JP2002132669A - Method for transmitting date-designated mail, and device for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transmit an electronic information mail on a designated day. SOLUTION: A user computer 85 transmits a date on destinated mail including the date when an electronic information mail should be actually transmitted and the destination of the electronic information mail in a preliminarily decided format for making the date surrounded by (") and the substantial destination continuous, and a receiving part 12 of a server computer 83 receives this date designation mail, and an analyzing part 14 analyzes the format, and specifies the date when the electronic information mail should be transmitted and the substantial destination of the electronic information mail. Then, a registering part 16 of the server computer 83 registers a table in which the original mail is made to correspond to the date data in a date mail data table 18. Then, a date referring part 26 of the server computer 83 transmits the date-designated mail by referring to the table 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for transmitting a designated date mail, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for transmitting a designated date mail when sending and receiving electronic information mail via a communication line such as the Internet. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of information communication infrastructure in recent years, it has become possible for a personal computer (PC) to participate in a network as an information terminal to transmit and obtain various information. . Recently, the Internet has been known as a network that can be used easily, and information can be easily exchanged only by preparing a PC including a communication device, that is, bidirectional information exchange is possible. With the advantage of this network, users can easily exchange electronic information mails (so-called E-mails).

[0003] By the way, when electronic information mail is exchanged via the Internet, it can be transmitted to the target user side in real time, but it is an object such as a greeting card or a birthday congratulation letter. If there is a due date, the user has to perform transmission processing on that date.

[0004]

However, when creating an electronic information mail, the user sometimes erroneously transmits the electronic information mail, and the electronic information mail is sometimes transmitted before a designated date. In this case, the electronic information mail may be temporarily stored and transmitted on the applicable date. For this purpose, the date and address to be delivered from the user must be obtained in advance. Therefore, the user is required to give and receive two pieces of information, e-mail information and information to be delivered on the due date.
The user was troublesome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for transmitting a designated date mail which can easily designate and transmit a designated date for an electronic information mail in consideration of the above facts.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a receiving terminal capable of connecting an electronic information mail transmitted from a requesting terminal connectable to a communication line to a communication line on a designated date. A method of transmitting a date designation mail to be delivered to a requesting terminal operated by a requester, at least for an identifier representing the requesting terminal, a delivery date to the receiving terminal, a destination representing the receiving terminal, and contents. An electronic information mail including data is received via a communication line, the items of the received electronic information mail are analyzed, and based on the analysis result, when the electronic information mail is in a predetermined format, the received electronic information mail is received. The information mail is registered in the mail storage means, and by referring to the mail storage means, an electronic information mail whose reference time corresponds to the designated delivery time is searched, and Electronic information mail search results via the communication line to the receiving terminal.

In the present invention, electronic information mail is sent and received via a communication line such as the Internet. That is, the electronic information mail transmitted from the requesting terminal that can be connected to the communication line is delivered to the receiving terminal that can be connected to the communication line on the designated date. The requester who requests the designated transmission of the electronic information mail operates the requesting terminal, and at least an identifier (for example, own mail address) representing the requesting terminal and a date (for example, date) to be delivered to the receiving terminal. Then, an electronic information mail including data on a destination (for example, the mail address of the other party) representing the receiving terminal and contents (for example, the contents of the mail itself) is transmitted. The electronic information mail is received via a communication line, and the items of the received electronic information mail are analyzed. At the same time, based on the analysis result, when the electronic information mail has a predetermined format, the received electronic information mail is registered in the mail storage unit. Next, the electronic information mail corresponding to the designated delivery time is searched by referring to the mail storage unit, and the electronic information mail of the corresponding search result is transmitted to the receiving terminal via the communication line. I do. In this way, when there is a target date, such as a greeting card or birthday congratulation letter, the user (requester) can easily send the relevant date and other information by e-mail,
It can be sent to the recipient on the specified date.

[0008] The format is used as a destination in the data of the electronic information mail transmitted from the requesting terminal.
The present invention is characterized in that data representing a device belonging to the mail storage means and predetermined identification information are added to the data to be delivered to the receiving terminal, and a destination representing the receiving terminal is in a continuous data format.

[0009] When a user (requester) transmits a designated date and the like included in an electronic information mail, if a series of operations is performed in a plurality of ways, it causes trouble. Therefore, as the destination of the electronic information mail data, the date of delivery to the receiving terminal obtained by adding predetermined identification information to the data (for example, a server) belonging to the mail storage means, and the destination indicating the receiving terminal are as follows. By using a continuous data format as the format, the delivery date for one item to the receiving terminal,
And a destination representing the receiving terminal. This allows the user (requester) to easily transmit to the recipient on the specified date only by inputting data related to the date when creating the electronic information mail. Can compose email.

[0010] The method of transmitting a date designation mail can be realized by the following device. Specifically, the electronic information mail transmitted from the requesting terminal that can be connected to the communication line is delivered to the receiving terminal that can be connected to the communication line on the specified date, and is operated by the requester in the transmission device of the specified date mail. Receiving means for receiving, via a communication line, an electronic information mail including at least an identifier representing the requesting terminal, a date to be delivered to the receiving terminal, a destination representing the receiving terminal, and data on the content from the requesting terminal. Registering means for analyzing the items of the received electronic information mail and, based on the analysis result, when the electronic information mail is in a predetermined format, registering the received electronic information mail in a mail storage means; A search means for searching for the electronic information mail corresponding to the designated delivery time by referring to the mail storage means; The information mail, characterized by comprising a transmission means for transmitting via a communication line to the receiving terminal.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment,
The present invention relates to a system for exchanging information over a network between a requesting side who wants to deliver electronic information mail (hereinafter referred to as e-mail) on a designated date and a processing side (server) which manages and sends / receives e-mails. Is applied.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of a network system to which the embodiment of the present invention can be applied. As shown in FIG. 2, the network system 80 includes a plurality of requesting computers 8 operated by different requesters.
4 and the processing-side computer 84 are respectively a modem, a router, and a TA (Terminal Adapter: Terminal A).
It is connected to a network (for example, the Internet) 88 via a connection device 86 such as a dapter. The plurality of computers 82 and 84 are connected to the network 8
8, information can be exchanged by mutual communication.

In the following description, as shown in FIG. 2, the computer 82 functions as a computer (hereinafter, referred to as a "server computer") 83 for performing various mail processing, and the requesting computer 84 A configuration that functions as a computer (hereinafter, referred to as a “user computer”) that sends and receives e-mails to requesters and recipients will be described as an example. This user computer will be described as a user computer 85 on the requester side and a user computer 87 on the receiver side. In addition, although the server computer 83 is described as one by one,
The present invention is not limited to this, and plural units may be used. Further, in the present embodiment, two user computers 85 and 87 will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of user computers may be used.

The user computer 85 corresponds to the requesting terminal of the present invention, and the user computer 87 corresponds to the receiving terminal of the present invention. Further, the server computer 83 corresponds to the transmission device of the designated date mail of the present invention, and the network 88 corresponds to the communication line of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a case where the Internet is applied as a network will be described. In this case, although not shown, it is assumed that there is a mail server that manages the transmission and reception of mails of the user computers 85 and 87 on the Internet. The network is not limited to the Internet, and the user computer may be another information device such as a mobile communication terminal.

Note that an IP (Internet Protocol) address is used to identify the user computer 85. In addition, a mail address assigned in advance is used to identify a user (target person) who operates the user computer 85.

Each of the computers is provided with an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse for inputting instructions with the computer, and a display for displaying the results of processing by the computer.
Note that the computer has a general and general hardware configuration, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the transmission and reception of information by the computer having the above configuration. This system can be configured by being classified into a server computer 83, a user computer 85, and a user computer 87.

The server computer 83 includes the receiving unit 1
2, analysis unit 14, data registration unit 16, date mail data table 18, transmission unit 20, reception judgment unit 22, error & format table 24, date reference unit 26, transmission judgment unit 28
It is composed of These units may be configured by a computer and connected so that information can be exchanged. Receiver 12
Is a functional unit for receiving mails from the user computers 85 and 87, and the analyzing unit 14 is a functional unit for analyzing received mails. The data registration unit 16 is a functional unit that registers the analyzed mail in the date mail data table 18. The due date mail data table 18 is a memory storing a database in which the body (contents, etc.) of the mail and the due date to be transmitted are stored as a table.
The transmission unit 20 is a functional unit that transmits mail, and exchanges information with the user computers 85 and 87. The reception judging unit 22 is a user computer 8
It is a functional unit that determines the analysis result of the mail received from the user computers 5 and 87 and that determines when information has been exchanged with the user computers 85 and 87. An error & format table 24 is connected to the reception determining unit 22, and a method and a format corresponding to an error (error) are stored as a table. The date reference section 26 is a
This is a functional unit that refers to the transmission date of mail registered in the data table 18. The transmission determining unit 28 is a functional unit that determines an abnormality at the time of transmitting a mail.

The receiving unit 12 corresponds to a receiving unit in the sending device of the designated date mail of the present invention, and the analyzing unit 14 and the data registering unit 16 correspond to the registering unit of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the mail storage means for registration by the registration means of the present invention is a date mail data table 18.
Corresponds. Further, the date reference unit 26 corresponds to a search unit of the present invention, and the transmitting unit 20 corresponds to a transmitting unit of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, the user computers 85, 8
It is assumed that an application (so-called mailer) having at least an e-mail transmission / reception function is installed in the server 7. In addition, the user computer 8 of the present embodiment
In 5, the mailer can be called from another application, for example, a new year's card creation printing program.

In the present embodiment, the server computer 83 functions as a membership site and has a mail address to which a mail with a designated date is to be sent from the user computer. An e-mail is transmitted to the (recipient) via the network 88.

In the server computer 83, in order to operate the membership site, membership registration can be performed in advance as a condition for the user to connect. In this member registration, the name of the client, the place of work, the e-mail address, and a password (password) for authenticating the identity of the client when confirmation is requested on this site can be registered. By this member registration, only the users registered in advance can perform the following processing.

That is, the server computer 83
It functions as a virtual post office VPO (Vircial Post Offce), and has a function of transmitting and receiving (delivery) e-mails such as e-mails and mobile phone mails, as in the well-known postal service.

First, the user computer 85 executes the processing routine shown in FIG. 3 when an application such as a New Year's card creation print program issues a mailer call instruction or a mailer alone activation instruction. In step 100, normal mail input processing is performed, and it is determined whether or not a due date has been specified in the next step 102. When a negative result is obtained in step 102, the process proceeds directly to step 108, and when a positive result is obtained,
Proceed to step 104. In step 104, input processing of a date to be actually transmitted is performed.
In step 10, the mail is converted into a format of a date designation mail including the input date (described later), and
Proceed to 8. In step 108, it is determined whether or not transmission has been instructed. If the result is negative, the routine is terminated as it is. If the result is affirmed, the routine is terminated after executing the mail transmission process in step 110. .

FIG. 6 shows an example of a screen displayed on the user computer 85 when creating data for sending a mail. The screen 300 includes a display area 302 for a mail transmission instruction, a display area 304 for a due date specification instruction, a destination display area 306, a display area 308 for a title of the mail,
And a display area 310 of the contents of the mail. The display areas 302 and 304 function as buttons. That is, the display area 302 is configured so that the area can be instructed to be pressed with an input device such as a mouse, and in accordance with the instruction, a mail including a destination, a title, and contents is output as data from the user computer. be able to. The display area 304 is configured so that the area can be pressed and instructed with an input device such as a mouse. According to the instruction, a destination and a due date for transmission (for example, input using a pop-up window) are input.
, And the date data including the input destination and the date for transmission can be stored in the destination column (display area 306).

Here, the principle of the date designation mail will be described. In general, an e-mail is composed of header information and the contents of the e-mail, and the header information includes data in which the address of a target person (recipient) to which the contents should be transmitted is entered as a destination item. . A non-sensitive identifier can be set in the header information. For example, data between double quotation marks "" can be excluded from target data in the entry column.

For example, in the destination, the mail address of the person to be transmitted should be entered, and if the address is followed by "123", this data (12
3) becomes insensitive, is recognized as data irrelevant to the destination, has no effect on the mail address, and is ignored. In the present embodiment, the deadline and the substantial destination are entered in the destination using this non-responsive identifier.

That is, using the non-sensitive identifier, the address of the server computer 83 is entered as a destination, and data for making the date enclosed by "" and the substantial destination continue. As a result, it is possible to transmit, to the server computer 83, data including the destination to which the mail is to be transmitted and the due date as the data of the destination.

In the example of FIG. 6, this format is
"VPO" which is the address of the server computer 83
In this case, a non-sensitive identifier “”, a date, a separation identifier “:”, a substantial destination, and a non-sensitive identifier “” ”are used. That is, the server address data 312,
Non-sensitive identifier start data 320, due date data 314,
This is a format including a separation identifier 324, actual destination data 316, and end data 322 of a non-sensitive identifier.
As a result, the data created with the non-sensitive identifier "" is ignored as the destination, but by extracting it,
The deadline to send and the effective destination can be specified. The date to be transmitted and the substantial destination can be easily separated by putting a separation identifier ":" between them. The date and address can be specified by using a format in which the date and address are entered in this order.

In this embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which data in this format is automatically entered as a destination when the date designation button (display area 304) is pressed. The user may directly enter data in this format.

Next, in the server computer 83, the processing routine shown in FIG. 4 is executed at predetermined time intervals. FIG.
In step 200, it is determined whether or not an e-mail has been received. If the result is negative, the routine ends. On the other hand, if affirmative in step 200, step 2
Go to 02.

In step 202, data analysis processing of the received mail is executed. This data analysis process analyzes whether the date and destination can be separated as data conforming to the format described above. When the description is made as in the example of FIG. 6, the result is affirmed in the next step 204, and the process proceeds to step 206. When the description is incorrect, that is, when the format does not match, the result is denied in step 204 and the process proceeds to step 210. move on.

If the data conforms to the format, in step 206, it is registered in the database as a date designation mail. That is, the mail received in step 200 is stored in the date mail data table 18 as data corresponding to the designated date and the original mail. In this step 206, of the data created with the non-sensitive identifier "", the first half of the separation identifier ":" is set as the due date data, and the second half of the data is set as the destination data to be actually transmitted. Then, as the mail, a mail is generated in which the address “VPO” of the server computer 83 is replaced with the destination data extracted as described above. A table in which the generated mail is associated with the due date data is stored in the due date mail data table 18.

In the next step 208, the fact that the date designated mail has been received in a form that can be transmitted on the date is transmitted by mail. This mail transmission is sent to the sender of the mail received in step 200. By receiving the e-mail, the requester who has requested the date specification can recognize that the e-mail has been accepted.

If the format does not conform, error processing is performed in step 210. This error process is a process for examining the difference between the format of the mail received in step 200 and the legitimate one, and grasps the difference between the data order and the identifier. When this process ends, in the next step 212, information of the error grasped in the step 210 is transmitted. In other words, an e-mail is sent indicating that the designated date e-mail could not be received. This email transmission is Step 2
It is sent to the sender of the mail received at 00. By receiving the e-mail, the requester who has requested the date specification can recognize why the e-mail was not accepted.

In this manner, the due date designated mail from the requester can be stored in the due date mail data table 18 as a table in which actual mails and due date data are associated with each other.

The receiving process in step 200
That is, the function of receiving data from the user computer 85 corresponds to the function of the receiving unit 12. The function of analyzing the mail received in step 202 is provided by the analysis unit 1
4 functions. Further, the judgment processing function of step 204 corresponds to the function of the reception judgment unit 22. Further, the processing of step 206 corresponds to the function of the data registration unit 16,
The processing in step 210 corresponds to the function of the reception determining unit 22 that performs processing while referring to the error & format table 24.
The processing of steps 208 and 212 is performed by the reception determining unit 2 that performs transmission processing while referring to the error & format table 24.
2 and the function of the transmission unit 20.

Next, in the server computer 83, the processing routine shown in FIG. 5 is executed at predetermined time intervals. FIG.
In step 220, the current date and time are acquired, and in the next step 222, the due date mail data table 18 is referred to. This step 222 is a process of comparing the due date of the registered mail with the current date and time acquired in step 220 to search for the corresponding mail.

In the next step 224, the above step 2
As a result of the search at 22, it is determined whether or not there is a corresponding mail with a designated date. If there is no corresponding mail, the determination in step 224 is denied, and the routine ends. On the other hand, if affirmative in step 224, step 2
The process proceeds to step 26, where a corresponding date-designated mail is transmitted.

In the next step 228, step 226
It is determined whether or not the mail transmission was successful. If the mail transmission is successful, the result in step 228 is affirmative, and in step 230, the fact that the designated date mail was sent on the date is transmitted by mail. This mail transmission is performed in step 200
Send to the sender of the email received in. By receiving this e-mail, the requester can recognize that the e-mail with the designated date has been sent to the receiver.

On the other hand, if the result in step 228 is negative, an error is reported to the requester in step 232.
This error report is generated when the address of the recipient is inappropriate or unacceptable. After several transmission retries, it is determined that the mail transmission has failed, and a negative decision is made at step 228. Is done. Then, in step 232, information on the error that failed in the transmission is transmitted. That is, the fact that the designated date mail could not be sent is sent by mail. This email is sent
In step 200, the mail is transmitted to the sender of the mail. By receiving the e-mail, the requester can recognize why the e-mail could not be transmitted.

In the processing shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, it may be determined whether or not the user is a member. In this case, it is possible to determine whether the e-mail address of the sender of the received e-mail is included in the subscribed e-mail addresses.

Steps 220 to 226
Processing, the reference function of the due date designation mail, the due date reference section 26
Function. In addition, the functions of steps 228 to 232 correspond to the functions of the transmission determination unit 28, the reception determination unit 22, and the transmission unit 20.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the date and time to be transmitted are included in the destination of the mail in a predetermined format. For this reason, it is possible to extract the specified date and the address to be actually transmitted included in the address, and to send the mail using the data of the extraction result, thereby reliably sending the mail to the date and the address specified by the requester. Can be sent.

In this embodiment, the case has been described where the destination of the mail includes the due date and the actual destination.
The present invention is not limited to this, and may be included in any of the header information. Also, it may be included in the mail content. In this case, the contents of the mail may be described in a predetermined format.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention, at least the identifier (for example, own mail address) representing the requesting terminal, the date to be delivered to the receiving terminal (for example, date), An electronic information mail including data on a destination (e.g., the mail address of the other party) and the contents (e.g., the contents of the mail itself) representing the side terminal is received and registered in the mail storage means, and the electronic mail corresponding to the designated delivery time Since the information mail is sent to the receiving terminal via the communication line, it is possible to easily send electronic information mail with a target date, such as a congratulatory letter, on the specified date. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for information exchange in a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a network system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing flow in a user computer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of a receiving process in a server computer.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of a transmission process in a server computer.

FIG. 6 is an image diagram showing an example of a mail input screen displayed on a user computer.

[Description of Signs] 12 receiving unit 14 analyzing unit 16 registration unit 18 date mail / data table 20 transmitting unit 22 reception determining unit 24 format table 26 date reference unit 28 transmission determining unit 80 network system 83 server computer 85, 87 user Computer 88 Network 300 Screen 312 Server address data 314 Due date data 316 Destination data 320 Start data 322 End data 324 Separation identifier VPO Virtual post office

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of transmitting a designated date mail for delivering an electronic information mail transmitted from a requesting terminal connectable to a communication line to a receiving terminal connectable to the communication line on a designated date. From the operated requesting terminal, at least an identifier representing the requesting terminal, a date to be delivered to the receiving terminal, an electronic information mail including data on the destination and the contents representing the receiving terminal is received via a communication line, Analyzing the items of the received electronic information mail, and, based on the analysis result, when the electronic information mail is in a predetermined format, registering the received electronic information mail in a mail storage unit; Referring to the electronic information mail corresponding to the designated delivery time, the electronic information mail of the corresponding search result is sent to the receiving terminal. Deadline mail transmitting method, characterized by transmitting through the signal line. 2. The format includes, as a destination of data of an electronic information mail transmitted from the requesting terminal, data representing an apparatus belonging to the mail storage unit,
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a date to be delivered to the receiving terminal to which predetermined identification information is added and a destination representing the receiving terminal are in a continuous data format. 3. A due date designated mail transmitting device for delivering an electronic information mail transmitted from a requesting terminal connectable to a communication line to a receiving terminal connectable to the communication line on a designated date. Receiving means for receiving, via a communication line, an electronic information mail including at least an identifier representing the requesting terminal, a date to be delivered to the receiving terminal, a destination representing the receiving terminal, and data on the content from the requesting terminal. Registering means for analyzing the items of the received electronic information mail and registering the received electronic information mail in the mail storage means when the electronic information mail is in a predetermined format based on the analysis result; A search means for searching an electronic information mail corresponding to the designated delivery time by referring to the mail storage means, and a corresponding search result Electronic information mail, deadline mail transmitting apparatus characterized by comprising a transmission means for transmitting via a communication line to the receiving terminal.