JP2003016011A - System and method for transferring mail, program for utilizing computer as system for transferring mail, and computer readable medium for recording the program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system and method that enables a system administrator to reduce the burden of system management and system faults caused by trans ferring a mail to an incorrect address. SOLUTION: A system stores candidates for transferring mails, which are set only by a designated system administrator, and sets the mail transferring addresses based upon the stored candidates for transferring mails when each user asks the automatic transferring mauls. The system can reduce a system fault by preventing the user from inputting the incorrect transferring address as much as possible since the system has the function that can instruct an automatic start of the transferring mails by itself when each user requires the transferring mails while his or her is going out and also the function that can instruct the designated system administrator to set the addresses where the mails are transferred.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mail transfer system capable of transferring a received mail to a predetermined transfer destination, a mail transfer method, a program for causing a computer to function as the mail transfer system, and a computer having the program recorded therein. The present invention relates to a readable recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a mail server that manages the mail address of each user and receives the mail addressed to each user, the mail delivered to each user is sent to a mobile phone when each user desires. There is known a mail transfer system configured to transfer to a transfer destination such as.

As such a mail transfer system,
Each user asks the system administrator for mail forwarding settings,
In response to this request, the system administrator makes forwarding settings to forward the mail addressed to the user to the specified forwarding address,
After that, those who automatically forward the received mail addressed to the user, or each user who wishes to transfer mail sends the transfer setting information to the mail transfer system (mail server) from the user terminal such as a personal computer. There are known ones for making transfer settings.

[0004]

However, in the type in which the transfer setting is requested to the system administrator, the system administrator is burdened with a great deal, and the transfer setting cannot be made if the system administrator is absent. It is inconvenient because we cannot respond to sudden outings.

Further, in the type in which each user himself / herself makes the transfer setting, not only is it difficult for many users because the setting requires specialized knowledge, but there is a risk that the user may make a mistake in the setting. For example, if you set the wrong forwarding address, an error mail containing an error message will be returned to the mail forwarding system for the forwarding mail to this wrong forwarding address, and this will be the wrong forwarding address. When it is automatically transferred to, it becomes a so-called chain mail, which causes an infinite loop, which gives a big obstacle to the system.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to reduce the burden on the system administrator and to reduce the occurrence of a failure in the system due to an error in the transfer destination address. An object is to provide a transfer system, a mail transfer method, a program that causes a computer to function as the mail transfer system, and a recording medium having the program recorded therein.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a mail transfer system according to the present invention includes a transfer destination storing means for storing a plurality of transfer destination mail addresses in advance as transfer destination candidates, and a plurality of users. A transfer instruction receiving unit that receives an automatic transfer instruction from a user terminal to be used, and a transfer destination setting unit that sets the mail transfer destination of the user to one of the transfer destination candidates when the automatic transfer instruction is received. And an email receiving means for receiving emails addressed to each user,
And a mail transfer means for transferring the mail to the mail transfer destination when the mail addressed to the user to whom the mail transfer destination is set is received.
It is characterized in that the transfer destination candidate can be set and processed only when accessed by a predetermined system administrator.

According to such a mail transfer system,
Forwarding destination candidates set only by a predetermined system administrator are stored in advance, and when an automatic forwarding instruction is received from each user, the mail forwarding destination is set from among the forwarding destination candidates stored in advance in this way. It Therefore, while each user can easily instruct the start of the transfer process when he / she wants to perform the transfer process when he / she goes out, the transfer destination address is based on the setting of the predetermined system administrator, and therefore the input of the transfer destination address is required. It is possible to prevent mistakes and the like as much as possible and reduce the occurrence of failures in the system.

In such a mail transfer system, there is provided a mail storing means for storing and holding the mail received by the mail receiving means even when the mail is transferred by the mail transferring means. Is desirable.

In this way, the user can later confirm even the mail transferred to the transfer destination. For this reason, it is not always necessary to leave the e-mail that needs to be left at the transfer destination, and it is not necessary to request a large storage capacity for the terminal or the like that is the transfer destination. Also, when the transfer destination terminal etc. is shared by multiple users, it is possible to delete the transfer mail sent to the transfer destination terminal etc. to prevent information leakage between each user. it can.

Further, the transfer destination setting means selects the transfer destination candidate which is not set as a mail transfer destination of any user among the plurality of transfer destination candidates stored in the transfer destination storage means. It is desirable to include a forwarding destination notifying unit configured to set the forwarding destination and notifying the user terminal of the information for specifying the forwarding destination set by the forwarding destination setting unit.

[0012] In this way, a user who wishes to transfer mail automatically receives the mail by carrying the transfer destination terminal which is the mail transfer destination notified by the mail transfer system by giving an automatic transfer instruction. be able to.
Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the troublesomeness of the user to set the mail transfer destination one by one. Moreover, a plurality of transfer destination terminals can be efficiently shared by a plurality of users only by preparing only necessary transfer destination terminals at the same time.

If the user terminal that has issued the automatic transfer instruction is notified of the information specifying the mail transfer destination, the information specifying the mail transfer destination is received from the transmission of the automatic transfer instruction. Since a series of mail transfer pre-processing up to the above can be performed by one user terminal, high convenience can be obtained. On the other hand, the user terminal other than the user terminal that has issued the automatic transfer instruction may receive the information specifying the mail transfer destination.

Further, the transfer destination storing means stores one or a plurality of transfer destination candidates for each user, and the transfer destination setting means sets a mail transfer destination from the transfer destination candidates for each user. It is desirable to do.

[0015] In this way, when the forwarding setting is made, the number of forwarding destination terminals that are assigned to each user and must be carried by each user can be limited to one or more, so that each user can be a mail forwarding destination. This saves the trouble of finding a transfer destination terminal to carry, and provides excellent usability.
Further, for example, one or a plurality of transfer destination terminals may be prepared in each department, and users belonging to each department may set a transfer destination terminal of the department as a transfer destination candidate. it can.

Further, the transfer instruction receiving means is configured to be able to acquire the automatic transfer instruction included in the mail addressed to each user received by the mail receiving means, and the transfer destination setting means is configured to receive the automatic transfer instruction. When the sender address of the included mail is stored in advance in the transfer destination storage means as a transfer destination candidate, it is preferable that the transfer destination candidate is set as the mail transfer destination of the user. .

In this way, a user desiring to transfer a mail sends the mail including the automatic transfer instruction to his / her mail address from the transfer destination terminal which he / she wants to set as the transfer destination, thereby making the transfer destination terminal the mail transfer destination. Can be set. Therefore, even after going out without issuing an automatic forwarding instruction, it is possible to perform the mail forwarding setting to the carried destination terminal. At this time, if the mail address of the transfer destination terminal that is the sender of the mail including the automatic transfer instruction is not stored in advance as the transfer destination candidate, the transfer setting is not performed, and thus a third party may select an appropriate terminal. By sending an email containing an automatic forwarding instruction from, you can prevent situations such as receiving email forwarding and realize high security.

Further, the transfer instruction receiving means is configured so as to be able to acquire predetermined identification information together with an automatic transfer instruction from the mail addressed to each user received by the mail receiving means, and the transfer destination setting means is configured to perform the automatic transfer instruction. When the sender address of the mail including the transfer instruction is stored in advance in the transfer destination storage means as a transfer destination candidate and the predetermined identification information satisfies a preset confirmation condition, the transfer destination candidate Is preferably configured as a mail transfer destination of the user.

With this configuration, if the mail including the automatic transfer instruction does not include the predetermined identification condition satisfying the preset confirmation condition, the sender of the mail is the previously stored transfer destination candidate. Since it is not set as the mail forwarding destination, higher security can be obtained.

The confirmation condition may be a condition common to a plurality of users, but the identification condition included in the mail is set for each user and satisfies the confirmation condition stored in advance. By determining whether or not each user receives a mail transfer to another user, it is possible to prevent information leakage between the users.

Further, it is preferable that the mail transfer means is configured to add the sender address of the mail to be transferred and transfer the mail.

In this way, the user who has received the transfer of the mail can know the sender address of the transferred mail, so that the reply mail can be sent from, for example, the place where the user is out.

For each user, there is provided a user address storage means for storing an internal address used within the internal network and an external address used outside the internal network in association with each other, and the mail transfer means is provided. ,
When the mail to be transferred is an internal mail sent from within the internal network, the external address corresponding to the internal address of the sender of the mail is added as a sender address by referring to the user address storage means. Then, it is desirable that the mail is configured to be forwarded.

An internal address sent from within the internal network system is usually added with an internal address as a sender (sender) address. However, if the above is done, the internal address may be added to the transferred mail or may be added to the internal address. Instead, since the external address of the sender is added, the user who receives the transfer mail can send a reply mail to the sender via the external network using this external address.

Further, when the mail to be transferred includes link information to information on the network, the mail transfer means acquires information linked from the link destination,
It is desirable that the email is forwarded with the information attached.

In this way, even if the transfer destination cannot link to the information on the network, the linked information can be known from the transfer mail itself.

The transfer destination storage means stores the upper limit value of the information amount of the received mail corresponding to each transfer destination mail address, and the mail transfer means stores the upper limit of the information amount of the mail to be transferred. When the value exceeds the value, it is desirable that the mail to be transferred is divided into a plurality of pieces and transferred according to the upper limit value.

In this way, even if there is an upper limit on the information amount of the received mail at each transfer destination mail address, the transferred mail is divided and sent to a plurality of mails having the information amount less than or equal to this upper limit. It is possible to avoid the situation where the latter half of the mail is not transferred.

Even when the mail receiving means receives the mail addressed to the user to whom the mail transfer destination is set, the mail transferring means sets the predetermined transfer condition for the mail. Only if
It is preferably configured to forward the email.

By doing so, it is possible to transfer only the mails to be transferred and prevent the transfer destination terminal and the user who is out and about from being overloaded.

Further, the mail transfer method according to the present invention is
If a plurality of forwarding destination e-mail addresses are stored in advance as forwarding destination candidates and the automatic forwarding instruction is received from the user terminals used by a plurality of users, the forwarding destination candidates are set as the forwarding destination candidates. When any of the above is set and the mail addressed to the user to whom the mail transfer destination is set is received, the mail is transferred to the mail transfer destination,
It is characterized in that the transfer destination candidate can be set only when an access is made by a predetermined system administrator.

According to such a mail transfer method, transfer destination candidates set only by a predetermined system administrator are stored in advance, and are stored in advance in this manner when an automatic transfer instruction is received from each user. The mail transfer destination is set from the transfer destination candidates. Therefore, when each user wants to perform the transfer process when he / she goes out, he / she can instruct the start of the transfer process by himself / herself, while the transfer destination address is based on the setting of the predetermined system administrator. Can be prevented as much as possible, and the occurrence of failures in the system can be reduced.

Further, a program for causing a computer to function as a mail transfer system according to the present invention and a computer-readable recording medium having the program recorded therein are used, in which the computer has a plurality of transfer destination mail addresses as transfer destination candidates in advance. A transfer destination storing means that stores the transfer destination candidate so that the transfer destination candidate can be set and processed only by an access from a predetermined system administrator, and a transfer instruction reception that receives an automatic transfer instruction from user terminals used by a plurality of users Means, a transfer destination setting means for setting the mail transfer destination of the user to one of the transfer destination candidates when the automatic transfer instruction is received, and a mail receiving means for receiving a mail addressed to each user When receiving a mail addressed to a user for whom the mail forwarding destination is set, A mail transfer means for transferring previously, but which to function.

With such a program and recording medium, the computer can be caused to function as the mail transfer system.

[0035]

1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of an entire system including a mail transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The mail transfer system 1 according to the present invention is
It is composed of a server computer that functions as a mail server, and is connected to an internal network 3 such as a LAN (Local Area Network) and an external network 4 such as the Internet.

The internal network 3 is connected to user terminals 2 ... Which are composed of personal computers used by a plurality of users. For users of this system 1,
One or more system administrators who manage the mail transfer system 1 are included, and the system administrator can access the mail transfer system 1 from any of the user terminals 2 ... With various rights as a system administrator. It is like this.

The external network 4 includes a plurality of transfer destination terminals 5 such as mobile phones and portable information devices used as transfer destinations of mails by each user when he / she goes out and others other than the user of the system 1. Are connected to external terminals 6 ...

An internal address on the internal network 3 and, if necessary, an external address on the external network 4 are assigned to each user of the mail transfer system 1, and a mail addressed to each user and each user are assigned. The mail sent from is managed by the mail transfer system 1. The user of the mail transfer system 1 is a person whose internal address is managed by the mail transfer system 1.

In this embodiment, an in-house LAN provided in the company is used as an internal network, and the mail transfer system 1 acts as an intermediary for sending and receiving in-house mail between users (employees) on this in-house LAN. It is a mail server that acts as an intermediary for sending and receiving mail with people outside the company connected via the Internet or the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mail transfer system 1 includes a mail transmitting / receiving means 10 and a mail storing means 11.
A user address storage unit 12, an accessor identification unit 13, a transfer destination storage unit 14, a transfer destination candidate registration processing unit 15, a transfer instruction receiving unit 16, a transfer destination setting unit 17, and a transfer destination notification. Means 18 and mail transfer processing means 1
9 and 9 are functionally included.

Note that each of these means is realized on a computer by a program, and this program is obtained by the computer via a network such as the Internet, as well as a CD-ROM or a DVD-R.
It is provided by a computer-readable recording medium such as OM.

The respective constituents of the mail transfer system 1 will be described below.

The mail transmitting / receiving means 10 performs a mail receiving process for the user of the system 1 and a mail transmitting process from the user of the system 1. The sending and receiving of these mails includes sending and receiving of mails between users within the internal network (internal LAN) 3 (internal mails) and external terminals 6 via the external network (Internet) 4.

Further, the mail sending / receiving means 10 performs a sending process of a mail to be transferred in response to a request from the mail transfer processing means 19 at the time of mail transfer described later, and in this respect, a part of the mail transfer means. Is doing.

The mail storage means 11 constitutes a mail box for storing the mail transmitted or received by each user by the mail transmitting / receiving means 10 for each user. In addition, this mail storage means 1
1 is a mail that has undergone the transfer process described below,
It is designed to be retained unless it is deleted by the user.

The user address storage means 12 is used within the internal network (internal LAN) 3 for each user of the system 1 in addition to the name and affiliation of each user, whether or not he is a system administrator, and the like. The stored internal address and the external address used on the external network (Internet) outside the internal network are stored in association with each other. In addition, whether or not the transfer setting, which will be described later, is set for each user is also stored.

FIG. 2 shows the user address storage means 12
2 is an example of a conceptual diagram of information of each user stored in FIG. In this example, for example, Mr. AAA of Sales Department No. 1,
Internal address "eigyo1A", external address "eigyo1A@xxx.c
"o.jp" remembers that the transfer settings are currently set. Also, Mr. CCC remembers that he is a system administrator.

The accessor identifying means 13 identifies each user who has accessed the system 1 from the user terminals 2 ... Through the internal network (internal LAN) 3. The user address storage means 12 is referred to for this identification. This accessor identification means 13
Each user is allowed to access his or her own mailbox, and if he is a system administrator, he is allowed to set transfer destination candidates, which will be described later.

The transfer destination storage means 14 stores the mail addresses of the plurality of transfer destination terminals 5 ... (External addresses for receiving mail via the Internet) as transfer destination candidates.

In this embodiment, one for each department
Alternatively, it is assumed that a plurality of mobile phones are prepared as the transfer destination terminals 5 ... And the transfer destination terminals 5 ... Of each department are used only by the users of the department.

FIG. 3 is an example of a conceptual diagram of information of each transfer destination terminal stored in the transfer destination storage means 14. In this example, for example, in Sales Department 1st section, "aaa1@ooo.ne.j"
Four transfer destination terminals with mail addresses of "p" ~ "aaa4@ooo.ne.jp" are prepared, and these mail addresses are stored as transfer destination candidates. For each of 6 people, AAA ~ FFF One or more transfer destination terminals that can be used are set.

Further, the transfer destination storage means 14 stores the upper limit value of the number of characters per mail to be transferred to each transfer destination terminal 5 ... As the number of divided characters for each transfer destination terminal 5 ,. Then, the upper limit of the number of mails to be transferred is stored as the number of divisions.

Further, the transfer destination storage means 14 also functions as a transfer destination state storage means for storing as a current state whether or not each transfer destination terminal 5 ... Is set as a transfer destination of any user. It is like this.

The transfer destination candidate registration processing means 15 transfers the transfer destination candidates (mail of the transfer destination terminal) stored in the transfer destination storage means 14 to the system administrator only when the system administrator accesses the system 1. Setting processing such as addition or change of (address) is permitted and the processing is performed.

The transfer instruction receiving means 16 receives an automatic transfer instruction from each user.

The first mode for receiving this automatic transfer instruction is
In a state where the user terminals 2 ... Are accessed via the internal network (in-house LAN) 3, there is a mode in which they are received as inputs from the respective user terminals 2. In this case, the user who has issued the automatic transfer instruction at the time of access from the user terminals 2 ... Is specified.

The second mode is a mode in which the mail transmitting / receiving means 10 checks the mail addressed to each user received via the external network 4 and acquires the automatic transfer instruction included in the mail. At this time, the predetermined identification information is also acquired from the mail. In this case, the user who is the destination of the mail is specified as the user who issued the automatic setting instruction. In the second aspect, the transfer destination terminal is included in the concept of the user terminal for convenience.

When the transfer instruction receiving means 16 receives the automatic transfer instruction, the transfer destination setting means 17 targets the user who has issued the automatic transfer instruction to the automatic transfer processing, and sets the mail transfer destination to the transfer destination. It is set to one of the candidates.

When the transfer instruction receiving means 16 receives the automatic transfer instruction in the first mode, the transfer destination setting means 17 selects from among the plurality of transfer destination candidates stored in the transfer destination storing means 14. A forwarding destination candidate that is stored as a forwarding destination candidate of the user and is not set as a mail forwarding destination of any other user is searched, and if there are multiple forwarding destination candidates, any of them is searched. Select one of them and set it as the mail forwarding destination.

For example, when an automatic transfer instruction is received from Mr. BBB in the current state of each transfer destination terminal illustrated in FIG. 3, "aaa2@ooo.ni.jp" and "aaa3@ooo.ni.jp" Either is set as the transfer destination address.

On the other hand, when the automatic transfer instruction is received in the second mode, the sender address of the mail including the automatic transfer instruction is one of the transfer destination candidates stored in advance in the transfer destination storage means 14. The transfer destination candidate is set as the mail transfer destination only when the predetermined identification information included in the mail satisfies the preset confirmation condition. The automatic transfer instruction included in this mail may have a specific format or the like indicating that it is an automatic transfer instruction mail, in addition to a statement to that effect. The predetermined identification information may include a password set for each user.

The setting of such a mail transfer destination is carried out in the user address storage means 12 as transfer setting information (see FIG. 2) and in the transfer destination storage means 14 the present status information of the transfer destination terminal (see FIG.
(See reference) respectively.

The transfer destination notifying means 18 is the transfer destination setting means 1
When 7 sets the mail transfer destination in the first mode,
Information for specifying the mail transfer destination set by the system 1 side is notified to the user terminals 2 ... Which issued the automatic transfer instruction. The information specifying the mail transfer destination can be referred to by a user terminal other than the user terminal 2 that has issued the automatic transfer instruction, so that a user other than the user terminal 2 that issued the automatic transfer instruction can be referred to. You may make it notify to a terminal.

When the mail transfer processing means 19 receives a mail addressed to a user whose mail transfer destination is set by the transfer destination setting means 17, the mail transfer processing means 19 transfers the mail to the set mail transfer destination. Email sending and receiving means 10
Is to ask. This mail transfer processing means 19
Constitutes a mail transfer means.

The mail transfer processing means 19 adds the sender address of the mail to the mail to be transferred and transfers the mail. At this time, if the mail to be transferred is an internal mail sent from within the internal network 3, the user address storage means 12 is referred to and the external address corresponding to the internal address of the sender of the mail is sent to the sender. Add as an address.

If the mail to be transferred includes link information to information on the internal network 3 or the external network 4, the linked information is acquired from the link destination and the information is attached. The information can be attached to the mail by adding it to the body of the mail or adding it as an attached file.

If the mail to be transferred contains a continuous blank (blank) or the like, in order to reduce the information amount of the transferred mail, the blank is deleted.

If the amount of information such as the number of characters of the mail to be transferred exceeds the number of divided characters of the transfer destination terminal 5 stored in the transfer destination storage means 14, the mail is divided into a plurality of mails within the range not exceeding the number of divisions. .

Further, even when the mail addressed to the user for whom the mail transfer destination is set is received, the mail is not transferred unless the predetermined transfer condition set in advance is satisfied. Is configured. Specifically, as the predetermined forwarding conditions, for example, it is not a reception confirmation email or an error email, and only the email from a preset specific sender is forwarded or not forwarded, the subject of the email or the email body It can be mentioned that the mail is a mail containing a specific word such as "urgent" in the middle.

Next, a flow of mail transfer processing by the mail transfer system configured as described above will be described with reference to a flowchart.

As described above, the mode in which the user of the system 1 requests the mail transfer process is the mode in which the user terminal 2 ... Connected to the internal network (internal LAN) 3 and the transfer destination terminal 5 ... There is a mode to do from. Hereinafter, they will be described in order.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing when requesting mail transfer processing from the user terminals 2. This mode is used, for example, when the user makes mail transfer settings before going out.

A user who wants to set the mail transfer before going out can access the internal network (in-house LA) from the user terminal 2.
N) Access the mail transfer system 1 via 3 (step S10). At this time, the user ID, password, etc. are transmitted from the user terminal 2, and the accessor identification means 13 confirms that the user is a predetermined user (step S12).

When the user inputs an automatic transfer instruction into the user terminal 2 (step S14), the transfer instruction receiving means 16 receives it (step S16). Then, the transfer destination setting unit 17 refers to the transfer destination storage unit 14, and selects a transfer destination candidate usable as a transfer destination that is not currently set as a transfer destination of another user among the transfer destination candidates of the user. It is extracted (step S18), and any one of the extracted
One transfer destination candidate is set as the transfer destination address (step S20).

If the transfer destination address is set, it means that the transfer destination address is in use (transferring) in the transfer destination storage means 14, and the user is setting transfer in the user address storage means 12. And the fact that the transfer destination address is the one described above is stored (step S22).

The set transfer destination address (transfer destination terminal) is notified and displayed on the user terminal 2 via the internal network 3 by the transfer destination notifying means 18 so that the user can specify it. (Step S24).

Thus, if the user who knows the transfer destination address (transfer destination terminal) carries the transfer destination terminal 5 and goes out, the user receives the mail transfer service at the transfer destination terminal 5 as described later. be able to.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing when a mail transfer processing is requested from the transfer destination terminals 5. This mode is used when the user makes a mail transfer setting from the transfer destination terminal 5.

The user who performs the mail transfer setting from the transfer destination terminal 5 sends the mail including the automatic transfer instruction and the identification information (password) from the transfer destination terminal 5 which is not being transferred (is not used) via the external network 5. The (automatic transfer instruction mail) is transmitted to the user's own external mail address (step S30).

When the mail transmitting / receiving means 10 receives this (step S32), the transfer instruction receiving means 16 checks the received mail to identify whether it is an automatic transfer instruction mail including an automatic transfer instruction, In the case of the automatic transfer instruction mail, which user the automatic transfer instruction is, and the identification information (password) are acquired from the destination of the mail (step S34).

Subsequently, the transfer destination setting means 17 determines whether or not the source address (source address) of the mail is a transfer destination candidate previously stored in the transfer destination storage means 14 (step S36). .

If the result of this determination is a transfer destination candidate (YES in step S36), whether the identification information (password) included in the mail satisfies this user's confirmation condition (password) (whether they match). It is determined whether or not (step S38).

If the result of this determination is that the confirmation condition is satisfied (YES in step S38), it is determined that this automatic transfer instruction has been issued by this user, and the transfer destination candidate is set to the transfer destination address of this user. Yes (step S4
0). Then, it is indicated that the transfer destination address is in use (transferring) in the transfer destination storage means 14, and the user is in the transfer setting in the user address storage means 12, and the transfer destination address is as described above. The facts of each are stored (step S42).

On the other hand, when the sender address of the mail is not a transfer destination candidate (NO in step S36) or the identification information does not satisfy the confirmation condition (N in step S38).
In (O), an illegal automatic transfer instruction is given, so the process for the mail is ended without performing transfer setting.

When the mail addressed to the user for which the mail transfer process is set in this way is received by the mail sending / receiving means 10, the mail is transferred to the set mail transfer destination (transfer destination terminal 5 ... In principle). ). The mail transfer process will be described below.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of mail transfer processing.

When the mail transmitting / receiving means 10 receives an internal mail or an external mail (step S50), the mail storage means (mailbox) 1 of the user who is the destination thereof.
The mail is stored in 1 (step S52).

If the mail transfer process is set for any of the users, the mail transfer processing means 19 determines whether the mail should be transferred to the user for whom the transfer process is set. It is determined whether or not (step S54).

When the mail is to be transferred (YES in step S54), the mail transfer processing means 19 is further added.
Determines whether the subject of the mail is a mail that satisfies the transfer conditions such as "urgent" (step S56).

Not a mail to be transferred (step S54)
No) or if the mail does not satisfy the transfer condition (NO in step S56), the mail transfer process is not performed and the process for the mail is ended.

On the other hand, if the mail satisfies the transfer condition (YES in step S56), it is determined whether the mail is an internal mail in the internal network 3 (step S58). If it is an internal mail (step S58)
YES), the mail transfer processing means 19 refers to the user address storage means 12 and adds an external address as the sender address of the mail (step S60). If it is not an internal mail (it is an external mail),
The external address is automatically added to the mail as a sender address.

Subsequently, the mail transfer processing means 19 determines whether or not the mail contains link information to information on the internal network 3 or the external network 4 (step S62). If the link information is included (YES in step S62), the mail transfer processing means 19 acquires the link information body from the internal network 3 or the external network 4 and adds it to the mail (step S64).

Subsequently, the mail transfer processing means 19 refers to the transfer destination storage means 14 and determines whether or not the number of divided characters of the transfer destination terminal to which the mail is to be transferred is exceeded (step S66). If the number of divided characters is exceeded (YES in step S66), the mail transfer processing unit 19 refers to the transfer destination storage unit 14, and does not exceed the number of divided characters, and divides the mail into a plurality within the range that does not exceed the number of divided units. (Step S68).

In this way, if a predetermined item is added to the mail to be transferred and the amount of information that can be transferred is processed, the mail transfer processing means 19 sends the mail to the transfer destination address, and the mail transmitting / receiving means. 10, the mail transmission / reception means 10 transfers the mail (step S70), and the series of mail transfer processing ends.

As described above, according to the mail transfer system of the present invention, the transfer destination candidates set only by the predetermined system administrator are stored in advance, and when the automatic transfer instruction is received from each user. Thus, the mail transfer destination is set from the transfer destination candidates stored in advance. Therefore, while each user can easily instruct the start of the transfer process when he / she wants to perform the transfer process when he / she goes out, the transfer destination address is based on the setting of the predetermined system administrator, and therefore the input of the transfer destination address is required. It is possible to prevent mistakes and the like as much as possible and reduce the occurrence of failures in the system.

Further, even the transferred mail is stored and held in the mail storage means, so that the user can confirm it later, and a large storage capacity for storing the mail in the transfer destination terminal is required. You don't have to. Further, even if the transfer destination terminal is shared by a plurality of users, the transfer mail sent to the transfer destination terminal can be deleted to prevent information leakage between the users.

When the forwarding destination setting means automatically sets the mail forwarding destination from the forwarding destination candidates and notifies the user of the set forwarding destination, the user gives an automatic forwarding instruction. It suffices to go out with the forwarding destination terminal of the email forwarding destination notified by giving the message, and it is possible to eliminate the troublesomeness of the user to set the email forwarding destination one by one.

Further, a plurality of transfer destination terminals can be efficiently shared by a plurality of users only by preparing necessary transfer destination terminals at the same time.

In addition, the transfer destination candidate for each user is set to 1
Alternatively, since the number is limited to a plurality, it is possible to reduce the time and effort for each user to find a forwarding destination terminal to carry as a mail forwarding destination, and to obtain excellent usability.

A user desiring to transfer a mail sets the transfer destination terminal as the mail transfer destination by sending a mail including an automatic transfer instruction to his / her mail address from the transfer destination terminal that he / she wants to set as the transfer destination. Therefore, it is possible to set the mail transfer to the carried destination terminal even after going out without instructing the automatic transfer. At this time, if the transfer destination terminal that is the sender of the mail including the automatic transfer instruction is not stored in advance as the transfer destination candidate, the transfer setting is not performed, so that a third party can use an appropriate arbitrary terminal. By sending an email containing an automatic forwarding instruction, you can prevent situations such as receiving email forwarding and realize high security.

If the mail including the automatic transfer instruction does not include the predetermined identification information satisfying the preset confirmation condition, the mail transfer is performed even if the sender of the mail is a previously stored transfer destination candidate. Since it is not set first, higher security can be obtained.

Further, since the confirmation condition is determined by using the one set for each user, it is possible to prevent a situation in which each user receives a mail transfer addressed to another user, and to make a confirmation between the users. It is possible to prevent the information leakage of.

Also, since the sender address is added to the forwarded mail, the user who has received the forwarded mail can know the sender address of the forwarded mail. For example, the reply mail can be sent from outside. Can be sent.

When transferring an internal mail sent from within the internal network system, the external address of the sender is added. Therefore, the user who receives the transfer mail uses this external address to transmit via the external network. You can send a reply mail to the sender.

When the transfer mail includes link information to information on the network, the information is attached, so that the user who receives the transfer mail can transfer the information from the transfer destination terminal to the information on the network. Even if the link cannot be made, the linked information can be known from the forwarding mail itself.

Even if there is an upper limit on the information amount of the received mail at each transfer destination terminal, since the transferred mail is divided into a plurality of mails each having an information amount less than or equal to this upper limit, it is sent.
It is possible to avoid the situation where the latter half of the mail is not transferred.

Further, since the mails that do not satisfy the predetermined transfer condition set in advance are not transferred, the mails that do not need to be transferred are overloaded to the transfer destination terminal and the user who is out. This can be prevented in advance.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and can take various forms within the scope of the invention.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the system is provided with two modes of using the user terminal and the transfer destination terminal as the mode in which the user requests the transfer setting of the mail. May be only.

Further, in the above embodiment, each function constituting the mail transfer system is realized on one server computer. However, each function is distributed on a plurality of computers and the present invention is realized by a plurality of computers. You may comprise so that the mail transfer system concerning this may be built.

Further, in the above embodiment, it is assumed that each transfer destination terminal has one transfer destination mail address, and the transfer destination terminal and the transfer destination mail address (transfer destination candidate) have a one-to-one correspondence. However, even when a mail addressed to the transfer destination mail address can be received from any terminal, the present invention can be applied by setting each transfer destination mail address as a transfer destination candidate.

[0113]

As described above, according to the present invention, the transfer destination candidates set only by the predetermined system administrator are stored in advance, and when the automatic transfer instruction is received from each user, Since the mail transfer destination is set from the stored transfer destination candidates, each user can instruct the start of the transfer process by himself / herself when he / she wants to perform the transfer process, such as when he / she goes out, while the transfer destination address has a predetermined value. Since it is based on the setting of the system administrator, it is possible to prevent the input error of the transfer destination address and the like as much as possible, and reduce the occurrence of troubles in the system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration including a mail transfer system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a conceptual diagram of information of each user stored in a user address storage means.

FIG. 3 is an example of a conceptual diagram of information of each transfer destination terminal stored in transfer destination storage means.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing when a mail transfer process is requested from a user terminal connected to an internal network.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing when a mail transfer processing is requested from a transfer destination terminal.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of mail transfer processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 mail transfer system 2 user terminals 3 Internal network (company LAN) 4 External network (Internet) 5 Transfer destination terminal 6 External terminal 10 E-mail sending and receiving means 11 mailbox 12 User address storage means 13 Accessor identification means 14 transfer destination storage means 15 Transfer destination candidate registration processing means 16 Transfer instruction receiving means 17 Transfer destination setting means 18 Transfer destination notification means 19 Mail transfer processing means (mail transfer means)

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takahiro Fukuchi             1 Kanazawa Town, Kakogawa City, Hyogo Prefecture             To Steel Works, Kakogawa Works (72) Inventor Tetsuji Morimoto             1 Kanazawa Town, Kakogawa City, Hyogo Prefecture             Stem Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Ryuji Shimohara             1 Kanazawa Town, Kakogawa City, Hyogo Prefecture             Stem Co., Ltd.

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A transfer destination storing means for storing a plurality of transfer destination mail addresses as transfer destination candidates in advance, a transfer instruction receiving means for receiving an automatic transfer instruction from user terminals used by a plurality of users, and the automatic transfer. When receiving an instruction, a forwarding destination setting unit that sets the forwarding destination of the user to any of the forwarding destination candidates, a mail receiving unit that receives a mail addressed to each user, and the forwarding destination of the mail. And a mail transfer means for transferring the mail to the mail transfer destination when the mail addressed to the user is set, the transfer destination storage means is provided only when accessed by a predetermined system administrator. A mail transfer system characterized in that the transfer destination candidate can be set. 2. A mail storage means for storing and holding the mail received by the mail receiving means even when the mail is transferred by the mail transfer means. The described mail transfer system. 3. The transfer destination setting means selects the transfer destination candidate that is not set as a mail transfer destination of any user from the plurality of transfer destination candidates stored in the transfer destination storage means. 2. A forwarding destination notifying unit configured to set a forwarding destination and notifying the user terminal of information for specifying the forwarding destination set by the forwarding destination setting unit. The mail transfer system described in 2. 4. The transfer destination storage means stores one or a plurality of transfer destination candidates for each user, and the transfer destination setting means sets a mail transfer destination from among the transfer destination candidates for each user. The mail transfer system according to claim 3, wherein 5. The transfer instruction receiving unit is configured to be able to acquire an automatic transfer instruction included in a mail addressed to each user received by the mail receiving unit, and the transfer destination setting unit is configured to receive the automatic transfer instruction. When the sender address of the included mail is stored in advance in the transfer destination storage means as a transfer destination candidate, the transfer destination candidate is set as the mail transfer destination of the user. The mail transfer system according to claim 1 or 2. 6. The transfer instruction receiving means is configured to be capable of acquiring predetermined identification information together with an automatic transfer instruction from the mail addressed to each user received by the mail receiving means, and the transfer destination setting means is configured to perform the automatic transfer operation. When the sender address of the mail including the transfer instruction is stored in advance in the transfer destination storage means as a transfer destination candidate and the predetermined identification information satisfies a preset confirmation condition, the transfer destination candidate 6. The mail transfer system according to claim 5, wherein is set as a mail transfer destination of the user. 7. The mail transfer means is configured to transfer the mail by adding a sender address of the mail to be transferred, to the mail. Mail transfer system. 8. A user address storage means for storing an internal address used within an internal network and an external address used outside the internal network in association with each user, the mail transfer means comprising: If the mail to be transferred is an internal mail sent from within the internal network, refer to the user address storage means and use the external address corresponding to the internal address of the sender of the mail as the sender address. The mail transfer system according to claim 7, wherein the mail transfer system is configured to additionally transfer the mail. 9. The mail transfer means, when the mail to be transferred includes link information to information on the network, acquires the linked information from the link destination, attaches the information, and attaches the information. The mail transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the mail transfer system is configured to transfer mail. 10. The transfer destination storage means stores an upper limit value of the information amount of received mails corresponding to each transfer destination email address, and the mail transfer means stores the upper limit of the information amount of mails to be transferred. The mail transfer system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein when the value exceeds the value, the mail to be transferred is divided into a plurality of pieces to be transferred according to the upper limit value. 11. The mail transfer means, even when the mail reception means receives a mail addressed to a user to whom the mail transfer destination is set, the mail transfer means sets predetermined transfer conditions for the mail. The mail transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the mail transfer system is configured to transfer the mail only when the condition is satisfied. 12. A plurality of forwarding destination mail addresses are stored in advance as forwarding destination candidates, and when automatic forwarding instructions are received from user terminals used by a plurality of users, the forwarding destination mail addresses of the users are sent. Is set as one of the forwarding destination candidates, and when a mail addressed to the user to whom the mail forwarding destination is set is received, the mail is forwarded to the mail forwarding destination, while a predetermined system administrator A mail transfer method, wherein the transfer destination candidate can be set only during access. 13. A transfer destination storage means for storing a plurality of transfer destination email addresses in advance as transfer destination candidates in a computer and enabling the transfer destination candidates to be set only when accessed by a predetermined system administrator. A transfer instruction receiving unit that receives an automatic transfer instruction from user terminals used by a plurality of users; and, when the automatic transfer instruction is received, the mail transfer destination of the user is set to one of the transfer destination candidates. Transfer destination setting means to be set, mail receiving means for receiving mail addressed to each user, and when receiving mail addressed to the user for whom the mail transfer destination is set, transfer the mail to the mail transfer destination A program for functioning as a mail transfer means. 14. A computer-readable recording medium in which the program according to claim 13 is recorded.