JP2002073499A - Electronic mail system and control apparatus, and recording medium with the program recorded thereon - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide technique capable of easily selecting a called terminal kind of an electronic mail in transmission. SOLUTION: An electronic mail system for performing transmission/reception of the electronic mail comprises a determination means for determining a called terminal kind from a domain part at the destination part of the received electronic mail, a conversion means for converting contents of the electronic mail depending on a called terminal kind, and a transmitting means for transmitting the converted contents to the destination of the electronic mail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an e-mail system, and more particularly to an e-mail system capable of designating a destination terminal type when transmitting an e-mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art E-mails are usually transmitted and received between computers.
In this case, for example, at the time of transmission, a destination FAX is designated as a destination address FAX number $ xxx. When delivering an electronic mail to an incoming fax, the mail text and various attached files are converted into a fax image.

[0003]

However, it has not been possible to easily select whether an electronic mail is received by telephone or a facsimile by the conventional technology.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a technique that allows the terminal type of an electronic mail to be easily selected at the time of transmission.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention can be configured as follows.

The invention according to claim 1 is an electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving an electronic mail, comprising: a judging means for judging an incoming terminal type from a domain part in a destination portion of the received electronic mail; There is provided a converting means for converting the content of the e-mail according to the request, and a transmitting means for transmitting the converted content to a destination of the e-mail.

According to the present invention, it is possible to specify the destination terminal type in the domain part of the destination part of the electronic mail,
It is possible to easily select the receiving terminal type and receive an electronic mail in a format according to the receiving terminal type.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, there is provided means for acquiring a default terminal type when a destination terminal type is not specified in the domain portion.

According to the present invention, an electronic mail can be transmitted to a destination of a default terminal type registered in advance.

[0010] The invention described in claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the above description, the judging means judges the type of the called terminal from the leftmost part of the domain part.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the transmitting means acquires the converted content from the converting means, calls a destination of the electronic mail,
After detecting a response from the destination, the converted content is transmitted to the destination. According to the present invention, for example, when the destination is a telephone, the contents of an e-mail can be transmitted reliably.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control apparatus for an electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving an electronic mail, the electronic mail system determining a type of a receiving terminal from a domain part in a destination part of the received electronic mail. Means, means for instructing the conversion means in the e-mail system to convert the content of the e-mail according to the receiving terminal type, and means for notifying the transmission means in the e-mail system of the destination of the e-mail and the converted contents And According to the present invention, substantially the same functions and effects as those of the first aspect are obtained.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect, a means for acquiring a default terminal type when a destination terminal type is not specified in the domain portion. According to the present invention, substantially the same operation and effect as those of the second aspect can be obtained.

[0014] The invention according to claim 7 is the invention according to claim 5 or 6.
In the above description, the judging means judges the type of the called terminal from the leftmost part of the domain part. According to the present invention, substantially the same operation and effect as those of the third aspect are obtained.

The invention according to claims 8 to 10 is a computer-readable recording medium in which a program for causing a control device in an electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving electronic mail to execute processing is recorded. It has substantially the same operation and effect as the invention.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, an example of a method for specifying the type of a called terminal according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), when specifying the destination of an e-mail, the destination number is described in the account name part, the type of the receiving terminal is described in the leftmost part of the domain name, and the e-mail is transmitted. By doing so, it becomes possible to convert the content of the e-mail into a format corresponding to the type of the receiving terminal and make the receiving terminal receive the mail.

Note that a portion indicating the destination of the e-mail is a destination portion, a portion where the account name is described in the destination portion (left side of ＠) is an account portion, and a portion where the domain name is described (＠
To the right) is called the domain part.

FIG. 1A shows an example in which FAX is designated as the terminal type. In this case, the mail text and various attached files (text, document file, image file, etc.)
It is converted to an X image and delivered by the FAX protocol.

FIG. 1B shows an example in which a telephone is designated as the terminal type. In this case, the contents of the mail text, the attached text file, and the attached voice data file are delivered to the destination telephone by voice.

Furthermore, by registering a default terminal type for a terminal number in an electronic mail system of the present invention described later, designation of a terminal type when sending an electronic mail can be omitted. FIG. 1 shows an example of destination designation when the incoming fax shown in FIG. 1A is registered.
It is shown in (c). The registration is performed, for example, by setting the terminal type corresponding to the number 033456222 to FAX.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of an electronic mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The e-mail system shown in FIG. 1 includes a service control unit 1 that controls services consistently and instructs the processing contents to other parts, a terminal number management unit 3 that stores a default terminal type for each terminal number, a service control. It has a data conversion unit 5 for performing data conversion in accordance with an instruction from the unit 1 and a gateway unit for transmitting and receiving to and from a user terminal. The gateway unit includes a mail gateway unit 7, a telephone gateway unit 9, and a fax gateway unit 11.

Each of the above units in the electronic mail system can be realized using a computer.

Next, the operation of the electronic mail system will be described.

When the user sends an e-mail with the destination specified as shown in FIG. 1, the mail gateway 7 receives the e-mail and sends the destination of the e-mail (the contents of the To field) to the service control unit 1. Notice.

Subsequently, the service control section 1 analyzes the contents of the destination, determines the destination from the account section, and determines the type of the called terminal from the leftmost part of the domain name. The data conversion unit 5 is instructed to perform data conversion (text → image, attached file → image, etc.) according to the determined incoming terminal type.

For example, the leftmost part of the domain name is “fax”
In the case of, the receiving terminal is determined to be a facsimile, and an instruction to convert the mail content (text, attached file) into image data is issued.

The type of the receiving terminal can be omitted. If the type is omitted, the terminal number management unit 3 is inquired about the default terminal type. The terminal number management unit 3 has a database function of storing a default terminal type for each terminal number, and returns a default terminal type of the number in response to an inquiry from the service control unit 1. FIG. 3 shows an example of data possessed by the terminal number management unit. As shown in the figure, the terminal type is registered corresponding to the destination number.

Next, the data conversion unit 5 receives the original data to be converted and the instruction of the conversion to be performed from the service control unit 1, and performs data conversion. In addition, FA
Conversion to an X image or the like can be performed by a conventionally known method. When the type of the receiving terminal is a telephone, the attached file or the like is converted into a text or the like as necessary. After the conversion by the data conversion unit 5 is completed, the service control unit 1
The destination and the converted data are notified to the gateway unit corresponding to the receiving terminal type, and the delivery to the terminal is instructed.

That is, when the receiving terminal is a telephone, the telephone gateway unit 9 makes a telephone call to the destination telephone number via the PSTN according to the instruction from the service control unit 1, and transmits the voice. The processing via the telephone gateway unit 9 will be described later in detail. If the receiving terminal is a facsimile, the facsimile gateway unit 11 performs facsimile transmission to the destination facsimile number via the PSTN in accordance with an instruction from the service control unit 1. The process itself of transmitting a FAX via the fax gateway unit 11 can use, for example, a conventional technique.

Next, the processing in the service control section 1 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the destination of the e-mail sent from the user is checked (step 1). Next, it is checked whether or not there is a media designation at the leftmost part of the domain name (step 2). In the domain part of the destination as shown in FIG. 1, since the part from xxx to is fixed, it can be determined whether or not there is a media designation between ＠ and xxx.

If a medium is specified, the data conversion unit 5 is instructed to perform a data conversion process in accordance with the specified medium type (step 3).

If no media is specified, the terminal number management unit 3 is inquired about the registration contents for the destination number (step 4). Next, it is checked whether or not the terminal type of the destination number is registered in the terminal number management unit 3 (step 5). If the terminal type is registered, the data conversion process according to the registered terminal type is performed. 5 (step 6). If there is no registration, the data conversion unit 5 is instructed to perform data conversion processing according to the default media type as the application service network (step 7).

Next, the processing via the telephone gateway 9 will be described in detail with reference to the sequence chart of FIG.

When the e-mail system of the present invention receives an e-mail transmitted from a user, the data conversion unit 5 performs data conversion from the attached file to text or the like as necessary (steps 11 to 13). When the service control unit 1 receives a data conversion end notification from the data conversion unit 5 (step 14), the service control unit 1 sends a destination and transmission data information to the telephone gateway unit 9 to issue a data transmission instruction. Then, the telephone gateway unit 9 acquires the transmission data instructed in step 15 from the data conversion unit 5 (step 16).

Next, the telephone gateway section 9 makes a telephone call to the destination specified in step 15 (step 17),
Upon detecting a response from the destination phone (step 18),
The transmission data obtained in step 16 is converted into voice, and voice is transmitted to the telephone in real time (step 1).
9). When the voice transmission is completed, the line is disconnected (step 20), and a transmission completion report is sent to the service control unit 1 (step 21).

In the case of FAX, processing can be performed in the same sequence as described above. However, a fax protocol is used for fax transmission.

The function of each unit in the above-described electronic mail system can be realized as a program, and the program can be stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, or a hard disk. The above-described e-mail system can be constructed by installing programs stored in a recording medium on computers corresponding to respective units.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified and applied within the scope of the claims. For example, by using the above-described concept of the present invention, it is possible for a user to specify a terminal other than a telephone and a facsimile, and to receive an e-mail in a format corresponding to the terminal. Further, the configuration of the electronic mail system of the present invention is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 2, and, for example, a plurality of functions can be realized by one computer.

[0041]

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily select the destination terminal type of an e-mail by designating the destination terminal type as the destination of the e-mail, and to receive the e-mail at various terminals. It becomes possible.

[0042]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a method of specifying a destination terminal type according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an electronic mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of data held by a terminal number management unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process in a service control unit.

FIG. 5 is a sequence chart showing processing when a call is received.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Service control part 3 Terminal number management part 5 Data conversion part 7 Mail gateway part 9 Telephone gateway part 11 Fax gateway part

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Fujio F-term in NTT Communications Co., Ltd. 1-6-1, Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 5K030 GA18 HA05 HB04 HB11 HC02 JT05 LB16

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An e-mail system for transmitting and receiving an e-mail, comprising: a judging means for judging a type of a receiving terminal from a domain part in a destination part of the received e-mail; and a content of the e-mail according to the type of the receiving terminal. An electronic mail system comprising: a conversion unit that converts the content; and a transmission unit that transmits the converted content to a destination of the electronic mail. 2. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, further comprising means for acquiring a default terminal type when a destination terminal type is not specified in the domain part. 3. The e-mail system according to claim 1, wherein said judging means judges the type of the called terminal from the leftmost part of said domain part. 4. The transmitting means acquires the converted content from the converting means, calls a destination of the electronic mail, detects a response from the destination, and transmits the converted content to the destination. The electronic mail system according to claim 1. 5. A control device in an e-mail system for transmitting / receiving an e-mail, comprising: a judging means for judging a destination terminal type from a domain part in a destination part of the e-mail received by the e-mail system; Means for instructing the conversion means in the electronic mail system to convert the contents of the electronic mail in response thereto, and means for notifying the transmission means in the electronic mail system of the destination of the electronic mail and the converted contents. Control device. 6. The control device according to claim 5, further comprising: a unit that acquires a default terminal type when a destination terminal type is not specified in the domain unit. 7. The control device according to claim 5, wherein said determining means determines the type of the called terminal from the leftmost part of said domain part. 8. A computer-readable recording medium in which a program for causing a control device in an electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving electronic mail to execute a process is recorded, wherein a domain part in a destination part of the electronic mail received by the electronic mail system is provided. A procedure for instructing a conversion means in the email system to convert the content of the e-mail according to the type of the incoming terminal, and a destination of the e-mail and the converted e-mail. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a control device to execute a procedure of notifying a transmitting unit in the system. 9. The computer-readable recording medium storing a program according to claim 8, further comprising a step of acquiring a default terminal type when a destination terminal type is not specified in the domain part. 10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the determining step includes a step of determining the type of the called terminal from the leftmost part of the domain unit.
Or a computer-readable recording medium recording the program according to 9.