JP2009124194A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic mail system capable of preventing almost all spam mails. <P>SOLUTION: The electronic mail system includes: an electronic mail receiving section for receiving electronic mails; a permission list storage section for storing the electronic mail address of each of originators whose transmission is permitted; a permission list determining means for determining whether or not an originator is stored in the recipient's permission list; a registration processing section for transmitting a predetermined notice if the recipient is not stored in the permission list to receive a request of registering the recipient to the permission list and transmitting the fact that the registration request is received to receive information as to whether or not the e-mail address of the recipient is registered to the permission list, and additionally registering the originator in the permission list if the registration is permitted; and an electronic mail transmitting section for transmitting a received electronic mail if the recipient is stored in the permission list. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic mail system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an e-mail system in which junk mail does not reach the e-mail recipient.

  E-mail is widely used in society as a very convenient communication means. On the other hand, the spread of so-called junk e-mails, in which e-mails containing information such as advertisements are sent to an unspecified number of people, is also a social problem.

  There are several methods for dealing with such spam mails. First, the body of an email is searched, and whether it is spam is determined based on the content, and it is determined that it is not spam. There is a method of receiving only in cases, and secondly, receiving only e-mails transmitted from pre-registered e-mail addresses.

  The first method is a system shown in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 below, and the second method is a system shown in Patent Literature 3 and Patent Literature 4.

JP 2005-86291 A JP 2005-135328 A JP 2003-18324 A JP 2003-337779 A

  In the case of the first method, in order to determine whether or not the content of the e-mail is spam, the body of the e-mail is searched and it is determined whether the text and a word peculiar to spam are included. Alternatively, by determining whether the link destination of the body URL is a harmful site, it is determined whether it is a spam mail.

  When storing words unique to junk mail in advance, it is necessary to analyze the junk mail itself and set the words appropriately, but set terms that are used only for junk mail, etc. This is difficult, and an e-mail that is not a junk mail may be determined as a junk mail. Also, when determining the link destination of a URL, it is necessary to memorize what URL or link destination is a harmful site, and when determining automatically, access the harmful site. The risk of being infected by a virus cannot be denied by doing it itself.

  On the other hand, in the case of the second method, spam mail can be more reliably prevented than in the case of the first method. However, since it is necessary to register in advance an e-mail address that may receive e-mail, the registration may be forgotten. For example, when the person in charge of a company's business partner is changed, it is necessary to register the e-mail address of the new person in charge, but if you forget it, the new person in charge Can no longer receive e-mail. Also, when a contact is made for the first time by looking at a website and sending an email, the email cannot be sent in the first place.

  Therefore, as in the case of the second method, in the method of listing and registering e-mail addresses that are permitted to receive, even if you have forgotten to register e-mail addresses or when you make contact for the first time, There is a need for an e-mail system that allows senders to send e-mails but prevents junk mails from reaching them.

  In view of the above problems, the inventor has invented the electronic mail system of the present invention.

  The invention of claim 1 is an electronic mail system for preventing the reception of spam mails, wherein the electronic mail system receives an electronic mail from an electronic mail sender terminal or a predetermined electronic mail server used by an electronic mail sender. An e-mail receiving unit to receive, and for each e-mail address, a permission list storage unit that stores an e-mail address of a sender who is permitted to send an e-mail to the e-mail address; and A permission list determination unit that determines whether an email address of the sender of the email is stored in a permission list of the email address of the recipient of the email by referring to the permission list storage unit; and the permission As a result of the determination in the list determination unit, the sender's email address is the permission list of the recipient's email address. If it is determined that the e-mail address is not stored in the e-mail address, a predetermined notification is transmitted to the e-mail address of the sender, thereby requesting registration of the e-mail address of the recipient to the permission list. By receiving from the terminal that the registration request has been sent to the e-mail address of the recipient, registration permission / non-permission information in the permission list of the e-mail address of the recipient is sent to the e-mail receiver. A registration processor that additionally receives and registers the sender's email address in the recipient's email address permission list that is received from the terminal and that is stored in the permission list storage in the case of registration permission; and the permission list As a result of determination in the determination unit, when it is determined that the sender's email address is stored in the recipient's email address permission list The electronic mail received by the e-mail receiving unit, and e-mail transmission unit for transmitting to the electronic mail recipient's e-mail address is an electronic mail system having a.

  By configuring as in the present invention, a sender that sends an e-mail becomes a system that requests registration of the recipient in the permission list. Therefore, even if the e-mail recipient forgets to register the e-mail address, it is possible to know that there is an e-mail. Further, even if an e-mail is sent from a person who does not know at all, it is possible to know that the e-mail has been sent.

  In the invention of claim 2, the registration processing unit further determines that the sender's email address is not stored in the recipient's email address permission list as a result of the determination in the permission list determination unit. In this case, the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving unit is stored as temporarily held, and the e-mail transmitting unit further registers the e-mail address of the recipient in the permission list in the registration processing unit. An e-mail system that, after receiving permission information from the e-mail recipient terminal, sends the e-mail stored as the temporary hold to the e-mail address of the e-mail recipient.

  In the present invention, the permission list of the recipient is updated based on the action (sending of the email) from the sender side of the email. Therefore, when the email is first sent to the recipient, It's hard to send the first email. Therefore, by configuring as in the present invention, it is not necessary for the sender to transmit again after registering the first transmitted e-mail in the permission list. This can reduce the burden on the sender of the e-mail.

  In the invention of claim 3, when the registration processing unit further receives, from the e-mail receiver terminal, registration non-permission information to the permission list of the e-mail address of the recipient in the registration processing unit. , An e-mail system that transmits a registration non-permission notification to the e-mail address of the e-mail sender.

  When registration is not permitted, it is preferable to notify the sender to that effect.

  In the invention of claim 4, the registration processing unit further receives, in the registration processing unit, registration non-permission information to the permission list of the e-mail address of the recipient from the e-mail recipient terminal. The e-mail address of the sender of the e-mail is additionally registered and stored in an e-mail transmission non-permitted list of the e-mail address of the recipient, and the permission list determination unit is further configured to receive the e-mail. The e-mail address of the e-mail sender is registered in the non-permitted list of the e-mail address of the e-mail recipient, and the registration processing unit In the permission list determination unit, the email address of the sender of the received email is changed to a disallowed list of email addresses of the recipient. If it is recorded does not send the predetermined notification to the sender's e-mail address of the electronic mail is an electronic mail system.

  If the sender whose registration is not permitted sends the e-mail many times, the receiver may be notified each time. That is annoying for the recipient. Therefore, by configuring as in the present invention, once the registration is not permitted, the receiver is not notified thereafter, so that the troublesomeness of the receiver can be eliminated.

  In the invention of claim 5, the registration processing unit further transmits the e-mail when transmitting the e-mail recipient's e-mail address that there is a registration request from the e-mail sender terminal. This is an e-mail system that notifies the e-mail address of a person together with a part of the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving unit.

  When an e-mail registration request is newly made, it may not be known from the e-mail sender address alone what attribute the sender has. Therefore, by sending a part of the e-mail together, it is possible to help the judgment. In addition, if the entire e-mail is transmitted, if the e-mail is a junk mail, the recipient sees the junk mail. This also leads to achieving the purpose of spam. Therefore, it is preferable to notify only a part of the e-mail so that the purpose of the junk mail cannot be achieved.

  The invention of claim 6 provides a computer terminal for storing, in a storage device, an email address of a sender who is permitted to send an email to the email address for each email address. An e-mail receiving unit that receives an e-mail from an e-mail sender terminal used by the sender or a predetermined e-mail server, and an e-mail address of the e-mail sender is an e-mail address of the e-mail recipient A permission list determination unit that determines whether the information is stored in the permission list by referring to the storage device; as a result of the determination in the permission list determination unit, the sender's email address is the permission list of the recipient's email address A predetermined notification is sent to the e-mail of the e-mail sender. A registration request to the recipient list of the email address of the recipient by sending to the address, and the email address of the recipient of the email that the registration request is received from the email sender terminal The receiver receives registration permission / non-permission information from the e-mail recipient terminal to the permission list of the e-mail address of the recipient, and stores the information in the storage device when registration is permitted. A registration processing unit that additionally registers the sender's email address in the permission list of the sender's email address, and as a result of the determination in the permission list determination unit, the sender's email address is permitted to the recipient's email address. If it is determined that it is stored in the list, the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving unit is changed to the e-mail recipient's e-mail. E-mail transmitting unit that transmits to the-mail address, an e-mail program to function as a.

  By executing the electronic mail program of the present invention on a predetermined computer terminal, the electronic mail server of the above-described invention can be realized.

  In the case of a conventional method using a list of e-mail addresses that are permitted to be received, the e-mail recipient registers the e-mail address by himself / herself. However, in this case, unless the e-mail recipient performs the registration process, it is not registered in the list, and it is assumed that the registration is forgotten. However, in the e-mail system of the present invention, the e-mail sender is registered. Since the process is only executed and whether or not the e-mail recipient permits it, the e-mail address registration process is not easily forgotten.

  Further, since the sender of the junk mail is generally automatically sent by a program, in most cases, complicated processing such as e-mail address registration processing is not executed. Therefore, spam mail is also eliminated. Even if an e-mail address registration process is executed, registration by the e-mail recipient is required for registration in the list, and therefore, junk e-mail is eliminated unless the e-mail address is given.

As a result, both technical problems in the junk mail elimination and the e-mail address registration process can be solved.

  An example of the electronic mail system 1 of the present invention is shown in the conceptual diagram of the system configuration in FIG. The e-mail system 1 of the present invention is preferably provided in an e-mail server used by an e-mail recipient, but a computer terminal (e-mail recipient terminal 4) used by the e-mail recipient, The electronic mail server 3 used by the sender or the electronic mail server 3 that relays electronic mail may be provided.

  In the following description, a case where the electronic mail system 1 is realized by an electronic mail server used by an electronic mail recipient will be described.

  The e-mail server that implements the e-mail system 1 includes an arithmetic device 20 such as a CPU for executing arithmetic processing of a program, a storage device 21 such as a RAM and a hard disk for storing information, and processing results and storage of the arithmetic device 20. It has at least a communication device 24 that transmits and receives information stored in the device 21 via a network such as the Internet or a LAN. Each function (each unit) realized on the computer is executed when a unit (program, module, etc.) for executing the process is read into the arithmetic unit 20. When using the information stored in the storage device 21 in the processing, each function reads the corresponding information from the storage device 21 and uses the read information for processing in the arithmetic device 20 as appropriate. The computer may include an input device 23 such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a numeric keypad, and a display device 22 such as a display (screen). FIG. 2 schematically shows an example of the hardware configuration of the electronic mail server.

  Each means in the present invention is only logically distinguished in function, and may be physically or practically the same area. The electronic mail server (electronic mail system 1) may be constituted by a single server, or the function may be distributed to a plurality of servers.

  The e-mail recipient terminal 4 is a computer terminal used by an e-mail recipient and may be a normal computer terminal. The e-mail recipient terminal 4 includes a mobile phone, a PHS, a PDA, and the like.

  The e-mail sender terminal 2 is a computer terminal used by an e-mail sender and may be a normal computer terminal. The e-mail sender terminal 2 also includes a mobile phone, PHS, PDA, and the like.

  The electronic mail system 1 includes an electronic mail receiving unit 5, a permission list storage unit 6, a permission list determination unit 7, a registration processing unit 8, and an electronic mail transmission unit 9.

  The e-mail receiving unit 5 is transmitted from the computer terminal (e-mail sender terminal 2) used by the e-mail sender or the e-mail server 3 used by the e-mail sender terminal 2 to the e-mail recipient. Receive e-mail.

  The permission list storage unit 6 stores a list of e-mail addresses that may be received by e-mail recipients. In addition to this e-mail address, attribute information of the sender of the e-mail, such as name, address, telephone number, and age, may be stored in association with each other. FIG. 4 schematically shows an example of the permission list storage unit 6.

  The permission list determination unit 7 determines, based on the e-mail address of the recipient of the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving unit 5 (information indicating the destination of the e-mail address in the e-mail header (recipient Is acquired on the basis of the information), the permission list storage unit 6 is referred to, and whether the sender's email address is included in the transmission permission list of the recipient's email address (of the email) Among the headers, information indicating the sender of the email address (obtained based on information indicating the sender) is determined.

  When the permission list determination unit 7 does not include the e-mail address of the sender of the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving unit 5 in the permission list of the e-mail recipient. The registration process is executed by notifying the sender of the e-mail of an e-mail in which the URL (access destination information) of the website for executing the e-mail address registration process is notified.

  During the registration process, the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving unit 5 may be temporarily reserved. When receiving predetermined information input to the website of the URL, such as an email address and attribute information, from the email sender terminal 2 used by the sender, An e-mail notifying that registration processing has been performed is sent from the e-mail sender. At the time of this notification, among the emails received by the email address receiver, the email address of the sender of the email, the attribute information, and a part or all of the emails that are put on hold may be described. .

  Although all of the e-mail may be described, in this case, if it is a junk mail, the same effect as the notice of information by the sender of the e-mail occurs, so a part of the e-mail, for example, It is preferable to extract and describe only a predetermined number of characters or only a subject from the beginning of the body of the e-mail. This is because most spam mails can be determined to be spam mails only by looking at the first part of the email.

  As a result of receiving such a notification at the e-mail recipient terminal 4, when permitting registration of the e-mail address of the sender of the e-mail in the permission list storage unit 6, permission notification, and when not permitting registration Receives a disapproval notice from the e-mail recipient terminal 4. In the case of permission notification, the permission list storage unit 6 registers the email address of the sender of the email that has been temporarily reserved in the permission list of the recipient of the email. On the other hand, in the case of a non-permission notification, a non-permission notification is transmitted to the e-mail address of the e-mail sender that is temporarily suspended, and the e-mail sender received by the registration processing unit 8 is sent. Delete e-mail addresses, attribute information, etc., and delete e-mails that are temporarily held.

  If the e-mail address of the sender of the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving unit 5 is included in the permission list of the e-mail recipient, the e-mail transmitting unit 9 The e-mail is transmitted to the e-mail address of the recipient of the e-mail. When the registration processing unit 8 receives a permission notice from the e-mail receiver terminal 4, the registration processing unit 8 transmits an e-mail that is temporarily held to the e-mail address of the recipient.

  Next, an example of the processing process of the electronic mail system 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3 and the conceptual diagram of FIG.

  In the following description, the case of “sender@sender.com” as the email address of the email sender and “nospam@nospam.com” as the email address of the email receiver will be described.

  The e-mail sender creates an arbitrary e-mail and sends the e-mail to the e-mail address of “nospam@nospam.com”. The e-mail is transmitted from the e-mail sender terminal 2 to the e-mail server 3 used by the sender, and is transmitted from the e-mail server 3 to the e-mail system 1.

  The e-mail receiving unit 5 receives the e-mail from the e-mail server 3 (S100). When the e-mail receiving unit 5 receives a new e-mail, the permission list determination unit 7 acquires the e-mail address “sender@sender.com” of the e-mail sender from the e-mail header. It is searched whether the electronic mail address “sender@sender.com” is stored in the permission list of the electronic mail recipient “nospam@nospam.com” (S110).

  When the permission list of the email recipient “nospam@nospam.com” stored in the permission list storage unit 6 is FIG. 4, the email address “sender@sender.com” of the sender of the email is included in the permission list. The permission list determination unit 7 can determine that is not registered. In that case, in order to prompt the user to register the email address in the permission list, the registration processing unit 8 sends an email containing the URL to the registration website to the sender “sender @ sender. com "(S130). For example, an email as shown in FIG. 5 is transmitted from the email system 1 to the email address “sender@sender.com” of the sender of the email. This URL (web site) is preferably set for each e-mail recipient, but may be common to each recipient.

  The e-mail transmitted in S130 is received by the e-mail sender terminal 2. If the e-mail sender wants to send an e-mail to the e-mail address “nospam@nospam.com” of the recipient, he / she accesses the website of the URL described in the e-mail sent in S130. Then, by inputting the e-mail address or the like, the registration procedure for the e-mail address (of the sender of the e-mail) is performed.

  For example, the registration procedure is performed from a website as shown in FIG. Although FIG. 6 shows a case where only the e-mail address of the e-mail sender is registered, registration of sender attribute information in addition to the e-mail address may be accepted.

  The information of the e-mail address input here is transmitted from the e-mail sender terminal 2, and is received by the registration processing unit 8 of the e-mail system 1 (S140). When the registration of the e-mail address is accepted in this way, the e-mail address “sender@sender.com” that has accepted the registration indicates that the e-mail address “nospam @ The notification is sent to “nospam.com” (S150). An example of the notification in this case is shown in FIG. Although FIG. 7 shows a case where only the email address of the sender of the email is described, as described above, a part or all of the email received in S100 may be described in the notification. good.

  When this notification is received by the e-mail receiver terminal 4 and the sender of the e-mail received in S100 may be registered in the permission list (that is, the e-mail is received from the sender). If it is good) (S160), the registration permission information is transmitted from the e-mail recipient terminal 4 to the e-mail system 1 by clicking a URL indicating permission, and the registration processing unit 8 receives it. . The registration processing unit 8 that has received the registration permission information adds and registers the email address “sender@sender.com” to the permission list of the email address “nospam@nospam.com” (S170). An example of the permission list storage unit 6 in this state is shown in FIG.

  Further, when registered in the permission list, the e-mail transmission unit 9 converts the e-mail that has been temporarily reserved (the e-mail received by the e-mail reception unit 5 in S100) into the e-mail address “nospam@nospam.com”. Send to In addition, the registration processing unit 8 may notify the e-mail address “sender@sender.com” of the e-mail sender received in S100 that registration is permitted and the e-mail has been transmitted. good.

  As a result of the notification in S150, if the sender of the e-mail received in S100 is not registered in the permission list (that is, if no e-mail is received from the sender) (S160), a URL indicating non-permission is set. Information such as registration is not transmitted is transmitted from the e-mail recipient terminal 4 to the e-mail system 1 and received by the registration processing unit 8. The registration processing unit 8 that has received the registration disapproval information has confirmed that the registration is not permitted for the email address “sender@sender.com” of the sender of the email received in S100, and that the email is sent. The deletion may be notified (S180).

  In the case of non-permission, an unpermitted e-mail address may be stored for each e-mail address and stored therein. When the e-mail receiving unit 5 receives the e-mail, the permission list determination unit 7 refers to the non-permitted e-mail list so that the e-mail address of the sender of the received e-mail is The registration processing in the registration processing unit 8 may not be executed. As a result, a sender who is once disallowed cannot perform the registration procedure, and frequent notifications for permission can be prevented from being sent to the email address of the email recipient.

  In the present invention, the e-mail sender performs the registration process, and only whether or not the e-mail recipient permits it, so the e-mail address registration process is not easily forgotten. Further, since the sender of the junk mail is generally automatically sent by a program, in most cases, complicated processing such as e-mail address registration processing is not executed. Therefore, spam mail is also eliminated. Even if an e-mail address registration process is executed, registration by the e-mail recipient is required for registration in the list, and therefore, junk e-mail is eliminated unless the e-mail address is given.

As a result, both technical problems in the junk mail elimination and the e-mail address registration process can be solved.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows typically an example of the system configuration | structure of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of a hardware configuration typically. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process of this invention typically. It is a figure which shows an example of an permission list | wrist typically. It is an example of the notification which prompts registration of an e-mail address. It is an example of the website which performs registration processing of an e-mail address. It is an example of the notification which urges registration approval of an e-mail address. It is a figure which shows an example of an permission list | wrist typically.

Explanation of symbols

1: E-mail system 2: E-mail sender terminal 3: E-mail server 4: E-mail receiver terminal 5: E-mail receiver 6: Permit list storage unit 7: Permit list determination unit 8: Registration processing unit 9: E-mail Mail transmission unit 20: computing device 21: storage device 22: display device 23: input device 24: communication device

Claims (6)

An email system that prevents spam from being received,
The e-mail system includes:
An e-mail receiving unit that receives an e-mail from an e-mail sender terminal used by an e-mail sender or a predetermined e-mail server;
For each e-mail address, a permission list storage unit that stores the e-mail address of the sender who is permitted to send an e-mail to the e-mail address;
A permission list determination unit that determines whether the email address of the sender of the email is stored in the permission list of the email address of the recipient of the email by referring to the permission list storage unit;
As a result of the determination in the permission list determination unit, when it is determined that the sender's email address is not stored in the receiver's email address permission list, a predetermined notification is sent to the sender's email address. A registration request for the recipient's email address permission list is received from the email sender terminal, and the registration request is sent to the recipient's email address. Then, registration permission / non-permission information in the permission list of the recipient's email address is received from the email recipient terminal, and in the case of registration permission, the recipient's electronic information stored in the permission list storage unit. A registration processing unit for additionally registering the sender's email address in the email address permission list;
As a result of the determination in the permission list determination unit, when it is determined that the sender's email address is stored in the receiver's email address permission list, the email received by the email receiver is An e-mail transmission unit that transmits to the e-mail address of the e-mail recipient;
An e-mail system characterized by comprising: The registration processing unit further includes:
As a result of the determination in the permission list determination unit, if it is determined that the sender's email address is not stored in the recipient's email address permission list, the email received by the email receiver is Remember it as a temporary hold,
The e-mail transmission unit further includes:
In the registration processing unit, after receiving registration permission information in the permission list of the recipient's email address from the email recipient terminal, the email stored as the temporary hold is stored in the email recipient's Send to email address,
The electronic mail system according to claim 1. The registration processing unit further includes:
In the registration processing unit, when the registration non-permission information to the e-mail address of the recipient is received from the e-mail recipient terminal, registration is not permitted to the e-mail address of the e-mail sender. Send notifications,
The electronic mail system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The registration processing unit further includes:
In the registration processing unit, when the registration non-permission information to the e-mail address permission list of the recipient is received from the e-mail recipient terminal, the e-mail address of the sender of the e-mail is received. Add to the list of e-mails that are not allowed to be sent to the e-mail address of the subscriber,
The permission list determination unit further includes:
When the e-mail receiving unit receives an e-mail, it is determined whether the e-mail address of the e-mail sender is registered in the non-permitted list of e-mail addresses of the e-mail recipient;
The registration processing unit
The e-mail address of the sender of the e-mail when the e-mail address of the sender of the received e-mail is registered in the non-permitted list of the e-mail address of the recipient in the permission list determination unit Does not send the predetermined notification to,
The electronic mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The registration processing unit further includes:
When the registration request from the e-mail sender terminal is sent to the e-mail address of the e-mail recipient, the e-mail address of the e-mail sender and the e-mail receiving unit Notify some emails together,
The electronic mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein For each e-mail address, a computer terminal that stores in a storage device the e-mail address of a sender who is permitted to send an e-mail to that e-mail address,
An e-mail receiving unit that receives an e-mail from an e-mail sender terminal used by an e-mail sender or a predetermined e-mail server;
A permission list determination unit that determines whether the email address of the sender of the email is stored in the permission list of the email address of the recipient of the email by referring to the storage device;
As a result of the determination in the permission list determination unit, if it is determined that the sender's email address is not stored in the receiver's email address permission list, a predetermined notification is sent to the email sender's electronic mail. By transmitting to the e-mail address, a registration request to the e-mail address permission list of the recipient is received from the e-mail sender terminal, and the e-mail of the e-mail recipient indicates that the registration request has been received. By receiving to the address, registration permission / non-permission information in the permission list of the recipient's email address is received from the email recipient terminal, and in the case of registration permission, the reception is stored in the storage device A registration processing unit for additionally registering the sender's email address in the permitted list of email addresses of the sender,
As a result of the determination in the permission list determination unit, when it is determined that the sender's email address is stored in the receiver's email address permission list, the email received by the email receiver is An e-mail sending unit for sending to the e-mail address of the e-mail recipient;
An e-mail program characterized by functioning as

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