JP2002208959A - Electronic mail server device, electronic mail transfer control method and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely prevent the generation of a loop mail in an electronic mail sever device for automatically transferring an electronic mail. SOLUTION: This electronic mail transfer control method comprises an addition step (A04) for adding a loop check header to an electronic mail to be transferred, detection steps (A02, A03) for detecting the loop check header from the received electronic mail, and a step (A08) for preserving or deleting the electronic mail whose loop check header is detected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail server for automatically transferring electronic mail, an electronic mail transfer control method in the electronic mail server, and a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an e-mail system which is currently widely used, when an automatic reply function of e-mail software is used, if an e-mail address is mistakenly designated as a reply destination, the same result is obtained. A phenomenon called loop mail occurs in which an e-mail is exchanged indefinitely, and the mailbox is punctured.

[0003] As a method of preventing this loop mail, a mail server that has passed through the e-mail as a history is stored as "R
By setting an upper limit to the number of items that can be added as an item of "received: header", if the transfer is repeated a predetermined number of times, further transfer is considered to be stopped.

[0004]

However, in the above-described loop mail prevention method, the transfer is repeated until the set number of times is reached, even if the loop does not become an infinite loop. The transfer is repeated and is not a fundamental solution.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an e-mail server device capable of reliably preventing the generation of loop mail, and an e-mail server using the e-mail server device. An object of the present invention is to provide a transfer control method and a recording medium.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
An e-mail server device for automatically transferring e-mail, an adding means for adding identification information to the e-mail to be transferred, a detecting means for detecting the identification information from the received e-mail; Processing means for performing a predetermined process on the e-mail in which is detected.

[0007] With this configuration, the mail server adds identification information of its own device to the e-mail to be transferred, and detects the identification information of its own device from the received e-mail. Judge whether or not there is, and if it is already forwarded e-mail, do not re-forward it,
Since predetermined processing is executed as needed, it is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of loop mail.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the predetermined processing is storing or deleting the received electronic mail.

With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, an erroneous setting state in which a loop mail occurs by storing the transferred e-mail can be confirmed later. On the other hand, by deleting the transferred e-mail, the mailbox of the e-mail server device is not wasted.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the contents of the predetermined processing performed by the processing means are set on a web page on the Internet.

With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, the user using the electronic mail server device can set the contents of a predetermined process from a web page on the Internet. The user can easily change the settings for the electronic mail addressed to the user.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the setting of the content of the predetermined processing performed by the processing means is received by an electronic mail message.

[0013] With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, the user using the electronic mail server device can transmit a message in a predetermined format by electronic mail. The user can easily change the settings for the electronic mail addressed to the user.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transfer control method in an electronic mail server device for automatically transferring an electronic mail, wherein an additional step of adding identification information to the electronic mail to be transferred; A detection step of detecting the identification information; and a processing step of performing a predetermined process on the electronic mail for which the identification information is detected in the detection step.

According to such a method, the identification information of the own device is added to the e-mail transferred by the mail server, and the identification information of the own device is detected from the received e-mail. Judge whether or not there is, and if it is already forwarded e-mail, do not re-forward it,
Since predetermined processing is executed as needed, it is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of loop mail.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium used in an electronic mail server device for automatically transferring electronic mail, wherein an additional step of adding identification information to the transferred electronic mail; A control program including an instruction to cause a computer to execute a detection step of detecting the identification information from the mail and a processing step of performing a predetermined process on the electronic mail whose identification information is detected in the detection step is stored. Features.

With such storage contents, the identification information of the own device is added to the electronic mail transferred by the mail server,
By detecting the identification information of the own device from the received e-mail, it is determined whether or not the e-mail has been transferred once. Since the predetermined processing is executed, it is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of loop mail.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a mail server device for transmitting and receiving electronic mail via the Internet will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the basic concept of the mail server device 1 connected to the Internet 11.
2 are always connected. The mail server device 12 includes a receiving unit 13, a transmitting unit 14, a control unit 15, a server ID storage unit 16, and a mailbox 17.

The receiving unit 13 converts the e-mail sent via the Internet 11 into a POP3 (Post Of) message.
The file is received based on the file protocol (version 3) and transmitted to the control unit 15.

The control unit 15 includes a recording medium (not shown),
For example, the mail server 1 operates based on a control program read from an HDD (hard disk device).
The electronic mail received by the receiving unit 13 is stored in the mailbox 17, or the server I is used for the electronic mail for which the automatic transfer function is set.
The ID information of the mail server device 12 stored in the D storage unit 16 is added to the mail and transmitted to the transmission unit 14.

The transmitting unit 14 is configured to transmit an SMTP (Simple)
An e-mail is output to the Internet 11 based on a mail transfer protocol.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 mainly shows the contents of processing performed by the control unit 15 relating to automatic transfer of electronic mail.
At the beginning of the process, the receiving unit 13 waits for reception of an e-mail (step A01).

When an electronic mail is received, a loop check header is detected from the electronic mail (step A02). In this loop check header, it is assumed that the mail server device that performs automatic transfer additionally sets header information including its own identification information in the electronic mail.

As a result of the detection, it is determined whether or not there is a loop check header (step A03). If not, it is determined that the electronic mail has not been automatically transferred, and the sender's user name is renewed. Then, a loop check header as identification information including the name of the mail server device 12 is added to the e-mail (step A04), and then transmitted and output by the transmission unit 14 (step A05).

FIG. 3 shows an example of the contents of an electronic mail in which a loop check header is additionally set. The description starts from the first line in the figure.

The first line "From user2 Fri Jun 9 10:11:38
"2000" is header information indicating the beginning of one e-mail, and this e-mail is 1st on Friday, June 9, 2000.
This indicates that the call was transmitted from the terminal having the user name “user2” at 0:11:38.

The second and third lines “Received: $” indicate the history of the mail server through which the electronic mail has passed.

The fourth line "To: user1@rd.xxxxx.co.jp"
This indicates that the destination is a user name “user1” belonging to a Japanese company having a domain name “rd.xxxxxx”.

The fifth line "Subject: Re: data sheet"
This indicates the subject of the mail, and indicates that it is a reply to the e-mail with the subject "Datasheet" already exchanged.

Line 6 “From: YB <user2@rd.xxxxx.co.jp>
"Means that the sender of this e-mail is" rd.xxxx "
The user name "u" belonging to a Japanese company with the domain name "x"
"YB" of "ser2".

Line 7: Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 10:13:48
“+0900” is the date and time added by the sender's mail server device.

The eighth line "Mime-Version: 1.0" indicates an extension function "MIME (Multipu
rpose Internet Mail Extension
This indicates that “version1.0” of “versions” is used.

Line 9 "Content-Type: text / plane; charse
“t = iso-2022-jp” indicates that the e-mail is created with the contents of text data in accordance with the JIS code.

Line 10 "X-UIDL: $" indicates the unique number of this e-mail assigned by the mail software of the sender's terminal.

Then, line 11 “X-LOOP-Check: LC V10
0, user2 @ rd.xxxxx.co.jp ”is the loop check header LCH added in the above step A04, and here, the sender's mail address“ user2@rd.xx ”
xxx. co. jp "and the server name" LC V100 "of the mail server device 12. Since it is desirable that this server name be unique, FQDN
(Fully Qualified Domain N
ame).

The "YB is here."
Is the body of the e-mail message.

If it is determined in step A03 that the loop check header LCH is additionally set in the received e-mail, the mail server name and the user name are checked based on the contents of the loop check header LCH. Then (step A06), depending on whether the mail server name is the same as the mail server name of the own device, the electronic mail automatically transferred by the own device by mistake becomes a loop mail state and is sent again. Is determined (step A07).

If the mail server name in the loop check header LCH is different from the mail server name of the own device, it is determined that the electronic mail has been automatically transferred from another mail server device. Then, the process proceeds to step A04 again, further sets a loop check header LCH using the mail server name of the own device, and transmits it in step A05.

If the mail server name of the loop check header LCH is the same as the mail server name of the own device in step A07, it is determined that the mail is in a loop mail state, and further automatic transfer is performed. As a predetermined process, for example, the e-mail is stored in the mailbox 17 (step A08), and a series of the processes of FIG. 2 is completed as described above, and the reception of the next e-mail is again waited. The process returns to step A01.

In step A08, it has been described that the electronic mail in a loop mail state is stored in the mailbox 17 after the automatic transfer is refrained, but the storage destination is limited to the mailbox 17. Not
A mail spool (not shown) may be used, and an electronic mail in a loop mail state may be deleted instead of being stored.

The selection of the storage / deletion of the electronic mail and the selection of the storage destination when the electronic mail is stored can be made by, for example, the user of the electronic mail on a Web page in a Web site opened by the mail server device 12 on the Internet 11. Arbitrary settings may be made.

In this case, the user using the mail server device 12 can easily change the setting state of the electronic mail addressed to the user by making a selection regarding the change of the item from the Web page of the Internet 11.

Also, without using a Web page as described above, by transmitting an e-mail of a message content in accordance with a predetermined format to the mail server device 12, similarly, the storage / deletion of the e-mail can be selected. It is also conceivable to enable the user to select the storage destination when saving.

In this case, the user using the mail server device 12 can easily change the settings for the e-mail addressed to him / her by simply sending out the e-mail to the mail server device 12.

In FIG. 2, if it is determined in step A07 that the mail server name of the loop check header LCH is the same as the mail server name of its own device and that it is in a state of loop mail, the process proceeds to step A07. In step A08, it has been described that predetermined processing, for example, storage of e-mail in the mailbox 17 is unconditionally performed. In such a case, a setting for stopping automatic transfer is registered in a file for each user in advance. Alternatively, the processing may be determined according to the contents of the registration file.

FIG. 4 exemplifies such other processing contents, and is basically the same as that of FIG. 2, so that the same steps are denoted by the same reference characters and description thereof is omitted.

If it is determined in step A07 that the mail server name of the loop check header LCH is the same as the mail server name of its own device and that it is in a state of loop mail, then the processing contents at the time of non-transfer are determined in advance. With reference to the set registration file (step A11), it is determined whether or not the setting for the loop mail state has been made in advance based on whether or not the user name is registered in the file (step A12).

Here, when it is determined that the user name is registered in the file, as a predetermined process, for example, the electronic mail is stored in the mailbox 17 (step A13). After finishing the process of step 4, the process returns to step A01 to wait for reception of the next electronic mail again.

If it is determined in step A12 that the user name is not registered in the file, the e-mail is deleted as a predetermined process (step A1).
4) Thus, the series of processes in FIG. 4 is completed, and the process returns to step A01 to wait for reception of the next electronic mail again.

Also in the processing of FIG. 4, as a method of registering a user in a file for setting processing contents at the time of non-transfer, for example, the mail server device 12
The user of the e-mail may arbitrarily set a Web page in the Web site established in the first server, and further transmits an e-mail of a message content according to a predetermined format to the mail server device 12. It may be executed by the following.

The mail server name and the user name are checked based on the contents of the loop check header LCH.
In addition, information such as the transmission time and the data amount (the number of bytes) of the mail itself may be added and discriminated.

Incidentally, Although the above embodiment has been described with reference to a case where the present invention is applied to a mail server device that transmits and receives e-mail via the Internet, the present invention is not limited to this.
Naturally, the above mail server device can also be applied.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the invention.

Further, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some components are deleted from all the components shown in the embodiments, at least one of the problems described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved and the effects described in the column of the effect of the invention can be solved. In a case where at least one of the effects described above is obtained, a configuration in which this component is deleted can be extracted as an invention.

[0057]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the mail server adds the identification information of the own device to the e-mail to be transferred and detects the identification information of the own device from the received e-mail to transfer the mail once. Judgment is made as to whether or not the e-mail has been forwarded, and if the e-mail has already been forwarded, the re-forwarding is not performed, and a predetermined process is executed as necessary. It is possible to prevent.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, an erroneous setting state in which a loop mail is generated by saving the transferred e-mail is confirmed later. By deleting the transferred e-mail, the mailbox of the e-mail server is not wasted.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, the user using the electronic mail server device sets predetermined processing contents from a web page on the Internet. This makes it possible to easily change the settings for the electronic mail addressed to the user.

According to the invention described in claim 4, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, a user using the electronic mail server device transmits a message in a predetermined format by electronic mail. This makes it possible to easily change the settings for the electronic mail addressed to the user.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the identification information of the own device is added to the electronic mail transferred by the mail server,
By detecting the identification information of the device from the received e-mail, it is determined whether the e-mail has been transferred once. If the e-mail has already been transferred, do not re-transmit the e-mail. Since the predetermined processing is executed, it is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of loop mail.

According to the invention of claim 6, the identification information of the own device is added to the electronic mail transferred by the mail server,
By detecting the identification information of the own device from the received e-mail, it is determined whether or not the e-mail has been transferred once. Since the predetermined processing is executed, it is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of loop mail.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mail server device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary flowchart showing processing contents at the time of automatic transfer of electronic mail according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary view showing an example of the content of an electronic mail to which a loop check header according to the embodiment is added.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary flowchart showing another processing content at the time of automatic transfer of the e-mail according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Internet 12 ... Mail server apparatus 13 ... Reception part 14 ... Transmission part 15 ... Control part 16 ... Server ID storage part 17 ... Mail box LCH ... Loop check header

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An electronic mail server device for automatically transferring an electronic mail, an adding means for adding identification information to the transferred electronic mail, a detecting means for detecting the identification information from the received electronic mail, Processing means for performing predetermined processing on the electronic mail for which the identification information has been detected by the detection means. 2. The electronic mail server device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined processing is storing or deleting the received electronic mail. 3. The electronic mail server device according to claim 1, wherein the content setting of the predetermined processing performed by said processing means is performed on a web page of the Internet. 4. The electronic mail server device according to claim 1, wherein the content setting of the predetermined processing performed by said processing means is received by an electronic mail message. 5. A transfer control method in an electronic mail server device for automatically transferring electronic mail, an adding step of adding identification information to the electronic mail to be transferred, and detecting the identification information from the received electronic mail. An electronic mail transfer control method, comprising: a detecting step; and a processing step of performing a predetermined process on the electronic mail for which the identification information is detected in the detecting step. 6. A recording medium used in an electronic mail server device for automatically transferring an electronic mail, an adding step of adding identification information to the electronic mail to be transferred, and the identification information from the received electronic mail. A control process including an instruction to cause a computer to execute a detection step of detecting the e-mail and a processing step of performing a predetermined process on the e-mail for which the identification information is detected in the detection step. A readable recording medium.