JP2009294951A - E-mail transmission control apparatus and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively reduce unuseful e-mail by providing a sender with information which makes the sender estimate the usefulness of e-mail which the sender is going to send without loading a burden on the sender. <P>SOLUTION: An e-mail transmission control apparatus 100 comprises: a mail information obtaining section 130 which obtains mail information giving properties of e-mail; a utilization information obtaining section 140 which obtains mail utilization information giving the utilization state of the e-mail; a usefulness degree information generating section 160 which generates mail usefulness degree information giving the usefulness of the e-mail to respective properties of the e-mail by using the mail information and the mail utilization information; a pre-transmission e-mail information obtaining section 170 which obtains pre-transmission e-mail information giving properties of a pre-transmission e-mail; and a control section 180 which controls a transmission amount of the e-mail so as to reduce e-mail low in usefulness degree by referring to the e-mail usefulness degree given by the mail usefulness degree information which corresponds to properties given by the pre-transmission mail information, when the pre-transmission e-mail is going to be transmitted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an e-mail transmission control apparatus and method, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for controlling e-mail transmission according to the nature of the e-mail to be transmitted.

  Currently, electronic mail (hereinafter referred to as mail) is used as a useful communication means in various situations. This is because mail has the following advantages.

  First, mail can be sent to many people at once. Further, unlike communication means such as a telephone which must take into account the other party's convenience and time, it is possible to transmit unilaterally regardless of the other party's convenience and time. Furthermore, in addition to the message described in the mail text, files such as images, music and business documents can be transmitted simultaneously as attached files.

  As described above, since mail is very useful, it is easily used by many users and very many mails are transmitted.

  However, the mail being sent includes many less important mails. That is, there are many mails that have been sent but cannot be read by the recipient. For example, many of the emails that are sent using a means that can be sent to multiple users at one time, such as a mailing list, are sent unilaterally, so that many of the recipients actually received the emails. Often not read.

  Thus, for example, a technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is shown as a technique for effectively transmitting mail.

Patent Document 1 describes a technique for measuring a time during which a transmitted mail is viewed (hereinafter referred to as a browsing time) and embedding information about the measured browsing time in a reply mail to the sender. By looking at the browsing time embedded in the reply mail, the sender can determine whether the previously sent mail is valid or not, and can use it for the next mail transmission. As a result, the sender can effectively send mail.
JP 2001-356888 A

  However, according to the above prior art, there is a problem that unusable mail cannot always be effectively reduced.

  According to the technique described in Patent Document 1, since the reply time is embedded in the viewing time and sent back to the sender, the sender knows the viewing time of the mail if there is no reply mail from the mail recipient. I can't. Also, even if there is a reply mail, the next time the sender sends a mail, the sender must determine how much of the mail to be sent this time will be viewed from the reply mail received previously. . This places a heavy burden on the sender, such as having to search for outgoing emails with embedded browsing time before sending them. For this reason, it is considered that the sender transmits the mail as it is regardless of whether the mail is valid or not without using the browsing time information.

  Therefore, the present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and by providing information that allows the sender to determine the usefulness of the email that is going to be sent without placing a burden on the sender, An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail transmission control apparatus and method capable of effectively reducing unusable mail.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an electronic mail transmission control device according to the present invention includes mail information acquisition means for acquiring mail information indicating the nature of an electronic mail, and utilization for acquiring mail utilization information indicating the utilization status of the electronic mail. Using the information acquisition means, the mail information and the mail utilization information, the mail usefulness information indicating the usefulness of the email, which becomes a higher value as the email is used more frequently, is generated for each property of the email. Usefulness information generation means, pre-transmission mail information acquisition means for acquiring pre-transmission mail information indicating the nature of the e-mail before transmission, and when the pre-transmission e-mail is transmitted, Control to reduce the amount of emails with low usefulness by referring to the usefulness of emails shown in the email usefulness information corresponding to the properties to be shown And control means for performing.

  As a result, when the sender sends an email, it is possible to control the sending of the email based on the usefulness, so that the usefulness of the email that is going to be sent to the sender without burdening the sender. By providing information to be judged, it is possible to effectively reduce unusable mail.

  Further, the control means refers to the usefulness of the e-mail indicated in the e-mail usefulness information corresponding to the property indicated by the pre-send e-mail information, so that the e-mail before the e-mail is low When the usefulness determination unit that determines whether or not the usefulness determination unit determines that the email before the transmission is low, when the email before the transmission is transmitted, You may have a warning part before transmission which warns a sender.

  This makes it possible to determine whether the email that the sender is about to send is highly useful or low, and by sending a warning when sending it, the email that is less useful and less likely to be used The amount of transmission can be reduced.

  In addition, the mail information acquisition unit acquires attachment file information indicating the nature of the attached file attached to the email, and the utilization information acquisition unit acquires attachment file utilization information indicating the utilization state of the attachment file. The usefulness information generating means uses the attached file information and the attached file utilization information to determine the usefulness of the attached file that becomes a higher value as the attached file is used more frequently for each property of the e-mail. The pre-transmission mail information acquisition means acquires pre-transmission attachment file information indicating the nature of the attachment file attached to the pre-transmission e-mail, and the usefulness determination unit Referring to the attached file usefulness information, it is determined whether the attached file corresponding to the property indicated by the attached file information before transmission is less useful The pre-transmission warning unit warns the sender of the e-mail when transmitting the pre-transmission e-mail when the usefulness determination unit determines that the usefulness of the attached file is low. May be performed.

  This makes it possible to effectively use the resources of the server that manages the transmission / reception of mail. This is because not only the number of emails sent and received but also the size of emails has a significant impact on the effective use of server resources. In general, if there is only a mail text, the mail size is often several KB (kilobytes) to a dozen KB. On the other hand, the size of the attached file is often several hundred KB to several MB. That is, in order to effectively use the server resources, it is desirable to perform control so as to reduce the number and size of attached files attached to an email.

  The e-mail transmission control apparatus described above can effectively use server resources by analyzing statistical information about attached files.

  For example, the mail information acquisition means acquires information on at least one of the file name, type, size, and number of attachments attached to an e-mail as the attachment file information, and the utilization information acquisition means Information regarding at least one of the browsing time, browsing count, browsing time, and storage count of the attached file is acquired as the attached file utilization information, and the usefulness information generating means includes the file name, type, size, and Information on at least one of the number and information on at least one of the browsing time, browsing count, browsing time, and saving count of the attached file is the property of the email, and the attachment file corresponding to the property The attached file usefulness information may be generated by calculating the usefulness.

  In addition, the usefulness information generation means, as the number of times the attached file is viewed or stored, the shorter the time from when the attached file is received to when the attached file is viewed is shorter Alternatively, the attached file usefulness information may be generated by calculating the usefulness of the attached file so as to be higher as the browsing time is longer.

  Accordingly, the usefulness can be calculated for each property of the attached file, and the usefulness of the attached file can be determined in detail. Therefore, the accuracy of the usefulness evaluation can be improved.

  In addition, the pre-transmission mail information acquisition means includes at least one of the information indicated in the attached file usefulness information among the information on the file name, type, size, and number of the attached file attached to the e-mail before transmission. Is acquired as the pre-transmission attachment information, and the usefulness determination unit acquires the pre-transmission mail information acquisition means as the pre-transmission attachment information by referring to the attachment file usefulness information. The usefulness of the attached file corresponding to the information is determined to be smaller than a predetermined threshold, and the pre-transmission warning unit uses the usefulness determining unit to determine whether the usefulness of the attached file is the predetermined threshold. When it is determined that the e-mail is smaller, a warning may be given to the sender when the e-mail before transmission is transmitted.

  By comparing the usefulness calculated for each nature of the attached file with the nature of the attached file attached to the mail before sending, the usefulness of the attached file easily attached to the mail before sending is compared. Can be evaluated.

  The mail information acquisition means further acquires, as the mail information, information on at least one of the sender, destination type, receiver, transmission time, reception time, title, and text of the electronic mail, The information acquisition means further uses, as the mail utilization information, information related to at least one of the browsing time, browsing count, browsing time, reply count, reply time, transfer count, transfer time, save count, and print count of the email. The usefulness information generation means acquires information related to at least one of the sender, destination type, recipient, transmission time, title, and text of the email, the browsing time of the email, the number of browsing times, and the browsing Information on at least one of time, reply count, reply time, transfer count, transfer time, save count, and print count is stored in the electronic mail. The nature of the Le, by calculating the usefulness of the electronic mail corresponding to the nature, may generate the write useful degree information.

  As a result, not only the attached file but also information on the mail text can be used to evaluate the usefulness of the mail. Therefore, the accuracy of the usefulness evaluation can be improved.

  In addition, the usefulness information generation unit may increase the time from when the e-mail is received to when the e-mail is viewed, replied or transferred, as the e-mail is viewed, replied, transferred, stored, and printed. The email usefulness information may be generated by calculating the usefulness of the e-mail so that the value becomes shorter as the e-mail is shorter or the viewing time of the e-mail is longer.

  Thus, the usefulness can be calculated for each mail property, and the usefulness of the mail can be determined in detail. Therefore, the accuracy of the usefulness evaluation can be improved.

  The pre-transmission mail information acquisition means further acquires as the mail information out of information related to at least one of the sender, destination type, recipient, scheduled transmission time, title, and body of the e-mail before transmission. Information corresponding to at least one of the received information is acquired as the pre-transmission e-mail information, and the usefulness determination unit refers to the e-mail usefulness information so that the pre-transmission e-mail information acquisition means performs the pre-transmission e-mail information acquisition unit. It is determined whether the usefulness of the e-mail before transmission corresponding to the information acquired as mail information is smaller than a predetermined threshold, and the pre-transmission warning unit uses the usefulness determination unit to determine whether the e-mail before transmission When it is determined that the usefulness level of the mail is smaller than the predetermined threshold, a warning may be given to the sender when transmitting the e-mail before the transmission.

  Thereby, the usefulness of the mail before transmission can be easily evaluated by comparing the usefulness calculated for each mail property with the property of the mail before transmission.

  Further, the pre-transmission warning unit may provide information for increasing the usefulness of the e-mail at the same time as giving a warning.

  As a result, it is possible to suggest a method for increasing the usefulness, so that it is possible to reduce the transmission amount of mail having a low usefulness without imposing a burden on the sender.

  Further, the pre-transmission warning unit may further prohibit transmission of the e-mail before transmission when it is determined that the usefulness of the e-mail before transmission is smaller than the predetermined threshold.

  Thereby, it is possible to prohibit the transmission of a low usefulness mail without leaving it to the user's judgment. Therefore, the server resources can be used more effectively.

  Further, the usefulness information generation unit extracts a predetermined keyword from the title or text of the email when the email information acquisition unit acquires information about the title or text of the email, and extracts the keyword as the extracted keyword. The mail usefulness information may be generated by calculating the usefulness of the corresponding electronic mail.

  As a result, only the extracted keywords need to be stored, so the amount of memory required to store each information can be reduced.

  In addition, the electronic mail transmission control device further includes exclusion information acquisition means for acquiring exclusion information indicating the nature of the electronic mail to be excluded from the warning, and the usefulness determination unit further includes the transmission It may be determined whether the property indicated by the previous mail information matches the property indicated by the exclusion information, and the usefulness may be determined only when they do not match.

  Thereby, it is possible to exclude from the warning by designating a target that does not need to be warned in advance. Therefore, since it is not necessary to determine the usefulness for the mail that falls under the exclusion target, the processing amount for the determination can be reduced.

  In addition, the exclusion information further indicates the nature of the email to be excluded from the mail usefulness information generation process, and the usefulness information generation means is further acquired by the mail information acquisition means It may be determined whether the property indicated by the information matches the property indicated by the exclusion information, and the usefulness information may be generated only when they do not match.

  Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing involved in the usefulness information generation processing and the amount of memory of the buffer that stores the usefulness information.

  For example, the exclusion information acquisition unit may acquire activity information indicating an activity within a predetermined community, and acquire the exclusion information based on the acquired activity information.

  The control unit may further include a notification unit that notifies the sender of the utilization status of the e-mail based on the usefulness information.

  As a result, it is possible to notify the sender of the utilization status of the past mail, and therefore it is possible to prompt the sender to perform various studies regarding the future transmission status of the email.

  Further, the notification unit may notify only a sender whose amount of electronic mail having a low usefulness is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

  Thereby, notification can be performed more effectively and, as a result, server resources can be reduced.

  The control unit may further include a charging unit that charges the sender based on the usefulness information.

  As a result, for example, by applying a high amount to a sender who has a large amount of email transmission with low usefulness, the amount of email transmission can be reduced.

  The e-mail transmission control device further includes a mail receiving unit that receives an e-mail, and a mail storage unit that stores the e-mail received by the mail receiving unit, the mail storage unit including the mail The electronic mail received by the receiving unit may be decrypted and the decrypted electronic mail may be stored.

  Thus, the mail is normally transmitted as a character string that is encoded, and the size of the mail can be reduced by decoding. Therefore, server resources can be used effectively.

  Further, the transmission amount of the electronic mail may be the number or size of attached files attached to the transmitted electronic mail.

  As a result, the number or size of attached files that have a large influence on the effective use of server resources can be reduced, so that the server resources can be used effectively.

  The present invention can be realized not only as an e-mail transmission control apparatus but also as a method using the processing means constituting the above-described apparatus as a step. Moreover, you may implement | achieve as a program which makes a computer perform these steps. Furthermore, it may be realized as a recording medium such as a computer-readable CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory) in which the program is recorded, and information, data, or a signal indicating the program. These programs, information, data, and signals may be distributed via a communication network such as the Internet.

  By providing information that allows the sender to determine the usefulness of the mail to be sent without burdening the sender, it is possible to effectively reduce the mail that is not useful.

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

  The e-mail transmission control apparatus according to the present embodiment generates usefulness information indicating the usefulness of mail, refers to the generated usefulness information, evaluates an email to be transmitted from now, and if necessary A device such as a mail server that issues a warning. In the present embodiment, a description will be given of mail transmission control in Web mail that allows browsing and transmission / reception of mail via a Web browser or the like without storing mail in a mail receiving terminal such as a personal computer (PC). To do.

  In addition, this embodiment particularly aims at reducing the amount of in-house mail transmission. This is because most of the emails used for work (about 85%) are in-house emails, and server resources can be effectively used by reducing the amount of in-house emails sent.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the e-mail transmission control apparatus of this embodiment. The e-mail transmission control apparatus 100 in FIG. 1 includes a mail receiving unit 110, a mail storage unit 120, a mail information acquisition unit 130, a utilization information acquisition unit 140, a storage unit 150, a usefulness information generation unit 160, A pre-transmission mail information acquisition unit 170, a control unit 180, and an exclusion information acquisition unit 190 are provided.

  The mail receiving unit 110 is a receiving server that receives mail transmitted from a sender. The transmitted mail includes mail with a file attached. Hereinafter, a file attached to an email is referred to as an attached file.

  The mail storage unit 120 stores the mail received by the mail receiving unit 110. Since mail is normally transmitted as an encoded character string, first, the received mail is decrypted and the decrypted mail is stored. The mail storage unit 120 includes a mail decryption unit 121 and a storage unit 122.

  The mail decrypting unit 121 decrypts the mail received by the mail receiving unit 110. This makes it possible to reduce the size of the mail by decrypting the received mail, rather than storing the mail received as a simple character string as it is.

  The storage unit 122 is a hard disk on the server that stores the decrypted mail.

  The mail information acquisition unit 130 includes a transmission / reception information acquisition unit 131, a text information acquisition unit 132, and an attached file information acquisition unit 133, and acquires mail information indicating the nature of the mail. For example, mail information is acquired by referring to a mail log.

  The mail information includes transmission / reception information, text information, and attached file information. Transmission / reception information is information related to transmission and reception of stored mail. The text information is information relating to the text of the stored mail. The attached file information is information related to the attached file attached to the stored mail.

  The transmission / reception information acquisition unit 131 acquires transmission / reception information from the email stored by the email storage unit 120. The transmission / reception information is information related to at least one of, for example, mail transmission time, reception time, sender address, destination type (To, Cc, Bcc), and recipient address. Of the recipient type and recipient address, the recipient address when the recipient type is Bcc is not described in the stored mail. Therefore, the transmission / reception information acquisition unit 131 acquires a recipient address when the destination type is Bcc from a transmission server or the like. Similarly, when the mail transmission time is not described in the stored mail, the mail transmission time is acquired from the transmission server or the like. However, since it is not always possible to acquire from the transmission server, it is not always necessary to acquire such information.

  The text information acquisition unit 132 acquires text information from the email stored by the email storage unit 120. The text information is, for example, information related to the mail subject, the mail text, and the number of attached files. Information about the subject and text of the email is not always necessary.

  The attached file information acquisition unit 133 determines whether the attached file is attached to the mail, and acquires the attached file information when it is attached. Specifically, the attached file information acquisition unit 133 determines whether or not the number of attached files indicated by the text information is 1 or more. When the number of attached files is 1 or more, the attached file information is acquired from the attached files stored in the mail storage unit 120. The attached file information is information on at least one of, for example, the file name of the attached file, the type (extension) of the attached file, and the size of the attached file.

  The utilization information acquisition unit 140 acquires utilization information indicating the utilization state of mail. The utilization status of mail indicates the degree to which the recipient uses the stored mail. Utilization information includes text utilization information and attached file utilization information. The text utilization information is information indicating the utilization status of the mail text, that is, how much the recipient has used the stored mail text. The attached file utilization information is information indicating the utilization state of the attached file, that is, how much the recipient has utilized the attached file attached to the stored mail.

  Note that the use of mail includes, for example, mail browsing, storage, transfer, printing, and reply to the sender.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that mail is viewed through a web browser, and utilization information can be acquired by monitoring how the recipient utilized the mail on the web browser. For example, when the recipient performs some processing such as browsing (opening) or saving the mail, the utilization information acquisition unit 140 acquires the utilization information. In addition, the utilization information acquisition unit 140 acquires utilization information at regular intervals in preparation for the case where the recipient does not utilize the mail at all. The utilization information acquisition unit 140 includes a text utilization information acquisition unit 141 and an attached file utilization information acquisition unit 142.

  The text utilization information acquisition unit 141 acquires text utilization information. For example, the text utilization information is information related to at least one of the text browsing start date (open date), text browsing end date, browsing count, saving count, reply count, transfer count, and printing count. When the recipient views, saves, or prints the mail text on the Web browser, or replies or forwards the mail, the text usage information acquisition unit 141 acquires the text usage information. Alternatively, a web browser or a mail receiving terminal such as a PC running the web browser stores the operations of these recipients, and the text utilization information acquisition unit 141 acquires the text utilization information at regular intervals.

  The attached file utilization information acquisition unit 142 acquires attached file utilization information. For example, the attached file utilization information is information related to at least one of the attached file browsing start date and time, the attached file viewing end date and time, the browse count, and the save count. When the recipient views or saves the attached file on the Web browser, the attached file utilization information acquisition unit 142 acquires the attached file utilization information. Alternatively, a Web browser or a mail receiving terminal such as a PC running the Web browser stores the processing of these recipients, and the attached file utilization information acquisition unit 142 acquires attached file utilization information at regular intervals. To do.

  The storage unit 150 includes a buffer 151, and stores the mail information acquired by the mail information acquisition unit 130 and the utilization information acquired by the utilization information acquisition unit 140 in the buffer 151.

  The buffer 151 stores a transmission / reception information table 152, a text information table 153, an attached file information table 154, a text utilization information table 155, and an attached file utilization information table 156. Various tables will be described later with reference to the drawings.

  The usefulness information generation unit 160 uses the tables stored in the buffer 151 to generate usefulness information indicating the usefulness of mail for each mail property. The usefulness information generation unit 160 includes a text usefulness information generation unit 161, an attached file usefulness information generation unit 162, and a buffer 163.

  Here, the usefulness information includes text usefulness information and attached file usefulness information. The text usefulness information is information indicating the usefulness of the mail text. The attached file usefulness information is information indicating the usefulness of the attached file. The usefulness of the mail text and the attached file is a value indicating how effectively the mail text and the attached file are used.

  The text usefulness information generation unit 161 generates text usefulness information using the transmission / reception information table 152, the text information table 153, and the text usage information table 155 stored in the buffer 151. As will be described later, the text usefulness information generation unit 161 includes information on at least one of a mail sender, destination type, recipient, transmission time, title, and text, a mail browsing time, a browsing count, and a browsing time. Then, the text usefulness information table 164 is generated in which information on at least one of the reply count, reply time, transfer count, transfer time, save count, and print count is associated.

  For example, the usefulness of the mail text becomes higher as at least one of the mail browsing count, reply count, transfer count, save count, and print count increases. That is, the mail text is effectively used. Also, the shorter the time from when a mail is received until it is viewed, replied to, or forwarded, the higher the usefulness of the mail text. Further, the longer the browsing time of mail, the higher the usefulness of the mail text.

  The attached file usefulness information generating unit 162 generates usefulness information using the transmission / reception information table 152, the attached file information table 154, and the attached file utilization information table 156 stored in the buffer 151. The attached file usefulness information generating unit 162 relates to information on at least one of the file name, type, size, and number of attached files, and at least one of the browse time, browse count, browse time, and save count of the attached file. The attached file usefulness information table 165 in which the information is associated is generated.

  For example, the greater the number of times the attached file is viewed or stored, the higher the usefulness of the attached file. That is, the attached file is effectively used. Further, the shorter the time from when the mail with the attached file attached is received until the attached file is viewed, the higher the usefulness of the attached file becomes. Further, the longer the browsing time of the attached file, the higher the usefulness of the attached file.

  The buffer 163 stores a text usefulness information table 164 and an attached file usefulness information table 165. Details of the text usefulness information table 164 and the attached file usefulness information table 165 will be described later with reference to the drawings.

  The pre-transmission mail information acquisition unit 170 acquires pre-transmission mail information. The pre-transmission mail information is information indicating the nature of the mail that the sender is about to transmit (hereinafter referred to as pre-transmission mail). The pre-transmission mail information includes transmission information, pre-transmission text information, and pre-transmission attached file information. The transmission information is information relating to transmission of the mail before transmission. The text information before transmission is information indicating the nature of the text of the mail before transmission. The attachment file information before transmission is information indicating the nature of the attachment file attached to the mail before transmission (hereinafter referred to as an attachment file before transmission). Specific examples of each information will be described later with reference to the drawings.

  The pre-send mail information acquisition unit 170, for example, when the sender of the pre-send mail creates a pre-send mail and attaches a necessary pre-send attached file and issues a mail send instruction before sending the mail information. To get. For example, e-mail information before transmission is acquired when a transmission button displayed on the Web browser is clicked. The pre-transmission mail information acquisition unit 170 includes a transmission information acquisition unit 171, a pre-transmission text information acquisition unit 172, and a pre-transmission attached file information acquisition unit 173.

  The transmission information acquisition unit 171 acquires transmission information. The transmission information is information relating to at least one of, for example, the scheduled transmission time of the mail before transmission, the sender address, the destination type, and the recipient address. The scheduled transmission time is not the time when the mail is actually transmitted, but is the time when the sender clicks the mail transmission button or the time when any information related to the mail before transmission is acquired. Moreover, it is desirable that at least one piece of information acquired by the transmission information acquisition unit 171 corresponds to information whose usefulness is indicated in the text usefulness information table 164 or the attached file usefulness information table 165.

  The pre-transmission text information acquisition unit 172 acquires the pre-transmission text information. The pre-transmission text information is information relating to at least one of, for example, the subject of the mail before transmission, the text of the mail before transmission, and the number of attached files. It is desirable that at least one of the information acquired by the pre-transmission text information acquisition unit 172 corresponds to information whose usefulness is indicated in the text usefulness information table 164 or the attached file usefulness information table 165.

  The pre-transmission attachment file information acquisition unit 173 acquires pre-transmission attachment file information. Specifically, the pre-transmission attached file information acquisition unit 173 determines whether or not the pre-transmission attachment file is attached to the pre-transmission mail. That is, it is determined whether or not the number of attached files indicated by the pre-transmission text information is 1 or more. Then, when the number of attached files is 1 or more, pre-transmission attached file information is acquired.

  The attached file information before transmission is, for example, information on the file name, type (extension) and size of the attached file before transmission. Note that at least one piece of information acquired by the pre-transmission attached file information acquisition unit 173 preferably corresponds to information whose usefulness is indicated in the text usefulness information table 164 or the attached file usefulness information table 165.

  Based on the usefulness information generated by the usefulness information generation unit 160, the control unit 180 performs control so as to reduce the transmission amount of emails with low usefulness when transmitting emails. The mail transmission amount is, for example, the number of mails to be transmitted or the size of mails to be transmitted (including attached files). The control unit 180 includes a determination unit 181, a pre-transmission warning unit 184, a notification unit 185, and a billing unit 186.

  The determination unit 181 compares the usefulness information generated by the usefulness information generation unit 160 with the pre-transmission mail information acquired by the pre-transmission mail information acquisition unit 170, thereby reducing the usefulness of the pre-transmission mail. Determine whether or not. Further, it is determined whether or not the property of the email indicated by the usefulness information or the pre-transmission email information matches the property indicated by the exclusion information obtained by the exclusion information acquisition unit 190. Only when it is determined that they do not match, it is determined whether the usefulness is low. The determining unit 181 includes a text usefulness determining unit 182 and an attached file usefulness determining unit 183.

  The text usefulness determination unit 182 includes a text usefulness information table 164 stored in the buffer 163, transmission information acquired by the transmission information acquisition unit 171, and text information before transmission acquired by the text information acquisition unit 172 before transmission. To determine whether the usefulness of the body text of the mail before transmission is low.

  The attached file usefulness determination unit 183 includes the attached file usefulness information table 165 stored in the buffer 163, the transmission information acquired by the transmission information acquisition unit 171 and the pre-transmission attached file information acquisition unit 173. By comparing with the attached file information, it is determined whether or not the usefulness of the attached file before transmission is low.

  When the determination unit 181 determines that the usefulness of the pre-transmission mail is low, the pre-transmission warning unit 184 warns the sender of the pre-transmission mail. For example, when the usefulness determination unit 182 determines that the usefulness of the text of the mail before transmission is low, or when the usefulness determination unit 183 determines that the usefulness of the attachment before transmission is low. , Warn the sender.

  The notification unit 185 periodically notifies the sender, the mailing list manager, the server manager, and the like based on the usefulness information. For example, once a month or a year, the sender is notified of information indicating how the mail sent by the sender so far and how the attached file attached to the mail has been used. As an example of notification, there is a notification message displayed on a display or the like of a mail receiving terminal.

  The billing unit 186 charges the sender, the mailing list manager, and the like based on the usefulness information. For example, a high charge is imposed on senders with a low amount of useful emails, and a low charge is imposed on senders with a low amount of useful emails. .

  Details of the determination unit 181, the pre-transmission warning unit 184, the notification unit 185, and the accounting unit 186 described above will be described later with reference to the drawings.

  The exclusion information acquisition unit 190 acquires exclusion information for exclusion from the processing target in each processing unit. For example, the exclusion information acquisition unit 190 acquires the exclusion information in cooperation with other systems such as an in-house attendance management system and an in-house bulletin board. The exclusion information acquisition unit 190 includes an activity information acquisition unit 191, an exclusion information generation unit 192, and a buffer 193.

  The activity information acquisition unit 191 acquires information about various activities related to the community to which the electronic mail transmission control device is applied. As an example of a community, when one company is taken as an example, the activity information is various information related to the company activity. For example, information on various internal and external events such as the date and time of earnings announcement, personnel changes, and announcements of new products and services.

  The exclusion information generation unit 192 uses the activity information acquired by the activity information acquisition unit 191 and other information to generate exclusion information for exclusion from the processing target in each processing unit. For example, information for excluding from the target of the usefulness information generation process executed by the usefulness information generating unit 160, information for excluding from the target of the warning before transmission executed by the pre-transmission warning unit 184, etc. Generate as exclusion information.

  For example, the activity information acquisition unit 191 acquires information related to a recipient who is on a long-term vacation from the vacation application information of the in-house attendance management system, and the exclusion information generation unit 192 uses the recipient to generate usefulness information. Generate exclusion information to exclude from the target.

  The buffer 193 stores an exclusion information table 194 indicating the exclusion information generated by the exclusion information generation unit 192. A specific example of the exclusion information table 194 will be described later with reference to the drawings.

  With the configuration described above, the e-mail transmission control apparatus according to the present embodiment determines whether or not pre-transmission mail is effectively used by the recipient based on past data. And various control for reducing the transmission amount of mail based on judgment is performed. For example, if it is determined that it will not be used effectively, a warning is given to the sender. In addition, in order to save the sender from sending emails, the sender is regularly notified of the usage status of emails sent in the past.

  Next, a table indicating each piece of information acquired or generated by each processing unit will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the transmission / reception information table. The transmission / reception information table 152 shown in the figure is a table indicating information acquired by the transmission / reception information acquisition unit 131 and accumulated in the buffer 151. The transmission / reception information table 152 indicates a transmission time, a reception time, a sender address, a destination type, a recipient address, and a destination designation address for each message ID for identifying mail. As shown in the figure, there can be as many records as there are destinations (recipients) for each mail.

  The message ID is given a unique character string for one mail. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the message ID is a character string that combines a transmission time, a sender address, and a management number, but is not limited thereto.

  The transmission time is the time when the mail is transmitted, and is acquired from the server used for transmitting the mail. Therefore, in the present embodiment, since the in-house mail is assumed, the transmission time can be acquired. However, for the mail transmitted from the outside, the transmission time may not be acquired.

  The reception time is the time when the mail is received, and is acquired from the server used for receiving the mail. In the present embodiment, it is the time when the mail receiving unit 110 acquires the mail.

  The sender address is an address that identifies the sender of the mail.

  There are three types of destinations, To, Cc, and Bcc, which indicate the type of transmission assigned for each recipient address.

  The recipient address is an address that identifies the recipient of the mail. In the transmission / reception information table 152, a destination type is associated with each recipient address and managed.

  The destination designation address indicates a recipient address for each destination type (To, Cc, Bcc). In the example shown in FIG. 2, only when the destination type is To, a recipient address whose destination type is Cc or Bcc is shown.

  Note that the transmission / reception information table 152 need not indicate all of the above information. Further, it may include other information related to mail transmission / reception. For example, a flag indicating that the sender and the receiver are the same may be included.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the text information table. The body information table 153 shown in the figure is a table showing information acquired by the body information acquisition unit 132 and accumulated in the buffer 151. The text information table 153 indicates the title (mail subject), the mail text, and the number of attached files for each message ID. As shown in the figure, one record is made for one mail.

  Note that the title and the body of the email do not necessarily need to indicate the full text. For example, necessary keywords may be extracted and only the extracted keywords may be indicated. Details of the keyword extraction will be described later with reference to the drawings.

  Further, the text information need not indicate all the above information. Conversely, other information related to the text may be included. For example, the size of the mail text and the presence / absence of a flag indicating importance may be included.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the attached file information table. The attached file information table 154 shown in the figure is a table showing information acquired by the attached file information acquisition unit 133 and accumulated in the buffer 151. The attached file information table 154 indicates the attached file name, the attached file extension, and the attached file size (KB) for each message ID of the mail to which the attached file is attached. As shown in the figure, there can be as many records as there are attached files per mail.

  The size of the attached file may not indicate the actual size but may indicate whether or not the size is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold (for example, 1 MB (megabyte)). Further, the attached file name does not necessarily need to indicate the entire text, and the keyword may be extracted and only the extracted keyword may be indicated.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the text utilization information table. The text utilization information table 155 shown in the figure is a table indicating information acquired by the text utilization information acquisition unit 141 and accumulated in the buffer 151. As shown in the figure, there can be as many records as there are destinations (recipients) for each mail. The text utilization information table 155 indicates the text browsing start date and time, the text browsing end date and time, the browsing count, the saving count, the reply count, the transfer count, and the identity flag for each message ID and recipient address.

  In addition, when the text is browsed a plurality of times (the number of times of browsing is 2 or more), the start date and time and the end date and time may be indicated for each number of times of browsing. Further, when the text is stored (the number of times of storage is 1 or more), the storage date and time may be indicated. The same applies to a case where a reply is made to the sender (the number of replies is 1 or more) and a case where mail is forwarded (the number of transfers is 1 or more). In addition, the number of mail transfer destinations may be indicated. Further, the number of times the text is printed and the date and time may be indicated.

  Further, a period during which the text is browsed may be calculated from the text browsing start date and time and the text browsing end date and time, and the calculated period may be indicated as the browsing time. You may show the time required from receiving mail to browsing. Further, the time required for browsing the mail from the time when the user logs in to the Web mail system may be calculated. Furthermore, other information indicating a situation in which the mail text is used may be indicated.

  Further, the identity flag shown in FIG. 5 is a flag indicating whether or not the sender and the recipient match. When the principal flag is “1”, the sender and the receiver match, that is, the case where a mail is transmitted to the user. When the principal flag is “0”, the sender and the recipient do not match. In general, since it is considered that the mail transmitted to itself is not used, the use information when the principal flag indicates “1” may be ignored when generating the usefulness information.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the attached file utilization information table. The attached file utilization information table 156 shown in the figure is a table indicating information acquired by the attached file utilization information acquisition unit 142 and accumulated in the buffer 151. The attached file utilization information table 156 shows, for each attached file, the message ID of the mail to which the attached file is attached, the recipient address, and the attached file browsing start date and time, the browsing end date and time, the browsing count, and the storage count. As shown in the figure, there can be as many records as the number of destinations and attached files per mail. This figure shows a case where there are three destinations and three attachment files. In this case, a total of nine records (the number of destinations × the number of attached files) are generated.

  When the attached file is browsed a plurality of times (the number of times of browsing is 2 or more), the start date and time and the end date and time may be indicated for each number of times of browsing. Further, when the attached file is stored (the number of times of storage is 1 or more), the storage date and time may be indicated.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the text usefulness information table. The text usefulness information table 164 shown in the figure is a table showing information generated by the text usefulness information generating unit 161 based on the transmission / reception information table 152, the text information table 153, and the text utilization information table 155.

  The text usefulness information table 164 includes, for each sender address, recipient address, transmission day of the week, transmission time, subject keyword, and text keyword, the average post-reception browsing start time, average browsing time, average browsing count, browsing rate, and storage rate. , A response start time after reception, a reply rate, a transfer start time after reception, a transfer rate, and a comprehensive evaluation. The target items and their corresponding values shown here are merely examples, and are not limited to these. For example, for information that combines two or more target items (for example, a combination of a sender address and a recipient address), the post-reception browsing start average time, average browsing time, average browsing count, browsing rate, storage rate, reception Information in which post-reply start average time, reply rate, post-reception transfer start average time, transfer rate, and comprehensive evaluation are associated with each other may be indicated.

  The post-reception browsing start average time is an average value of the time taken from when the mail receiving unit 110 receives a mail until the recipient browses the mail (post-reception browsing start time). The text usefulness information generation unit 161 subtracts the reception time indicated in the transmission / reception information table 152 from the browsing start date and time indicated in the text utilization information table 155 for each mail that has been viewed, so that the browsing start time after reception is obtained. Get. By averaging the browsing start time after reception obtained for each mail, the average browsing start time after reception is obtained. In addition, it shows that the usefulness of mail is so high that the browsing start average time after reception is short.

  For example, regarding the target item “sender address”, the record on the first line shows that the average time until the receiver starts browsing the mail sent from the address “matsushita@jp.xxxx.com” is 180. Indicates minutes. The record on the second line indicates that the average time until the receiver starts browsing the mail transmitted from the address “umeshita@jp.xxxx.com” is 300 minutes. Therefore, the email sent from the address “matsushita@jp.xxxx.com” tends to be viewed more quickly than the email sent from the address “umeshita@jp.xxxx.com”. That is, the usefulness is high.

  The average browsing time is an average value of a period (browsing time) during which an email is browsed. The text usefulness information generation unit 161 obtains the browsing time by subtracting the browsing start date and time from the browsing end date and time shown in the text utilization information table 155 for each mail that is browsed. The average browsing time is obtained by averaging the browsing time obtained for each mail. In addition, it shows that the usefulness of mail is so high that average browsing time is long.

  For example, for the target item “recipient address”, the record on the first line is 120 seconds for the average time that the recipient is browsing for mail sent to the address “takeshita@jp.xxxx.com”. It is shown that. The record on the second line indicates that the average time that the recipient is browsing for the mail transmitted to the address “kanrisya@ml.jp.xxx.com” is 80 seconds. Therefore, the mail sent to the address “takeshita@jp.xxx.com” is viewed for a longer time than the mail sent to the address “kanrisya@ml.jp.xxx.com”. That is, that is, the usefulness of mail is high.

  The average number of times of browsing is an average value of the number of times of browsing (mail browsing). The text usefulness information generation unit 161 acquires the number of browsing times indicated in the text utilization information table 155 for each mail, and averages the obtained browsing counts to obtain the average browsing count. In addition, it shows that the usefulness of an email is so high that there are many average browsing frequency.

  For example, for the target item “attached file extension”, the record on the first line indicates that the average number of times the recipient has viewed the mail with the txt file (text file) attached is 0.7. ing. The record on the fifth line indicates that the average number of times the recipient has viewed the mail with the pdf file attached is 0.6. Emails with a text file attached tend to be viewed more easily than emails with a pdf file attached, such as when the attached file information is displayed on the email list. It turns out that the usefulness is high.

  The browsing ratio is a value indicating the ratio of the number of read mails per the total number of mails for each target item. The storage ratio is a value indicating the ratio of the number of stored mails per the total number of mails for each target item. The reply ratio is a value indicating the ratio of the number of replied mails per the total number of mails for each target item. The transfer ratio is a value indicating the ratio of the number of emails transferred per total number of emails for each target item. These ratios are calculated based on the text utilization information table 155 by the text usefulness information generation unit 161. In addition, it shows that the usefulness of mail is so high that each ratio is high.

  For example, for the target item “subject keyword”, the record on the first line indicates that the percentage of recipients viewing the mail in which the keyword “urgent” is used in the subject is 90%. The record on the second line indicates that the percentage of recipients viewing 30% of emails that use the keyword “reference” as the subject. Therefore, when the keyword “Urgent” is used in the subject, it can be seen that the browsing rate tends to increase, that is, the usefulness of the mail increases.

  The average reply start time after reception is an average value of the time it takes for the receiver to reply the mail after the mail reception unit 110 receives the mail (reply start time after reception). The average transfer start time after reception is an average value of the time (the transfer start time after reception) from when the mail receiving unit 110 receives a mail until the receiver transfers the mail. These ratios are determined based on the transmission / reception information table 152 and the text utilization information table 155 by the text usefulness information generation unit 161 for each reply mail or for each forwarded mail. Calculated. In addition, it shows that the usefulness of mail is so high that the reply start average time after reception or the transfer start average time after reception is short.

  For example, for the target item “send day”, the record in the first row indicates that the average time from when the recipient receives the email to when it is sent back is 250 minutes for the email sent on Monday. ing. The record on the second line indicates that the average time from when the recipient receives the mail to when it is sent back is 125 minutes for the mail sent on Tuesday. Therefore, it can be seen that the mail transmitted on Tuesday tends to reply more quickly than the mail transmitted on Monday, that is, the usefulness of the mail is higher.

  The overall evaluation is shown in three stages of A, B, and C. In this embodiment, as an example, one of the ratios (viewing ratio, storage ratio, etc.) shown in the text usefulness information table 164 is A if 70% or more, B if 40% or more, and otherwise. Is C. The comprehensive evaluation does not need to be shown in three stages, and can also be obtained as a numerical value calculated using the values described in the text usefulness information table 164.

  For example, a value obtained by performing weighted addition on each ratio may be calculated as a comprehensive evaluation. For example, the comprehensive evaluation may be calculated based on Expression 1 with α1, β1, and γ1 as weighting factors. Note that the sum of α1, β1, and γ1 is 1, for example.

  Comprehensive evaluation = browsing ratio × α1 + storage ratio × β1 + reply ratio × γ1 (Formula 1)

  Moreover, you may calculate comprehensive evaluation based not only on a ratio but on each time, such as a browsing start average time after reception. For example, a value calculated by weighted addition as in Expression 2 can be calculated as a comprehensive evaluation. Note that the weighting coefficients are α2 and β2, and for example, the sum of α2 and β2 is 1.

  Comprehensive evaluation = Average time to start browsing after reception × α2 + average browsing time × β2 (Formula 2)

  The value calculated as described above may be compared with a predetermined threshold, and the overall evaluation may be A if the threshold is equal to or greater than the threshold, and B may be B if the threshold is smaller than the threshold.

  The text usefulness information table 164 may indicate an average storage count, an average reply count, an average transfer count, an average print count, a print ratio, and the like.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an attached file usefulness information table. The attached file usefulness information table 165 is a table showing information generated by the attached file usefulness information generating unit 162 based on the transmission / reception information table 152, the attached file information table 154, and the attached file utilization information table 156. is there.

  The attached file usefulness information table 165 includes, for each sender address, recipient address, transmission day of the week, transmission time, subject keyword, and body keyword, average viewing start time after reception, average browsing time, average browsing count, browsing ratio, storage The information which matched the ratio and comprehensive evaluation is shown. The target items and their corresponding values shown here are merely examples, and are not limited to these. For example, for information that combines two or more target items (for example, the recipient address and the transmission day of the week), support the average viewing start time after reception, average browsing time, average browsing count, browsing rate, storage rate, and comprehensive evaluation The attached information may be indicated.

  The after-reception browsing start average time is an average value of the time it takes for the recipient to browse the attached file attached to the mail after the mail receiving unit 110 receives the mail (post-reception browsing start time). The attached file usefulness information generating unit 162 subtracts the reception time shown in the transmission / reception information table 152 from the browsing start date and time shown in the attached file utilization information table 156 for each of the browsed attached files. Get browsing start time. By averaging the browsing start time after reception obtained for each attached file, the average browsing start time after reception is obtained. In addition, it shows that the usefulness of an attached file is so high that the browsing start average time after reception is short.

  For example, regarding the target item “attached file size”, the record on the first line indicates the time required for the recipient to view the file attached to the mail with respect to the mail with the attached file having a size smaller than 1 MB. Is 155 minutes. The record in the second row indicates that the time required for the recipient to view the file attached to the mail is 235 minutes with respect to the mail with the attached file of 1 MB to 2 MB in size. Yes. Therefore, it can be seen that the attached file having a smaller size tends to be browsed more quickly.

  The average browsing time is an average value of a period during which an attached file attached to an email is being browsed (browsing time). The attached file usefulness information generation unit 162 obtains the viewing time by subtracting the viewing start date and time from the viewing end date and time shown in the attached file utilization information table 156 for each browsed attached file. The average browsing time is obtained by averaging the browsing time obtained for each mail. In addition, it shows that the usefulness of an attached file is so high that average browsing time is long.

  For example, regarding the target item “text keyword”, the record in the first line indicates that the time when the recipient is viewing the file attached to the mail is 260 when the keyword “urgent” is used in the text. Indicates seconds. The record on the second line indicates that for a mail in which the keyword “reference” is used in the text, the recipient is viewing the file attached to the mail for 330 seconds. . Therefore, it can be seen that when the keyword “reference” is used in the text, the rate at which the attached file is viewed tends to increase, that is, the usefulness of the attached file tends to increase.

  The average browsing count is an average value of the number of browsing (viewing count) of the attached file attached to the mail. The attached file usefulness information generating unit 162 obtains the average number of times of browsing by obtaining the number of times of browsing shown in the attached file utilization information table 156 for each attached file and averaging the obtained number of times of browsing. In addition, it shows that the usefulness of an attached file is so high that there are many average browsing frequency.

  For example, regarding the target item “number of attached files”, the record in the first line is 0.7 times for the recipient to view the file attached to the mail for the mail having the number of attached files of 1. It is shown that. The record on the second line indicates that the number of times that the recipient views the file attached to the mail is 0.3 times for the mail having the number of attached files of two. Therefore, it can be seen that when the number of attached files increases from 1 to 2, the average number of browsing tends to be less than half.

  The browsing ratio is a value indicating the ratio of the number of attached files browsed per number of attached files attached to all mails for each target item. The storage ratio is a value indicating the ratio of the number of stored attached files per the number of attached files attached to all mails for each target item. These ratios are calculated by the attached file usefulness information generating unit 162 based on the attached file utilization information table 156. In addition, it shows that the usefulness of an attached file is so high that each ratio is high.

  For example, regarding the target item “transmission time”, the record in the first line indicates that the ratio of the recipients viewing the file attached to the mail is 55 between 00:00 and 00:59. %. The record in the second row indicates that the percentage of recipients viewing a file attached to the mail is 30% for the mail transmitted between 01:00 and 01:59. Therefore, the attached file attached to the mail sent between 00:00 and 00:59 is viewed more than the attached file attached to the mail sent between 01:00 and 01:59. This indicates that the ratio of the attached file tends to be high, that is, the usefulness of the attached file is high.

  The comprehensive evaluation is shown in three stages of A, B, and C, similarly to the comprehensive evaluation shown in FIG. As in FIG. 7, for example, one of the ratios (viewing ratio, storage ratio, etc.) shown in the attached file usefulness information table 165 is A if it is 70% or more, B if it is 40% or more, otherwise Is C. The comprehensive evaluation may be indicated in other forms such as a numerical value.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of pre-transmission mail information. As shown in the figure, the pre-transmission mail information includes transmission information 201, pre-transmission mail text information 202, and pre-transmission attached file information 203.

  The transmission information 201 is information regarding transmission of the pre-transmission mail acquired by the transmission information acquisition unit 171. The transmission information 201 indicates a scheduled transmission time, a sender address, a destination type, a recipient address, and a destination designation address.

  The pre-transmission mail text information 202 is information regarding the text of the pre-transmission mail acquired by the pre-transmission text information acquisition unit 172. The pre-transmission mail text information 202 indicates the title (mail subject), the mail text, and the number of attached files. Similar to the text information table 153 shown in FIG. 3, only the extracted keywords may be shown for the title and the mail text.

  The pre-transmission attached file information 203 is information related to the pre-transmission attached file acquired by the pre-transmission attached file information acquisition unit 173. The attached file information before transmission indicates an attached file name, an attached file extension, and a size. Records as many as the number of attached files. As with the attached file information table 154 shown in FIG. 4, only the extracted keyword may be shown for the attached file name.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the exclusion information table. As shown in the figure, the exclusion information table 194 shows the value of the target item, the validity period, and the exclusion target for each target item.

  As shown in the figure, for example, when the target item is the transmission date and time, the value of the target item indicates the date and time, and within the valid period, it is excluded from the target of the pre-transmission warning as indicated by the exclusion target. When the target item is an attached file name, the value of the target item indicates a word as a keyword, and is excluded from the target of the pre-transmission warning as indicated by the target of exclusion during the effective period. When the target item is a recipient address, the value of the target item indicates a mail address, and is excluded from the generation target of usefulness information as indicated by the target for exclusion within the valid period.

  Note that the exclusion target may indicate other processes or may indicate a plurality of processes. For example, the processing of the notification unit 185 or the billing unit 186 may be shown.

  Next, the operation of the electronic mail transmission control apparatus according to this embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the operation from when the e-mail transmission control apparatus according to the present embodiment receives e-mail until it generates usefulness information.

  FIG. 11A is a flowchart showing an operation from when the e-mail transmission control apparatus according to the present embodiment receives mail until information related to the received mail is accumulated.

  First, the mail receiving unit 110 receives a mail (S101). Next, the mail storage unit 120 decrypts the received mail and stores the decrypted mail (S102).

  Next, the transmission / reception information acquisition unit 131 acquires transmission / reception information from the stored mail (S103). At this time, if the transmission server is accessible, such as when the mail is an in-house mail, transmission / reception information may be acquired from the transmission server.

  Subsequently, the text information acquisition unit 132 acquires text information (S104). Then, the attached file information acquisition unit 133 determines whether or not an attached file is attached to the mail (S105). Specifically, the attached file information acquisition unit 133 refers to the number of attached files indicated by the acquired body information, and determines whether the number of attached files is 1 or more. Note that either transmission / reception information acquisition (S103) or text information acquisition (S104) may be executed in advance.

  When the attached file information acquisition unit 133 determines that the attached file is attached to the mail (Yes in S105), the attached file information acquisition unit 133 acquires the attached file information (S106).

  The storage unit 150 stores the information acquired by each processing unit in the buffer 151 (S107). That is, when the attached file information acquisition unit 133 determines that no attached file is attached to the mail (No in S105), the storage unit 150 stores the transmission / reception information and the text information in the buffer 151. When the attached file information acquisition unit 133 determines that the attached file is attached to the mail (Yes in S105), the storage unit 150 stores the transmission / reception information, the text information, and the attached file information in the buffer 151.

  As described above, the electronic mail transmission control apparatus according to the present embodiment accumulates information related to received mail.

  Next, an operation of acquiring the utilization information of the mail text and attached file will be described.

  FIG. 11B is a flowchart illustrating an operation in which the e-mail transmission control apparatus according to the present embodiment acquires a mail utilization status. For example, the utilization information acquisition process is executed when the Web mail system detects browsing of mail.

  First, the text usage information acquisition unit 141 acquires text usage information of an email viewed by the recipient (S111).

  Next, the attached file utilization information acquisition unit 142 determines whether or not an attached file is attached to the mail (S112). When the attached file utilization information acquisition unit 142 determines that the attachment file is attached to the mail (Yes in S112), the attachment file utilization information acquisition unit 142 acquires the attachment file utilization information (S113).

  The accumulation unit 150 accumulates the information acquired by each processing unit in the buffer 151 (S114). That is, when the attached file utilization information acquisition unit 142 determines that an attached file is not attached to the mail (No in S112), the accumulation unit 150 accumulates the text utilization information in the buffer 151. When the attached file utilization information acquisition unit 142 determines that the attached file is attached to the mail (Yes in S112), the accumulation unit 150 accumulates the text utilization information and the attached file utilization information in the buffer 151.

  As described above, the electronic mail transmission control apparatus according to the present embodiment accumulates information related to the utilization status of mail viewed by the recipient.

  In the above description, the utilization information is acquired when it is detected that the recipient has read the mail. However, the utilization information may be periodically acquired every several hours. Thereby, even if it is a case where a recipient does not browse, utilization information including not being browsed can be acquired.

  Next, an operation for generating mail usefulness information will be described.

  FIG. 11C is a flowchart showing an operation in which the e-mail transmission control apparatus of this embodiment generates usefulness information. The usefulness information generation process is performed, for example, as a nighttime batch process.

  The text usefulness information generation unit 161 generates text usefulness information based on the accumulated transmission / reception information, text information, and text utilization information, and updates the value shown in the text usefulness information table 164 (S121).

  Finally, the attached file usefulness information generation unit 162 generates attached file usefulness information based on the accumulated transmission / reception information, attached file information, and attached file utilization information, and sets the value shown in the attached file usefulness information table 165. Update (S122).

  Note that either the text usefulness information generation (S110) or the attached file usefulness information generation (S111) may be executed in advance. Note that when the attached file information and the attached file utilization information are not accumulated at all, the generation process of the attached file usefulness information is not executed.

  As described above, the e-mail transmission control apparatus 100 generates usefulness information used for control for reducing the amount of mail transmission by analyzing the received mail. The electronic mail transmission control apparatus 100 executes various processes for reducing the amount of mail transmission using the generated usefulness information. For example, a warning is given to the sender when sending mail. In addition, the sender is regularly notified of the utilization status of the emails sent so far. In addition, billing is performed according to the utilization status of mail.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an operation in which the e-mail transmission control apparatus of this embodiment issues a warning to the sender.

  First, when a mail transmission instruction is acquired from the sender, the mail information acquisition unit 170 before transmission acquires mail information before transmission (S201). Specifically, the transmission information acquisition unit 171 acquires transmission information, and the pre-transmission text information acquisition unit 172 acquires pre-transmission text information. The attached file information acquisition unit 173 before transmission determines whether or not an attached file is attached to the mail before transmission, and acquires an attached file before transmission when the attached file is attached.

  Next, the determination unit 181 collates the acquired pre-transmission mail information with the exclusion information (S202). Thereby, when at least one of the information included in the pre-transmission mail information applies to the exclusion target indicated by the exclusion information (Yes in S203), the determination unit 181 and the pre-transmission warning unit 184 do nothing and the pre-transmission mail Is sent as is.

  When at least one piece of information included in the pre-send mail information does not fall into the exclusion target indicated by the exclusion information (No in S203), the determination unit 181 uses the pre-send mail information and the usefulness information to Determine usefulness.

  First, the attached file usefulness determination unit 183 determines whether an attached file is attached to the pre-transmission mail based on the pre-transmission mail information (S204). Specifically, it is determined whether or not the number of attached files indicated in the pre-transmission mail information is one or more.

  When an attached file is attached to the pre-transmission mail (Yes in S204), the attached file usefulness determination unit 183 collates the attached file usefulness information with the pre-transmission attached file information (S205). The attached file usefulness determination unit 183 collates the usefulness shown in the attached file usefulness information table 165 for each piece of information included in the pre-transmission attached file information, thereby determining whether the attached file usefulness is low. Is determined (S206). For example, when the comprehensive evaluation corresponding to at least one item is C, it is determined that the attached file before transmission is low in usefulness.

  When it is determined that the usefulness of the attached file before transmission is not low (No in S206), the text usefulness determination unit 182 collates the text usefulness information with the text information before transmission (S207). The text usefulness determination unit 182 checks whether the text usefulness of the mail before transmission is low by checking the usefulness shown in the text usefulness information table 164 for each piece of information included in the text information before transmission. Judgment is made (S208). For example, when the comprehensive evaluation corresponding to at least one item is C, it is determined that the usefulness of the text of the mail before transmission is low.

  If it is determined that the usefulness of the text of the pre-send mail is not low (No in S208), the pre-send warning unit 184 does nothing and the pre-send mail is sent as it is.

  When it is determined that the usefulness of the attached file before transmission is low (Yes in S206), or when it is determined that the usefulness of the text of the mail before transmission is low (Yes in S208), the pre-transmission warning unit 184 A warning is given to the sender (S209). Details of the warning will be described later.

  As described above, the e-mail transmission control apparatus 100 determines the usefulness of the pre-transmission e-mail when the sender is about to send e-mail right now. If it is determined that the usefulness is low, a warning can be issued to the sender. Thereby, since the sender can receive a warning at the time of mail transmission, it is possible to determine the validity of the mail on the spot and to avoid sending useless mail. Therefore, server resources can be used effectively.

  In the above description, when the comprehensive evaluation corresponding to at least one item is C, it is determined that the usefulness of the attached file before transmission is low. However, the criterion for determination is whatever Good.

  For example, when the comprehensive evaluation corresponding to all items is C, it may be determined that the usefulness is low. Furthermore, when the number of items whose overall evaluation is C is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, it may be determined that the usefulness is low. Further, the number of items whose overall evaluation is B may be determined in combination with the number of items whose C is C.

  For example, other information shown in the attached file usefulness information table 165 may be used. When the value indicated by the other information is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, it can be determined that the usefulness is low. Specifically, when the average browsing ratio is 70% or less, it may be determined that the usefulness is low. Further, when the average number of browsing is 0.9 times or less, it may be determined that the usefulness is low. Further, a combination of these may be used. Note that the threshold used for the determination may be freely changed and determined by a mail server administrator or the like.

  Moreover, you may perform a collation process (S202) with exclusion information, when it is judged that usefulness is low (it is Yes at S206 or S208).

  Next, details of warning performed by the pre-transmission warning unit 184 to the sender will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a message displayed on the sender's mail receiving terminal.

  As shown in the figure, when the sender gives an instruction to send mail, the above-described exclusion target determination process and usefulness determination process are executed. As a result of each determination process, when the pre-transmission warning unit 184 warns the sender, a warning as shown in FIG. 13 is displayed on a mail receiving terminal such as a PC. By receiving the warning, the sender can edit the mail that was being sent.

  As a result, the exclusion target determination process and the usefulness determination process are executed again on the edited mail. If no warning is given as a result of each determination process, a message indicating that the transmission of the mail has been completed is displayed.

  Next, the warning message shown in FIG. 13 will be described with a specific example. Here, it is assumed that the usefulness information shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is obtained, and the pre-transmission mail information shown in FIG. 9 is obtained from the pre-transmission mail. In this case, an example in which the pre-transmission warning unit 184 gives a warning to the sender will be described. For simplicity, it is assumed that there is no exclusion information.

  For each item shown in the pre-transmission mail information of FIG. 9, the determination unit 181 determines whether the usefulness of the pre-transmission mail is low.

  More specifically, the attached file usefulness determination unit 183 determines whether the attached file is useful for each item of transmission time, sender address, destination type, recipient address, attached file name, attached file extension, and attached file size. With reference to the degree information table 165, the usefulness of the attached file is determined. The attached file usefulness determination unit 183 is predetermined for each item such as a transmission time, and each of the reception start average time after reception of the attached file, the average browsing time, the average number of browsing times, the browsing rate, and the storage rate are determined in advance. The usefulness is determined by comparing the threshold.

  For example, referring to the attached file usefulness information table 165, when the average after-reception browsing start time of the target item is larger than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the usefulness of the attached file before transmission is low. When the average browsing time, average browsing count, browsing ratio, or storage ratio of the target item is smaller than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the usefulness of the pre-transmission attached file is low.

  Further, the attached file usefulness determination unit 183 may determine the usefulness of the attached file before transmission based on the comprehensive evaluation. For example, when the comprehensive evaluation is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the usefulness of the attached file before transmission is low.

  The text usefulness determination unit 182 refers to the text usefulness information table 164 for each of the items of transmission time, sender address, destination type, recipient address, title (mail subject), mail text, and number of attached files. Then, the usefulness of the body text of the mail before transmission is determined. The text usefulness determination unit 182 includes, for each item such as a transmission time, an average viewing start time after reception of the text, an average browsing time, an average browsing count, a browsing ratio, a storage ratio, an average reply starting time after reception, a reply ratio, and a reception The usefulness is determined by comparing each of the average post-transfer start time and the transfer rate with a predetermined threshold value.

  For example, referring to the text usefulness information table 164, when the average viewing start time after reception, the average reply starting time after reception, or the average transfer start time after receiving is greater than a predetermined threshold, the usefulness of the mail before transmission Judge that the degree is low. When the average browsing time, average browsing count, browsing rate, storage rate, reply rate, or transfer rate of the target item is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that the usefulness of the mail before transmission is low.

  In addition, the text usefulness determination unit 182 may determine the usefulness of the pre-transmission mail based on the comprehensive evaluation. For example, when the comprehensive evaluation is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the usefulness of the attached file before transmission is low.

  The determination for each item may be made in any order. Further, it is not necessary to make a determination for all items, and a determination may be made for a predetermined number of items. Further, when it is determined that the usefulness of one item is low, it is not necessary to make a determination for an item that has not been determined yet.

  In the following description, for simplicity, it is assumed that the usefulness is determined to be low when the comprehensive evaluation is C.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the recipient address is “takeshita @ jp. xxx. com ". Referring to the attached file usefulness information table 165, the ratio of browsing the attached file corresponding to the recipient address is 30%, and the overall evaluation is C. Therefore, the attached file usefulness determination unit 183 determines that the attached file has a low usefulness, and the pre-transmission warning unit 184 warns the sender. Warnings include, for example, visual, auditory, or tactile methods. For example, a warning is given to the sender by displaying a message on the sender's mail browsing terminal, making a buzzer sound from the mail browsing terminal, or vibrating the mail browsing terminal.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a warning message based on a usefulness determination result for a recipient of a pre-transmission mail with an attached file. The pre-transmission warning unit 184 creates a warning message as shown in the figure and displays it on the sender's PC screen, for example. The warning message also shows advice for increasing the usefulness of the attached file. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, a message “send the text part of the attached txt file and expand and send it” is displayed. The sender can select re-editing of mail according to the screen display.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the number of attached files is two. Referring to the attached file usefulness information table 165, the percentage of browsing the attached file corresponding to the case where the number of attached files is two is 25%, and the overall evaluation is C. Therefore, the attached file usefulness determination unit 183 determines that the attached file has a low usefulness, and the pre-transmission warning unit 184 warns the sender.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a warning message based on the determination result of the usefulness with respect to the number of attached files. The pre-transmission warning unit 184 creates a warning message as shown in the figure and displays it on the sender's PC screen.

  As another example, FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a warning message based on the determination result of the usefulness for the type of attached file. If the attached file before transmission is an exe file, referring to the attached file usefulness information table 165, the browsing rate corresponding to the exe file is 10%, and the overall evaluation is C. Therefore, a warning message as shown in FIG. 16 is created and displayed on the sender's screen or the like.

  As described above, the example of the warning based on the determination of the usefulness of the attached file before transmission has been described, but the warning may be performed by determining the usefulness of the mail before transmission.

  For example, FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a warning message based on the determination result of the scheduled mail transmission time. As shown in the figure, when the scheduled transmission time of the email belongs to the time zone from 22:00 to 23:00 on Friday, the email sent in this time zone is read by referring to the text usefulness information table. It is determined by the text usefulness determination unit 182 that the time zone is a time zone from 11:00 to 12:00 on Monday.

  Furthermore, the text usefulness determination unit 182 determines a time zone suitable for transmission, rather than transmitting in the time zone from 22:00 to 23:00 on Friday. Note that the time zone suitable for transmission is a time zone for the recipient to browse earlier. FIG. 17 shows an example in which it is determined that a suitable time zone is a time zone from 7:00 to 8:00 on Monday.

  In response to the determination by the text usefulness determination unit 182 as described above, the pre-transmission warning unit 184 transmits a warning message as shown in FIG. 15 to the sender. As shown in the figure, the pre-transmission warning unit 184 embeds in a message a process that can be transmitted by a timer in a time zone determined by the text usefulness level determination unit 182 as a suitable time zone. As a result, the sender can perform optimal mail transmission without making a complicated determination.

  In the above description, the warning is made by determining the usefulness for each item. However, the determination may be made by combining a plurality of items. For example, as in the case of calculating the comprehensive evaluation, the usefulness is determined by comparing a value calculated by simple weighted addition using a weighting factor with a threshold value.

  Next, a specific example of notification output by the notification unit 185 will be described.

  The notification unit 185 periodically notifies all the senders indicated by the sender address in the transmission / reception information table 152 with a notification message indicating the utilization status of the mail transmitted so far.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a notification message notified to the sender. The notification message in the figure shows information that combines the browsing status of the email text and the destination type as the usage status of the email.

  The notification message is not limited to the browsing status of the text, but is related to the notification target among the information shown in the text usefulness information table 164 and the attached file usefulness information table 165 such as the browsing rate, the reply rate, and the comprehensive evaluation. Any information may be notified as long as it is information.

  Further, the notification message is notified to all the senders, but the notification message may be notified only to a sender whose mail transmission amount exceeds a predetermined threshold. Or you may notify a notification message only with respect to the sender whose amount of transmission of the mail with low usefulness exceeded a predetermined threshold. In this case, for example, the storage unit 150 manages the amount of mail transmitted or the amount of mail transmitted with low usefulness for each sender. The notification unit 185 notifies a necessary sender by comparing with a threshold value for each sender.

  Further, the notification unit 185 may periodically notify the mailing list manager of a notification message indicating the utilization status of the mails transmitted using the mailing list so far. A notification message may be notified to the administrator of the mail server.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of a notification message notified to the mailing list administrator. The notification message in the figure shows the browsing status of the email text and the browsing status for each type of attached file as the usage status of the email. As shown in FIG. 19, the notification unit 185 simultaneously notifies a warning such as “limit transmission file size”.

  As described above, the e-mail transmission control device according to the present embodiment periodically notifies a mail user such as a sender of a notification message indicating the utilization status of the mail transmitted so far, The user can be prompted to improve the utilization status of the mail. As a result, it is possible to reduce the amount of emails that are less useful.

  Next, accounting processing for a sender or the like performed by the accounting unit 186 will be described.

  Based on the text usefulness information table 164 and the attached file usefulness information table 165, the charging unit 186 determines a charging amount for each charging target such as a sender, and imposes the determined charging amount. For example, the billing unit 186 determines a billing amount once a month or year, and the determined billing amount is notified to the sender and the like simultaneously with the notification of the notification unit 185.

  The billing unit 186 refers to the billing amount table in which the usefulness and the billing amount are associated with each other, and determines the billing amount corresponding to the usefulness obtained from the usefulness information. The billing amount table 186 may store the billing amount table.

  FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of the charge amount table. The charge amount table in FIG. 6 is a table in which the comprehensive evaluation and the charge amount are associated with each other. The higher the comprehensive evaluation, the smaller the charge amount.

  The charging unit 186 determines the charging amount by referring to the charging amount table, but the charging amount may be calculated using a predetermined parameter. For example, the billing amount is calculated so as to be inversely proportional to the mail browsing rate.

  As described above, it is possible to urge the sender to reduce the transmission amount of the mail having low usefulness by imposing a high billing amount on the sender having a large amount of transmission of the low usefulness mail. Thereby, server resources can be used effectively.

  Next, a configuration for extracting a keyword from a mail text or a title when acquiring mail information will be described.

  FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a mail information acquisition unit having a function of extracting a keyword. The electronic mail transmission control apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment may include a mail information acquisition unit 230 shown in the figure instead of the mail information acquisition unit 130. The mail information acquisition unit 230 includes a transmission / reception information acquisition unit 131, a text information acquisition unit 232, an attached file information acquisition unit 233, a keyword extraction unit 234, and a buffer 235.

  In addition to the operation of the text information acquisition unit 132, the text information acquisition unit 232 outputs the text and title of the email acquired from the email storage unit 120 to the keyword extraction unit 234. Further, the keyword extracted by the keyword extraction unit 234 is included in the text information and output to the storage unit 150.

  In addition to the operation of the attachment file information acquisition unit 133, the attachment file information acquisition unit 233 outputs the title of the attachment file acquired from the mail storage unit 120 to the keyword extraction unit 234. Further, the keyword extracted by the keyword extraction unit 234 is included in the attached file information and output to the storage unit 150.

  The keyword extraction unit 234 extracts keywords shown in the keyword database 236 stored in the buffer 235 from the mail text or title or the title of the attached file. The extracted keywords are output to the text information acquisition unit 232 and the attached file information acquisition unit 233, respectively.

  The buffer 235 stores the keyword database 236. The keyword database 236 is a database indicating keywords to be extracted designated by a user or the like.

  FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of the keyword database 236. The keyword database 236 shows frequently used keywords such as “important”, “urgent”, and “customer”. In addition, a keyword designated by the user to be extracted is indicated. The keyword can be freely changed (added, deleted, etc.) by the user.

  In addition, although the structure which extracts a keyword in the mail information acquisition part 230 was demonstrated, you may extract a keyword also in the mail information acquisition part 170 before transmission of FIG. At this time, the keyword database 236 can be shared. The usefulness information generation unit 160 can also generate the text usefulness information table 164 and the attached file usefulness information table 165 with reference to the keyword database 236.

  As described above, in the text information and the attached file information, the required memory amount can be reduced by storing the keyword instead of the mail text. Also, since the usefulness is determined for each keyword, the usefulness can be easily determined.

  As described above, the electronic mail transmission control apparatus according to the present embodiment calculates the usefulness for each mail property by statistically analyzing the utilization state of the mail that has already been transmitted. Based on the calculated usefulness level, the usefulness level of the email to be transmitted from now on is determined. If it is determined that the usefulness level is low, the sender is controlled with a warning or the like. Accordingly, it is possible to prompt effective transmission of mail by notifying the sender that the mail is low in usefulness without imposing a burden on the sender. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of mail that is less useful and to effectively use server resources.

  As mentioned above, although the e-mail transmission control apparatus and method of the present invention have been described based on the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. Unless it deviates from the meaning of this invention, what gave the various deformation | transformation which those skilled in the art can consider to embodiment is also contained in the scope of the present invention.

  For example, the pre-transmission warning unit 184 not only warns the sender, but may prohibit transmission of pre-transmission mail when the usefulness of the pre-transmission mail is too low.

  FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a mail browsing ratio, which is an example of usefulness, and types of warning processing performed by the pre-transmission warning unit 184. As shown in the figure, when the mail browsing ratio is 0 to 20%, transmission of mail before transmission is forcibly prohibited. The pre-transmission warning unit 184 holds the table shown in the figure, and refers to the table based on the usefulness obtained from the determination unit 181 (here, the mail browsing rate), thereby corresponding warning processing. Execute. At this time, the pre-transmission warning unit 184 creates a warning message indicating that the message is forcibly prohibited and displays it on the mail receiving terminal.

  FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of a warning message when mail transmission is forcibly prohibited. As shown in the figure, an indication that mail transmission is forcibly prohibited, and the reason and solution means are shown.

  Further, the determination unit 181 may detect a tendency of usefulness for each item using the text usefulness information table 164 and the attached file usefulness information table 165. The control unit 180 may perform various controls based on the detected tendency. For example, when the determination unit 181 detects a tendency that the usefulness decreases as the size of the attached file increases, the pre-transmission warning unit 184 prohibits the transmission of the attached file having a size equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold in advance. May be.

  The electronic mail transmission control device of the present invention may include a monitoring unit that monitors the operating status of the server, and may change the type of control according to the operating status acquired by the monitoring unit. For example, the usefulness threshold value is increased when the operating status of the server exceeds a predetermined threshold value. As a result, for example, a warning message can be displayed for more mails, and the amount of mail transmission can be reduced.

  As an example, when the server is operating normally, a warning message is displayed only when the comprehensive evaluation is C, whereas the operating status of the server exceeds a predetermined threshold (for example, 80%). If the total evaluation is B, a warning message is also displayed.

  Moreover, the electronic mail transmission control apparatus of this invention may memorize | store the frequency | count (warning frequency) or ratio (warning ratio) which performed the warning for every sender. Processing such as notification, billing, and warning may be performed for a sender whose number of warnings or warning ratio exceeds a predetermined threshold. For example, a higher amount than usual is charged for a sender whose number of warnings exceeds a predetermined number. As a result, it is possible to reduce the transmission amount of mail having low usefulness. The warning ratio is indicated by, for example, the number of e-mails that issued a warning among all e-mails transmitted by a certain sender.

  The electronic mail transmission control apparatus of the present invention may include a mailing list management table. The mailing list management table is a table for managing the mail addresses of members for each mailing list. The electronic mail transmission control device determines the usefulness of mail transmitted using the mailing list, and calculates the number or percentage of mails with low usefulness for each mailing list. When the calculated value exceeds a predetermined threshold, the above-described control may be performed on all members by referring to the mailing list management table. Moreover, you may give warnings, such as a mailing list stop. Furthermore, when the amount of mail that is too low in usefulness is large, the mailing list may be forcibly deleted.

  The present invention can also be realized as a method using the processing means constituting the above-described apparatus as a step. Moreover, you may implement | achieve as a program which makes a computer perform these steps. Furthermore, it may be realized as a recording medium such as a computer-readable CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory) in which the program is recorded, and information, data, or a signal indicating the program. These programs, information, data, and signals may be distributed via a communication network such as the Internet.

  The present invention can be used as an electronic mail transmission control apparatus, and can be used for, for example, an in-house mail server.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the electronic mail transmission control apparatus of this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the transmission / reception information table. It is a figure which shows an example of a text information table. It is a figure which shows an example of an attachment file information table. It is a figure which shows an example of a text utilization information table. It is a figure which shows an example of an attached file utilization information table. It is a figure which shows an example of a text usefulness information table. It is a figure which shows an example of an attached file usefulness information table. It is a figure which shows an example of mail information before transmission. It is a figure which shows an example of an exclusion information table. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement until the email transmission control apparatus of this Embodiment produces | generates usefulness information after receiving a mail. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which the e-mail transmission control apparatus of this Embodiment alerts a sender. It is a figure which shows an example of the message displayed on a sender | mail sender's mail receiving terminal. It is a figure which shows an example of the warning message based on the judgment result of the usefulness with respect to the recipient of the mail before transmission with an attached file. It is a figure which shows an example of the warning message based on the judgment result of the usefulness with respect to the number of attached files. It is a figure which shows an example of the warning message based on the judgment result of the usefulness with respect to the kind of attached file. It is a figure which shows an example of the warning message based on the judgment result of the transmission time of mail. It is a figure which shows an example of the notification message notified to a sender. It is a figure which shows an example of the notification message of the mail notified to the administrator of a mailing list. It is a figure which shows an example of the table which matched comprehensive evaluation and charging amount. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the mail information acquisition part provided with the function to extract a keyword. It is a figure which shows an example of a keyword database. It is a figure which shows the browsing ratio of the mail which is an example of usefulness, and the kind of warning process which the warning part before transmission performs. It is a figure which shows an example of the warning message when transmission of mail is forcibly prohibited.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 E-mail transmission control apparatus 110 Mail receiving part 120 Mail storage part 121 Mail decoding part 122 Storage part 130, 230 Mail information acquisition part 131 Transmission / reception information acquisition part 132,232 Text information acquisition part 133,233 Attachment file information acquisition part 140 Utilization information acquisition unit 141 Text utilization information acquisition unit 142 Attachment file utilization information acquisition unit 150 Storage units 151, 163, 193, 235 Buffer 152 Transmission / reception information table 153 Body information table 154 Attachment file information table 155 Body utilization information table 156 Attachment file utilization Information Table 160 Usefulness Information Generation Unit 161 Text Usefulness Information Generation Unit 162 Attachment File Usefulness Information Generation Unit 164 Body Usefulness Information Table 165 Attachment File Usefulness Information Table 170 Mail Information Acquisition Unit 1 Before Transmission 71 Transmission Information Acquisition Unit 172 Pre-Transmission Text Information Acquisition Unit 173 Pre-Transmission Attachment File Information Acquisition Unit 180 Control Unit 181 Determination Unit 182 Text Usefulness Determination Unit 183 Attachment File Usefulness Determination Unit 184 Pre-Transmission Warning Unit 185 Notification Unit 186 Accounting Unit 190 Exclusion information acquisition unit 191 Activity information acquisition unit 192 Exclusion information generation unit 194 Exclusion information table 201 Transmission information 202 Mail text information before transmission 203 Attached file information before transmission 234 Keyword extraction unit 236 Keyword database

Claims (24)

Email information acquisition means for acquiring email information indicating the nature of the email;
Utilization information acquisition means for acquiring email utilization information indicating the utilization status of the email;
Usefulness information generation that uses the mail information and the mail utilization information to generate mail usefulness information that indicates the usefulness of an e-mail that becomes higher as the e-mail is used more frequently for each property of the e-mail. Means,
Pre-transmission mail information acquisition means for acquiring pre-transmission mail information indicating the nature of the e-mail before transmission;
When sending the pre-transmission e-mail, referring to the e-mail usefulness indicated in the e-mail usefulness information corresponding to the property indicated by the pre-transmission e-mail information, An e-mail transmission control apparatus comprising: control means for performing control so as to reduce a transmission amount. The control means includes
Usefulness to determine whether the usefulness of the e-mail before transmission is low by referring to the usefulness of the e-mail indicated in the e-mail usefulness information corresponding to the property indicated by the pre-transmission e-mail information. A determination unit;
Pre-transmission warning that warns the sender of the e-mail when transmitting the e-mail before transmission when the usefulness determination unit determines that the e-mail before transmission is low The electronic mail transmission control device according to claim 1, further comprising: The mail information acquisition means acquires attached file information indicating the nature of the attached file attached to the e-mail,
The utilization information acquisition means acquires attached file utilization information indicating the utilization status of the attached file,
The usefulness information generating means uses the attached file information and the attached file utilization information, and indicates the usefulness of the attached file that becomes a higher value as the attached file is used more frequently for each property of the e-mail. Generate file usability information,
The pre-send email information acquisition means acquires pre-send attachment information indicating the nature of the attached file attached to the email before sending,
The usefulness determination unit refers to the attached file usefulness information, determines whether the attached file corresponding to the property indicated by the pre-transmission attached file information has a low usefulness,
The pre-transmission warning unit warns the sender of the e-mail when sending the pre-transmission e-mail when the usefulness determination unit determines that the usefulness of the attached file is low. The electronic mail transmission control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the electronic mail transmission control apparatus performs the electronic mail transmission control apparatus. The mail information acquisition means acquires information on at least one of the file name, type, size, and number of attached files attached to an e-mail as the attached file information,
The usefulness information generating means sets at least one of the file name, type, size, and number of attached files based on the attached file utilization information as the property of the e-mail, and the attached file corresponding to the property The e-mail transmission control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the attached file usefulness information is generated by calculating the usefulness of the attached file. The utilization information acquisition means acquires information on at least one of the browsing time, browsing count, browsing time, and storage count of the attached file as the attached file usage information,
The usefulness information generation means relates to information on at least one of the file name, type, size, and number of the attached file, and at least one of the browsing time, browsing count, browsing time, and storage count of the attached file. The e-mail transmission control according to claim 4, wherein the attached file usefulness information is generated by calculating the usefulness of the attached file corresponding to the property with the information as the property of the e-mail. apparatus. The usefulness information generating means, the more the number of times the attached file is viewed or stored, the shorter the time from when the attached file is received until the attached file is viewed, or The electronic mail transmission control device according to claim 5, wherein the attached file usefulness information is generated by calculating the usefulness of the attached file such that the longer the browsing time is, the higher the value is. The pre-send mail information acquisition unit corresponds to at least one of the information indicated in the attached file usefulness information among the information on the file name, type, size, and number of attached files attached to the e-mail before sending. Information to be acquired as the attached file information before transmission,
The usefulness determination unit refers to the attached file usefulness information so that the usefulness of the attached file corresponding to the information acquired as the pre-transmission attached file information by the pre-transmission mail information acquisition unit is predetermined. Determine whether it is less than the threshold,
The pre-transmission warning unit, when the usefulness determination unit determines that the usefulness of the attached file is smaller than the predetermined threshold, when sending an e-mail before transmission, The electronic mail transmission control device according to claim 5, wherein warning is performed. The mail information acquisition means further acquires, as the mail information, information on at least one of the sender, destination type, recipient, transmission time, reception time, title, and body of the email,
The usefulness information generation means further determines at least one of the sender, destination type, recipient, transmission time, reception time, title, and text of the email based on the email information. The email usefulness information is generated by calculating the usefulness of the email corresponding to the property. The email transmission control device according to claim 3, wherein the email usefulness information is generated. The utilization information acquisition means further utilizes the information regarding at least one of the browsing time, browsing count, browsing time, reply count, reply time, transfer count, transfer time, save count, and print count of the email. As information,
The usefulness information generation means includes information related to at least one of the sender, destination type, recipient, transmission time, title, and text of the email, the browsing time of the email, the number of browsing times, the browsing time, and the reply By calculating the usefulness of the e-mail corresponding to the property, the information on at least one of the number of times, the reply time, the transfer number, the transfer time, the number of times of storage, and the number of times of printing is the property of the e-mail, The e-mail transmission control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein e-mail usefulness information is generated. The usefulness information generating means has a shorter time from when the e-mail is received until it is viewed, replied or forwarded as the e-mail is viewed, replied, transferred, stored, and printed. The mail usefulness information is generated by calculating the usefulness of the e-mail so that the value becomes higher as the viewing time of the e-mail becomes longer. E-mail transmission control device. The pre-transmission e-mail information acquisition means is further acquired as the e-mail information out of information related to at least one of the sender, destination type, recipient, scheduled transmission time, title, and body of the e-mail before transmission. Information corresponding to at least one of the information is acquired as the email information before transmission,
The usefulness determination unit refers to the email usefulness information, and the usefulness of the email before transmission corresponding to the information acquired as the email information before transmission by the email information acquisition unit before transmission is predetermined. Determine whether it is less than the threshold,
The pre-transmission warning unit transmits a pre-transmission e-mail when the usefulness determination unit determines that the pre-transmission e-mail is less useful than the predetermined threshold. The e-mail transmission control device according to claim 9, wherein a warning is given to a person. The e-mail transmission control apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the pre-transmission warning unit further presents information for increasing the usefulness of the e-mail at the same time as giving a warning. The pre-transmission warning unit further prohibits transmission of the e-mail before transmission when it is determined that the usefulness of the e-mail before transmission is smaller than the predetermined threshold. 11. The electronic mail transmission control device according to 11. The usefulness information generation unit extracts a predetermined keyword from the title or text of the email and corresponds to the extracted keyword when the information about the title or text of the email is acquired by the email information acquisition unit. The e-mail transmission control device according to claim 9, wherein the e-mail usefulness information is generated by calculating a usefulness level of the e-mail. The e-mail transmission control device further includes:
Including exclusion information acquisition means for acquiring exclusion information indicating the nature of an email to be excluded from the warning;
The usefulness determination unit further determines whether or not the property indicated by the pre-transmission mail information matches the property indicated by the exclusion information, and determines the usefulness only when they do not match. 3. The electronic mail transmission control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein The exclusion information further indicates the nature of an email to be excluded from the generation process of the email usefulness information,
The usefulness information generation unit further determines whether the property indicated by the information acquired by the mail information acquisition unit matches the property indicated by the exclusion information. Only when the property does not match, the usefulness information generation unit The electronic mail transmission control device according to claim 15, wherein the generation is performed. The e-mail transmission according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the exclusion information acquisition unit acquires activity information indicating an activity within a predetermined community, and acquires the exclusion information based on the acquired activity information. Control device. The control means further includes
The e-mail transmission control apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a notification unit that notifies a sender of an e-mail utilization status based on the usefulness information. The e-mail transmission control apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the notifying unit notifies only a sender whose amount of e-mail having a low usefulness is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. The control means further includes
The electronic mail transmission control device according to any one of claims 1 to 19, further comprising a billing unit that charges a sender based on the usefulness information. The e-mail transmission control device further includes:
Mail receiving means for receiving e-mail;
Mail storage means for storing the email received by the mail reception means,
The e-mail transmission control according to any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein the e-mail storage unit decrypts the e-mail received by the e-mail reception unit and stores the decoded e-mail. apparatus. The e-mail transmission control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 21, wherein the transmission amount of the e-mail is the number or size of attached files attached to the e-mail to be transmitted. An email information acquisition step for acquiring email information indicating the nature of the email;
A utilization information acquisition step of acquiring email utilization information indicating the utilization status of the email;
Usefulness information generation that uses the mail information and the mail utilization information to generate mail usefulness information that indicates the usefulness of an e-mail that is higher as the e-mail is used more frequently for each property of the e-mail. Steps,
A pre-send mail information acquisition step for acquiring pre-send mail information indicating the nature of the e-mail before transmission;
When sending the pre-transmission e-mail, referring to the e-mail usefulness indicated in the e-mail usefulness information corresponding to the property indicated by the pre-transmission e-mail information, And a control step of performing control so as to reduce the amount of transmission. A program for causing a computer to execute an e-mail transmission control method,
An email information acquisition step for acquiring email information indicating the nature of the email;
A utilization information acquisition step of acquiring email utilization information indicating the utilization status of the email;
Usefulness information generation that uses the mail information and the mail utilization information to generate mail usefulness information that indicates the usefulness of an e-mail that becomes higher as the e-mail is used more frequently for each property of the e-mail. Steps,
A pre-send mail information acquisition step for acquiring pre-send mail information indicating the nature of the e-mail before transmission;
When sending the pre-transmission e-mail, referring to the e-mail usefulness indicated in the e-mail usefulness information corresponding to the property indicated by the pre-transmission e-mail information, And a control step for performing control so as to reduce the transmission amount.

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