JP2001290743A - System and method for circulating electronic mail - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a user performable effective information circulation in which e-mail is used. SOLUTION: A circulation transmitter A1 transmits a circulation text C1 to circulation objects A2 to An and e-mail (circulation) including information (circulation object C2) showing the circulation objects A2 to An to a sever B. The server B prepares a circulation identification code C3 consisting of an identification code for identifying each circulation object from the object C2 and an identification code for identifying the circulation and transmits e-mail obtained by attaching the text C1 to the code C3 to the objects A2 to An. When the objects A2 to An confirm the text C1 of the e-mail (circulation) from the server B, the objects A2 to An return e-mail including a comment C4 and the code C3. The server B updates read information showing the situation of having read the circulation of each circulation object on the basis of the e-mail, releases the read information and the comment C4 on the Web so that all the clients A1 to An can browse them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail circulation system and an electronic mail circulation method, and more particularly, to an electronic mail circulation system and an electronic mail circulation system for circulating a document by sending the document to a circulation target using an electronic mail. Regarding the mail circulation method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when circulating an e-mail, a circulation sender sends an e-mail including the document to be circulated and the name and e-mail address of the circulated person to be circulated to one of the circulated persons to be circulated. Send to The circulation target person who has received the e-mail confirms the content of the e-mail, and then transfers the e-mail to the next circulation target person. By sequentially repeating this, the e-mail is transferred to all the circulation target persons, and all the circulation target persons can confirm the contents of the e-mail transmitted from the circulation sender. This method is a so-called “bucket relay method”.

[0003]

However, in the conventional method, an e-mail is lost due to a person being circulated not transferring the e-mail to the next person to be circulated or being unable to transfer it due to absence. There is a problem that it is difficult to ensure that all the circulation target persons circulate the e-mail.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and it is possible to reliably send an e-mail to a circulation target person, and to easily read the read status and comments of the circulation target person. It is intended to enable effective and efficient circulation of e-mail.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail circulation system comprising: a client for transmitting / receiving a document to be circulated by e-mail; and a server for transferring the e-mail transmitted from the client to a circulation target person. An e-mail circulation system comprising: a server for receiving e-mail transmitted from a client; a document constituting the e-mail transmitted from the client; and a circulation target person to circulate the document. First creating means for creating an e-mail including an identification code for identification and an identification code for identifying the e-mail;
First transmission means for transmitting the e-mail created by the first creation means to each client corresponding to the circulation target, and read information indicating whether the circulation target has viewed the circulation is stored. Storage means; and updating means for updating the read information stored in the storage means, wherein the client creates an e-mail including a document and information indicating a target person who wants to circulate the document. And a second transmitting the e-mail created by the second creating means to the server.
Transmission means, and, when an e-mail created by another client is transferred from the server, a document for responding to the e-mail and a document for circulating the document. Return means for returning to the server an e-mail including an identification code and an e-mail including a comment on the document and an identification code for identifying the e-mail, wherein the server returns the e-mail by the return means of the client In this case, it is determined that the client has browsed the document, and the updating unit updates the read information stored in the storage unit. The read information stored by the storage means is
The client can browse by connecting to the server. Further, the server and the client can be connected via a network. Further, the read information stored by the storage means of the server is a WW operated on the client.
The browsing can be performed by the W browser. Further, the server may transmit an e-mail for prompting a response to the client when there is no response even after a predetermined reference time elapses after transmitting the e-mail to the client. . Claim 6
Is an e-mail routing method in an e-mail routing system including a client that sends and receives a document to be circulated by e-mail, and a server that forwards the e-mail transmitted from the client to a circulation target. A server that receives an e-mail sent from the client, a document constituting the e-mail sent from the client,
A first creation step of creating an e-mail including an identification code for identifying a circulation target to circulate a document and an identification code for identifying an e-mail, and an electronic mail created in the first creation step A first transmission step of transmitting an e-mail to each client corresponding to the circulation target, a storage step of storing read information indicating whether the circulation target has viewed the circulation, and a storage step of storing the read information. Update step of updating the read information,
The client creates a second e-mail composed of a document and information indicating a person who wants to circulate the document, and a second transmission of transmitting the e-mail created in the second creation step to the server. Steps, a document for responding to the e-mail when an e-mail created by another client is transferred from the server, and an identification code for identifying a circulation target who should circulate the document And a return step of returning to the server an electronic mail including an identification code for identifying the electronic mail, the electronic mail including a comment on the document, and the server returns the electronic mail by the client return step. When the client judges that the client has viewed the document, And updates the 憶 been read information. In the electronic mail circulation system and the electronic mail circulation method according to the present invention, the server receives the electronic mail transmitted from the client, and a document constituting the electronic mail transmitted from the client.
Create an e-mail consisting of an identification code for identifying the target person who should circulate the document and an identification code for identifying the e-mail, and send the generated e-mail to each client corresponding to the target person The information is transmitted, the read information indicating whether the circulation target person has viewed the circulation is stored, and the stored information is updated. The client also sends the document,
Create an e-mail composed of information indicating the target person to circulate the document, send the e-mail to the server,
When an e-mail created by another client is transferred from the server, a document for responding to the e-mail, an identification code for identifying a circulation target who should circulate the document, and a document An e-mail including a comment to the e-mail and an identification code for identifying the e-mail is returned to the server. At this time, when the e-mail is returned by the client, the server determines that the client has viewed the document, and updates the read information.

[0006]

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an embodiment of an electronic mail circulation system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, a host computer 1 on which a server B for managing circulation by e-mail is started.
And a hard disk 2 for storing read information, comments, and the like to be described later, and a client A1 connected to the host computer 1 and running a program such as e-mail software.
To An are activated by personal computers (hereinafter abbreviated as personal computers as appropriate) 3-1 to 3-n. The server B manages read information stored in the hard disk 2.

Now, it is assumed that the circulation sender uses an e-mail software function of the client A1 to transmit an e-mail including a document to be circulated to the clients A2 to An corresponding to the circulation target person. In the following, for simplicity, the circulation sender using the personal computer 3-1 on which the client A1 is activated is referred to as the circulation sender A1, and the circulation target using the personal computer 3-2 on which the client A2 is activated is described. Is referred to as the circulation target person A2, the circulation target person using the personal computer 3-3 on which the client A3 is activated is referred to as the circulation target person A3, and similarly, the personal computer 3-n on which the client An is activated is referred to. The circulation target person to be used is described as circulation target person An.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the circulation sender A1 sends an e-mail (circulation) including the circulation target person C2 and the circulation text C1 to the server B. Here, the circulation target person C2 is information including the name of the circulation target person, an e-mail address, and the like, and the circulation text C1 is document data to be circulated.

The server B, which has received the e-mail transmitted from the circulation sender A1, analyzes the contents of the received e-mail, and sends the document data to be circulated (circulation text C1).
And the e-mail address of the circulation target (circulation target C)
Recognize 2). Then, a unique identification code for identifying each circulation target to which the circulation text C1 included in the received e-mail is to be transmitted is generated, and a unique identification code for identifying each circulation is generated for each circulation. I do. Then, a circulation identification code C3 including an identification code for identifying the circulation target and an identification code for identifying the circulation is generated for each circulation target person.

[0010] Then, as shown in FIG.
An e-mail including a circulation identification code C3 including an identification code for identifying the circulation target person Ax, an identification code for identifying the circulation, and a circulation text C1 is transmitted to the circulation target person Ax. Here, x is 2 to n.

[0011] That is, the server B sends to the circulation target person A2
An e-mail including a circulation identification code C3 including an identification code for identifying the circulation target person A2 and an identification code for identifying the circulation, and a circulation text C1 is transmitted. Similarly, the server B sends, to the circulation target person A3, a circulation identification code C3 including an identification code for identifying the circulation target person A3 and an identification code for identifying this circulation.
Then, an electronic mail including the circulation text C1 is transmitted. Similarly, the server B sends to the circulation target person An an electronic mail including a circulation identification code C3 including an identification code for identifying the circulation target person An and an identification code for identifying the circulation target, and a circulation text C1. send an email.

Each circulation target person A2 to An receives the electronic mail transmitted from the server B as circulation. Among the circulation target persons A2 to An, the circulation target person who has confirmed the content of the received e-mail creates a comment C4 when there is a comment for the circulation, and sets a circulation identification code C3 included in the received e-mail with the comment C4. , An electronic mail including the comment C4 is returned to the server B. Server B is
The comment C4 included in the returned e-mail is stored in the hard disk 2.

The server B regards the circulation target person who has returned the e-mail among the circulation target people A2 to An as having viewed the circulation. That is, the server B that has received the e-mail analyzes the circulation identification code C3 included in the e-mail, and returns the e-mail from the identification code for identifying the circulation target constituting the circulation identification code C3. The circulation target person who is a person. Then, the circulation is identified from the identification code for identifying the circulation constituting the circulation identification code C3.

When the server B transmits the circulation (e-mail) to the circulation target persons A2 to An, information indicating the read status of the circulation target persons A2 to An for the circulation, that is, the circulation target persons A2 to An It generates read information in which information indicating whether or not this circulation has been viewed is associated with the circulation target persons A2 to An. Then, first, information indicating the read status corresponding to each of the circulation target persons A2 to An for this circulation in the read information is set to “unread”. Then, the information indicating the read status of the circulation in the read information corresponding to the circulation target person who has returned the e-mail is updated to “read”.

The read information and the comment C4 are transmitted to the server B by, for example, HTML (Hyper Text).
The data is converted into Markup Language (URL) format data, and is converted into a predetermined URL (Uniform Resource).
e Locator) and published on the Web. As a result, the circulation sender A1 and the circulation target persons A2 to An use the WWW (World Wide Web) browser to connect to the server B with the Internet or LAN (L).
By connecting via a network such as an Ocal Area Network, it is possible to browse the read information and the comment C4 for each circulation target person.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, the first
The effect of is that the circulation sender A1 and the circulation target persons A2 to An
In order to send an e-mail, the e-mail software currently used can be used, and the introduction of the system is easy.

The second effect is that each circulation target person A2 to An
Publish the read information and the comment C4 on the Web at the server B, so that not only the circulation sender A1 but also the other circulation target persons A2 to An can circulate each circulation target person A to the circulation.
2 to An can read the read information and the comment C4.

The third effect is that the circulation sender A1 transmits the e-mails to the circulation target persons A2 to An at once.
That is, it is possible to suppress the effects of the loss of the e-mail, the delay of the response, and the like.

The read information and the comment C4 are transferred to the server B.
, The burden on the circulation sender A1 can be reduced.

Next, another embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described. In the present embodiment, in the above-described embodiment, the server B is the circulation target person A2 to An
To the e-mail (circulation) sent to
2 to An newly add a function to the server B for setting an answer deadline for transmitting an answer to the circulation. That is, the server B sets a response time limit for each circulation,
The time from when the circulation is transmitted to each circulation target person A2 to An is counted.

The server B responds even after the response time limit has passed (the circulation identification code C3 and the comment C4 shown in FIG. 4).
Is sent to the circulation target person who does not return the e-mail to the server B to send the e-mail (to answer).

This makes it possible to ensure that the circulation target (e-mail including the circulation identification code C3 and the circulation text C1) is viewed by the circulation target persons A2 to An.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a personal computer has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to a personal computer, and any device capable of transmitting and receiving e-mail and having a WWW browser can be used. Good.

Further, in the above embodiment, the host computer 1 and the personal computers 3-1 to 3-n are not limited to the Internet and LAN, but also to a WAN (Wide Arrangement).
eaNetwork) or another network.

[0025]

As described above, according to the electronic mail circulation system and the electronic mail circulation method according to the present invention, the server receives the electronic mail transmitted from the client and transmits the electronic mail transmitted from the client. Create an e-mail consisting of the documents to be composed, an identification code for identifying the circulation target who should circulate the document, and an identification code for identifying the e-mail, and send the created e-mail to the circulation target Send to each corresponding client,
The read information indicating whether the circulation target person has viewed the circulation is stored, and the stored read information is updated. Also, the client creates an e-mail composed of the document and information indicating the target person who wants to circulate the document, sends the created e-mail to the server, and the e-mail created by another client is sent from the server. When transferred, the e-mail is identified as an e-mail including a document for responding to the e-mail, an identification code for identifying a circulation target who should circulate the document, and a comment on the document. E-mail with the identification code added to it. At this time, the server determines that the client has viewed the document when the e-mail is returned by the client, and updates the read information, so the e-mail must be sent to the circulation target person without fail. This makes it possible to easily read the read status and comments of the circulation target person, and to circulate an effective and efficient e-mail.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an embodiment of an electronic mail circulation system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an e-mail transmitted from a circulation sender A1 to a server B.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an e-mail transmitted from a server B to a circulation target person Ax.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an e-mail returned from a circulation target person Ax to a server B;

[Description of Signs] 1 Host computer 2 Hard disk 3-1 to 3-n Personal computer

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An e-mail circulation system comprising: a client that transmits and receives a document to be circulated by e-mail; and a server that forwards the e-mail transmitted from the client to a circulation target person. Receiving means for receiving the e-mail transmitted from the client; the document constituting the e-mail transmitted from the client; and an identification code for identifying a circulation target person who should circulate the document. A first creating unit for creating an e-mail including an identification code for identifying the e-mail, and transmitting the e-mail created by the first creating unit to each client corresponding to the circulation target person. First transmitting means for transmitting, and read information indicating whether the circulation target person has viewed the circulation is stored. A storage unit; and an updating unit that updates the read information stored in the storage unit. The client creates an e-mail including the document and information indicating a target person who wants to circulate the document. Second creating means; second sending means for sending the e-mail created by the second creating means to the server; and the e-mail created by another client is transferred from the server. The e-mail to respond to the e-mail, an e-mail including a comment for the document, an identification code for identifying a person to be circulated, and a comment on the document. Return means for returning to the server an e-mail to which an identification code for identifying the client is added, wherein the server When the e-mail has been returned by the transmission means, it is determined that the client has viewed the document, said updating means,
An e-mail circulation system for updating the read information stored in the storage unit. 2. The read information stored in the storage unit and the comment from the circulation target person can be browsed by connecting the client to the server. 1. The e-mail circulation system according to 1. 3. The electronic mail circulation system according to claim 1, wherein the server and the client are connected via a network. 4. The server according to claim 1, wherein the read information stored by the storage unit of the server can be browsed by a WWW browser operating on the client. E-mail routing system. 5. The server sends an e-mail for prompting a response to the client when there is no response even after a predetermined reference time has elapsed since the transmission of the e-mail to the client. The electronic mail circulation system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: 6. An e-mail circulation method in an e-mail circulation system including a client that transmits and receives a document to be circulated by e-mail, and a server that transfers the e-mail transmitted from the client to a circulation target person, The server, a receiving step of receiving the e-mail transmitted from the client, identifying the document constituting the e-mail transmitted from the client, and a circulation target person to circulate the document A first creating step of creating an e-mail comprising an identification code for identifying the e-mail, and the e-mail created in the first creating step to the circulation target person. A first transmitting step of transmitting to each corresponding client; A storage step of storing read information indicating whether or not the user has browsed the browsing information, and an update step of updating the read information stored in the storage step. A second creation step of creating an e-mail including information indicating a target person to be circulated, a second transmission step of transmitting the e-mail created in the second creation step to the server, and the server From, when the e-mail created by another client is transferred, the document for responding to the e-mail, and an identification code for identifying a circulation target person to circulate the document And an electronic mail including a comment for the document, and an electronic mail added with an identification code for identifying the electronic mail. A return step of returning to the server, the server determines that the client has viewed the document when the e-mail is returned by the return step of the client, and in the update step, An e-mail circulation method, wherein the read information stored in the storage step is updated.