JP2005293227A - E-mail delivery confirming system, e-mail delivery management server, and movile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an efficient E-mail delivery confirming system which takes into consideration wireless mobile communication environments. <P>SOLUTION: In the E-mail delivery confirming system between terminals, when a first user terminal transmits an E-mail to a second user terminal, delivery of the E-mail is recorded in a mail delivery management server together with its delivery status. When it is detected by the second user terminal that the E-mail has arrived, a delivery confirming notice is sent to the first user terminal from the second user terminal with arrival of the E-mail as a trigger. The delivery confirming notice is received by an E-mail delivery management server to update the delivery status of the recorded E-mail to make it that of delivery confirmed and completion of the delivery confirmation is reported to the first user terminal. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a mail delivery confirmation system capable of confirming whether a mail sent by a mail distributor to a destination mobile terminal has been properly received.

  Due to the rapid spread of mobile phones and the advancement of mobile communication technology, electronic mails are frequently transmitted and received between mobile phones or between a PC and a mobile phone. As the importance of electronic mail as a communication means increases, a system that can confirm whether the electronic mail has actually arrived at the other party or has been opened is desired.

  Under such circumstances, there has been proposed a system that automatically transmits opening confirmation information when a mail is opened at a terminal (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this system, a re-transmission credit timer is set for each mail, and if the mail is opened within the predetermined timer time, a reply mail certifying that the mail has been opened is sent from the mail control server to the mail sender. Automatically sent. If the mail is not opened within the predetermined timer time, the same mail temporarily stored in the mail control server is sent again to the mail recipient.

  By the way, as the transmission / reception of e-mails in mobile communication networks increases, it is necessary to smoothly distribute e-mails to mobile phones outside the service area in consideration of the wireless environment. In general, when the destination mobile phone is outside the service area, the e-mail is temporarily stored in a mail center connected to the mobile communication network. When the mobile phone returns to the service area, the mobile phone makes an email inquiry to the mail center, and the mail that has been put on hold in response to the inquiry is sent to the returned mobile phone.

  When the holder of the mobile phone is moving near the boundary between the outside of the service area and the area, the shift to the service area is frequently detected, and a useless inquiry is transmitted to the mail center. Therefore, when the destination mobile phone returns from outside the service area to the service area, a system that prevents unnecessary access to the mail center and efficiently distributes emails held in the mail center to the mobile phone. It has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

In this system, when the mobile phone returns to the service area and stays within the service area for a certain period of time, the mail center is automatically inquired about the mail. As a result, it is possible to prevent useless inquiries even in an unstable situation where the transition outside the area is frequently repeated.
JP 2003-46574 A JP 2003-32751 A

  However, in the conventionally proposed system, there is no method for confirming whether or not the e-mail has actually arrived at the other party before opening the e-mail in the wireless environment. From the sender's point of view, there is no way to know whether the e-mail you sent has already arrived at the other party's mobile phone or if it is held at the mail center because the mobile phone holder is out of service area .

  Also, from the viewpoint of the mobile terminal holder of the destination, the method of automatically accessing the mail center when staying within the service area for a certain time or more depends on the setting of the time to stay in the service area when moving near the boundary. , Email retrieval is quite delayed. If the set time is shortened, even if you happen to move within the service area for a certain period of time and get an e-mail, you may be in an unstable state that repeats moving outside the area again. Later, every time you enter the service area, inquiries to the mail center are wasted.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of efficiently confirming delivery of an electronic mail to a transmission destination in consideration of a wireless environment of a mobile communication network.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for confirming delivery of an electronic mail between terminals by using a mail delivery management device provided on a network. In this system, when an electronic mail is transmitted from the first user terminal to the second user terminal, the transmission of the electronic mail is recorded in the mail delivery management apparatus together with the delivery state. When the reception of the e-mail is detected by the second user terminal, a delivery confirmation notification is transmitted from the second user terminal to the first user terminal using the e-mail reception detection as a trigger. The delivery confirmation device receives this delivery confirmation notification, updates the status of the recorded electronic mail to delivery confirmed, and notifies the first user terminal of completion of delivery confirmation.

  Preferably, the e-mail transmitted from the first user terminal includes a predetermined delivery confirmation request, and the second user terminal transmits a delivery confirmation notification triggered by detection of the delivery confirmation request included in the e-mail. To do.

  According to such a mail delivery confirmation system, the delivery status of mail is collectively managed by the management server, and the sender can confirm that the mail has arrived at the other party. In particular, in the case of a business instruction or emergency contact, it is useful because it can be confirmed that it has been properly received by the other user terminal.

  In a second aspect of the present invention, an automatic transmission system for undelivered electronic mail stored on a network is provided. An undelivered mail automatic transmission system includes: (a) a status management device that manages a delivery state of a transmitted e-mail when an e-mail is transmitted from a first user terminal to a second user terminal; b) a mail storage device for storing electronic mail when the second user terminal is outside the service area. The second user terminal transmits a service area return notification when the service area returns. The status management device refers to the delivery status of the electronic mail when receiving the return notification within the service area, and transmits a blank email addressed to the second user terminal when the delivery status is undelivered. The mail storage device uses the reception of the empty mail as a trigger to transmit the empty mail and the stored electronic mail to the second user terminal. The status management device receives the delivery confirmation notification from the second user terminal and updates the delivery state of the electronic mail to the delivery confirmed.

  According to this system, once the user terminal on the receiving side returns to the service area, the e-mail stored in the mail storage device is automatically pushed by the empty mail, and in response to the delivery confirmation notification from the user terminal Mail delivery status is updated to delivered. In a wireless mobile communication environment, the mail recipient can receive the mail in a timely manner after returning to the service area, and the sender can also confirm the delivery of the mail.

  In a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mail delivery management server that is provided on a network and manages an electronic mail delivery state. The mail delivery management server includes: (a) a status database that records the transmission of the email together with the current delivery status when the email is sent from the first user terminal to the second user terminal; and (b) A receiving unit that receives a delivery confirmation notification transmitted in response to the arrival of an email from the second user terminal; and (c) a delivery confirmation of the delivery status of the email recorded in the status database in response to the delivery confirmation notification. And a status management unit for updating to a completed status.

  Preferably, the mail delivery management server further includes a blank mail transmission unit that transmits blank mail. In this case, the receiving unit receives a service area return notification from the second user terminal when the second user terminal returns from outside the service area to the service area, and the status management unit stores the status database according to the service area return notification. With reference to this, when the delivery state of the status database is an undelivered state, the empty mail transmission unit is instructed to transmit the empty mail addressed to the second user terminal.

  By using such a mail delivery management server, the receiving side can receive stored mail in an undelivered state in a timely manner after returning to the service area. Further, since the delivery state of the outgoing mail is always managed, the transmission side can confirm the delivery of the mail to the other side.

  In the fourth aspect of the present invention, a mobile terminal used by a user (a) receives an e-mail and detects whether or not a predetermined delivery confirmation request message is included in the e-mail; (B) When a delivery confirmation request message is detected by the mail reception confirmation unit, a delivery confirmation notification generation unit that generates a delivery confirmation notification using the detection of the delivery confirmation request message as a trigger, and (c) the generated delivery confirmation A transmission unit that returns a notification to the transmission source of the electronic mail.

  The mobile terminal further detects whether the mobile terminal itself is within the service area of the mobile communication network, and when the return to the service area is detected by the out-of-range monitor section A within-area return notification generation unit that generates a notification, and the generated within-area return notification is transmitted from the transmission unit to a mail delivery management device provided on the network. After transmitting the return notification, the reception confirmation unit receives the undelivered mail stored while the mobile terminal stayed outside the service area.

  According to such a mobile terminal, reception of an electronic mail can be automatically notified to a transmission source. In addition, an e-mail transmitted when the user is out of the service area due to movement can be received in a timely manner after returning to the service area.

  Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description given below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  Efficient mail delivery confirmation considering the wireless environment is realized.

  The receiving terminal can quickly receive undelivered mail after returning from outside the service area to within the service area.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network configuration example to which the system of the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, a first user terminal 11 and a second user terminal 15 are connected via a mail delivery management server 20, the Internet 12, a mail distribution center 13, and a mobile communication network 14. The first user terminal 11 is, for example, a personal computer (PC) 11 of an in-house administrator, and the second user terminal 15 is a wireless mobile terminal 15 such as a mobile phone of a sales representative.

  When an e-mail is transmitted from the in-house manager's PC 11 to the sales representative's mobile terminal 15, the e-mail is sent from the mail delivery management server 20 to the mail distribution center 13 connected to the mobile communication network 14. The mail distribution center 13 transmits an e-mail to the mobile terminal 15 via the mobile communication network 14 when the mobile terminal 15 is in the service area. If the mobile terminal 15 does not exist within the service area and cannot receive an email, the email storage unit 60 stores the email. The mail delivery management server 20 manages the delivery state (status) of the transmitted electronic mail, and when the mobile terminal 15 receives the electronic mail and transmits the delivery confirmation notification, the state is confirmed as delivery confirmed. At the same time, the administrator PC 11 is notified that the delivery has been confirmed.

  The function of the mail delivery management server 20 constitutes a mail delivery management system via the networks 12 and 14. Further, by using a part of the functions of the mail delivery management server 20 and the mail distribution center 13, an undelivered mail automatic distribution system (or automatic undelivered mail when the mobile terminal 15 returns to the service area of the mobile communication network 14). A mail delivery management system including a distribution function). The operation and function of each system will be described later.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the mail delivery management server 20 used in FIG. The mail delivery management server 20 includes a receiving unit 21 that receives an e-mail addressed to the mobile terminal 15 from the administrator PC 11, a status database 25 that records an e-mail delivery state, and an e-mail stored in the status database. A status management unit 22 for managing the state of

  The status management unit 22 includes a status data control unit 35 that controls recording and updating of data in the status database 25, and whether or not the delivery status of the electronic mail recorded in the status database 25 for confirmation of mail delivery has been delivered. It includes a status data determination unit 36 for determining whether or not. The status management unit 22 and the status database 25 constitute a mail delivery / status management unit 55.

  The receiving unit 21 includes a mail receiving unit 31, an in-area return notification receiving unit 32, and a delivery confirmation notification receiving unit 33. In addition to the e-mail addressed to the mobile terminal 15, the mobile terminal 15 detects reception of the e-mail. A delivery confirmation notice transmitted from time to time and a return notification within the service area transmitted when the mobile terminal 15 detects return to the service area are received.

  The mail delivery management server 20 further includes a blank mail transmission unit 23 that transmits a blank mail for push transmission of the email stored in the mail distribution center 13 when the mobile terminal 15 returns from the service area to the service area. Prepare. The transmission of the empty mail will be described later in connection with the automatic delivery system for undelivered mail.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a mail delivery confirmation system according to an embodiment of the present invention and a basic flow of transmission / reception, and assumes a case where the recipient is in a service area.

  In the example of FIG. 3, the mail delivery management server 20 includes, for example, a mail server 40 and a web server 50, and the web server 50 is provided with a mail delivery / status management unit 55 shown in FIG. Of course, the present invention is not limited to this configuration example. As long as the configuration shown in FIG. 2 is realized, the mail delivery management server 20 is configured as a single server including a mail processing unit and a Web processing unit. May be.

  First, a business instruction mail is sent from the in-house manager's PC 11 to the salesperson A who owns the mobile terminal (mobile phone) 15 (arrow (1)). The mail receiving unit 31 (see FIG. 2) of the mail server 40 receives this mail and transmits it to the mail distribution center 13 connected to the mobile communication network 14 via the Internet 12. The mail distribution center 13 transmits an electronic mail to the mobile terminal 15 of Mr. A who exists in the service area via the mobile communication network.

  When the mobile terminal 15 receives the business instruction e-mail, the mobile terminal 15 refers to the e-mail transmission source, subject, etc., and determines whether the e-mail requires a delivery confirmation notification. A mark or title indicating that the mail requires a delivery confirmation notification is arbitrary, and can be determined in advance by the transmission source. The mobile terminal 15 automatically returns a delivery confirmation notification to the mail requiring the delivery confirmation notification by, for example, HTTP communication (arrow (2)). The delivery confirmation notification is received by the Web server 50 constituting the mail delivery confirmation server 20, and the delivery confirmation status of the business instruction mail is changed from “unconfirmed” to “delivery confirmed” by the mail delivery / status management unit 55. The

  The mail delivery / status management unit 55 of the Web server 50 notifies the in-house administrator's PC 11 that the delivery of the e-mail to Mr. A has been confirmed (arrow (3)), and on the in-house administrator's PC 11 A delivery confirmation pops up.

  FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram of mail delivery confirmation centering on the operation of the mail delivery management server 20. For convenience of explanation, the mail server 40, the mail delivery / status management unit 55, and the web server 50 are illustrated as separate elements, but these are realized as processes inside the single mail delivery management server 20. Moreover, the description which overlaps with description of FIG. 3 is simplified.

  First, the e-mail A addressed to the mobile terminal 15 is transmitted from the administrator PC 11 (step S101). The mail server 40 constituting the mail delivery management server 20 receives this electronic mail A and transmits it to the mail distribution center 13 of the mobile communication network 14 (step S102). At the same time, a mail A transmission event is notified to the mail delivery / status management unit 55, and the mail A transmission information is recorded in the status database 25 of the mail delivery / management unit 55 (step S103). The data written in the status database 25 includes a transmission destination, mail identification information, delivery confirmation information, and the like. In the example of FIG. 4, the transmission destination of this mail A is X, and the delivery confirmation state is set as unconfirmed as an initial state.

  The electronic mail A sent to the mail distribution center 13 is pushed and transmitted to the mobile terminal 15 existing in the service area (step S104).

  The mobile terminal 15 receives the e-mail A and detects a predetermined delivery confirmation request message defined by the title of the received mail, the transmission source, and the like. Then, a delivery confirmation notification is transmitted using the detection of the delivery confirmation request message as a trigger (step S105). The Web server 50 constituting the mail delivery management server 20 receives the delivery confirmation notice, and updates the delivery confirmation state held in the status database 25 of the mail delivery / status management unit 55 to “confirmed” (step S106). ). At the same time, a delivery confirmation notification is transmitted to the administrator PC 11 (step S107).

  In response to the delivery confirmation notification, the administrator PC pops up a delivery confirmed message (step S108).

  FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile terminal 15 used in the mail delivery confirmation system shown in FIGS. As described above, the mobile terminal 15 transmits a delivery confirmation request with the detection of the delivery confirmation request as a trigger. In order to do this, the mobile terminal 15 includes a transmission / reception unit 61, a mail reception confirmation unit 65, a reception mail box 66, and a delivery confirmation notification generation unit 63.

  The mail reception confirmation unit 65 periodically refers to the reception mail box 66 and determines whether there is a received mail including a specific delivery confirmation request (for example, a specific title or a specific transmission source). When a mail including a specific delivery confirmation request is detected, the mail reception confirmation unit 65 instructs the delivery confirmation notification generation unit 63 to generate a delivery confirmation notification. The delivery confirmation notification generated by the delivery confirmation notification generation unit 63 is returned from the transmission / reception unit 61 to the sender of the mail.

  The mobile terminal 15 also sends an out-of-range monitor unit 64 that monitors whether the mobile terminal 15 is within the service area or out of the service area, and a return notification when the mobile terminal 15 returns to the service area. And a within-area return notification generation unit 62 for generation.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the outside monitor unit 64 measures the radio wave condition of the mobile terminal 15 at a predetermined time interval, for example, every a minutes (step S601). Then, it is determined whether or not the measured radio wave condition is equal to or higher than a predetermined level in all n consecutive measurements up to immediately before (step S603). If the radio wave condition of a predetermined level or higher is measured in all the continuous n measurements (YES in S603), it is determined that the mobile terminal 15 is stably within the service area (step S605). On the other hand, when the radio wave condition on the predetermined level is not measured continuously n times (NO in S603), it is determined that the location of the mobile terminal 15 is unstable and still out of the service area (step S607). .

  The coefficients “a” and “n” used in steps S601 and S603 are set to arbitrary values. By adopting such a configuration, it is determined that the mobile terminal 15 has returned to the service area when the mobile terminal 15 stably exists within the service area, and it is possible to transmit return information with high reliability.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flow of transmission / reception in the mail delivery confirmation system of FIG. 3 when the mail transmission partner exists outside the service area at the time of transmission and then returns to the service area.

  First, a sales instruction mail is transmitted from the in-house manager's PC 11 to the salesman A (arrow (1)). This business instruction mail is sent to the mail distribution center 13 connected to the mobile communication network 14 via the mail server 40 constituting the mail delivery management server 20. At this time, the mail server 40 records the mail transmission and the delivery confirmation status in the status database 25 of the mail delivery / status management unit 55. The delivery confirmation state at the time of recording is set to unconfirmed.

  Although the sales instruction mail has been transmitted, the mail addressed to Mr. A is stored in the mail storage device 60 of the mail distribution center 13 because Mr. A who is the transmission partner is out of the service area. Accordingly, there is no delivery confirmation notification from the mobile terminal 15, and the delivery confirmation status in the status database 25 remains "unconfirmed".

  When Mr. A's mobile terminal 15 detects the return to the service area by the operation shown in FIG. 6, the area return notification is generated, and the Web server 50 constituting the mail delivery management server 20 is notified to the area within the area by, for example, HTTP communication. A return notification is transmitted (arrow (2)).

  The mail delivery management server 20 refers to the status database 25 of the mail delivery / status management unit 55 and, when the delivery confirmation of the mail addressed to Mr. A is “unconfirmed”, sends a blank mail addressed to Mr. A (arrow ( 3)). In the example of FIG. 7, since the mail is stored in the mail distribution center 13 and the delivery has not yet been confirmed, a blank mail is transmitted.

  The mail distribution center 13 receives the empty mail and tries to send it to Mr. A. In this case, since Mr. A has returned to the service area, the business instruction mail stored in the mail storage device 60 is also pushed and transmitted by the empty mail (arrow (4)).

  If reception of the sales instruction mail is detected at the mobile terminal 15 of Mr. A, a delivery confirmation notification is transmitted from the mobile terminal 15 by HTTP communication, as in the flow of arrows (2) and (3) in FIG. The delivery confirmation status is updated to “confirmed” in the mail delivery management server 20. At the same time, the fact that the delivery has been confirmed is transmitted to the PC 11 of the in-house manager, and “delivery confirmed” is popped up on the PC 11.

  FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram of undelivered mail automatic transmission executed by the system shown in FIG. In this respect, the mail delivery confirmation system also functions as an undelivered mail automatic transmission system. First, the mail A is transmitted from the in-house manager's PC 11 to the holder of the mobile terminal 15 (step S201). At this time, the same mail may be transmitted to the mail delivery / status management unit 55 designated by the CC by the simple mail transfer (SMTP) protocol.

  The mail server 40 transmits the mail A to the mail distribution center 13 of the mobile communication network 14 (step S202), and also transmits it to the mail delivery / status management unit 55 by SMTP communication (step S203). The mail delivery / status management unit 55 records the transmission of the mail A in the status database 25 together with the destination information, the mail identification information, and the delivery confirmation status. For example, the delivery confirmation status of the mail A addressed to the transmission destination X is recorded as “unconfirmed”.

  The mail distribution center 13 cannot push-deliver the received mail A because the destination mobile terminal 15 is outside the service area (step S205). For this reason, the mail A is temporarily stored in the mail storage device 60 (step S206).

  When the mobile terminal 15 detects a return from outside the service area to the service area by the operation of FIG. 6 (step S207), a notification of return to the service area is generated and transmitted to the Web server 50 by HTTP communication (step S208). The Web server 50 confirms the delivery status of the email A recorded in the status database 25 of the email delivery / status management unit 55 (step S209). When the delivery confirmation status is “unconfirmed”, the mail delivery / status management unit 55 instructs the mail server 40 to transmit the empty mail B (step S210). An empty mail B addressed to the mobile terminal 15 is transmitted from the mail transmission section (see FIG. 2) of the mail server 40 and received by the mail distribution center 13 (step S211).

  In this case, since the mobile terminal 15 has returned to the service area, the mail A stored in the mail storage device 60 is delivered to the mobile terminal 15 together with the empty mail B (step S212). The mobile terminal 15 detects a predetermined delivery confirmation request message included in the mail A, and returns a delivery confirmation notice by, for example, HTTP communication (step S213). In response to this delivery confirmation notification, the mail delivery / status management unit 55 updates the status of the mail A to “delivery confirmed” (step S214). At the same time, the administrator PC 11 is notified that the reception of the mail A has been confirmed by the mobile terminal 15 (step S215). Upon receipt of this notification, a delivery confirmation of mail A is pop-up displayed on the administrator PC 11.

  In FIG. 8, the mail server 40, the mail delivery / status management unit 55, and the web server 50 are shown as separate elements for convenience of explanation, but these may be configured as a single mail delivery management server 20.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a processing procedure when the hardware configuration function of the mail delivery management server 20 shown in FIG. 2 is realized by software. In this case, the mail delivery management program is installed in the mail delivery management server 20 and stored in a storage area such as a memory or the recording medium 70.

  The recording medium 70 has a program area 71 and a data area 72. First, when a mail addressed to the mobile terminal 15 is received by the CC (procedure (1)), status data control is executed in the program area 71, and this mail transmission event is delivered to the status data section 25 of the data area 72. And recorded together (procedure (2)). When the destination mobile terminal 15 returns to the service area, the mobile terminal 15 receives the area return notification from the mobile terminal 15 (procedure (3)), refers to the status data section 25, and sends the mail addressed to the mobile terminal 15 The status, that is, the delivery confirmation state is determined (procedure (4)). When the mail delivery confirmation status is “unconfirmed”, a blank mail is transmitted (procedure (5). As described above, the blank mail is transmitted and stored in the mail distribution center 13 while the mobile terminal 15 stays outside the service area. The received mail is received by the mobile terminal 15, and a delivery confirmation notification is sent from the mobile terminal 15. When the delivery confirmation notification is received from the mobile terminal 15 (procedure (6)), the status data of the status data is displayed in the program area 22. Control is executed, and the status of the status data part 25 is updated to “delivery confirmed” (procedure (7)).

  The reception procedures (1), (3), and (6) correspond to the function of the reception unit 21 in FIG. 2, and the status data control / judgment procedures (2), (4), and (7) are the same as those in FIG. This corresponds to the function of the status management unit 22. The empty mail transmission procedure (5) corresponds to the function of the empty mail transmission unit 23 in FIG.

  The mail delivery management server 20 of the present invention can be realized by executing the program shown in FIG. 9 instead of the hardware configuration shown in FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a processing procedure when the function of the mobile terminal 15 shown in FIG. 5 is realized by software. The application program is downloaded from, for example, the network to the mobile terminal 15 and stored in a storage area such as a memory or the recording medium 80.

  In the program area 81, it is determined whether or not the mobile terminal 15 is in the service area with reference to the n measured radio wave levels immediately before recorded in the out-of-area status data section 68 of the data area 82 ( Procedure (1)). When a determination result indicating that the mobile terminal 15 is within the service area is obtained, a service area return notification is transmitted (procedure (2)). When the mail stored in the mail distribution center 13 is received after returning within the area, it is stored in the reception mail box 66 in the data area 82 (procedure (3)). The program periodically checks the reception mailbox 66 to confirm whether a message including a predetermined delivery confirmation request has been received (procedure (4)). If a message including a delivery confirmation request has been received, a delivery confirmation notification indicating that reception of the message has been confirmed is transmitted (procedure (5)).

  The out-of-area determination procedure (1) corresponds to the function of the out-of-area monitoring unit 64 in FIG. The within-range return notification transmission procedure (2) corresponds to the functions of the within-range return notification generation unit 62 and the transmission / reception unit 61. The mail reception confirmation procedure (4) corresponds to the function of the mail reception confirmation unit 65 in FIG. The delivery confirmation notification transmission procedure (5) corresponds to the functions of the delivery confirmation notification generation unit 63 and the transmission / reception unit 61 of FIG. Instead of the hardware configuration of FIG. 5, the operation of the mobile terminal 15 is also realized by executing the program of FIG.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the specific embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these examples. For example, in the embodiment, the first user terminal has been described as an in-house administrator's PC. However, the present invention can also be applied when the first user terminal is a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone. In this case, the mail addressed to the second user terminal is sent to the mail delivery management server 20 via the mobile communication network. The operation of the mail delivery management server 20 itself is performed by sending an email from the administrator PC. It is the same as the case where

  The data recorded in the status database 25 may be deleted after a predetermined time has elapsed after being updated to the delivery confirmed state.

1 is a schematic network configuration diagram to which a system of the present invention is applied. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the mail delivery management server used with the system of FIG. In the mail delivery confirmation system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, it is a figure which shows the flow of transmission / reception when a recipient is in the area. It is a sequence diagram of the mail delivery confirmation in the system of FIG. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the structural example of the mobile terminal of the receiving side used with the system of FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of in-range return determination performed at the mobile terminal of FIG. 5. In the mail delivery confirmation system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, it is a figure which shows the flow of transmission / reception when a receiver is out of service area. It is a sequence diagram of undelivered mail automatic transmission in the system of FIG. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement procedure at the time of comprising the function of the mail delivery management server which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention with the computer-readable program. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement procedure at the time of comprising the function of a receiving side mobile terminal with the computer-readable program.

Explanation of symbols

11 Administrator PC (first user terminal)
12 Internet 13 Mail Distribution Center 14 Mobile Communication Network 15 Mobile Terminal (Second User Terminal)
20 mail delivery management server 21 reception unit 22 status management unit 23 empty mail transmission unit 25 status database 31 mail reception unit 32 return notification reception unit 33 delivery confirmation notification reception unit 35 status data control unit 36 status data judgment unit (mail delivery confirmation unit) Part)
40 mail server 50 web server 55 mail delivery / status management unit 60 mail storage device 61 mobile terminal transmission / reception unit 62 return notification generation unit 63 delivery confirmation notification generation unit 64 external monitor unit 65 mail reception confirmation unit 66 received mail box 68 Outside status data section

Claims (9)

A system for confirming delivery of electronic mail between terminals using a mail delivery management device provided on a network,
When an e-mail is transmitted from the first user terminal to the second user terminal, the e-mail transmission is recorded in the e-mail delivery management device together with its delivery status;
When the reception of the e-mail is detected by the second user terminal, a delivery confirmation notification is transmitted from the second user terminal to the first user terminal using the reception detection of the e-mail as a trigger,
The delivery confirmation notification is received by the mail delivery management device, the status of the recorded electronic mail is updated to delivery confirmed, and the completion of delivery confirmation is notified to the first user terminal. Mail delivery confirmation system.   2. The mail delivery according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail includes a predetermined delivery confirmation request, and the second user terminal transmits the delivery confirmation notification triggered by detection of the delivery confirmation request. Confirmation system. A mail storage center for storing the e-mail when the second user terminal is out of service;
The second user terminal detects return to the service area and transmits a return return notification;
The mail delivery probability management device receives the in-area return notification, refers to the delivery status of the email, and sends a blank email to the mail storage center when the status is undelivered. The mail delivery confirmation system according to claim 1.   The mail storage center receives the empty mail and transmits the empty mail and the stored electronic mail to the second user terminal, and the second user terminal detects reception of the electronic mail. The mail delivery confirmation system according to claim 3, wherein a delivery confirmation notification is transmitted. An automatic transmission system for undelivered emails stored on a network,
A status management device that manages a delivery state of the transmitted e-mail when an e-mail is transmitted from the first user terminal to the second user terminal;
A mail storage device for storing the e-mail when the second user terminal is outside a service area;
The second user terminal transmits a service area return notification when the service area returns,
The status management device refers to the delivery status of the e-mail when the return notification of the service area is received, and when the delivery status is undelivered, transmits an empty mail addressed to the second user terminal,
The mail storage device uses the reception of the empty mail as a trigger, and transmits the empty mail and the stored electronic mail to the second user terminal,
The status management device receives a delivery confirmation notification from the second user terminal, and updates the delivery state of the electronic mail to delivery confirmed, The automatic delivery system for undelivered mail, A status database that records the transmission of the e-mail together with its delivery status when the e-mail is transmitted from the first user terminal to the second user terminal;
A receiving unit for receiving a delivery confirmation notification transmitted in response to reception of the e-mail from the second user terminal;
A mail delivery management server comprising: a status management unit that updates the delivery status of the electronic mail recorded in the status database to delivery confirmed in response to the delivery confirmation notification. It further includes a blank email sending unit that sends a blank email,
When the second user terminal returns from outside the service area to the service area, the receiving unit receives an area return notification from the second user terminal,
The status management unit refers to the status database in response to the notification of return to the service area, and when the delivery state recorded in the status database is an undelivered state, sends the second user terminal to the empty mail transmission unit. The mail delivery confirmation server according to claim 6, wherein transmission of a blank mail addressed to is instructed. An email reception confirmation unit that receives an email and detects whether the email includes a predetermined delivery confirmation request message;
When a delivery confirmation request message is detected by the mail reception confirmation unit, a delivery confirmation notification generation unit that generates a delivery confirmation notification using the detection of the delivery confirmation request message as a trigger;
A transmission unit that returns the delivery confirmation notification to the sender of the email;
A mobile terminal comprising: An out-of-service monitoring unit that monitors whether the mobile terminal is within a service area of a mobile communication network;
When the return to the service area is detected by the out-of-service monitor unit, a service area return notification generation unit that generates a service area return notification;
The transmission unit transmits the in-area return notification to a mail delivery management device provided on a network, and the reception confirmation unit is stored during staying outside the service area after transmitting the in-area return notification. 9. The mobile terminal according to claim 8, wherein the mobile terminal receives distribution of undelivered mail.

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