JP2004064277A - Mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mail system in which mail to be received with high communication efficiency can be selected and a transmission terminal side can confirm whether or not the mail is unsealed at a receiver side mobile terminal, and to provide the mobile terminal. <P>SOLUTION: In the case of unsealing confirmation mail, the mail system transmits the header part of the mail to the receiver side mobile terminal 1 to inquire of the mobile terminal, transmits a mail main text when receiving a response of reception permission from the receiver side mobile terminal 1, and stops transmission of the mail main text when receiving a response of reception rejection. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a mail system for controlling mail transmission / reception processing, and more particularly to a mail system effective for processing mail transmitted from a communication mobile terminal such as a mobile phone and a communication mobile terminal corresponding to the system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a conventional mail system for mobile communication, for example, processing is performed in the sequence shown in FIG. That is, assuming an operation of transmitting a mail from mobile terminal A to mobile terminal B, the mail transmitted from mobile terminal A is stored in the mailbox of the mail server. At this time, the mail server stores "undelivered" as the delivery status of the mail, and then notifies the mobile terminal B via the packet subscriber / gateway relay processing device that the mail has been stored by the server. Send an incoming call notification signal. The mobile terminal B that has received the incoming notification signal automatically transmits a mail acquisition request signal to the mail server via the packet subscriber system / gateway relay processing device. To send the entire mail including the header. When the reception is normally completed, the mobile terminal B returns a normal response signal to the packet subscriber / gateway relay processing device. Upon acquiring the normal response signal, the mail server changes the delivery status of the mail to “delivered”.
[0003]
Then, after the above procedure, the mail server automatically transmits the mail delivery status to the mobile terminal A. Alternatively, instead of automatically transmitting the mail to the mobile terminal A, the delivery status of the mail is transmitted to the mobile terminal A in response to the active access from the mobile terminal A to the mail server.
Further, generally, upon receiving the mail, the billing information of the data communication fee for the mobile terminal B receiving the mail is stored in the billing information holding unit, and the owner of the mobile terminal is determined based on the billing information stored in the billing information holding unit. Is charged.
[0004]
Here, in the above sequence, the mail server does not transmit the text of the mail to the mobile terminal B from the beginning, but sends an incoming notification once and then obtains the text of the mail. This is to reduce the transmission and reception of invalid signals as much as possible in consideration of the fact that there is a case where reception is impossible due to power off or power off.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the mail system in the mobile communication system as described above, the stored mail is automatically sent to the mobile terminal B, but the user of the mobile terminal B does not necessarily send all the mails sent. I do not want to receive.
Further, in the above mail system, the mobile terminal A can confirm the delivery of the mail to the mobile terminal B, but cannot check whether the user of the mobile terminal B has opened the mail. That is, although the mail has arrived at the mobile terminal B, it cannot be confirmed whether or not the user has actively opened the received mail.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is possible to select a mail to be received with good communication efficiency, and to confirm whether a mail is opened at a receiving terminal on a transmitting terminal side. It is an object of the present invention to provide a mail system and a mobile terminal capable of performing the above.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, an invention according to claim 1 of the present invention accumulates an e-mail transmitted from a terminal, and automatically or automatically confirms the presence or absence of the e-mail to a receiving terminal that should receive the e-mail. In a mail system that notifies an incoming mail according to the above and sends an email to the receiving terminal in response to an acquisition request from the receiving terminal,
Sending a header part of the mail to the receiving terminal and inquiring of the mail, and obtaining a reception permission response to the inquiry from the receiving terminal, transmitting the body of the mail to the receiving terminal. Is what you do.
[0008]
In a mail system of a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone, in general, an e-mail is automatically sent to a receiving terminal if it is determined that the receiving terminal is in a state capable of receiving an e-mail based on the notification of the incoming mail.
According to the present invention, the header portion of the mail is sent first, and it is possible to confirm whether or not the mail needs to be received, and it becomes possible to receive only the mail that the user of the receiving terminal has been permitted to receive.
[0009]
Next, a second aspect of the present invention provides the configuration according to the first aspect, further comprising a mail information storage unit for storing the opened information of the stored mail, and obtaining a reception permission response from the receiving terminal. It is characterized in that the opened opening information is set for the mail information of the mail.
According to the present invention, as described above, when the reception permission response is obtained from the receiving terminal, that is, with respect to the mail determined to be received with the active intention of the user of the receiving terminal, only the main body of the mail is separately provided to the receiving terminal. Is sent to the receiving terminal, that is, when the mail body reaches the receiving terminal, the mail is automatically opened, so the opened information in the mail information is the information that was opened when the mail was surely opened It becomes. Therefore, the opening of the mail at the receiving terminal can be confirmed by the opening information.
[0010]
Next, according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the second aspect, a mail header is transmitted to the receiving terminal to make an inquiry about mail reception, and a reception rejection response to the inquiry is made. Is obtained from the receiving terminal, the reception refusal opening information is set for the mail information of the corresponding mail without transmitting the text of the mail to the receiving terminal.
[0011]
According to the present invention, it is possible to confirm whether or not mail reception has been rejected.
Next, according to the invention described in claim 4, when it is determined that the opening information has been changed with respect to the configuration described in claim 2 or 3, the content of the opening information is transmitted to the terminal that transmitted the corresponding mail. Is transmitted.
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the information which has been opened about a mail and reception refusal can be automatically notified to a transmission terminal. That is, it is possible to confirm the result of the mail transmitted on the transmission terminal side.
[0012]
Next, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the transmission of the header portion is performed at the time of notification of the arrival of the mail or after the notification of the arrival of the mail. It is characterized in that it is performed before.
According to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether to receive or reject a mail before receiving the mail.
[0013]
For example, even if there is a mail that has the inquiry of receiving the mail header part before sending it and other mails that are automatically sent to the receiving terminal, Prior to this, a determination is made as to whether the mail in question is received or rejected, so that the mail that is automatically transmitted at the time of the determination is avoided.
Next, according to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the processing of transmitting only the header part of the mail in advance is performed by opening the information of the stored mail. It is characterized in that it is performed when there is confirmation request information.
[0014]
According to the present invention, the determination as to whether to permit or reject the above-mentioned mail is made only for a specific mail having an opening confirmation request, and the other mails are processed as usual.
Next, according to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the system according to the sixth aspect, the billing information according to the reception of the mail is stored in the billing holding unit as the billing for the receiving terminal receiving the mail. ,
For the mail having the opening confirmation request information and the mail rejected from the receiving terminal, the charging information corresponding to the mail reception is stored in the charging information holding unit as the charging information of the terminal on the mail transmitting side. It is characterized by the following.
[0015]
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to charge the receiving side of the e-mail which is contrary to the sender to the sender.
Next, the invention described in claim 8 is characterized in that, in a communication mobile terminal capable of transmitting mail, information on the presence or absence of an opening confirmation request can be added to the mail to be transmitted. .
Next, according to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in a communication mobile terminal capable of receiving a mail, the header of the mail can be received, and the reception of the body of the mail is permitted in response to the reception of the header. Alternatively, any one of reception rejection is selected and transmission is possible.
[0016]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a packet communication network system including a mail system.
This network system manages at least information such as a mobile terminal 1 operated by a user, a base station 2, a packet communication processing device 3, a mail server 4 constituting a mail system, and a position of each mobile terminal 1. Service control device (not shown).
[0017]
The mobile terminal 1 includes, for example, a mobile phone, a PDA terminal, and the like, and is connectable to a wireless base station 2 that is in charge of a current wireless area by wireless radio waves. The wireless base station 2 is connected to the packet communication processing device 3. The packet communication processing device 3 is connected to the mail server 4. When a mail is transmitted from the mobile terminal 1, communication information from the mobile terminal 1 is transmitted to the packet communication processing device 3 via the base station 2 and can be transmitted to the mail server 4. When a mail arrives at the mobile terminal 1, communication information from the mail server 4 is transmitted to the packet communication processing device 3 and can be transmitted to a specific mobile terminal 1 via the base station 2.
[0018]
The packet communication processing device 3 includes a subscriber packet processing device 3A connected to the base station 2 and a packet gateway relay device 3B, and the mail server 4 is connected to the packet gateway relay device 3B. The mail server 4 includes a control device 4A, a mailbox 4B for storing mail, and an opening / delivery information management DB 4C for storing mail information. The opening / delivery information management DB 4C constitutes a mail information storage unit.
[0019]
As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile terminal 1 transmits and acquires information such as a call, an image, and a mail to and from a communication unit 1A that performs a call process using a radio wave with a radio base station 2 that is in charge of a current radio area. A control unit 1B for processing content information and a display unit 1C are provided. It also has various applications. Here, each mobile terminal 1 is assigned a unique telephone number, and can transmit / receive information to / from the mail server 4 by operating a specific number or an operation unit.
[0020]
Here, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that the mail types are classified into three types of “normal mail”, “delivery confirmation mail”, and “opening confirmation mail”, and the control unit 1B selects the mail according to the specific number or the operation of the operation unit. The mail is transmitted through the communication unit 1A with the information indicating that the mail is one of the three types of mails.
Further, upon receiving the header of the opening confirmation mail, the control unit 1B displays the content of the header information on the display unit 1C, and gives the user either reception permission or reception rejection according to the header. When the user operates a specific number or operation unit to obtain the user's reception permission or reception refusal judgment, a response signal (permission or rejection) to that effect is transmitted. The mail is transmitted to the mail server 4 via the section 1A. When the mail body of the opening confirmation mail is received, the mail body is displayed on the display section 1C.
[0021]
When the mail texts of a plurality of opening confirmation mails are transmitted collectively, for example, control is performed so that the plurality of mail texts are stored and displayed one by one on the display unit 1C.
Note that, upon receiving the mail arrival notification, a mail acquisition request is automatically transmitted via the communication unit 1A as a mail receivable state. In addition, mail other than the opening confirmation mail is automatically sent to the corresponding mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side when the processing of the opening confirmation mail is completed.
[0022]
The packet communication processing device 3 includes a charging device 5 as shown in FIG. 3, and stores charging information in a charging information holding unit 5A based on charging information from the mail server 4.
Next, processing of the mail server 4 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 4, upon receiving the mail (step S10), the control device 4A of the mail server 4 accumulates the mail in the mail box 4B and creates information on the mail, particularly management data on opening / delivery. It is stored in the opening / delivery status management DB 4C (step S20). At this time, the status of opening / delivery is set to “not delivered”. Subsequently, a mail arrival notification is transmitted to the corresponding mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side. If it is determined that a mail acquisition request is received from the mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side and it is determined that the mail can be transmitted, the presence / absence of an opening confirmation mail is searched for in the mail to be transmitted (step S30). First, an inquiry is made by transmitting the header of the opening confirmation mail to the mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side (step S40). As a response to the inquiry (step S50), when a response of "reception refusal" is obtained (step S60), the opening / delivery status is changed to "reception rejection" (step S110), and the terminal that transmitted the information to that effect is sent. (Step S90), and the data communication fee required for the rejection operation is sent to the accounting device as accounting information for the transmitting terminal (step S100).
[0023]
On the other hand, when a response of "reception permission" is obtained in response to the inquiry (step S60), the body of the corresponding mail is transmitted to the mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side (step S70). When the normal arrival signal is received, the opening / delivery status is changed to "opened" (step S80), and information to that effect is transmitted to the terminal that transmitted the information (step S90), and is necessary for the mail receiving operation. Is transmitted to the charging device 5 as charging information for the mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side (step S100).
[0024]
After the above processing has been performed for all opening confirmation mails (step S120), or when there is no opening confirmation mail, other mails, that is, “normal mail” and “delivery confirmation mail” are sent as in the conventional case. The message is transmitted to the mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side (step S130). As for the “delivery confirmation mail”, when the normal arrival signal is received from the mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side, the opening / delivery status is changed to “delivered” and transmitted to the terminal that transmitted the information. .
[0025]
FIG. 5 shows an example of a data structure in the opening / delivery status management DB 4C.
Here, in the above description, when there are a plurality of open confirmation mails, the header part is transmitted one by one, and permission / rejection of reception is determined, and then the next header part is transmitted in order. The processing is described as being performed, but is not limited thereto. For example, after all headers of a plurality of opening confirmation mails have been transmitted, the processing may be performed such that the mail body of the opening confirmation mail having the response of reception permission is transmitted in order.
[0026]
Further, in the above description, every time the opening / delivery status is changed to “opened” and “reception rejected”, the information is automatically transmitted to the terminal on the transmission side. However, the present invention is not limited to this. . Information may be transmitted in response to access from a terminal on the transmission side.
6 to 8 show an example of the sequence of the opening confirmation mail process.
[0027]
When the “opening confirmation mail” is selected from the mobile terminal A and the mail is transmitted to the mobile terminal B, the “opening confirmation mail” is received on the server by the incoming call notification as shown in the sequence of FIG. This is notified to the mobile terminal B, and if it is receivable, the mobile terminal B is notified of the mail title and the from address, and in some cases, a mail header portion including the mail size and the like. At this time, the mobile terminal B does not automatically perform the operation of acquiring the body of the mail regarding the opening confirmation mail. At this time, on the screen of the mobile terminal B, some display indicating that the “opening confirmation mail” is stored on the server is displayed on the display unit 1C, and the header such as the title, the from address, and the mail size are displayed. It can be confirmed.
[0028]
The user of the mobile terminal B performs the operation of acquiring the opening confirmation mail only when the user wants to check the mail text while viewing the display on the mobile terminal 1. That is, when the acquisition request of the opening confirmation mail, that is, the response of the reception permission is transmitted from the mobile terminal B according to the sequence as shown in FIG. 7, the mail server 4 transmits the corresponding mail text. At the same time that the mail text arrives at the mobile terminal B, the mail is opened and displayed on the display unit 1C, and an arrival signal indicating that the mail is normally received is transmitted from the mobile terminal B to the mail server 4. Upon receiving this arrival signal, the mail server 4 changes the setting of the mail opening state to “opened”, and automatically transmits the mail opening state on the mail server 4 to the mobile terminal A after the above procedure. Alternatively, after the above procedure, a method of confirming the opening status of the mail by active access from the mobile terminal A to the mail server 4 instead of automatically transmitting the mail to the mobile terminal A may be considered.
[0029]
On the other hand, when the user of the mobile terminal B who has received the header of the mail wants to refuse to obtain the opening confirmation mail, a response of rejection of reception is made from the mobile terminal B according to the sequence shown in FIG. In response to the response, the mail server 4 changes the setting of the mail opening status to “reception rejected”, and automatically transmits the mail opening status on the mail server 4 to the mobile terminal A after the above procedure. Alternatively, after the above procedure, a method of confirming the opening status of the mail by active access from the mobile terminal A to the mail server 4 instead of automatically transmitting the mail to the mobile terminal A may be considered.
[0030]
As described above, it is possible to receive only the mail that the user wants to receive, at least for the opening confirmation mail. Thereby, when sending and receiving relatively large-sized mails such as photos and moving images, the user of the receiving mobile terminal 1 does not receive mails that are determined to be unnecessary, so that invalid use of radio frequency is reduced. You.
In addition, only the header portion having a small data amount is first transmitted to the mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side, and only when the reception is permitted, only the body of the mail is separately transmitted to the mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side. It is possible to surely confirm the opening of the mail according to the intention of the user of the mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side.
[0031]
The data communication fee required for the reception rejection operation may be a method of charging the owner of the receiving mobile terminal B or a method of charging the owner of the transmitting mobile terminal A. Regardless of which terminal is charged, when charging processing information is stored in the charging device 5, it is possible to specify a charging target person from the field of the header information of the mail.
[0032]
Then, when considering a method of charging the owner of the transmitting side mobile terminal 1 at the time of rejection of reception, the functions of the mobile terminal 1 include “normal mail” and “delivery confirmation mail”, which are mails from a specific telephone number. Except for this, it is effective to enable settings such as uniformly rejecting reception, but permitting the notification of the receipt of the “opening confirmation mail”. Alternatively, it is effective to enable the setting of “regular mail” and “delivery confirmation mail” such that mail of a specific size or more is uniformly rejected. By making such a setting possible, the user of the receiving-side mobile terminal 1 will not receive a large-sized mail unintentionally and will not be charged a large communication fee. Also, for large mail of a certain size or more, even for "regular mail" and "delivery confirmation mail", just like the "open receipt confirmation mail", only the header part is sent first and the response of permission / rejection of reception is sent. -It may be changed to perform the inquiry processing.
[0033]
As described above, by considering the service in which the owner of the transmitting mobile terminal 1 is charged in combination, it is not necessary to pay a communication fee for receiving an undesired mail. User convenience is improved.
Here, in the above-described embodiment, there are three types of mail, “normal mail”, “delivery confirmation mail”, and “opening confirmation mail”. However, only one type of “opening confirmation mail” may be used. In the case of a mail receiving system by the mobile terminal 1 using a wireless communication such as a mobile phone terminal, useless data transmission and reception and unnecessary large-volume data transmission / reception must be avoided as compared with a mail system performed by a wired communication network. There is a constraint that this must be done. In particular, considering the recent increase in unsolicited e-mails and the increase in large-capacity e-mails such as video e-mails, the system that sends only the small data information in the header part and then sends the e-mail body of the requested e-mail This is useful in terms of effective use of radio.
[0034]
Also, in comparison with a general mail system using a wired communication network, a mail system that immediately notifies the mobile terminal 1 on the receiving side as soon as mail is stored in a server, firstly receives only an incoming call notification or a small header Since only the part is transmitted, it is advantageous in terms of quick notification and wireless communication waste removal.
In addition, by changing the charge of the communication fee for the rejection operation for the rejected mail to the sender side, for example, the reception side is prevented from being charged due to the reception of unsolicited e-mail. Since only the header portion is transmitted to the side, it is also possible to prevent wireless resources from being wastefully used.
[0035]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, after the mobile terminal on the receiving side determines that the mail can be received in the mail arrival notification, the header of the opening confirmation mail is transmitted prior to transmission of another mail. Not limited. For example, a header portion of an opening confirmation mail may be transmitted together with or instead of the mail arrival notification.
[0036]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to receive only necessary e-mails while effectively utilizing communication resources, and to make it possible to confirm opening of e-mails.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram for explaining a mail system according to an embodiment based on the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment based on the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a billing device according to an embodiment based on the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating processing of a control device of the mail server according to the embodiment based on the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of an opening / delivery status management DB.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a sequence example up to transmission of a header part.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence in a case where reception of a body of an opening confirmation mail is permitted.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a sequence example in a case where reception of the body of an opening confirmation mail is rejected.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a processing example of a conventional mail system.
[Explanation of symbols]
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 mobile terminal 1A communication unit 1B control unit 1C display unit 2 base station 3 packet communication processing device 3A subscriber packet processing device 3B packet gateway relay device 4 mail server 4A control device 4B mailbox 4C opening / delivery status management DB
5 Billing device 5A Billing information holding unit

Claims (9)

Stores the e-mail sent from the terminal, notifies the receiving terminal that should receive the e-mail automatically or in response to the confirmation of the presence / absence of the e-mail, and sends the e-mail in response to the acquisition request from the receiving terminal. In the mail system sent to the receiving terminal,
Sending a header part of the mail to the receiving terminal, inquiring about the mail reception, and obtaining a reception permission response to the inquiry from the receiving terminal, transmitting the body of the mail to the receiving terminal. Mail system. A mail information storage unit for storing the opened information of the stored mail is provided. When a reception permission response is obtained from the receiving terminal and the body of the mail is delivered, the opened read information is set for the mail information of the corresponding mail. 2. The mail system according to claim 1, wherein: The header of the mail is sent to the receiving terminal to inquire about the reception of the mail, and a reception rejection response to the inquiry is obtained from the receiving terminal. 3. The mail system according to claim 2, wherein reception refusal opening information is set for the mail information of the mail. 4. The mail system according to claim 2, wherein when it is determined that the opening information has been changed, the content of the opening information is transmitted to the terminal that transmitted the corresponding mail. The mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the transmission of the header portion is performed at the time of notification of mail arrival or after notification of mail arrival and before delivery of a text. 6. The mail system according to claim 1, wherein the processing of transmitting only the header portion of the mail in advance is performed when the information of the stored mail includes the opening confirmation request information. . In a system for storing billing information according to mail reception in a billing holding unit as billing for a receiving terminal that has received the mail,
For the mail having the opening confirmation request information and the mail rejected from the receiving terminal, the charging information corresponding to the mail reception is stored in the charging information holding unit as the charging information of the terminal on the mail transmitting side. 7. The mail system according to claim 6, wherein: A communication mobile terminal capable of transmitting mail, wherein information on the presence or absence of an opening confirmation request can be added to the transmitted mail. A communication mobile terminal that can receive mail can receive the header of the mail, and in response to the reception of the header, select either one of permission to receive or reject reception of the body of the mail and send it. A communication mobile terminal characterized by being enabled.

Images