JP2009086916A - Mail mediation system and mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mail mediation system capable of establishing communication by using mail even if original mail addresses are kept secret from one another. <P>SOLUTION: The mail mediation system is provided with: a temporarily address creation part 2002 for creating a temporary address in response to a request from a first user, and for registering the first user as the distribution destination of the temporary address; and a mail transferring part 2005 for registering a second user as a distribution destination when the second user outputs mail to the temporary address, and for replacing the sender address of mail with the temporary address, and for transferring mail to the registered person. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a mail mediation system and a mail system that deliver electronic mail (sometimes simply referred to as “mail”), and in particular, a technology that allows messages to be exchanged between any number of people while keeping their addresses secret. About.

  With the spread of the Internet, e-mail has become widely used. Users benefit greatly from the immediacy and broadcast nature of email (being able to send to multiple parties at the same time) and low usage costs. On the other hand, however, a large number of spam emails whose usefulness to recipients is questionable reaches a once e-mail address.

  Although techniques such as filtering have been developed to reduce the damage caused by junk e-mail, it has not yet become a fundamental solution. In order to prevent junk mails from being sent, it is important to avoid as much as possible the original mail address that is intended to be used for a long time.

  Background art for this purpose will be described.

  As is well known, there are not a few businesses that issue email addresses for free, and they are widely used. Such free addresses are often used as “disposable” addresses. The user uses a disposable address when he / she does not want to tell his original address. Even if the disposable address becomes widely known and a large amount of junk mail arrives, there is no problem if the address is deleted.

  A system called an anonymous remailer is also generally known in the technical field. The anonymous remailer provides a means for sending a mail in a state in which its own address is concealed with respect to a known mail address. The sender sends a mail containing the address of the other party to whom the mail is to be sent to the address provided by the anonymous remailer. The anonymous remailer system rewrites the sender's address to another address, conceals the original sender's address, and sends the mail to the address included in the mail text.

  In addition, the mailing list is widely used as a means for simultaneously sending mail to a large number of people. In the mailing list, e-mail addresses of users who participate in e-mail communication are registered. The mail delivered by the mailing list usually seems to have arrived from the address of the caller, but there is also a system having a function of replacing the address of the caller with the address of the mailing list. In such a system, communication can be performed with the sender's mail address concealed. The mailing list administrator makes this setting.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-306455 (Patent Document 1) discloses a technique for transmitting and receiving a message between two parties registered in the same service without disclosing their original mail addresses. According to this technique, an operator of a service registered by both parties who send and receive messages generates and gives temporary temporary mail addresses to each.

  Both send mails to their temporary mail addresses. Mail sent to a temporary email address is rewritten by the service operator (replaces the temporary address of the recipient with the original address) and conceals the sender (replaces the original address of the sender with the temporary address). Is transferred to the destination.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228620 discloses that an expiration date of a temporary address is set in order to make the temporary address disappear, or that the number of times that mail can be transmitted to the temporary address is set.

“Instant Group Communication with QuickML”, GROUP'03, November 9-12, 2003, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA. QuickML described in (Non-Patent Document 1) is a service that makes it easy to use a mailing list. QuickML does not provide a means for concealing the user's mail address, but provides a method for automatically deleting the mailing list. The mailing list generated by QuickML automatically disappears when posting to the mailing list is interrupted for a predetermined period.
JP 2001-306455 A “Instant Group Communication with QuickML”, GROUP'03, November 9-12, 2003, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA.

  Conventionally, in a situation where a lot of information exists as an electronic file, it is often most convenient to use electronic mail for exchanging necessary information. If you are used to the convenience of e-mail, you often find it cumbersome with other means of communication. For example, it is expected that there will be more and more in the future, such as situations where you want to exchange electronic files with people you meet at a meeting, and situations where you want to exchange information via email on the Internet with people you know via SNS (Social Networking Service).

  However, e-mail addresses are personal information, like telephone numbers and addresses. Also, the act of listening to another person's e-mail address is exactly the act of listening to personal information, and it cannot be handled easily and cheaply for both the person being heard and the person who is listening. There are many cases where there is resistance to telling and listening to the e-mail address of a mobile phone, even if it is a person who is acquainted, not just the first person to meet.

  Therefore, it is necessary to make it possible to use a system that can conceal the email addresses of both the sender and receiver of the email and can send and receive messages to each other with a simple procedure. In a message transmission / reception system capable of concealing, it is also necessary to quickly terminate the relationship, that is, to eliminate the generated temporary address.

  However, in the case of using the conventional “disposable address”, in order to keep the email address of both the sender and the recipient of the email confidential, the sender and the recipient must acquire the disposable address individually. It is hard to say that it can be used with a simple procedure.

  Disposable addresses are also used for disposable purposes because they are free of charge, but are not originally intended for disposable services. For this reason, even e-mail addresses that are no longer needed do not disappear automatically. The user not only needs time and effort to generate a disposable address, but also has to take time to eliminate it.

  In addition, in the use of the conventional “anonymous remailer”, the sender's mail address can be concealed, but the mail cannot be sent without knowing the receiver's address. Therefore, in order to achieve the object of the present invention, that is, to exchange messages in a state where both mail addresses are concealed, the anonymous remailer cannot be used.

  Further, in the use of the anonymous function of the conventional “mailing list”, the “administrator” of the mailing list can refer to the list of user mail addresses registered in the mailing list.

  Therefore, if the administrator is also a party that exchanges messages, it cannot be said that the e-mail address can be kept secret. Generally, the user who created the mailing list plays the role of the administrator. Therefore, using a mailing list for the purpose of exchanging messages while keeping the e-mail address secret cannot be a practical means. Furthermore, the concept of setting an expiration date is not common in a mailing list, and it is difficult to use the mailing list for exchanging messages temporarily.

  Further, in the system disclosed in Patent Document 1, messages can be transmitted and received between users of the same service while keeping the original mail address secret. However, users who send and receive messages need to be members of the same service in advance.

  In other words, the user must be registered for the same service and the e-mail address must be registered in advance. This is a condition that is unlikely to occur in reality, and it is difficult for users who met on the spot to communicate with each other while keeping their e-mail addresses secret.

  Further, the system disclosed in Patent Document 1 discloses means for automatically erasing temporary temporary addresses, but this is realized by simply setting an expiration date or limiting the number of times of mail transfer. . For this reason, after a certain period of time or after a certain number of uses, the temporary address automatically disappears regardless of whether or not communication via the temporary address is continued.

  Even after the time limit or the number of times limit has been reached, it is necessary to generate a new temporary address in order to continue communication while keeping each other's mail address secret. In other words, this method saves the trouble of deleting the temporary address, but conversely, it can be said that the trouble of keeping the temporary address is generated.

  In addition, QuickML described in Non-Patent Document 1 does not provide a function for concealing a mail address, but provides means for automatically deleting a generated mailing list. If there is no posting on the mailing list for a certain period, the mailing list will automatically disappear. To stop the disappearance of a mailing list, one of the mailing list members can post to the mailing list. However, in this method, since the automatic annihilation can be stopped by the will of one of the mailing list participants, the mailing list may continue to exist even if other users want to annihilate.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a mail mediation system and a mail system in which a sender and a receiver can send and receive messages while keeping their mail addresses secret. Moreover, the system must be usable by many users in a simple procedure. The simple procedure is that it can be used only by the mail system and does not require special registration processing or settings.

  The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

  Of the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  That is, the outline of a typical one is that when a temporary address generation request mail is received from a first user, a temporary address is generated, and the first user is registered in the distribution management database as a temporary address distribution destination. When a temporary address generation unit for notifying the first user of the temporary address and a mail addressed to the first temporary address from the second user are received, the second user is distributed and managed as a temporary address distribution destination. After registering in the database and replacing the sender address of the received mail with a temporary address, the mail is forwarded to a user other than the second user registered in the delivery management database, and from the first user When a mail addressed to the temporary address is received, the sender address of the received mail is replaced with a temporary address, and the mail is registered in the distribution management database. Forwarded to a user other than the first user, and when the second user receives a mail addressed to the temporary address after the second time, after replacing the sender address of the received mail with the temporary address, A mail transfer unit that transfers mail to a user other than the second user registered in the distribution management database is provided.

  Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, effects obtained by typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  In other words, the effect obtained by a typical one is that a user can acquire a temporary address simply by sending mail to the system. Also, messages can be exchanged with other companies in a state where the mail address is kept secret without any special setting. Just tell the person who sends and receives the message the temporary address that was generated, just as you would with your email address. The other party can exchange messages while keeping their e-mail addresses secret by simply writing e-mails to the informed e-mail address.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that components having the same function are denoted by the same reference symbols throughout the drawings for describing the embodiment, and the repetitive description thereof will be omitted.

  The mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention is a system that allows persons who meet in the real world or SNS to send and receive mail while keeping their original mail addresses secret.

<Overall configuration>
With reference to FIG. 1, the overall configuration of a mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the overall configuration of a mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the first user is the user X, and the user X's mobile phone 1010 uses userX @ domain1. The mail address jp is used. The mobile phone 1010 of the user X is connected to the Internet 1001 via the communication carrier 1011 of the user X.

  On the other hand, the second user is the user Y, and the user Y's mobile phone 1020 uses the userY @ domain2. The mail address jp is used. User Y's mobile phone is connected to the Internet 1001 via user Y's communication carrier 1021.

  In this case, it is assumed that the user X and the user Y are present at the meeting in the real world and face to face. Both of them think that it would be convenient to use the email function of the mobile phone to contact them temporarily because they act together, but it is also possible to tell the other party the address of their mobile phone. I don't think it would be preferable to ask.

  Under such circumstances, mail is transmitted and received using a mail mediation system installed in the mail mediation center 1002 connected to the Internet 1001.

  The mail mediation center 1002 receives tmpad. domain0. It is assumed that it is operated with a domain name of jp. In the following description, it is assumed that the user X knows the existence of the mail mediation center 1002, generates a temporary address, and transmits it to the user Y.

<Configuration and schematic operation of mail brokering system>
Next, the configuration and schematic operation of the mail mediation system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the mail mediation system according to the embodiment of the present invention, and mail mediation processing is performed in the mail mediation center. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mail reception / distribution unit of the mail mediation system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 2, a mail mediation system 2000 includes a mail reception / distribution unit 2001, a temporary address generation unit 2002, a distribution management database (hereinafter referred to as distribution management DB) 2003, a mail transmission unit 2004, a mail transfer unit 2005, and a temporary address deletion. Part 2006.

  The mail sent to the mail mediation system 2000 is received by the mail reception / distribution unit 2001 and transferred to the temporary address generation unit 2002 or the mail transfer unit 2005 depending on the destination of the mail.

  The operation at this time is shown in the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, when a mail is received, the operation is started in step 6001, and the destination of the mail is checked in step 6002, and the address for newly generating a temporary address (in this embodiment, new@tmpad.domain0. If it is jp), it is transferred to the temporary address generation unit 2002 (step 6003), otherwise it is transferred to the mail transfer unit 2005 (step 6004).

  The temporary address generation unit 2002 receives a temporary address generation request from the first user, generates a temporary address, and generates a distribution management record corresponding to the generated temporary address in the distribution management DB 2003. The temporary address generation unit 2002 registers the first user as a mail delivery destination in the delivery management record. When the temporary address generation unit 2002 completes the generation of the temporary address, the temporary address generation unit 2002 notifies the first user of the temporary address.

  The first user informs the second user of the temporary address notified from the temporary address generation unit 2002. The means for the first user to convey the temporary address to the second user may be anything as long as it does not use the e-mail address to be kept secret. For example, the temporary address may be written on a paper memo and transferred, or may be transmitted by telephone, may be transmitted after being converted into graphic information such as a QR code, or may be transmitted by an SNS message.

  The second user transmits an e-mail having a content desired to be sent to the first user, to the temporary address transmitted from the first user.

  The mail sent from the second user to the temporary address is processed by the mail transfer unit 2005. The mail transfer unit 2005 acquires a distribution management record corresponding to the temporary address from the distribution management DB 2003, and registers the second user as a distribution destination.

  Further, the mail transfer unit 2005 conceals the address of the sender of the sent mail (that is, the address of the second user) by overwriting it with the temporary address, and the destination of the mail (that is, the temporary address) The mail is transferred to the first user by overwriting with the address of the first user.

  The first user can read the received mail and write a reply. The reply mail has a temporary address as the transmission destination and the first user as the sender.

  The reply mail by the first user is also processed by the mail transfer unit 2005. The mail transfer unit 2005 acquires a distribution management record corresponding to the temporary address from the distribution management DB 2003 and knows that the transfer destination is the second user.

  The mail transfer unit 2005 overwrites the sender address of the reply mail (that is, the first user's address) with the temporary address, and overwrites the reply mail destination (that is, the temporary address) with the second user's address. And forward the mail.

  According to the above operation, the second user can send mail to the first user without knowing the mail address of the first user. On the other hand, the first user can also send an e-mail to the second user without knowing the e-mail address of the second user.

<Temporary address generation process and first user registration process>
Next, a temporary address generation process and a first user registration process by the mail mediation system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of the contents of mail used in the mail mediation system according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a delivery record of the mail mediation system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The mail shown in FIG. 4A is an example of mail sent to the mail mediation center 1002 by the user X in order to create a new temporary address. This mail address is new @ tmpad. domain0. Therefore, the mail reception / distribution unit 2001 passes this mail to the temporary address generation unit 2002 according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  As the operation of the temporary address generation unit 2002, as shown in FIG. 5, the temporary address generation unit 2002 starts the operation in step 7001 when a mail is passed.

  Next, in step 7002, the contents of the distribution management DB 2003 in the mail mediation system 2000 are examined, and a new temporary address not registered there is generated. If a new temporary address is generated, in step 7003, a distribution management record corresponding to the temporary address is generated.

  The distribution management record is information as shown in FIG. The upper limit of the number of people, the limit of disappearance, keywords, and registered members are recorded for the temporary address. Here, the upper limit of the number of people is the upper limit of the number of people who can be registered in the temporary address (the temporary address can be used), and is 2 in this embodiment unless otherwise specified.

  That is, only the user who generated the temporary address and another user who is the communication partner can use the temporary address.

  The disappearance limit is a number indicating the number of days until the temporary address is deleted. In this embodiment, it is 3 unless otherwise specified. That is, the temporary address is deleted after 3 days from a certain starting point. The starting point will be described later with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The keyword is a field indicating a secret word necessary for using the temporary address. In the present embodiment, no keyword is set unless otherwise specified.

  If a keyword is set, the keyword must be included in the subject of the mail ("Subject:" field) that is sent to the temporary address by a user other than the user who generated the temporary address.

  A registered member can register a plurality of members who can use the temporary address. For each member, the e-mail address and the date (last e-mail date) when the e-mail was last sent to the temporary address are recorded.

  The first user registered as a registered member is the user who created the temporary address. In this case, it is user X. FIG. 6A shows the state of the distribution management record immediately after the user X generates a temporary address, and only the user X is recorded as a registered member. In this example, the last mail date of the user X, that is, the date when the temporary address is generated is 7/30 (July 30).

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 5, the description of the operation of the temporary address generation unit 2002 will be continued. In step 7004, the mail address of the requesting user is registered in the distribution management record. This has already been described with reference to FIG.

  Next, in step 7005, the last mail date of the requesting user is set. This is also as described in the description of FIG.

  Next, the temporary address generation unit 2002 creates a temporary address notification mail in Step 7006. The temporary address notification mail has the contents as shown in FIG. This is a content for notifying a user who has requested generation of a temporary address, in this case, user X, of a new temporary address.

  Subsequently, the temporary address generation unit 2002 transmits a temporary address notification mail in step 7007. At this time, the mail transmission unit 2004 of the mail mediation system 2000 is used.

  Above, description of operation | movement of the temporary address generation part 2002 is complete | finished.

  User X generates a temporary address and receives the address. User X communicates the temporary address to user Y.

  Any means can be used as long as it does not use the e-mail address to be kept secret. For example, the temporary address may be written on a paper memo and given to the user Y, or may be communicated verbally or over the phone, or may be communicated using an SNS message function. If both the user X and the user Y have a publicly available mail address (for example, an address used for work in the organization to which the user belongs), it is possible to transmit the mail address using that.

  However, the e-mail addresses that should be kept secret, in this case, the e-mail addresses on the mobile phones of the user X and the user Y must not be used.

<Second user registration process and mail transfer process>
Next, a second user registration process and a mail transfer process by the mail mediation system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mail transfer unit of the mail mediation system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  User Y was given a temporary address from user X, and can now send an e-mail from his mobile phone to the temporary address.

  User Y knows that the mail sent to the temporary address is forwarded to user X. For example, it is assumed that the user Y has written an email as shown in FIG. The destination of this mail (“To:” field) is a temporary address, and the sender (“From:” field) is the mail address of user Y. This mail reaches the mail mediation system 2000 in FIG. 2, and is delivered to the mail transfer unit 2005 by the mail reception / distribution unit 2001 according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  As the operation of the mail transfer unit 2005, as shown in FIG. 7, the mail transfer unit 2005 starts the operation in step 8001 when a mail to be processed is passed. Next, in Step 8002, it is checked whether or not a distribution management record corresponding to the mail transmission destination exists in the distribution management DB 2003. If there is no distribution management record, the process proceeds to step 8003, a mail indicating that the destination is unknown is transmitted, the process proceeds to step 8999, and the process is terminated.

  An e-mail indicating that the address is unknown has a text such as “address does not exist”. If it is determined in step 8002 that there is a distribution management record corresponding to the transmission destination, the process proceeds to step 8004 to acquire the distribution management record.

  In step 8005, it is checked whether the sender of the received mail is already registered as a registered member. If it is already a registered member, the process proceeds to step 8011 to replace the address. Address replacement is a process of overwriting the destination (“To:” field) with the mail address of another registered member and overwriting the sender (“From:” field) with a temporary address. By this processing, the sender's mail address is concealed.

  In addition, the sender can deliver mail even when the sender does not know the original mail address of the destination. When the address replacement is completed, the process proceeds to step 8012 to update the last mail date for the sender to the current date. Further, the process proceeds to step 8013 to send an e-mail whose address has been replaced. At this time, the mail transmission unit 2004 of the mail mediation system 2000 is used.

  When the user Y first sends an e-mail to the temporary address, the distribution management record is in the state shown in FIG. 6A, so the user Y is not a registered member. Therefore, in the determination process in step 8005, the process proceeds to NO, and the process proceeds to step 8006.

  In step 8006, the upper limit of the number of distribution management records and the number of registered members are referred to and it is checked whether there is still room for new members to be registered. If the number of registered members has already reached the upper limit, the process proceeds to step 8007, an unregistered error mail is transmitted, and the process ends.

  An unregistered e-mail has a text such as “This address cannot be sent by anyone other than registered members”. If it is determined in step 8006 that registration is still possible, the process proceeds to step 8008 where the keyword is examined. If the keyword is not empty and the subject of the mail (“Subject:” field) does not match the keyword, the process proceeds to step 8009 to transmit a keyword error mail and the process is terminated.

  The keyword error mail has a text such as “To be a registered member of this address, please include a predetermined keyword in the subject”. If it is determined in step 8008 that the keyword is empty (not set) or matches, the process proceeds to step 8010. In step 8010, the caller is registered in the distribution management record.

  FIG. 6B shows a distribution management record in a state where the user Y is registered and the last mail date of the user Y is set. In this example, the date when the user X generates a temporary address and the date when the user Y issues a mail to the temporary address are the same on July 30th. In this state, the number of users who can register at this temporary address has reached the upper limit, so other users cannot become registered members. Non-registered members are not forwarded even if mail is sent to this address, so user X and user Y do not have to worry about receiving spam mail from a third party.

  The mail after the address replacement sent in step 8013 is as shown in FIG. 4 (c), the transmission destination (“To:” field) and the caller (“From:” field) are replaced from the mail transmitted by the user Y. The transmission destination is the user X. Since it is an address, this mail is delivered to the user X.

  It is assumed that the user X simply returns it to the mail shown in FIG. 4D on the next day (July 31). If it returns simply, as shown in FIG.4 (e), a transmission destination will be the originator (namely, temporary address) of the mail of FIG.4 (d), and a originator will be self (namely, user X).

  E-mail subject and text should be edited appropriately before sending. The transmitted mail, that is, the mail in FIG. 4E is delivered to the mail mediation system 2000 and is delivered to the mail transfer section 2005 by the mail reception / distribution section 2001.

  Since the sender of the mail, that is, user X is already a registered member, the process proceeds to step 8011 where the address is replaced, and the last mail date of user X is updated to July 31 in step 8012. The mail whose address is replaced in step 8011 is as shown in FIG. That is, the destination is the address of user Y, and the sender is overwritten with the temporary address.

  Also, the distribution management record after the last mail date is updated in step 8012 is as shown in FIG. In FIG. 6C, the last mail date of the user X is updated on July 31.

<Overview of overall sequence>
Next, the entire sequence of the mail transmission / reception method by the mail mediation system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an overall sequence of the mail transmission / reception method by the mail mediation system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, in sequence 3001, the user X sends a mail requesting generation of a temporary address to the mail mediation system 2000.

  The contents of this mail are as shown in FIG. In sequence 3002, the mail reception / distribution unit 2001 of the mail mediation system 2000 receives the mail, and passes the mail to the temporary address generation unit 2002 according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The temporary address generation unit 2002 generates a temporary address with reference to the distribution management DB 2003 according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, generates a distribution management record corresponding to the temporary address, and registers the user X.

  The contents of the distribution management record at this time are as shown in FIG. The temporary address generation unit 2002 creates a mail notifying the temporary address and transmits the mail via the mail transmission unit 2004.

  In sequence 3003, the mail is delivered to user X. The contents of the delivered mail are as shown in FIG.

  As described above, the user X transmits the temporary address to the user Y by a method that does not use the e-mail address to be kept secret. This is a sequence 3004.

  User Y creates a mail to be sent to the temporary address, and sends the mail to mail mediation system 2000 in sequence 3005. The content of this mail is, for example, as shown in FIG. The destination is a temporary address, and the sender is user Y.

  In sequence 3006, the mail reception / distribution unit 2001 of the mail mediation system 2000 passes the mail to the mail transfer unit 2005 according to the flowchart shown in FIG. The mail transfer unit 2005 registers the user Y in the distribution management record, replaces the mail address, and transfers the mail according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  At this time, the contents of the distribution management record are as shown in FIG. The mail after the address replacement has the contents shown in FIG. The transmission destination is replaced with the user X from the temporary address, and the sender is replaced with the temporary address from the user Y.

  By this address replacement, the mail address of the user Y is kept secret. The transferred mail is delivered to user X in sequence 3007.

  User X simply writes a reply to the received mail. The contents of the mail are as shown in FIG. The destination is a temporary address, and the sender is user X. In sequence 3008, user X transmits the mail. The mail reaches the mail mediation system 2000.

  In sequence 3009, the mail is delivered to the mail transfer unit 2005 by the mail reception / distribution unit 2001. The mail transfer unit 2005 replaces the transmission destination with the user Y and the sender with the temporary address by address replacement, and transfers the mail to the user Y in a sequence 3010.

  According to the above, the user X and the user Y can send mails to each other regardless of the state in which their mail addresses are kept secret. At this time, the user X and the user Y do not need to use a program other than a normal mail transmission / reception program.

<Temporary address automatic erasure process>
Next, referring to FIG. 9, a description will be given of a temporary address automatic disappearance process by the mail mediation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the temporary address deletion unit of the mail mediation system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As an operation of the temporary address deletion unit 2006, as shown in FIG. 9, the temporary address deletion unit 2006 is activated once a day at a predetermined time, for example, midnight, and starts processing in step 9001.

  In step 9002, it is checked whether or not there is an unprocessed distribution management record in the distribution management DB 2003. If there is no unprocessed distribution management record, the process proceeds to step 9999 and the process is terminated.

  If there is an unprocessed distribution management record, the process proceeds to step 9003 to acquire the distribution management record. Next, the process proceeds to step 9004, where the oldest mail date is acquired.

  For example, if the delivery management record is in the state of FIG. 6C, the oldest last mail date is 7/30 of the user Y. Next, the process proceeds to step 9005 to calculate the number of days before that date.

  Next, proceeding to step 9006, it is determined whether the oldest last mail date is older than the number of days of extinction limit. Otherwise, nothing is done and the process returns to the determination process of step 9002. If the oldest last mail date is older than the extinction limit, the process proceeds to step 9007 to delete the distribution management record from the distribution management DB 2003.

  That is, the temporary address is deleted. Then, the process returns to the determination process of step 9002. As described above, when there is no unprocessed distribution management record in the distribution management DB 2003, the processing is ended.

  Here, in step 9004, there is a reason why the starting point of disappearance is the oldest last mail date. In other words, any registered member can cancel the temporary address by not sending mail for a certain period of time. On the other hand, if all registered members frequently send e-mail, the temporary address will not disappear.

<Temporary address attribute setting>
Next, operations other than the standard state by the mail mediation system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of mail used in a state other than the standard state by the mail mediation system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the delivery record in.

  In the above description, the upper limit of the number of persons, the deletion limit, and the keyword of the distribution management record are not specified, and all cases are used in a standard state. That is, the maximum number of people is 2, the deletion limit is 3, and there are no keywords.

  FIG. 10 shows a method for designating the upper limit of the number of persons, the limit of deletion, and the keyword using the subject of the mail transmitted when generating the temporary address.

  The first number written in the subject is interpreted as the upper limit of the number of people, the second number written is the deletion limit, and the third written number is interpreted as the keyword.

  The mail in FIG. 10A specifies that the upper limit of the number of people is 3, the deletion limit is 10 days, and the keyword is “travel matter (8/15)”.

  These specifications are reflected when the temporary address generation unit 2002 of the mail mediation system 2000 generates a distribution management record in step 7003 of FIG. The contents of the temporary address notification mail created in Step 7006 and transmitted in Step 7007 will be as shown in FIG. 10B, for example. Further, the distribution management record generated in this example has contents as shown in FIG.

<Cooperation with SNS and bulletin board>
In the present embodiment, a method of sending mail to a specific address of the mail mediation system 2000 has been disclosed as a method for the first user to generate a temporary address. However, if the first user has registered a mail address in the mail mediation system 2000 in advance, a method other than sending a mail to a specific address can be implemented. For example, if the first user is an SNS member and the SNS operates a mail mediation system, the first user simply presses the “Generate temporary address” button on the screen provided by the SNS. A temporary address could be generated.

<Application to general ID>
In the present embodiment, personal information to be kept secret has been described as a mail address. However, the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to the keeping of a mail address. For example, it can be applied to a telephone number.

  That is, the telephone mediation system can be configured based on the same concept as the mail mediation system 2000 of the present embodiment. In this case, the telephone number is concealed instead of the e-mail address, a temporary telephone number is generated instead of the temporary address, and instead of sending e-mail to the temporary address, a call is made to the temporary telephone number. As described above, the present embodiment can be implemented as a means for enabling communication while keeping ID information such as an e-mail address and a telephone number secret from each other.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, communication by mail is possible even when the mail addresses of both parties in the real world or SNS are concealed. Moreover, it is not necessary for both parties that start communication to register for the same service in advance. Therefore, even for those who have met for the first time, communication means using personal information that should be kept secret, such as the e-mail address of the mobile phone, can be used temporarily with peace of mind.

  As mentioned above, the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

  The present invention relates to a mail transmission / reception method and a mail mediation system for distributing electronic mail, and is not limited to personal use, but a system for a purpose such as securing a means of contact with a partner without a company obtaining personal information of the partner. Also available. Or it is applicable also when some service provider makes members communicate anonymously.

It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the whole structure of the mail system to which the mail transmission / reception method which concerns on one embodiment of this invention is applied. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the mail mediation system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the mail reception and distribution part of the mail mediation system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the content of the mail used with the mail mediation system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the temporary address production | generation part of the mail mediation system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the delivery record of the mail mediation system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the mail transfer part of the mail mediation system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the whole sequence of the mail transmission / reception method by the mail mediation system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the temporary address deletion part of the mail mediation system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the mail used except the standard state by the mail mediation system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the delivery record except the standard state by the mail mediation system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1001 ... Internet, 1002 ... Mail mediation center, 1010 ... Mobile phone, 1011 ... Communication carrier, 1020 ... Mobile phone, 1021 ... Communication carrier, 2000 ... Mail mediation system, 2001 ... Email reception / distribution part, 2002 ... Temporary address generation , 2003 ... Distribution management DB, 2004 ... Mail sending section, 2005 ... Mail transfer section, 2006 ... Temporary address deletion section.

Claims (5)

An email mediation system connected to the Internet and mediating emails from users via the Internet,
When a temporary address generation request mail is received from the first user, a temporary address is generated, the first user is registered in the distribution management database as a distribution destination of the temporary address, and the first user is registered. A temporary address generation unit for notifying the temporary address to,
When the first mail addressed to the temporary address from the second user is received, the second user is registered in the distribution management database as a distribution destination of the temporary address, and the sender address of the received mail Is replaced with the temporary address, the mail is transferred to a user other than the second user registered in the distribution management database, and the mail addressed to the temporary address is received from the first user. After the sender address of the received mail is replaced with the temporary address, the mail is transferred to a user other than the first user registered in the distribution management database, and from the second user, When the e-mail addressed to the temporary address is received for the second time and thereafter, the sender address of the received e-mail is replaced with the temporary address, and the e-mail is changed to the previous e-mail address. Mail mediating system comprising the mail transfer section for transferring to the user other than the second user registered in the delivery management database. In the mail mediation system according to claim 1,
The temporary address generation unit registers the first user as the temporary address distribution destination in the distribution management database based on the temporary address generation request mail from the first user. Set information that limits the number of people allowed, or set 2 as an initial value if there is no information about the number of people that can be registered in the temporary address generation request email from the first user. A featured mail brokerage system. In the mail mediation system according to claim 1,
A period until the temporary address is deleted is set as an initial value in advance, or is set based on the temporary address generation request mail from the first user, and the set temporary address is deleted. A temporary address deletion unit for deleting the temporary address based on a period until
The temporary address deletion unit sets a base point for calculating a period until the temporary address is deleted, the time when the first user last sent the mail to the temporary address, and the second user The mail intermediary system characterized in that the oldest time among the times when the mail is finally sent to the temporary address is used. A mail intermediary center that mediates mail from a user via the Internet and a user terminal is connected to the Internet, and is a mail system that transmits and receives mail from the user,
When the mail brokering center receives a temporary address generation request mail from the terminal of the first user by the mail brokering system in the mail brokering center, the mail brokering center generates a temporary address and uses the temporary address as a delivery destination of the temporary address. When the first user is registered in the distribution management database, the first user is notified of the temporary address, and the first mail addressed to the temporary address is received from the terminal of the second user, the temporary user The second user is registered in the distribution management database as an address distribution destination, and the sender address of the received mail is replaced with the temporary address, and then the mail is registered in the distribution management database. When a mail addressed to the temporary address is received from the terminal of the first user and transferred to a user other than the second user, After the sender address of the mail is replaced with the temporary address, the mail is transferred to a user other than the first user registered in the distribution management database, and the second user terminal When the e-mail addressed to the temporary address after the second time is received, the sender address of the received e-mail is replaced with the temporary address, and then the e-mail is not the second user registered in the distribution management database. A mail system characterized by forwarding to users. The mail system according to claim 4, wherein
In the mail brokering center, a period until the temporary address is deleted is preset as an initial value by the mail brokering system in the mail brokering center, or the temporary address generation from the first user is performed. Based on a request mail, based on a period until the set temporary address is deleted, the temporary address is deleted, and a base point for calculating a period until the temporary address is deleted is Of the time when the first user last issued the mail to the temporary address and the time when the second user last issued the mail to the temporary address, the oldest time is used. And mail system.

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