JP2002014905A - Electronic mail transmission device, electronic mail reception device, picture server device, storage medium storing electronic mail transmission program and storage medium storing electronic mail reception program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic mail transmission device specifying a picture by transmitting/receiving picture number data without adding a picture file to an electronic mail itself and transferring text information, and picture/sound information without giving burden to a network, an electronic mail reception device, a picture server device, a storage medium storing an electronic mail transmission program and a storage medium storing an electronic mail reception program. SOLUTION: A picture kept in the picture data base part 5e of the electronic mail device 5 on a transmission side is selected and the mail is generated with the picture as the additional picture of a mail text. When text data and picture number data of the selected picture are transmitted as the electronic mail with additional picture, the electronic mail device 5 on a reception side separates picture number data from text data, reads the picture corresponding to picture number data from the picture data base 5e or the picture server device 4, synthesizes it with text data and displays it.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail mainly for exchanging text data, by enabling a specific background image or illustration to be displayed at the same time as the text data so that the electronic mail can be displayed with a postcard or an illustration. The present invention relates to an e-mail transmission device, an e-mail reception device, an image server device, a storage medium storing an e-mail transmission program, and a storage medium storing an e-mail reception program, which can be used like stationery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, e-mail, which has been frequently used with the spread of the Internet, is mainly used for exchanging text data, and image data and audio data are exchanged as attached files of e-mail. You.

On the other hand, HTML (Hyper Text)
A method of freely arranging and exchanging images, texts, and the like, such as an e-mail in a Markup Language (Format) format, has also been used.

In the case where the Internet is used for exchanging image data, data such as actual images is stored in a server on the Internet, and a URL (Uniform Reform) is stored in text data of an e-mail.
source Locator) and its URL
The method of downloading the data at the location indicated by で on the receiving side is adopted.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-66974 discloses a transmission-side e-mail processing device and a reception-side e-mail processing device which are provided with a storage device for storing data such as images and voices. A database device such as an image that can be referred to by both the processing device and the receiving e-mail processing device is provided, and only an identifier designating data such as an image / sound is transmitted without transmitting actual data such as an image / sound. Without burdening the network
There has been disclosed a technology of an e-mail processing device that can output data such as an image and a sound by a receiving device as if the data was sent from a transmitting device.

[0006]

However, the technique described above still has the following problems.

In an e-mail attached with an image or voice data or an e-mail in an HTML format in which an image is laid out, the transmitted e-mail data itself is considerably large because the image data is transmitted together with the text data as it is. There is a problem that it becomes something.

In particular, when transmitting and receiving the above-described e-mail via a mobile phone or the like, the transfer speed of the communication path of the mobile phone is slow, and the storage capacity of the mobile phone itself is small, so that there is a serious problem in practical use. .

[0009] In addition, U in the text data of the e-mail
Even with the method of filling in the RL and downloading on the receiving side, the image cannot be viewed unless the image file must be downloaded from a server on the Internet.

[0010] Further, in the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-66974, it is described that it is preferable to always match the image data stored in the storage devices of both electronic mail processing apparatuses. In this method, before sending an e-mail, both the sending e-mail processing device and the receiving e-mail processing device access the database device in advance to determine whether the image data stored in both storage devices match. It is necessary to download the image data so as to match them if they do not match. Therefore, all image data must be downloaded regardless of whether the image data is necessary for sending an e-mail, and the amount of communication data increases, and the capacity required for the image database also increases. There is a problem.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is not to attach an image file to an e-mail itself but to transmit and receive image number data normally. An e-mail transmitting device, an e-mail receiving device, an image server device, and a storage medium storing an e-mail transmitting program for specifying an image and exchanging text information with the image and voice information without burdening the network and the storage capacity of the device And a storage medium storing an e-mail receiving program.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail transmitting apparatus comprising: an image database means capable of storing image data and image number data corresponding to the image data in pairs; an image server apparatus and a mail server apparatus; A connection unit connected via a communication line, an image download unit that receives image data and image number data corresponding to the image data from the image server device connected by the connection unit, and stores the received image data in the image database unit. Image selecting means for selecting desired image data from the image database means, text input means for inputting text data, image number data corresponding to the image data selected by the image selecting means, and text input means E-mail data by combining with the text data entered by And a transmitting unit for transmitting the e-mail data generated by the e-mail generating unit to an e-mail receiving device via a mail server device connected by the connecting unit. I do.

An electronic mail receiving apparatus according to the present invention is connected to an image database means capable of storing image data and image number data corresponding to the image data in pairs, and to the image server apparatus and the mail server apparatus via a communication line. Connecting means, receiving means for receiving e-mail data from an e-mail transmitting device via a mail server device connected by the connecting means, and text data and an image number from the e-mail data received by the receiving means. Separating means for separating data, image data corresponding to the image number data separated by the separating means,
A determination unit that determines whether the image data is stored in the image database unit; and if the determination unit determines that the image data is not stored, the image server device connected by the connection unit transmits the image number data to the image number data. Image download means for receiving the corresponding image data and storing the image data in the image database in pairs with the image number data, and outputting the image data corresponding to the image number data separated by the separation means from the image database Display means for reading, combining with the text data and displaying.

An image server device according to the present invention includes an image database means capable of storing image data and image number data corresponding to the image data as a pair, an electronic mail transmitting device and an electronic mail receiving device via a communication line. Connecting means for connecting, input means for inputting image data, corresponding to the image data input by the input means,
Image number generation means for generating image number data; storage means for storing the image data input by the input means and the image number data generated by the image number generation means in a pair with the image database means; Transmitting means for transmitting image data stored in the image database means and image number data corresponding to the image data to an e-mail transmitting apparatus or an e-mail receiving apparatus connected by the connecting means. And

The storage medium according to the present invention receives image data and image number data corresponding to the image data from an image server device, stores the image data in a pair with the image database, and stores desired image data from the image database. Is selected, text data is input, and image number data corresponding to the selected image data and the input text data are combined to create e-mail data, and the created e-mail data is generated. An e-mail transmission program to be transmitted to an e-mail receiving device via a mail server device is stored.

The storage medium according to the present invention receives e-mail data from an e-mail transmitting device via a mail server device, separates text data and image number data from the received e-mail data, and separates the separated image number data. It is determined whether the image data corresponding to the image data is stored in the image database, and if it is determined that the image data is not stored, the image data corresponding to the image number data is received from the image server device, and An e-mail receiving program is stored in the database means in pairs with the image number data, reads image data corresponding to the separated image number data from the image database means, and combines and displays the image data with the text data. It is characterized by the following.

[0017]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic mail transmitting apparatus, an electronic mail receiving apparatus, an image server apparatus, a storage medium storing an electronic mail transmitting program, and a storage medium storing an electronic mail receiving program according to the present invention. An embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic network form in the present invention. The network mode 1 includes the Internet 2, a mail server device 3, an image server device 4, and an electronic mail device 5 connected thereto.

The Internet 2 is a network connecting computers, and in FIG. 1, the mail server 3, the image server 4, and the e-mail 5
Is connected to the Internet 2. However, the Internet 2 is not a closed network.
It is also connected to other computer systems and network systems so that e-mail and data can be exchanged with each other.

The mail server 3 is connected to the Internet 2
The e-mail on the Internet 2 is managed in a mailbox for each e-mail address by a known technique.

The e-mail device 5 has both functions of an e-mail transmission device and an e-mail reception device. At the time of mail transmission, the mail is transmitted to the mail server device 3, so that the mail is distributed to other electronic mail devices on the Internet 2 via the mail server device 3. Further, at the time of receiving the mail, the electronic mail is requested from the mail server device 3 to receive the electronic mail from the mailbox of the mail server device 3.

The image server device 4 is always connected to the Internet 2 so that a specific image can be downloaded from the image server device 4 to the electronic mail device 5.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the electronic mail device 5. The e-mail device 5 includes a connection unit 5
a, receiving unit 5b, mail display unit 5c, image download unit 5d, image database unit 5e, control unit 5f, storage unit 5g, image selection unit 5h, transmission unit 5i, mail creation unit 5
j, a text input section 5k.

The connection unit 5a is connected to the Internet 2 and is responsible for sending and receiving e-mails and communicating when downloading image data. The receiving unit 5b issues a reception request to the mail server device 3 via the connection unit 5a, and receives an electronic mail from the mailbox of the mail server device 3.

The control unit 5f stores the received mail, separates / extracts text data and image number data from the received mail, requests transmission / reception, manages the image database unit 5e, requests image download, and stores the generated e-mail data. Controls data display, etc.

The mail display unit 5c displays the text of the e-mail and the additional image (background image, illustration, etc.) based on the text data and the image number data of the e-mail extracted by the control unit 5f from the e-mail received by the receiving unit 5b. ) Is displayed.

If the image data corresponding to the image number data extracted by the control unit 5f from the received e-mail does not exist in the image database unit 5e, the image download unit 5d transmits the image data from the image server device 4 via the connection unit 5a. The image data is automatically downloaded.

The image database unit 5e stores a predetermined image, image number data corresponding thereto and an image downloaded from the image server device 4 by the image download unit 5d. The image number data of a predetermined image is, for example, 0000000000000000000
0001 to 00000000999999999999
Any number up to 999, image download unit 5d
The image number data of the image downloaded from the image server device 4 by the
rnet Protocol) address (in hexadecimal)
An image number can be generated in the world by assigning a number obtained by combining 8 digits + 14 digits of year, month, day, hour, minute, and second.

The image selection unit 5h displays a list of images registered in the image database unit 5e when creating a mail,
The user selects an image by designating a desired image.
Further, when the desired image does not exist in the image database unit 5e, the image database unit 5e is connected to the image server device 4 on the Internet 2 via the image download unit 5d and the connection unit 5a to display a list of reduced images on the server. Then select the desired one. The reason why the reduced images are displayed is that the communication cost is high when the real images are displayed in a list, and it is difficult to display the large images in a list. For the selected image, the image download unit 5d automatically downloads the image data and the image number data and registers it in the image database unit 5e.

The text input section 5k inputs a text which is the body of the e-mail.

The mail creation section 5j designates the destination of the mail, and specifies the destination of the selected mail and the text input section 5
The mail data is created from the text data input by k and the image number data selected by the image selection unit 5h.
At this time, the text data input by the text input unit 5k is input to the image display unit 5h in the mail display unit 5c.
Can be displayed and confirmed as an additional image.

The storage unit 5g stores the e-mail data received by the reception unit 5b, the image and image number data selected by the image selection unit 5h, the text data input by the text input unit 5k, and the electronic data created for transmission. Mail data and the like are stored from each unit via the control unit 5f.

The transmitting section 5i transmits the electronic mail created by the mail creating section 5j to the mail server device 3 via the connecting section 5a.

The e-mail device 5 is specifically shown in FIG.
Is realized by the hardware configuration shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, a CPU 50 is a central control device that controls each unit of the device. The communication device 53 is a device for connecting to a network via a communication line or the like.
Such as a card. The display device 54 is a device that displays an electronic mail or the like, and is, for example, a display or a printer. The input device 55 is a device for inputting text data of an e-mail and selecting an image, and is, for example, a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse.

The program memory 51 is a storage area for storing the program of the present invention itself. BIOS / OS 511 for processing basic operations of a computer, image download program 512, image selection program 5
13, a mail creation program 514, a mail transmission program 515, a mail reception program 516, a mail display program 517, and an overall control program 51.
8 from which the program is read and the CPU
Performed by 50.

The data memory 52 is a storage area for storing electronic mail data, image data, data used for programs, and the like. Email data storage area 5
21; an image data storage area 522; and another data storage area 523 for storing data necessary for execution of other programs.

The connection section 5a is realized by the operation of the CPU 50 and the communication device 53 in accordance with the communication device driver included in the BIOS / OS 511. Also, according to the image download program 512, the CPU
The operation of the image download unit 5
d is realized. The image selection section 5h is realized by operating the CPU 50, the display device 54, and the input device 55 according to the image selection program 513. In addition, the operation of the CPU 50 according to the mail creation program 514 implements the mail creation section 5j. Also, according to the mail transmission program 515, the CPU
The operation of the transmission unit 5i realizes the transmission unit 5i. Also, according to the mail receiving program 516, the CPU
By the operation of 50, the receiving unit 5b is realized. Also, according to the mail display program 517, the CPU
The operation of the display device 50 and the display device 54 realizes the mail display unit 5c. The control unit 5f is realized by the operation of the CPU 50 according to the overall control program 518.

As described above, the e-mail data storage area 521 of the data memory 52 stores the e-mail data created by the e-mail creation program 514 and the e-mail data received by the e-mail reception program 516. The storage unit 5g is realized in combination with the other data storage area 523. The image data storage area 522 stores
It stores image data used as an additional image of an e-mail and its image number data, and realizes the image database unit 5e.

The external storage device 56 stores programs and data and transfers the programs and data to the program memory 51 and the data memory 52 when the computer is started or when the programs are executed. The storage medium 57 is a CD-RO
It is an actual storage medium of the external storage device 56 such as M, DVD, and tape.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the image server device 4 on the Internet 2. The image server device 4 includes a connection unit 4a, an image input unit 4b, a control unit 4c,
Image database unit 4d, image transmission unit 4e, clock unit 4f
Consists of

The connection unit 4a is connected to the Internet 2 and is in charge of receiving a request from the electronic mail device 5 and transmitting image data.

The image input section 4b inputs an image from an image input device such as a scanner.

The control unit 4c performs analysis of the request received from the connection unit 4a, management of the image database unit 4d, generation of image number data, generation of reduced images, control of data transmission and reception, and the like.

As described above, the image number data is generated by assigning a number obtained by combining the IP address of the image server device 4 with the eight digits of the date, month, day, hour, minute, and second at the time of image registration. One image number data can be generated. The IP address is set and stored by the connection unit 4a.

The image database unit 4d stores image data as an additional image (background image, illustration, etc.) of mail, reduced image data for list display, and image number data generated by the control unit 4c in pairs. I have. To newly register an image, the administrator of the image server device 4 inputs image data from the image input unit 4b using an image input device such as a scanner, and the control unit 4c inputs the image number data of the input image data. Then, a reduced image is generated and registered in the image database unit 4d in pairs with the image data. The image input unit 4b allows an administrator to input an image input by a computer on the Internet 2 separately by FTP (File Transfer).
r Protocol) can be used for registration. In this case, the image is transferred to the image input unit 4b of the image server device 4 via the connection unit 4a, and the transferred image is handled in the same manner as image data input by a scanner or the like. 4d.

The image transmission unit 4e reads the image data of the image number data corresponding to the image download request from the electronic mail device 5 from the image database unit 4d, and transmits the image data to the electronic mail device 5.

The timer 4f counts the date and time of image registration when the controller 4c generates image number data.

In the image server device 4, when there is a request for image list transmission from the electronic mail device 5, the control unit 4c receives the request, and in accordance with the command from the control unit 4c, the image transmission unit 4e operates the image database unit 4d. Then, the list data of the reduced image and the image number is extracted and transmitted to the e-mail device 5 via the connection unit 4a. When an image is selected from the transmitted list data in the electronic mail device 5, an image download request is sent together with the image number data of the selected image to the control unit 4c of the image server device 4, and the image transmission unit 4e
Retrieves the requested image from the image database unit 4d, and transmits the retrieved image data to the electronic mail device 5 via the connection unit 4a.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a network using the mail server device 3, the electronic mail device 5, and the image server device 4. There is a first mail server device 3-1 and a second mail server device 3-2 connected to the Internet 2, each of which has a first e-mail device 5
-1 and the second electronic mail device 5-2 are connected, and the image server device 4 is also connected to the Internet 2. In such a network form, the e-mail created by the first e-mail device 5-1 is sent to the first mail server device 3-1.
Second mail server device 3 based on the destination of the e-mail
Send e-mail to 2. Second mail server device 3-
2 stores the e-mail in a mailbox in the second mail server device 3-2 based on the destination of the e-mail. Second
The e-mail device 5-2 requests the second mail server device 3-2 to transmit an e-mail, and the e-mail is taken into the second e-mail device 5-2.

Conversely, it is also possible to transmit an electronic mail from the second electronic mail device 5-2 to the first electronic mail device 5-1.

The image server device 4 connected to the Internet 2 also has the first electronic mail device 5-1 and the second electronic mail device 5-1.
Images can be additionally stored in the image database unit 5e via the image download unit 5d of the electronic mail device 5-2.

In FIG. 5, there is one image server device 4 on the Internet 2. However, as described above, the method of generating image number data is performed by the image server device 4 of the image server device 4.
By assigning a number obtained by combining the eight digits of the P address and the fourteen digits of the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second, a plurality of image server apparatuses 4 can be provided on the Internet 2. At this time, the first e-mail device 5-1 and the second e-mail device 5
In -2, the upper eight digits of the image number data are used to extract the IP address of the image server device 4, connect to the image server device of the IP address, and download the image data corresponding to the image number data. Become.

The process of transmitting an electronic mail with an additional image from the first electronic mail device 5-1 to the second electronic mail device 5-2 in the configuration shown in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in the first electronic mail device 5-1, text data to be the body of the electronic mail is input by the text input unit 5k and stored in the storage unit 5g (step S101). As a text input method, an input using a keyboard, recognition by handwritten characters, an input by voice recognition, or the like can be considered, but a character code is stored when actually stored.

When the text is input, a list of images held in the image database unit 5e is displayed by the image selection unit 5h (step S102), and the user checks whether there is a desired image from the list. It is determined whether or not the instruction operation is performed, and an instruction operation is performed according to the determination (step S103).

If there is a desired image, the user uses a pointing device such as a mouse to execute step S10.
The corresponding image is selected from the image list displayed in Step 2 (Step S104). When an image is selected, the selected image and image number data corresponding to the selected image are stored in the storage unit 5g (step S105). Regarding this image number, the same image is assigned to the same image even in different electronic mail devices.

When the image number data is stored, the control unit 5
f combines the text data input in step S101 with the image selected in step S104, displays the combined image on the mail display unit 5c, and presents the image of the e-mail to be transmitted to the user (step S106). The mail creation unit 5j specifies the destination of the e-mail (step S107), the destination information and the step S1 stored in the storage unit 5g.
01 and the text data input in step S10
E-mail data is created from the image number data selected in step 4 (step S108). E-mail is divided into a mail body and a part called a header. The mail body contains text data and attached data.
The header portion stores destination information, transmission date and time information, and the like. The image number data selected in step S104 is stored in the header of the e-mail together with a tag such as X-BackgroundImage, for example, so that it can be stored separately from the contents of the e-mail text. , Do not confuse with the mail body.

The mail data created in step S108 is transmitted to the first mail server device 3 by the transmitting unit 5i.
-1 (step S109). Thereafter, mail is transmitted from the first mail server device 3-1 via the Internet 2 to the second mail server device 3-2 and further to the destination second electronic mail device 5-2 by a known technique.

On the other hand, if the user does not find the desired image in the image database unit 5e in step S103, it is necessary to download the image data from the image server device 4 on the Internet 2. For this purpose, the image download unit 5d connects to the image server device 4 via the connection unit 5a (step S110), and receives image list data from the image server device 4 (step S11).
1).

The image selecting section 5h adds the received image list to the images displayed in the list in step S102 and displays the image (step S112). The user selects a desired image from the added image list (step S113), and the image download unit 5d downloads the selected image together with the image number data from the image server device 4 (step S114). The image is additionally stored in the image database unit 5e together with the image number data (step S115). After the image has been additionally stored, the process proceeds to step S105 to store the selected number, and transmission is performed in the same manner as the above-described process.

By the above operation, the e-mail with the desired image added as the additional image is converted into the e-mail data including only the text data and the image number data without adding the image data itself to the e-mail data itself.
It can be transmitted from the electronic mail device 5-1 to the second electronic mail device 5-2.

Next, the first electronic mail device 5-
The process of receiving and displaying the electronic mail with the additional image transmitted from the first to the second electronic mail device 5-2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the second electronic mail device 5-2, when the receiving unit 5b receives an electronic mail from the second mail server device 3-2 (step S201), the received electronic mail is stored in the storage unit 5g (step S202). ). The control unit 5f extracts the text data of the mail body from the stored electronic mail data and stores it again in the storage unit 5g (step S203). Further, the control unit 5f extracts and stores the image number data from the stored e-mail data (step S204). Specifically, a tag for image information (for example, X-Background) is obtained from the header information of the e-mail.
ndImage) is retrieved.

The control unit 5f determines whether or not the image number extracted in step S204 exists in the image database unit 5e (step S205). When the desired image exists in the image database unit 5e, the control unit 5f extracts the image corresponding to the image number from the image database unit 5e, displays the image on the mail display unit 5c, and furthermore, the text extracted in step S203. The data is combined with the image displayed on the mail display unit 5c and displayed, and the image of the received e-mail is displayed (step S20).
6).

In step S205, if the desired image does not exist in the image database unit 5e, the control unit 5f
Requests the image download unit 5d to download the image with the desired image number from the image server device 4, and the image download unit 5d connects to the image server device 4 (step S210). When connected to the image server device 4, an image having a desired image number is downloaded from the image server device 4 (step S211), and the image number data and the image data are additionally stored in the image database unit 5e (step S2).
212). Thereafter, the process proceeds to the process of step S206. Here, since the image data has already been stored in the image database unit 5e in step S212, the image of the e-mail can be displayed as it is in the above-described normal process.

With the above operation, the second electronic mail device 5
-2 is based on the text data transmitted from the first e-mail device 5-1 and the e-mail data of the image number data,
Desired image data and text data can be combined and displayed as an e-mail with an additional image.

In this embodiment, transmission and reception of additional images such as background images and illustrations have been described.
The data to be transmitted and received is not limited to the additional image, but can be realized by any data such as images and sounds.

The contents of the above-described embodiments are not limited to the above description unless the gist of the present invention is changed.

[0069]

According to the electronic mail transmitting apparatus of the present invention, an image held in the image database section inside the electronic mail transmitting apparatus is selected, and the image is created as an additional image of the mail body, and the text data is created. The image number data of the selected image can be transmitted as an e-mail with an additional image.

Therefore, instead of using a large amount of image data such as when sending a visual e-mail such as a postcard with a background image or a letter paper with an illustration, only small data called image number data is transmitted. I'm done.

Therefore, there is an effect of reducing the communication cost at the time of sending and receiving electronic mail. Further, there is an effect that the load on the mail server device is reduced by reducing the data of the electronic mail.

When there is no desired image in the image database in the e-mail transmission device, it is possible to connect to the image server device and store new image data in the image database in the e-mail transmission device. .

Therefore, the user can select more image data as an additional image.

In the electronic mail receiving device of the present invention,
Image number data and text data can be separated from the received e-mail data, an image corresponding to the image number data can be read from an image database, and combined with the text data for display.

Therefore, the amount of data when receiving an electronic mail with an image can be reduced, and the communication cost at the time of receiving can be reduced. Further, since the received data is small, there is an effect that it can be used for a communication device having a small capacity such as a mobile phone.

If there is no image corresponding to the image number data separated from the received e-mail data in the image database in the e-mail transmission device, the image data is automatically connected to the image server device and the desired image data is transmitted. Image data can be stored in an image database.

Therefore, in the same manner as the e-mail attached with the received normal image, the user can transmit the e-mail with the image without being conscious of whether or not the image added to the e-mail exists in the e-mail device. There is an effect that can be browsed.

Further, only when there is no desired image data in the image database in the electronic mail receiving device and the electronic mail transmitting device of the present invention, only necessary image data is downloaded from the image server device. Database capacity can be kept to a minimum.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a basic network configuration according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an electronic mail device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the electronic mail device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an image server device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram illustrating an embodiment of a network according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of transmitting an electronic mail according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of receiving an electronic mail according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 network form 2 Internet 3 mail server device 4 image server device 4a image server device connection unit 4b image server device image input unit 4c image server device control unit 4d image server device image database unit 4e image server device image transmission Part 5 E-mail device 5a E-mail device connection portion 5b E-mail device reception portion 5c E-mail device mail display portion 5d E-mail device image download portion 5e E-mail device image database portion 5f E-mail device control portion 5g E-mail device storage unit 5h E-mail device image selection unit 5i E-mail device transmission unit 5j E-mail device mail creation unit 5k E-mail device text input unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image database means capable of storing image data and image number data corresponding to the image data in pairs, a connection means for connecting the image server device and the mail server device via a communication line, and the connection From the image server device connected by the means,
Image download means for receiving image data and image number data corresponding to the image data and storing the received image data in the image database means, image selection means for selecting desired image data from the image database means, and inputting text data Text input means; mail number generating means for generating electronic mail data by combining image number data corresponding to the image data selected by the image selecting means with text data input by the text input means; A transmitting means for transmitting the e-mail data created by the e-mail creating means to the e-mail receiving apparatus via the mail server connected by the connecting means. 2. An image database means capable of storing image data and image number data corresponding to the image data in pairs, a connection means for connecting the image server device and the mail server device via a communication line, and the connection Receiving means for receiving e-mail data from an e-mail transmitting device via a mail server device connected by means; separating means for separating text data and image number data from the e-mail data received by the receiving means Determining means for determining whether image data corresponding to image number data separated by the separating means is stored in the image database means; and determining that the image data is not stored by the determining means. The image number data from the image server device connected by the connection means. Image download means for receiving image data corresponding to the image number data and storing the image data in the image database means as a pair with the image number data; image data corresponding to the image number data separated by the separation means; And a display means for reading the text data and combining the text data with the text data. 3. An image database means capable of storing image data and image number data corresponding to the image data in pairs, a connection means for connecting the electronic mail transmitting apparatus and the electronic mail receiving apparatus via a communication line, Input means for inputting image data; image number generating means for generating image number data corresponding to the image data input by the input means; image data input by the input means; and the image number generating means Storage means for storing in the image database means a pair with the image number data generated by the above, image data stored in the image database means to an e-mail transmitting device or an e-mail receiving device connected by the connecting means And transmission means for transmitting image number data corresponding to the image data. And image server apparatus. 4. Receiving image data and image number data corresponding to the image data from an image server device, storing the image data in pairs in an image database, selecting desired image data from the image database, and inputting text data. And combining the image data corresponding to the selected image data with the input text data to create e-mail data; and transmitting the created e-mail data to an e-mail via a mail server device. A storage medium storing an e-mail transmission program, which is transmitted to a receiving device. 5. Receiving electronic mail data from an electronic mail transmitting device via a mail server device, separating text data and image number data from the received electronic mail data, and corresponding to the separated image number data. It is determined whether the image data is stored in the image database.If it is determined that the image data is not stored,
Receiving image data corresponding to the image number data from the image server device, storing the image data in a pair with the image number data in an image database, reading the image data corresponding to the separated image number data from the image database, A storage medium storing an electronic mail receiving program, wherein the electronic mail receiving program is combined with the text data and displayed.