system operator contracts with an advertisement sponsor to receive an advertisement and an advertisement fee, and the system operator inserts an advertisement into an electronic mail of a contracted electronic mail user to insert the advertisement. This is a system to make e-mail charges free. That is, the user of the e-mail can transmit and receive the e-mail in a form free of charge by signing a contract with the system business owner.

[0004]

In the above-described conventional free mail with advertisement, the advertisement is unilaterally inserted when the electronic mail is transmitted, and is displayed on the screen regardless of the intention of the receiver of the electronic mail. Thus, e-mail recipients will be patient and willing to watch the advertisement even if they do not want to see the advertisement. In particular, those who send and receive e-mail frequently can see the same advertisement many times. This may reduce the effectiveness of the advertisement, cause the content of the advertisement or even the advertiser to feel uncomfortable, and may not only expect the effect of the advertisement for the advertiser, but also create an adverse effect.

[0005] The present invention solves such a problem, and displays an advertisement only when the e-mail recipient wants to view the advertisement, thereby increasing the effect of the advertisement and further promoting the reception contract. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic mail transmitting / receiving method.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for transmitting / receiving an e-mail, wherein the e-mail sender selects whether or not to attach an advertisement to an outgoing e-mail, and selects an advertisement to be attached when attaching. And an e-mail recipient selects whether or not to access the advertisement. With this configuration, the e-mail sender can freely select whether or not to attach an advertisement to the hereditary mail and the advertisement to be attached, and whether the e-mail recipient can access the attached advertisement. Can be freely selected. As a result, you can select and view only the ads you want to see. There is no discomfort in displaying advertisements.

Further, the electronic mail sending and receiving method according to the present invention, in the above structure, is configured such that, when the electronic mail receiver views the advertisement, the electronic mail charge of at least one of the electronic mail sender and the electronic mail receiver is discounted. Have. With this configuration, the cost of e-mail can be reduced, so that the frequency of e-mail transmission / reception increases and the advertising effect also increases.

[0008] Further, the electronic mail sending and receiving method of the present invention has a structure in each of the above-mentioned structures, wherein the selected advertisement is attached to the sent electronic mail. With this configuration, the e-mail sender can directly confirm the form of the transmitted e-mail.

In addition, the electronic mail sending / receiving method of the present invention has a configuration in each of the above-described configurations, in which the advertisement server transfers the selected advertisement to the sender terminal and attaches it to the transmitted electronic mail. With this configuration, the e-mail sender can directly confirm the form of the transmitted e-mail.

[0010] Further, the electronic mail sending and receiving method of the present invention has a configuration in each of the above-described structures, in which the advertisement server transfers the selected advertisement to the electronic mail server and attaches the selected advertisement to the transmitted electronic mail. With this configuration, since the transfer of the advertisement data is small, the possibility of deterioration of the advertisement image and garbled characters is reduced.

[0011] Further, the electronic mail sending / receiving method of the present invention has a configuration in which the electronic mail receiver accesses the advertisement server and receives the selected advertisement in each of the above-described structures. With this configuration, since the transfer of the advertisement data is small, the possibility of deterioration of the advertisement image and garbled characters is reduced.

In addition, the electronic mail sending / receiving method of the present invention has a configuration in each of the above-described structures, wherein the electronic mail to which the advertisement is attached is attached with notification information indicating that the advertisement is attached. . With this configuration, it can be seen at a glance whether an advertisement is attached to the transmitted e-mail, and the advertisement can be easily accessed.

Further, according to the electronic mail sending and receiving method of the present invention, when the notification information is accessed in each of the above configurations,
The electronic mail server has a configuration for detecting this access. With this configuration, the electronic mail server can reliably detect whether the electronic mail recipient has accessed the advertisement.

Further, the method for transmitting and receiving an e-mail according to the present invention comprises the steps of: receiving an e-mail to which no advertisement is attached; selecting whether or not the e-mail recipient receives the advertisement; The method includes the step of receiving the selected advertisement by accessing the advertisement server by the recipient. With this configuration, even when an advertisement is not attached to the transmitted e-mail, the e-mail receiver can see the advertisement that the user wants to view.

Further, the electronic mail sending / receiving method of the present invention has a structure in the above structure, in which the electronic mail charge is discounted when the electronic mail receiver receives the advertisement. With this configuration, the e-mail receiver can reduce the e-mail charge.

Further, the electronic mail transmission / reception method of the present invention has a configuration in each of the above structures, wherein the sender terminal and the receiver terminal of the electronic mail are selected from a personal computer, a PDA and a mobile phone. I have. With this configuration, electronic mail with advertisement can be transmitted and received regardless of the form of the sender terminal and the receiver terminal.

Also, in the electronic mail billing method of the present invention, a step of attaching advertisement information to a transmission electronic mail, a step of transmitting the transmission electronic mail with the advertisement information attached, and a step of receiving the transmission electronic mail Selecting whether or not to view the advertisement information attached to the transmission e-mail, and reducing at least one of the transmission and reception of the transmission e-mail by the advertisement fee of the advertisement information. Configuration.

Further, the electronic mail billing method of the present invention comprises the steps of: receiving an electronic mail to which no advertisement information is attached; selecting whether or not the electronic mail receiver receives the advertisement information; The mail receiver accesses the advertisement server to receive the selected advertisement information, and reduces the charge of the electronic mail by the advertisement fee of the advertisement information.

Therefore, the charge for transmitting and receiving e-mail can be reduced by applying the advertisement fee.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows a system configuration in which an electronic mail with an advertisement is transmitted and received by an electronic mail system connected to a network according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a conceptual diagram of the electronic mail system.

As shown in FIG. 2, an advertisement sponsor 1 and a system provider 2 make a sponsor contract, and the advertisement sponsor 1 provides an advertisement to be distributed to the system provider 2 and pays an advertisement fee. The system provider 2 attaches an advertisement to an e-mail and recruits a subscriber of the e-mail system with the advertisement on condition that the e-mail charge is partially discounted or completely discounted when the advertisement is referred to and made free. I do.

The e-mail users 3, 4, 5, and 6 who have contracted with this e-mail system have their terminals connected to the database of the system operator 2 via a network via a password or the like.

In FIG. 1, the advertisement provided by the advertisement sponsor 1 is stored in the advertisement server 11 of the system operator 2, and the sender terminal 12 and the receiver terminal 13 of the e-mail are stored in the advertisement server 11 of the system operator 2. Advertising server 11
And networked. The sender terminal 12 and the receiver terminal 13 can freely access the advertisement server 11, and the advertisement server 11 transmits the requested advertisement to the sender terminal 11 and the receiver terminal 13 to display or display, respectively. Can be downloaded. The sender terminal 12 and the recipient terminal are further network-connected to an e-mail server 14 such as the Internet.

Here, in order to manage the billing relating to the transmission and reception of the e-mail, a part of the e-mail server 14 is used as a billing server, and according to the method attached to the e-mail,
The billing amount may be reduced.

Next, a case where an e-mail sender attaches an advertisement to an outgoing e-mail in the above system configuration will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG.

An e-mail sender prepares an outgoing mail in step (hereinafter abbreviated as S) 1 and selects whether or not to attach an advertisement to the outgoing mail in S2. In the case of attachment, the advertisement server 11 of the system operator is accessed in S3,
An advertisement to be attached is selected, transferred to the sender terminal 12 and captured, and an e-mail with the advertisement is transmitted to the e-mail server 14 in S4. By transferring the attached advertisement to the sender terminal, the e-mail sender can directly confirm the form of the transmitted e-mail.

When the e-mail recipient accesses the e-mail server 14 through the receiver terminal 13, the e-mail transmitted from the e-mail sender is received in S5. Notification information such as an icon indicating that an advertisement is attached is displayed in this e-mail. In step S6, the e-mail recipient determines whether or not to view the advertisement. If the e-mail recipient wishes to view the advertisement, the user receives an advertisement from the e-mail server 14 when the user performs more detailed access by clicking this icon in step S7. Displayed on the screen, the email recipient can view the content of the advertisement. If the e-mail recipient has displayed the advertisement, a part of the e-mail rate of the e-mail sender and / or the e-mail recipient is partially discounted or the whole amount is discounted to be free in S8. If the e-mail recipient determines in step S6 that he / she does not see the advertisement and does not click on the icon, the advertisement is not referred to, and the fee is not discounted and billed in step S9. The determination as to whether or not the e-mail recipient has clicked on the icon is made based on whether or not the e-mail server 14 has accessed the advertisement.

If the e-mail sender does not attach the advertisement in S2, the fee is not discounted except in the case of Embodiment 2 described later, and the charge is made in S9.

According to the above embodiment, the e-mail sender selects an advertisement that the e-mail recipient may be interested in in order to reduce or free the e-mail fee. Since the advertisement itself is also seen by those who are interested or want to see it, the advertisement effect is so large that it is preferable for the advertisement sponsor.

Also, since the e-mail recipient has the right to view the advertisement, the advertisement that he does not want to see is not forcibly displayed, and only the advertisement that he or she is interested in is selected and displayed. The advertisement is selected intentionally by an e-mail sender who knows himself well, so the advertisement is less likely to be uncomfortable.

In the above-described embodiment, the e-mail billing method for discounting or freeing the fee for sending and receiving mail can be performed by using the billing server provided in the e-mail server 14. .

(Embodiment 2) Next, a case where an e-mail recipient attaches an advertisement to a received e-mail in the above system configuration will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. The second embodiment is performed in the first embodiment when the e-mail sender does not attach an advertisement in S2 of FIG. 3 and the e-mail receiver desires a discount or a free charge. It is.

In FIG. 4, when the receiver terminal 13 accesses the e-mail server 14 in S11 and receives an e-mail without an advertisement, it is determined in S12 whether the e-mail receiver independently views the advertisement. . When watching, the advertisement server 11 accesses the advertisement server 11 and selects the advertisement to be viewed in S13. The selected advertisement is transmitted from the advertisement server 11 to the recipient terminal 13, and is displayed on the recipient terminal 13 in S14. As a result, the access fee of the received mail is reduced or free in S15. If the user does not see the advertisement in S12, the user is charged in S16.

When the access fee of the received mail is discounted or made free, the difference can be used for the advertisement publication fee provided by the advertisement provider, and this accounting is managed inside the electronic mail server 14. May be performed, or may be performed by the advertisement server.

In each of the above embodiments, the sender terminal 12 and the receiver terminal 13 can use not only a personal computer or a PDA but also a mobile phone.

The e-mail function includes LAN
(Local Area Network), the Internet, a mobile phone network, and the like.

Further, S3 and S3 of the first embodiment are used.
4, the case where the advertisement selected by the e-mail sender is transferred from the advertisement server 11 to the sender terminal 12 and transmitted to the e-mail server 14 has been described. Well,
Alternatively, the advertisement may be read from the advertisement server 11 when the e-mail recipient clicks the advertisement icon without transferring the advertisement. In these methods, since the transfer of the advertisement data is small, the possibility of deterioration of the advertisement image and garbled characters is reduced.

[0039]

As described above, the present invention displays an advertisement only when the e-mail recipient wants to view the e-mail at the time of e-mail transmission / reception in the e-mail system with advertisement, so that the e-mail receiver is unnecessary. You can receive e-mails economically without seeing any advertisements.

Also, the e-mail sender can reduce the charge or make it free of charge with a high probability by attaching the advertisement that the e-mail receiver will see.

Also, since it becomes possible for the advertisement sponsor to intensively view the advertisement to those who are interested in the advertisement, the advertisement effect is high, and the system operator can promote the receiving contract. An email sending and receiving method with an advertisement can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an electronic mail system with advertisement used for an electronic mail transmitting / receiving method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of an e-mail system with advertisement used in the e-mail transmission / reception method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of an electronic mail transmitting / receiving method according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a second embodiment of the electronic mail transmitting / receiving method according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Advertisement sponsor 2 System operator 3-6 E-mail user 11 Advertisement server 12 Sender terminal 13 Recipient terminal 14 E-mail server

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. An e-mail sender selects whether or not to attach advertisement information to an outgoing e-mail, a step of selecting the advertisement step information, and a step of determining whether an e-mail recipient views the advertisement. And e-mail transmission / reception method. 2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein when the electronic mail recipient views the advertisement, the electronic mail fee of at least one of the electronic mail sender and the electronic mail recipient is discounted. How to send and receive mail. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selected advertisement is attached to the transmitted electronic mail. 4. The electronic mail transmission / reception method according to claim 1, wherein the selected advertisement is transferred from an advertisement server to a sender terminal and attached to the transmission electronic mail. 5. The electronic mail transmission / reception method according to claim 1, wherein the selected advertisement is transferred from the advertisement server to an electronic mail server and attached to the transmitted electronic mail. 6. The electronic mail transmission / reception method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail receiver accesses the advertisement server to receive a selected advertisement. 7. The electronic mail sending and receiving method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail to which the advertisement is attached is attached with notification information indicating that the advertisement is attached. 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein when the notification information is accessed, the electronic mail server detects the access. 9. Receiving an e-mail to which an advertisement is not attached, a step of selecting whether or not the e-mail recipient receives the advertisement, and in the case of receiving the e-mail, the e-mail recipient accesses and selects the advertisement server. Receiving the placed advertisement. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the e-mail recipient discounts the e-mail fee when receiving the advertisement. 11. The electronic mail transmitting / receiving method according to claim 1, wherein the sender terminal and the receiver terminal of the electronic mail are selected from a personal computer, a PDA, and a mobile phone. 12. A step of attaching advertisement information to a transmission e-mail, transmitting the transmission e-mail with the advertisement information attached thereto, receiving the transmission e-mail, and attaching the advertisement information to the transmission e-mail. Selecting whether to view or not view the advertising information, and charging at least one of sending and receiving the outgoing email,
An e-mail billing method, comprising a step of reducing the amount of the advertisement information according to the advertisement fee. 13. Receiving an e-mail to which the advertisement information is not attached, a step of selecting whether or not the e-mail recipient receives the advertisement information, and, when receiving the e-mail, the e-mail recipient accesses the advertisement server. Receiving the selected advertisement information and reducing the charge of the electronic mail by the advertisement fee of the advertisement information.