JP2008276657A - Mail transfer device, mail transfer method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow communication with other person using an electronic mail, while keeping anonymity. <P>SOLUTION: This mail transfer device/method is provided with a storage means for storing a temporary mail address allocated temporarily to a real mail address and for indicating the device as an address, while correlated with the real mail address unique to a user, assigns the temporary mail address in a transmission destination mail address, receives the electronic mail with the real mail address assigned in a transmission source mail address, acquires the actual mail address stored in the storage means while associated with the temporary mail address assigned in the transmission destination mail address of the electronic mail, substitutes the transmission destination mail address with the real mail address, acquires the temporary mail address stored in the storage means while associated with the real mail address assigned in the transmission source mail address of the electronic mail, substitutes the transmission source mail address with the temporary mail address, and transmits the electronic mail after substituted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique that enables mail communication with a specific partner using an information processing apparatus such as a mobile phone or a personal computer.

  In recent years, information processing apparatuses having communication functions, such as personal computers and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistance), have become widespread. With the widespread use of such information processing apparatuses, communication using electronic mail is generally performed. Recently, it has become possible to send and receive e-mails over the Internet using mobile phones and PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), which have been widespread in the first place. Have achieved.

  By the way, in order to perform communication using electronic mail, each user needs to acquire his own electronic mail address. There are various methods for obtaining e-mail addresses. For example, a method of obtaining a contract with a predetermined Internet service provider, a method of obtaining a contract with a mobile phone communication company, or a contract with a website operator. There are methods.

  However, in any case, it is necessary to register personal information such as name and address when acquiring an e-mail address. For this reason, electronic mail addresses themselves are beginning to be handled as personal information. Moreover, since changing the e-mail address requires complicated procedures and days, it is not easy to change the e-mail address. On the other hand, temporary and limited communication is also spreading. Under such circumstances, there is a demand for a technique for performing communication without requiring an e-mail address to be known to the other party.

In response to such a demand, for example, a method for providing a site for communication on the web and performing communication via the site has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). In the technique described in Patent Document 1, the user accesses the consultation website and writes the content of the inquiry. Then, the communication mediation server transmits an e-mail indicating that the inquiry has been made to the advisor's personal computer. The advisor uses a personal computer to access an answer website provided by the communication mediation server and writes an answer to the inquiry. Thereafter, the inquiring user accesses the consultation website using a personal computer and reads the answer. For this reason, it is possible to communicate anonymously with a specific person who desires on the network.
JP 2003-167820 A

  However, there is a problem with the technique described above. That is, when a user attempts to communicate, it is necessary to access a predetermined website, which causes a problem that processing required for communication becomes complicated for the user. In other words, since the method using the website described above is not communication using e-mail in the first place, communication using e-mail is not realized while maintaining anonymity.

  On the other hand, for example, when a tool such as a mobile phone is used, communication may be easier by using e-mail than accessing a website. The same applies to the case where a personal computer is used. For this reason, instead of the above-described method for communication on a website, a method for communication using electronic mail is desired.

  In view of such problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus, a program, a method, and the like that enable communication with another person using electronic mail while maintaining anonymity.

<First embodiment>
A first aspect of the present invention is a mail transfer device including the following storage means, reception means, transfer means, and deletion means. The storage means stores a temporary mail address temporarily assigned to the real mail address and indicating the apparatus as a destination in association with the real mail address unique to the user. The user's real e-mail address means that the user is addressed to himself / herself during the contract period due to a contract with a predetermined Internet service provider, a contract with a mobile phone communication company, a contract with a website operator, etc. This is an e-mail address at which an e-mail can be received. On the other hand, the temporary mail address is a mail address uniquely issued in the system using the mail transfer device according to the present invention, and the e-mail transmitted to the temporary mail address is sent to the mail transfer device according to the present invention. Sent against.

  The receiving means receives an e-mail in which a temporary e-mail address is specified as a destination e-mail address and an actual e-mail address is specified as a source e-mail address.

  The transfer means acquires the real mail address stored in the storage means in association with the temporary mail address designated as the e-mail destination mail address, and replaces the destination mail address with this real mail address. Further, the transfer means acquires a temporary mail address stored in the storage means in association with the real mail address specified as the e-mail transmission source mail address, and replaces the transmission source mail address with this temporary mail address. Then, the transfer means transmits the replaced e-mail.

  The deleting unit deletes the temporary mail address from the storage unit according to a predetermined condition. The predetermined condition is, for example, that there is an instruction to delete the temporary mail address from the user to whom the temporary mail address is assigned after a predetermined time has passed since the temporary mail address is issued, after a predetermined number of transfers from the temporary mail address issuance. And so on.

  According to the mail transfer apparatus configured as described above, the e-mail sent to the temporary mail address is transferred by replacing the transmission destination with the real mail address corresponding to the temporary mail address. For this reason, the e-mail sent to the temporary mail address is transferred to the user corresponding to the temporary mail address. Further, at the time of the e-mail sent to the temporary mail address, the sender mail address is the actual mail address of the sender user. However, this sender mail address is transferred and replaced by the temporary mail address of the user who became the sender in the mail transfer device. For this reason, the transmission destination user cannot know the real mail address of the transmission source user. However, nevertheless, if the destination user wants to send an email to the source user, by sending it to the temporary email address that is the source that was received at this time, This time, the reverse process is executed by the mail transfer device, so that the electronic mail reaches the other party.

  For this reason, by using the mail transfer apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to send and receive e-mails to and from the other party without knowing the actual mail address as personal information. That is, it is possible to send an e-mail to the other party without receiving the actual mail address from the other party and to receive a reply e-mail from the other party. In addition, the deletion process by the deletion unit makes it possible to control whether or not communication between electronic mail senders and receivers using a temporary mail address is possible. For this reason, it becomes easy to protect the privacy between the senders and receivers of the electronic mail using the temporary mail address.

<Second embodiment>
A second aspect of the present invention is a mail transfer apparatus including the following storage means, reception means, transfer means, and deletion means. The storage means stores, for each combination of a plurality of users, a temporary mail address that is temporarily assigned to the real mail address and indicates the apparatus as a destination in association with the real mail address unique to each user included in the combination. . The definition of the real mail address and the temporary mail address is as described above.

  The receiving means receives an e-mail in which a temporary e-mail address is specified as a destination e-mail address and an actual e-mail address is specified as a source e-mail address.

  The transfer means acquires the real mail address stored in the storage means in association with the temporary mail address designated as the e-mail destination mail address, and replaces the destination mail address with this real mail address. In addition, the transfer means obtains a temporary mail address stored in the storage means in association with the real mail address specified as the e-mail source mail address in the combination including the temporary mail address specified as the destination mail address. The sender email address is replaced with this temporary email address. Then, the transfer means transmits the replaced e-mail. The deletion unit has the same configuration as that of the first aspect.

  According to the mail transfer device configured as described above, the same effects as those of the first aspect described above can be obtained. Furthermore, in the second aspect, a plurality of temporary mail addresses can be issued to the same user. For this reason, for example, by acquiring a different temporary mail address for each combination of users, it becomes possible to use the temporary mail address individually according to the other party to which the electronic mail is transmitted and received.

<Third embodiment>
A third aspect of the present invention is a mail transfer apparatus including the following storage means, reception means, transfer means, and deletion means. The storage means stores one temporary mail address that is temporarily assigned and indicates this apparatus as a destination in association with a plurality of user-specific real mail addresses.

  The receiving means receives an e-mail in which a temporary e-mail address is specified as a destination e-mail address and an actual e-mail address is specified as a source e-mail address.

  The transfer means acquires the real mail address stored in the storage means in association with the temporary mail address designated as the e-mail destination mail address, and replaces the destination mail address with this real mail address. Further, the transfer means acquires the temporary mail address designated as the transmission destination mail address, and replaces the transmission source mail address with the temporary mail address. Then, the transfer means transmits the replaced e-mail. The deletion unit has the same configuration as that of the first aspect.

  According to the mail transfer device configured as described above, the same effects as those of the first aspect and the second aspect can be obtained. Furthermore, in the third aspect, since only one temporary mail address needs to be issued for each combination of users, the storage area of the storage means can be effectively used and its management is facilitated. For the same reason, it is possible to speed up the processing of the transfer means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to communicate with another person using electronic mail while maintaining anonymity.

〔System configuration〕
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a mail system 100 according to the present invention. The mail system 100 includes a server 10 (corresponding to “mail transfer device” in the present invention) and a plurality of user terminals 20. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that there are four user terminals 20 and are user terminals 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d, respectively. The users of the user terminals 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d are A, B, C, and D, respectively. However, the number of user terminals 20 need not be particularly limited unless there is a limitation on the specifications of the server 10 or the design of the mail system 100.

  Each user has a unique mail address (hereinafter referred to as “real mail address”), and can receive and browse an electronic mail addressed to his / her real mail address using each user terminal 20. Each user terminal 20 is configured to be able to communicate with the server 10 via a network. Hereinafter, the configuration of each device included in the mail system 100 will be described.

<server>
The server 10 includes a storage device, an arithmetic device, and a communication control device (such as a network interface device) connected via a bus, and operates according to the program by processing the program stored in the storage device in the arithmetic device. Specifically, an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a server apparatus can be used. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of functional blocks of the server 10. The server 10 functions as a device including a transmission / reception unit 11, a temporary mail address management unit 12, a transfer processing unit 13, and a mail address storage unit 14. Next, each functional unit included in the server 10 will be described.

<Transmitter / Transmitter>
The transmission / reception unit 11 (including a function as a “reception unit” in the present invention) controls a communication control device connected to the server 10 in order to transmit / receive data to / from the user terminal 20 via the network. . The technology employed for this communication control device is not particularly limited. For example, the communication control device may be configured as a device for connecting to a network by wireless communication, or may be configured as a device for connecting to a network by wired communication. The transmission / reception unit 11 is configured according to a technique employed for connection to a network. Examples of technologies that can be employed include technologies such as Ethernet (registered trademark), dedicated lines, ADSL, FTTH, and wireless LAN.

  A process for receiving an e-mail sent from the user terminal 20 and a process for transmitting an e-mail rewritten by the server 10 to the user terminal 20 are performed via the transmission / reception unit 11.

<Temporary email address manager>
When receiving the temporary mail address notification request from the user terminal 20, the temporary mail address management unit 12 (including the function as the “deleting means” in the present invention) issues a temporary mail address based on the temporary mail address notification request. And registered in the mail address storage unit 14. The temporary mail address is a mail address temporarily issued by the server 10. The e-mail transmitted to the temporary mail address reaches the server 10 before reaching the user terminal 20 of the user corresponding to the temporary mail address. Since there may be a plurality of cases regarding the temporary mail address issuance method and registration method, they will be described later in the explanation of the operation example.

<Transfer processing section>
The transfer processing unit 13 (including a function as “transfer means” in the present invention) changes the content of the received e-mail and performs transfer processing of the e-mail. The transfer processing unit 13 acquires a transmission destination mail address and a transmission source mail address from the header of the received electronic mail. The transmission destination mail address indicates a mail address to which the electronic mail is transmitted, and corresponds to TO data in the header, for example. The transmission source mail address indicates an original mail address from which the electronic mail is transmitted, and indicates, for example, FROM data or REPLY-TO data in the header. The transfer processing unit 13 acquires a temporary mail address and a real mail address from the mail address storage unit 14 based on information such as the transmission source mail address and the transmission destination mail address. The transfer processing unit 13 performs a process of converting a temporary mail address into a real mail address and a process of converting a real mail address into a temporary mail address for the header of the received electronic mail. Then, the transfer processing unit 13 sends the mail for which the above-described conversion processing is completed via the transmission / reception unit 11.

  The specific contents of the conversion process performed by the transfer processing unit 13 may include a plurality of cases, and will be described later in the description of the operation example.

〈〈 Mail address storage unit 〉〉
The mail address storage unit 14 (including the function as “storage means” in the present invention) is configured using a storage device such as a hard disk, a semiconductor storage device, or a magneto-optical disk. The mail address storage unit 14 stores a table in which users and real mail addresses are associated with temporary mail addresses. The specific contents of the table stored in the mail address storage unit 14 may include a plurality of cases, and will be described later in the explanation of the operation example.

<User terminal>
The user terminal 20 includes a storage device, an arithmetic device, and a communication control device (such as a network interface device) connected via a bus, and operates according to the program by processing the program stored in the storage device in the arithmetic device. Specifically, it can be configured using an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance), a mobile phone, or a PHS. The user terminal 20 executes creation, transmission, reception, display, and the like of an electronic mail by being operated by a user.

[First operation example]
<At the time of temporary email address notification>
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example at the time of notification of a temporary mail address in the first operation example of the mail system 100 according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table stored in the mail address storage unit 14 when realizing the first operation example. In the first operation example, one temporary mail address is issued for each user. For example, in FIG. 4, “aa @ net” is issued as a temporary mail address to the user A (the user whose user ID is “A”). The table stored in the mail address storage unit 14 is associated with a user ID, a real mail address, and a temporary mail address. Hereinafter, a first operation example of the mail system 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. In the flowchart of FIG. 3, it is assumed that the user terminal 20a transmits a temporary mail address notification request. Of course, other user terminals 20 may transmit a temporary mail address notification request.

  In addition, before the temporary mail address notification request is transmitted, the real mail address of each user (user A and user B in the following description) is registered in the table of the mail address storage unit 14 in advance. May be. Otherwise, at least the real mail address of the user specified in the temporary mail address issuance request is registered in advance, and the real mail address of the user sending the temporary mail address issuance request is the temporary mail address. It may be configured to be included in the mail address issue request. In this case, the real mail address included in the temporary mail address issue request may be registered as the real mail address of the user A.

  First, the user A inputs to the user terminal 20a that he / she wants to acquire the temporary mail address of the user B (S01). The user terminal 20a creates a temporary mail address notification request including a user ID indicating the user B (here, “B” for convenience). Then, the user terminal 20a transmits this temporary mail address notification request to the server 10 (S02).

  When receiving the temporary mail address notification request (S03), the temporary mail address management unit 12 of the server 10 issues a temporary mail address based on the temporary mail address notification request. Specifically, the temporary email address management unit 12 assigns temporary email addresses to the user B of the user ID included in the temporary email address notification request and the user A who is the transmission source of the temporary email address notification request. Issue. The temporary mail address management unit 12 registers the issued temporary mail address in the table of the mail address storage unit 14 in association with the user ID of each user (S04).

  Then, the temporary email address management unit 12 notifies the user terminal 20 of the issued temporary email address (S05). The notification target at this time may be the user terminal 20a that is the transmission source of the temporary mail address notification request, or may be another user terminal 20b that is not the transmission source (S06 in FIG. For example, both of them may be used. Further, the notification content may be a temporary mail address of both, or only a temporary mail address assigned to another user different from the user receiving the notification. However, only its own temporary mail address is not notified. FIG. 3 illustrates a case where the user B receives notification of only the temporary mail address of the user A.

<When exchanging mail>
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the first operation example of the mail system 100 according to the present invention until an e-mail sent from the transmission source user terminal 20a is received by the transmission destination user terminal 20b. . In the following description, it is assumed that the user A has acquired the temporary mail address of the user B.

  User A uses user B's temporary mail address as the destination mail address and operates user terminal 20a to create and send an email (S21). At this time, the source email address of the e-mail to be sent is the real email address of user A (“AA@co.jp”), and the destination email address is the temporary email address of user B (“bb @ net”). It is. The electronic mail whose destination is the temporary mail address is transmitted to the server 10 via the network.

  When the transfer processing unit 13 of the server 10 receives an e-mail whose destination is a temporary e-mail address from the user terminal 20a (S22), based on the stored contents of the e-mail address storage unit 14, the transmission source e-mail address (user The temporary mail address (the temporary mail address “aa @ net” of user A) associated with the real mail address “AA@co.jp” of A is acquired (S23). Then, the transfer processing unit 13 replaces the transmission source mail address with the temporary mail address of the user A from the real mail address of the user A (S24). At this time, it is desirable that the transfer processing unit 13 replaces all transmission source email addresses included in the email data with temporary email addresses. However, as long as the sender mail address is the header information that cannot be browsed by the user, the replacement may not be performed as long as the object of the present invention is not violated.

  Based on the stored contents of the mail address storage unit 14, the transfer processing unit 13 determines the real mail address (user B's real mail address) associated with the destination mail address (user B's temporary mail address “bb @ net”). “BB@ne.jp”) is acquired (S25). Then, the transfer processing unit 13 replaces the destination mail address with the real mail address of the user B from the temporary mail address of the user B (S26). Then, the transfer processing unit 13 transmits the replaced e-mail (S27).

  The user B operates the user terminal 20b to receive the mail sent from the user terminal 20a through the transfer process of the server 10 (S28).

  Thereafter, when the user B transmits an e-mail to the user A of the user terminal 20a using the user terminal 20b, the user B transmits a temporary e-mail address (“aa @ net” which is a source e-mail address of the received e-mail. Send an e-mail to ")". The operation at that time is merely the reverse of the user terminal 20a and the user terminal 20b in FIG. 5, and the principle of the operation does not change.

<Delete temporary email address>
The temporary mail address management unit 12 may be configured to delete the temporary mail address from the table of the mail address storage unit 14 according to a predetermined condition. The predetermined condition is, for example, that there is an instruction to delete a temporary mail address from a user to whom the temporary mail address is assigned after a predetermined time has passed since the temporary mail address is issued, after a predetermined number of transfers from the temporary mail address issuance And so on.

<Action / Effect>
According to the first operation example of the mail system 100, it is possible to send / receive e-mail to / from the other party without knowing the real mail address as personal information to the other party. That is, it is possible to send an e-mail to the other party without receiving the actual mail address from the other party and to receive a reply e-mail from the other party.

  Further, according to the first operation example of the mail system 100, it is not necessary to change the hardware and software settings in the user terminal 20 when transmitting an anonymous email as described above. That is, as in the conventional process of sending an e-mail, it is possible to send an e-mail without knowing its own real e-mail address simply by sending an e-mail to the other party's temporary e-mail address. . Conventionally, when such a process is performed, its own real mail address is automatically described in an e-mail header (FROM data, REPLY-TO data, etc.), and is sent to the destination user (the other party). My real email address was known. Conventionally, the above-mentioned problem can be solved formally by appropriately modifying the header information (although it is necessary to change the software settings), in this case, the transmission is made from the user (the other party) It has been difficult to reply to the original user (self). However, as described above, according to the first operation example of the mail system 100, such a problem is solved.

[Second operation example]
<At the time of temporary email address notification>
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation example at the time of notification of a temporary mail address among the second operation examples of the mail system 100 according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table stored in the mail address storage unit 14 when realizing the second operation example. In the second operation example, a set of temporary mail addresses corresponding to the number of users is issued for a combination of a plurality of users (hereinafter referred to as “user set”). A table in which the user set, the user, the real mail address of each user, and the temporary mail address assigned to each user are associated with each other is stored in the mail address storage unit 14. For this reason, when one user belongs to a plurality of user sets, a plurality of temporary mail addresses are associated with one user. In this respect, the second operation example is different from the first operation example.

  In the second operation example, first, the user A inputs to the user terminal 20a that he / she wants to communicate with the user B using the temporary mail address (S101). The user terminal 20a creates a temporary mail address notification request including a user ID indicating the user B (here, “B” for convenience). Then, the user terminal 20a transmits this temporary mail address notification request to the server 10 (S102).

  When receiving the temporary mail address notification request (S103), the temporary mail address management unit 12 of the server 10 issues a temporary mail address based on the temporary mail address notification request. Specifically, the temporary e-mail address management unit 12 provides a user for a user set of the user B of the user ID included in the temporary e-mail address notification request and the user A who is the transmission source of the temporary e-mail address notification request. Temporary mail addresses for the number of users included in the set (in this case, two) are issued, and one temporary mail address is assigned to each user. The temporary e-mail address management unit 12 registers the issued temporary e-mail address in the table of the e-mail address storage unit 14 in association with the user set, the assigned user, and the actual e-mail address (S104).

  Then, the temporary mail address management unit 12 notifies the user terminal 20 of the issued temporary mail address (S105). The notification target at this time may be the user terminal 20a that is the transmission source of the temporary mail address notification request, or may be another user terminal 20b included in the user set (S106 in FIG. 7 shows an example of a pattern, and when the user set ID is “2” in FIG.7, the users C and D are targets (both of which are userset IDs “2” in FIG.7). In this case, users A, C, and D are targets). The notification content may be the temporary email addresses of all members included in the user set, or may be only the temporary email addresses assigned to other users different from the user receiving the notification. However, only its own temporary mail address is not notified.

<When exchanging mail>
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation example until the e-mail sent from the transmission source user terminal 20a is received by the transmission destination user terminal 20b in the second operation example of the mail system 100 according to the present invention. . In the following description, it is assumed that the user A has acquired the temporary mail address of the user B.

  User A uses user B's temporary mail address as a destination mail address, operates user terminal 20a to create and send an email (S121). At this time, the transmission source mail address of the e-mail to be sent is the real mail address of user A (“AA@co.jp”), and the transmission destination mail address is the temporary mail address of user B (“bb1 @ net”). It is. Here, the transmission destination mail address indicates an address to which the electronic mail is transmitted, and corresponds to TO data in the header, for example. The transmission source mail address indicates an original address from which the electronic mail is transmitted, and indicates, for example, FROM data or REPLY-TO data in the header. The electronic mail whose destination is the temporary mail address is transmitted to the server 10 via the network.

  When the transfer processing unit 13 of the server 10 receives an e-mail whose destination is a temporary e-mail address from the user terminal 20a (S122), the e-mail address of the transmission destination (user) based on the stored contents of the e-mail address storage unit 14 B's temporary mail address “bb1 @ net”) associated with the same user set and associated with the sender mail address (user A's real mail address “AA@co.jp”) The obtained temporary mail address (“aa1 @ net”) is acquired (S123). Then, the transfer processing unit 13 replaces the transmission source mail address with the temporary mail address of the user A from the real mail address of the user A (S124). At this time, it is desirable that the transfer processing unit 13 replaces all transmission source email addresses included in the email data with temporary email addresses. However, as long as it is a sender mail address as header information that cannot be browsed by the user, it may be configured not to perform replacement as long as it does not contradict the purpose of the present invention.

  Based on the stored contents of the mail address storage unit 14, the transfer processing unit 13 determines the real mail address (user B's real mail address) associated with the destination mail address (user B's temporary mail address “bb1 @ net”). “BB@ne.jp”) is acquired (S125). At this time, the transfer processing unit 13 may be configured to acquire the real mail address of the user B based on not only the transmission destination mail address but also the transmission destination mail address and the transmission source mail address before replacement.

  Then, the transfer processing unit 13 replaces the destination mail address with the real mail address of the user B from the temporary mail address of the user B (S126). Then, the transfer processing unit 13 transmits the replaced e-mail (S127).

  The user B operates the user terminal 20b to receive the mail sent from the user terminal 20a through the transfer process of the server 10 (S128).

  Thereafter, when the user B sends an e-mail to the user A of the user terminal 20a using the user terminal 20b, the user B sends a temporary e-mail address (“aa1 @ net” that is a source e-mail address of the received e-mail. Send an e-mail to ")". The operation at that time is merely the reverse of the user terminal 20a and the user terminal 20b in FIG. 8, and the principle of the operation does not change.

<Delete temporary email address>
The temporary mail address deletion process can be configured in the same manner as in the first operation example.

<Action / Effect>
According to the second operation example of the mail system 100, the same effects as in the first operation example can be obtained. Furthermore, according to the second operation example of the mail system 100, a plurality of temporary mail addresses can be issued to the same user. For this reason, for example, by acquiring a different temporary mail address for each user set, it is possible to use the temporary mail address separately according to the other party to which the electronic mail is transmitted and received.

  For example, in the state shown in FIG. 7, if user A wants to continue sending and receiving emails with user C and user D but does not want to continue sending and receiving emails with user B, By issuing a deletion instruction for only the temporary mail address (“aa1 @ net”), it becomes possible to satisfy the above-mentioned demand.

  For example, when the disappearance of the temporary mail address is executed by elapse of a predetermined time or a predetermined number of transfers, the second operation example of the mail system 100 also has the following effects. In the state shown in FIG. 7, the user A makes a temporary mail address (“” with the user C or the user D, regardless of the disappearance of the temporary mail address (“aa1 @ net”) used with the user B. aa2 @ net ") can continue to be used.

[Third operation example]
<At the time of temporary email address notification>
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation example at the time of notification of a temporary mail address among the third operation examples of the mail system 100 according to the present invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table stored in the mail address storage unit 14 when the third operation example is realized. In the third operation example, one temporary mail address is issued for one user set. A table in which the user set, the user, the real mail address of each user, and one temporary mail address are associated with each other is stored in the mail address storage unit 14. Thus, in the third operation example, one temporary mail address is issued for one user set regardless of the number of users included in the user set. In this respect, the third operation example is different from the second operation example.

  In the third operation example, first, the user A inputs to the user terminal 20a that he / she wants to communicate with the user B using the temporary mail address (S201). The user terminal 20a creates a temporary mail address notification request including a user ID indicating the user B (here, “B” for convenience). Then, the user terminal 20a transmits this temporary mail address notification request to the server 10 (S202).

  When receiving the temporary mail address notification request (S203), the temporary mail address management unit 12 of the server 10 issues a temporary mail address based on the temporary mail address notification request. Specifically, the temporary mail address management unit 12 applies one user set to the user B of the user ID included in the temporary mail address notification request and the user A who is the transmission source of the temporary mail address notification request. Issue one temporary email address. The temporary mail address management unit 12 registers the issued temporary mail address in the table of the mail address storage unit 14 in association with the user set, the user, and the actual mail address (S204).

  Then, the temporary mail address management unit 12 notifies the user terminal 20 of the issued temporary mail address. The notification target at this time may be the user terminal 20a that is the transmission source of the temporary mail address notification request, or may be another user terminal 20b included in the user set (S206 in FIG. Examples of patterns: When the user set ID is “2” in FIG.10, the users C and D are the target), or both of them (the user set ID is “2” in FIG.10). In this case, users A, C, and D are targets). In the case of the third operation example, the notification content is a temporary mail address associated with the user set.

<When exchanging mail>
FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the third operation example of the mail system 100 according to the present invention until the e-mail sent from the transmission source user terminal 20a is received by the transmission destination user terminal 20b. . In the following description, it is assumed that user A has acquired temporary email addresses associated with user sets of user A and user B.

  The user A creates and sends an e-mail by operating the user terminal 20a using the temporary mail addresses associated with the user sets of the user A and the user B as the destination mail address (S221). At this time, the source email address of the e-mail to be sent is the real email address of user A (“AA@co.jp”), and the destination email address is the temporary mail of the user set including users A and B Address (“xx1 @ net”). Here, the transmission destination mail address indicates an address to which the electronic mail is transmitted, and corresponds to TO data in the header, for example. The transmission source mail address indicates an original address from which the electronic mail is transmitted, and indicates, for example, FROM data or REPLY-TO data in the header. The electronic mail whose destination is the temporary mail address is transmitted to the server 10 via the network.

  When the transfer processing unit 13 of the server 10 receives, from the user terminal 20a, an e-mail whose destination is a temporary e-mail address (S222), the e-mail address (“ xx1 @ net ”) and the sender mail address (“ AA@co.jp ”), the real mail address (“ BB@ne.jp ”) of user B is acquired (S223). In other words, the real mail address of the user corresponding to the transmission destination mail address in the user set and different from the user of the transmission source mail address is acquired. When there are a plurality of such real mail addresses (for example, in the case of the user set “2” in FIG. 10), all of them may be acquired.

  Then, the transfer processing unit 13 replaces the transmission destination mail address with the real mail address acquired in the process of S223 (S224). That is, in the flow of FIG. 11, the transfer processing unit 13 replaces the transmission destination mail address with the real mail address of the user B from the temporary mail address of the user B.

  Further, the transfer processing unit 13 replaces the transmission source mail address with the temporary mail address originally set as the transmission destination mail address, that is, the temporary mail address of this user set. In the flowchart of FIG. 11, the transfer processing unit 13 replaces the transmission source email address with the temporary email address (“xx1 @ net”) of this user set from the real email address of the user A (S225). At this time, it is desirable that the transfer processing unit 13 replaces all transmission source email addresses included in the email data with temporary email addresses. However, as long as it is a sender mail address as header information that cannot be browsed by the user, it may be configured not to perform replacement as long as it does not contradict the purpose of the present invention.

  The transfer processing unit 13 transmits the replaced e-mail (S226). Then, the user B operates the user terminal 20b to receive the mail sent from the user terminal 20a through the transfer process of the server 10 (S227).

  Thereafter, when the user B sends an e-mail to the user A of the user terminal 20a using the user terminal 20b, the user B sends a temporary e-mail address (“xx1 @ net” which is a source e-mail address of the received e-mail. Send an e-mail to ")". The operation at that time is merely the reverse of the user terminal 20a and the user terminal 20b in FIG. 11, and the principle of the operation does not change.

<Delete temporary email address>
The temporary mail address deletion process can be configured in the same manner as in the first operation example.

<Action / Effect>
According to the third operation example of the mail system 100, the same effect as the first operation example and the second operation example can be obtained. Furthermore, since only one temporary mail address needs to be issued for each user set, the storage area of the mail address storage unit 14 can be effectively used, and the management of the table becomes easy. For the same reason, the processing of the transfer processing unit 13 is also speeded up.

[Modification]
In the first operation example and the second operation example described above, a temporary mail address is associated with each user and issued. However, the temporary mail address may be issued in association with the actual mail address of each user. In this case, even for the same user, different temporary mail addresses are issued for each real mail address in a user having a plurality of real mail addresses. When configured in this way, the transfer processing unit 13 acquires a temporary mail address based on an actual mail address instead of a user (user ID).

  Further, in the process at the time of notification of the temporary mail address in the first operation example (corresponding to the process of S04 in FIG. 3), the temporary mail address management unit 12 determines each user in advance before receiving the temporary mail address notification request. A temporary mail address may be issued and registered in the table of the mail address storage unit 14. In this case, when a temporary mail address notification request is received, the temporary mail address management unit 12 acquires a temporary mail address associated with the user included in the request from the table of the mail address storage unit 14 and stores the temporary mail address. Notification to the terminal 20 (in the case of FIG. 3, notification to the user terminal 20b (S06)) may be performed.

  Further, in the second operation example, by limiting the number of users included in the user set to two, in the process of S123, the acquisition of the temporary mail address that should be the transmission source mail address is performed as the transmission destination mail address (temporary mail Address) only. That is, by configuring the user set in this way, a user set corresponding to the temporary mail address that is the destination mail address, and a temporary mail of a user different from the user associated with the temporary mail address What is necessary is just to acquire an address.

[Application example]
An application example of the mail system 100 according to the present invention will be described. For example, the mail system 100 can be used when exchanging after a successful bid on an auction site or delivering an object between strangers. Hereinafter, a specific design example will be described. In the following description, the case where the user A delivers a person with the user B who is a stranger is taken as an example. The following is merely an example of the design, and the application example of the present invention is not limited to the design as described below.

  First, the user A uses a browser function of the user terminal 20a to access a website that mediates delivery of objects between strangers. On the website, each user registers items that may be given to others, and the registered items are displayed. User B also registers the object X. The real mail addresses of user A and user B are also registered in the server 10 in advance.

  When the user A selects the item X using the user terminal 20a, the selection is transmitted to the server 10 as the “temporary mail address notification request” described above. Thereafter, the operation at the time of notifying the temporary mail address as shown in FIGS. 3, 6, and 9 is executed to notify the user B of the temporary mail address of the user A.

  When the user B refers to this notification and thinks that the item X may be given to the user A, the user B transmits an e-mail using the notified user A's temporary mail address as a transmission destination. On the other hand, if the user B refers to this notification and does not feel like giving the object X to the user A, the user A ignores this notification so that no mail is directly transmitted from the user A.

  A flow after the user B transmits the electronic mail described above will be described. In this case, processing as shown in FIGS. 5, 8, and 11 is executed (however, the positions of the user A and the user B are opposite to those in the flowchart), and the user A receives an e-mail from the user B. By this reception, the user A can acquire the temporary mail address of the user B and can send the mail to the user B using an electronic mail.

  Thereafter, the user A and the user B communicate with each other by sending and receiving mails, and deliver the object X. After the delivery, the temporary mail address is deleted, so that user A and user B cannot send e-mails to each other. For example, if the product X cannot be used after a predetermined time (or time) due to the nature of the product X, the deletion timing is determined as the time of the deletion (or time). You can also. For example, it corresponds to a ticket with a limited use time (use expiration date, use date). Further, the user A or the user B may arbitrarily transmit a deletion request and delete it.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the mail system by this invention. It is a figure which shows the functional block example of the server by this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example at the time of notification of a temporary mail address among the 1st operation examples of the mail system by this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the table which a mail address memory | storage part memorize | stores in a 1st operation example. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example until the electronic mail sent out from the user terminal of a transmission source is received by the user terminal of a transmission destination among the 1st operation examples of the mail system by this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example at the time of temporary mail address notification among the 2nd operation examples of the mail system by this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the table which a mail address memory | storage part memorize | stores in a 2nd operation example. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example until the email sent from the user terminal of a transmission source is received by the user terminal of a transmission destination among the 2nd operation examples of the mail system by this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example at the time of temporary mail address notification among the 3rd operation examples of the mail system by this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the table which a mail address memory | storage part memorize | stores in a 3rd operation example. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example until the email sent from the user terminal of a transmission source is received by the user terminal of a transmission destination among the 3rd operation examples of the mail system by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Server, 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d ... User terminal, 100 ... Mail system

Claims (11)

Storage means for storing a temporary mail address indicating the apparatus as a destination temporarily assigned to the real mail address in association with the real mail address unique to the user;
Receiving means for receiving an e-mail in which the temporary e-mail address is designated as a destination e-mail address and the real e-mail address is designated as a source e-mail address;
Obtaining the real mail address stored in the storage means in association with the temporary mail address designated as the destination mail address of the e-mail, replacing the destination mail address with the real mail address, Obtain the temporary email address stored in the storage means in association with the real email address specified as the email source email address, replace the source email address with this temporary email address, after the replacement A transfer means for sending e-mails of
Deleting means for deleting the temporary mail address from the storage means according to a predetermined condition;
A mail transfer device comprising: Storage means for storing, for each combination of a plurality of users, a temporary mail address that is temporarily assigned to the real mail address and indicates the present apparatus as a destination in association with the real mail address unique to each user included in the combination;
Receiving means for receiving an e-mail in which the temporary e-mail address is designated as a destination e-mail address and the real e-mail address is designated as a source e-mail address;
Obtaining the real mail address stored in the storage means in association with the temporary mail address designated as the destination mail address of the e-mail, replacing the destination mail address with the real mail address, Obtaining a temporary mail address stored in the storage means in association with the real mail address specified as a source mail address of the e-mail in the combination including the temporary mail address specified as a destination mail address; , A transfer unit that replaces the sender email address with the temporary email address and sends the replaced email;
Deleting means for deleting the temporary mail address from the storage means according to a predetermined condition;
A mail transfer device comprising: The storage means stores, for each combination of two users, a temporary mail address temporarily assigned to the real mail address in association with a real mail address unique to each user included in the combination,
The mail transfer according to claim 2, wherein when the temporary mail address is acquired, the transfer means acquires the other temporary mail address in the combination including the temporary mail address designated as the destination mail address. apparatus. Storage means for storing one temporary mail address indicating the apparatus as a destination temporarily assigned in association with a plurality of user-specific real mail addresses;
Receiving means for receiving an e-mail in which the temporary e-mail address is designated as a destination e-mail address and the real e-mail address is designated as a source e-mail address;
Obtaining the real mail address stored in the storage means in association with the temporary mail address designated as the destination mail address of the e-mail, replacing the destination mail address with the real mail address, Transfer means for acquiring the temporary email address designated as a destination email address, replacing the sender email address with the temporary email address, and sending the replaced email;
Deleting means for deleting the temporary mail address from the storage means according to a predetermined condition;
A mail transfer device comprising: The storage means stores a temporary email address temporarily assigned in association with two real email addresses unique to the user,
The transfer means is an actual email address associated with the temporary email address designated as the destination email address when the actual email address is acquired, and the actual email address designated as the source email address. The mail transfer device according to claim 4, wherein a temporary mail address different from the mail address is acquired. An information processing apparatus comprising storage means for temporarily storing a temporary mail address that is assigned to a real mail address and indicates the apparatus as a destination in association with a user-specific real mail address, And receiving an e-mail in which the real e-mail address is designated as a sender e-mail address;
The information processing apparatus acquires the real mail address stored in the storage unit in association with the temporary mail address designated as the destination mail address of the electronic mail, and sets the destination mail address as the real mail. The temporary mail address stored in the storage means is acquired in association with the real mail address specified as the sender mail address of the e-mail, and the sender mail address is replaced with the temporary mail address. Sending a replacement e-mail,
The information processing apparatus deleting the temporary mail address from the storage unit according to a predetermined condition;
Mail transfer method including. For each combination of a plurality of users, there is provided a storage means for storing a temporary mail address that is temporarily assigned to a real mail address and indicates the apparatus as a destination in association with a real mail address unique to each user included in the combination. An information processing device receiving an e-mail in which the temporary e-mail address is designated as a destination e-mail address and the real e-mail address is designated as a source e-mail address;
The information processing apparatus acquires the real mail address stored in the storage unit in association with the temporary mail address designated as the destination mail address of the electronic mail, and sets the destination mail address as the real mail. In the combination including the temporary mail address specified as the destination mail address, the address is stored in the storage means in association with the real mail address specified as the source mail address of the electronic mail. Obtaining a temporary email address, replacing the sender email address with the temporary email address, and sending the replaced email;
The information processing apparatus deleting the temporary mail address from the storage unit according to a predetermined condition;
Mail transfer method including. An information processing apparatus comprising storage means for storing one temporary mail address that is temporarily assigned and indicates this apparatus as a destination in association with a plurality of user-specific real mail addresses, wherein the temporary mail address is the destination mail address. Receiving an e-mail designated and having the real e-mail address designated as a source e-mail address;
The information processing apparatus acquires the real mail address stored in the storage unit in association with the temporary mail address designated as the destination mail address of the electronic mail, and sets the destination mail address as the real mail. Replacing the address, obtaining the temporary email address designated as the destination email address, replacing the source email address with the temporary email address, and sending the replaced email;
The information processing apparatus deleting the temporary mail address from the storage unit according to a predetermined condition;
Mail transfer method including. In correspondence with the user-specific real mail address, for the information processing apparatus provided with storage means for temporarily storing the temporary mail address indicating the present apparatus as a destination assigned to the real mail address,
Receiving the e-mail in which the temporary e-mail address is designated as a destination e-mail address and the real e-mail address is designated as a source e-mail address;
Obtaining the real mail address stored in the storage means in association with the temporary mail address designated as the destination mail address of the e-mail, replacing the destination mail address with the real mail address, Obtain the temporary email address stored in the storage means in association with the real email address specified as the email source email address, replace the source email address with this temporary email address, after the replacement Sending an email of
Deleting the temporary email address from the storage means according to a predetermined condition;
A program for running For each combination of a plurality of users, there is provided a storage means for storing a temporary mail address that is temporarily assigned to a real mail address and indicates the apparatus as a destination in association with a real mail address unique to each user included in the combination. For information processing equipment
Receiving the e-mail in which the temporary e-mail address is designated as a destination e-mail address and the real e-mail address is designated as a source e-mail address;
Obtaining the real mail address stored in the storage means in association with the temporary mail address designated as the destination mail address of the e-mail, replacing the destination mail address with the real mail address, Obtaining a temporary mail address stored in the storage means in association with the real mail address specified as a source mail address of the e-mail in the combination including the temporary mail address specified as a destination mail address; , Replacing the sender email address with this temporary email address, and sending the replaced email;
Deleting the temporary email address from the storage means according to a predetermined condition;
A program for running In correspondence with a plurality of user-specific real mail addresses, an information processing apparatus comprising a storage means for storing one temporary mail address temporarily assigned and indicating the present apparatus as a destination,
Receiving the e-mail in which the temporary e-mail address is designated as a destination e-mail address and the real e-mail address is designated as a source e-mail address;
Obtaining the real mail address stored in the storage means in association with the temporary mail address designated as the destination mail address of the e-mail, replacing the destination mail address with the real mail address, Obtaining the temporary email address designated as the destination email address, replacing the source email address with the temporary email address, and sending the replaced email;
Deleting the temporary email address from the storage means according to a predetermined condition;
A program for running