JP2006100928A - Mail transfer device and mail transmission system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mail transfer device capable of transferring e-mail at a high speed. <P>SOLUTION: The mail transfer device for transferring e-mail to a gateway server comprises a plurality of communication units for communicating with the gateway server and transmitting e-mail to the gateway server, and a control unit for monitoring connection or disconnection of the plurality of communication units and the gateway server and distributing the e-mail preferentially to communication units connected with the gateway server among the plurality of communication units. With such an arrangement, e-mail can be transferred without losing the connection time. Consequently, the e-mail can be transmitted surely to the gateway server and high speed transfer of e-mail can be realized. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a mail transfer device and a mail transmission system.

  In recent years, e-mail (hereinafter referred to as e-mail) has become popular. Its spread is progressing not only in PCs (Personal Computers) but also in mobile phones, and it is no exaggeration to say that the mail function is a standard function for mobile phones. With the spread of e-mail, the amount of e-mail transmission is increasing and the load on the e-mail server is also increasing.

  In particular, recently, there is an increasing demand for sending a large number of e-mails such as e-mail magazines simultaneously. For this reason, the mail server has also been improved in speed by mounting a high-speed CPU (Central Processing Unit). Also, higher speed communication lines have been used.

  In addition to speeding up, mail servers with various functions are appearing. For example, a mail server has been proposed in which transmission date and time information is a date and time designated in advance (for example, Patent Document 1).

However, when sending many emails, the environment such as hardware and Internet connection may not be able to keep up. In order to send mail, the mail server connects to the gateway server once, sends one mail, and then disconnects. For this reason, considerable server processing and time are required to send thousands or tens of thousands of emails at a time. In addition, the connection process may become unstable accompanying the time taken for the mail server's mail transmission connection process.
JP 2001-356990 A

As described above, in the conventional mail transmission system, since it takes time to connect the mail server to the mail server, it is difficult to speed up the transfer and transmission of the mail.
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and provides a mail transfer device capable of speeding up mail transfer and a mail transmission system capable of speeding up mail transmission. Objective.

  A mail transfer device according to the present invention is a mail transfer device that transfers mail to a gateway server, and communicates with the gateway server to transmit the mail to the gateway server, and the plurality of communication A mail comprising: a control unit that monitors a connection between the unit and the gateway server or disconnection of the gateway server, and distributes the mail preferentially to a communication unit connected to the gateway server among the plurality of communication units It is a transfer device. With such a configuration, it is possible to transfer the mail without impairing the connection time. Therefore, mail can be reliably transmitted to the gateway server, and mail transfer speed can be increased.

  Further, the control unit, when the communication unit is disconnected by the gateway server during transmission of the mail, a communication unit connected to the gateway server from among the plurality of communication units. Search and send an unsent mail to the searched communication unit. Thus, with such a configuration, it is possible to transfer mail via the second communication path even when the first communication path is disconnected. Therefore, mail can be reliably transmitted to the gateway server, and mail transfer speed can be increased.

  On the other hand, a mail transfer device according to the present invention is a mail transfer device that transfers mail to a gateway server, which is connected to the gateway server via a first communication path and transmits the mail to the gateway server. 1 communication unit and a second communication unit connected to the gateway server via a second communication path and transmitting the mail to the gateway server, wherein the first communication unit transmits the mail If the connection is cut off by the gateway server in the middle, the second communication unit connected to the gateway server transmits an unsent mail to the gateway server via the second communication path. It is a mail transfer device. With such a configuration, even when a predetermined communication path is disconnected, mail can be transferred via another communication path. Therefore, mail can be reliably transmitted to the gateway server, and mail transfer speed can be increased.

  A mail transmission system according to the present invention includes the mail server and such a mail transfer device. With this configuration, the speed of mail transfer is increased by the mail transfer measure, so that mail can be transmitted at high speed.

  The mail transfer method according to the present invention is a mail transfer method for transferring mail to a gateway server, the step of establishing a plurality of communication paths in the gateway server, and at least one of the communication paths among the plurality of communication paths A step of transmitting the mail via a route; a step of disconnecting a communication path for transmitting the mail by the gateway server; and a disconnection of the communication path within the plurality of communication paths. A mail transfer method comprising: sending the mail via an established communication path. With such a configuration, even when one communication path is disconnected, mail can be transferred via another communication path. Therefore, mail can be reliably transmitted to the gateway server, and mail transfer speed can be increased.

  On the other hand, a mail transfer method according to the present invention is a mail transfer method for transferring mail to a gateway server, the step of establishing a first communication path connected to the gateway server, and a second connection to the gateway server. Establishing the communication path, sending the mail via the first communication path, and the gateway server disconnecting the first communication path while sending the mail A mail transfer method comprising: transmitting unsent mail to the gateway server via the second communication path. As a result, the first communication path and the second communication path are not disconnected at the same time, so that mail can be more reliably transferred to the gateway server. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably realize a high speed mail transfer.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to provide the mail transmission apparatus which can speed-up mail transmission, and the mail transmission system which can speed-up mail transmission.

First, the overall configuration of the mail transmission system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a mail transmission system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the mail transmission system 10 includes a mail server 1 and a mail transfer device 2.

  The mail server 1 is a server that performs mail transmission / reception processing and management, and a dedicated server machine, a commercially available PC (Personal Computer), or the like can be used as it is. The mail server 1 is connected to the mail transfer device 2, is connected to the Internet line via the mail transfer device 2, and transmits / receives mail to / from the gateway server 3 connected to a public line such as the Internet line.

The mail transfer device 2 is a device that relays outgoing mail transmitted from the mail server 1 and is connected to the mail server 1 so as to be communicable. Specifically, the mail transfer device 2 may be connected to the mail server 1 by wire such as a cable, or may be connected wirelessly such as a wireless LAN. Also, the mail transfer device 2 can use a dedicated server machine or a commercially available PC as it is, like the mail server 1.
As will be described later, the mail transfer device 2 has a function of performing a plurality of connections with the gateway server 3 in parallel. The method for realizing parallel processing may be a method of preparing a plurality of hardware, or a method of realizing parallel processing by software. The mail transfer device 2 uses this function to make a plurality of connections to the gateway server 3 in parallel.

The gateway server 3 is a server that is provided in a carrier such as a relay base and performs various processes such as a mail transmission / reception process.
The Internet line 4 is an example of a communication network, and may be a communication network such as an intranet or a dedicated line. The mail transfer device 2 is connected to the gateway server 3 through the Internet line 4 so as to be communicable.

  The specific configuration of the mail transfer apparatus 2 is shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. FIG. 2 shows a configuration when parallel processing of the mail transfer device 2 is performed by hardware. The mail transfer device 2 includes 32 units 200 to 231. Although the number of units is 32 here, it is not particularly limited to this number. Each of these units 200 to 231 is independently connected to be communicable with the gateway server 3. The units 200 to 231 may be configured to be connected to the gateway server 3 while being physically connected by a cable or the like and linked.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the unit 200. The unit 200 includes a control unit 20, a storage unit 21, and a communication unit 22. The control unit 20 is for performing various controls in the mail transfer device 2, and is configured by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like.
The storage unit 21 is a storage unit for storing a program that operates on the mail transfer device 2. Here, since the storage unit 21 does not store outgoing mail, the storage unit 21 does not need to be a large-capacity storage such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and has a high durability such as a compact flash (registered trademark). Can be used. For this reason, the mail transfer device 2 can be reduced in size, and further maintenance costs can be reduced.

The communication unit 22 is means for transmitting and receiving data by connecting to the mail server 1 and the Internet line, and is configured by a modem or the like. The communication method is not particularly limited, and a wireless communication method may be used.
In this way, the unit 200 transmits the transmission mail to the gateway server 3 without storing the transmission mail with a simple internal configuration. Therefore, since the hardware configuration of the unit 200 can be made simple, it can be reduced in size. Therefore, even if a plurality of units 200 to 231 are prepared, the units 200 to 231 can be entirely saved in a space. Furthermore, there is an advantage that a power source can be supplied from one place, a battery is not required, and maintenance work of the power source can be simplified.

Next, the flow of mail transmission processing according to the present invention will be described with reference to the sequence diagram shown in FIG.
First, the mail server 1 transmits outgoing mail data to the mail transfer device 2 (S101). The transmission mail data has a data structure based on the SMTP protocol, and includes transmission destination mail address information, mail text information, and the like. The destination mail address information here is limited to the mail address information transmitted toward a specific carrier. This is because a specific process for speeding up the transmission can be performed by making the transmission destination carrier specific.

  When the mail transfer device 2 receives outgoing mail data from the mail server 1 via the communication means 22, it connects to the gateway server 3 of the carrier that manages the mail indicated by the destination mail address information via the Internet line 4 (S102). The carrier at this time can be changed by changing the program stored in the storage means 21 included in the mail transfer device 2.

  When the mail transfer device 2 is connected to the gateway server 3 by the communication means 22, the mail transfer device 2 transmits the transmission mail data received from the mail server 1 (S103). When the gateway server 3 receives the transmission mail data from the mail transfer device 2, the gateway server 3 transmits the transmission mail data to each terminal from the destination mail address included in the transmission mail data.

  Next, the connection between the mail transfer device 2 and the gateway server 3 will be specifically described. As described above, the mail transfer device 2 has a function of performing a plurality of connections with the gateway server 3 in parallel. The mail transfer device 2 uses this function to make a plurality of connections to the gateway server 3 in parallel.

  The gateway server 3 is not necessarily connected to a general Internet line, but may be connected to a special line network such as a cellular phone line network. In this case, when the mail transfer device 2 is connected to the gateway server 3 and transmission of the outgoing mail data is completed, the mail transfer device 2 is disconnected from the gateway server 3. Therefore, when it is desired to send a plurality of mails, the mail transfer device 2 has to reconnect with the gateway server 3, which takes time.

  Therefore, the mail transfer device 2 shortens the time during which only the connection processing is performed by performing a plurality of connections with the gateway server 3 in parallel. The flowchart of FIG. 5 shows the flow of processing of the mail transfer apparatus 2 in the present invention. One unit is controlled as a control unit. Here, the unit 231 is a control unit, and the other units 200 to 230 are communication units.

  First, the unit 231 causes all units to perform connection processing, and selects which unit is to transmit the first mail transfer (S201). Next, it is confirmed whether or not the selected unit is disconnected (S202). If it is not disconnected, the selected unit performs mail transmission processing.

  If the connection from the selected unit is disconnected, the unit 231 searches for another connected unit (S203). Any search method may be used. Usually, a signal for confirming whether or not the connection is established is sequentially sent from the head unit, and a reply signal from the unit is waited for.

  The schematic diagram of FIG. 6 shows processing performed by each unit of the mail transfer device 2. As shown in FIG. 6, while the unit 200 is performing connection processing, the unit 201 is performing transmission mail data transmission processing after connection. By performing processing in parallel in this way, there is a high possibility that any unit is always performing transmission processing, so that it is possible to establish a state in which it is always connected. Therefore, it is possible to discover connected units by sequentially searching.

When a connected unit is found (S204), the unit 231 causes the unit to perform mail transmission (S205). When the connected unit cannot be found, the unit 231 searches for the connected unit again. Since the connection status changes constantly, it is possible to find a connected unit by repeating the search again.
Thereafter, the connected unit confirms the success of connection of the gateway server 3 and transmission of outgoing mail data by the control means 20 (S206). The failure of transmission can be confirmed by an error message received from the gateway server 3 or the like. If it is determined as a result of the confirmation, connection is attempted again until transmission of the outgoing mail data is successful. This makes it possible to achieve highly reliable mail delivery. Further, instead of trying to connect again, mail may be transmitted from another connected unit.

  Furthermore, by shortening the individual connection processing time t for each unit, it is possible to shift to the transmission mail data transmission processing more quickly, and the overall mail transmission processing time can be shortened. The connection processing time can be increased by comparing the characteristics of the gateway server of the connection destination and performing processing according to the characteristics, compared to the case of general-purpose connection processing conventionally used.

  In this way, by making a plurality of connections with the gateway server 3 in parallel and reducing the individual connection processing time, the mail transfer device 2 can transmit many mails in a short time. Further, the mail transfer device 2 does not use drive system hardware such as a hard disk, but uses a storage device having excellent durability such as a flash memory, thereby reducing the maintenance load and making the product longer in life. It is possible. Further, downsizing is possible by using such a hardware configuration.

  In addition, when connecting to a plurality of gateway servers, the data transfer device 2 according to the present invention selects a gateway server to be connected from the plurality of gateway servers so that the number of the plurality of gateway servers is optimized. You may comprise as follows. Specifically, when the disconnection process (S203) shown in FIG. 5 is performed, the number of gateway servers 3 connected at that time is detected. The number of connections with the gateway server is calculated according to the detected number of gateway servers 3. Based on this calculated value, the connected unit among the units 200 to 232 of the data transfer apparatus 2 is disconnected or connected to the disconnected unit. As a result, the line occupancy rate by the units 200 to 231 of the data transfer apparatus 2 becomes optimal, and mail can be transferred more reliably. This makes it possible to speed up mail transfer.

Other Embodiments of the Invention
In the above-described example, the transmission mail is dealt with. However, it is possible to shorten the reception time of many mails by performing this process at the time of mail reception.
In the above example, the mail server 1 and the mail transfer system 2 are separated from each other, but the mail server 1 may be configured to incorporate the mail transfer system 2.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the mail transmission system in this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the mail transfer apparatus in this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the mail transfer apparatus in this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of a process of the mail transfer method in this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the mail transfer method in this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the flow of the process which each unit of the mail transfer apparatus 2 is performing in this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... mail server, 2 ... mail transfer device, 3 ... gateway server, 4 ... internet line,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Mail transmission system, 20 ... Control means, 21 ... Memory | storage means, 22 ... Communication means,
200 to 231 unit

Claims (6)

A mail transfer device that transfers mail to a gateway server,
A plurality of communication units that communicate with the gateway server and send the mail to the gateway server;
A control unit that monitors connection or disconnection between the plurality of communication units and the gateway server, and distributes the mail preferentially to the communication units connected to the gateway server among the plurality of communication units; Mail transfer device with   The control unit searches for a communication unit connected to the gateway server from among the plurality of communication units when the connection is disconnected by the gateway server during the transmission of the mail. The mail transfer device according to claim 1, wherein an unsent mail is transmitted to the searched communication unit. A mail transfer device that transfers mail to a gateway server,
A first communication unit for connecting to the gateway server via a first communication path and transmitting the mail to the gateway server;
A second communication unit that connects to the gateway server via a second communication path and transmits the mail to the gateway server;
When the first communication unit is disconnected by the gateway server during the transmission of the mail, the second communication unit connected to the gateway server is connected via the second communication path. A mail transfer device that transmits unsent mail to the gateway server.   A mail transmission system comprising the mail server and the mail transfer device according to claim 1. A mail transfer method for transferring mail to a gateway server,
Establishing a plurality of communication paths to the gateway server;
Transmitting the mail via at least one of the plurality of communication paths;
The gateway server disconnecting a communication path for transmitting the mail;
A mail transfer method comprising: transmitting the mail via a communication path established among the plurality of communication paths in response to the communication path being disconnected. A mail transfer method for transferring mail to a gateway server,
Establishing a first communication path to connect to the gateway server;
Establishing a second communication path to connect to the gateway server;
Sending the mail via the first communication path;
A step of transmitting unsent mail to the gateway server via the second communication path when the first communication path is disconnected by the gateway server while the mail is being transmitted; E-mail transfer method provided.

Images