JP2010098390A - Information processing apparatus and control method therefor, electronic mail confirmation system, program, and computer-readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism that enables an electronic mail terminal device to refer to electronic mail even after the electronic mail is delivered to a PC (client terminal device) without oppressing the memory capacity of an electronic mail server device. <P>SOLUTION: When the PC 160 makes a request to deliver electronic mail, the electronic mail server device 140 delivers electronic mail addressed to a mail account of the delivery request source among pieces of electronic mail stored in a mail storage unit 148 to the PC 160, and deletes the electronic mail from the mail storage unit 148. When the electronic mail terminal device 120 makes a request to deliver the electronic mail, electronic mail having been delivered to the PC 160 is specified using mail account information on the delivery request source and mail account information managed in a delivery log DB, and the specified electronic mail having been delivered is obtained from the PC 160. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  An information processing apparatus capable of communicating an electronic mail terminal device and a client terminal device via a network and a control method thereof, an electronic mail confirmation system including these devices, and a control method of the information processing apparatus are executed by a computer. And a computer-readable storage medium for storing the program.

  In recent years, an e-mail terminal device (e-mail portable terminal device) having an e-mail function can be used not only for sending and receiving e-mails with a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) installed at his or her workplace. Opportunities to use and send and receive e-mail are increasing. Examples of the electronic mail terminal device used from the outside include a mobile phone, a PDA, a notebook PC, a portable game machine equipped with a Web browser, a car navigation system, and the like.

  Conventionally, however, it has been difficult to receive an e-mail once received and downloaded from a general e-mail terminal device at a personal computer at a personal computer.

  Therefore, conventionally, for example, a system has been proposed in which e-mails are synchronized among a plurality of mailers connected to a LAN, for example, and received e-mails are referred from other e-mail terminal devices. As one of them, for example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a technique for synchronizing e-mails stored in each e-mail terminal device using a mail synchronization device.

  Conventionally, a system has been proposed in which an e-mail received by a PC is referred to from an e-mail terminal device equipped with a web browser using, for example, a web mail system. As one of them, for example, the following Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for centrally managing an electronic mail stored in a Web mail server device and an electronic mail stored in a PC.

  Conventionally, for example, in order to read e-mail on both the e-mail terminal device and the PC, the same user has two e-mail accounts for the e-mail terminal device and e-mail accounts for the PC. There is a way to send emails with duplicate addresses.

JP 2007-102301 A JP 2007-79888 A

  However, in the mail synchronization device described in Patent Document 1, in order to synchronize the e-mail between mailers, the e-mail of each mailer is synchronized for synchronization separately from the e-mail stored in the mailer. I had to have duplicate copies. As a result, there has been a problem of squeezing the memory capacity.

  Further, the Web mail system described in Patent Document 2 needs to be equipped with a dedicated Web mail client system. As a result, there is a problem that it is difficult to use e-mail in an e-mail terminal device such as a mobile phone that is not equipped with a dedicated Web mail client system.

  Further, in the above-described method of sending an email to both the email address for the email terminal device and the email address for the PC, the same user must have two email accounts, which makes management complicated. There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has been made after delivering an email to a client terminal device such as a PC without squeezing the memory capacity of an information processing device such as an email server device. However, an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism by which the electronic mail can be referred from a generally popular electronic mail terminal device such as a mobile phone.

  An information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus capable of communicating an electronic mail terminal device and a client terminal device via a network, storage means for storing received electronic mail, and electronic mail from the client terminal device. A first distribution unit that distributes an e-mail addressed to the mail account of the distribution request source to the client terminal device from among the e-mails stored in the storage unit when there is a distribution request; Management means for managing a distribution history that associates at least mail specifying information for specifying an electronic mail distributed to the client terminal device by a first distribution means and mail account information relating to a distribution destination of the electronic mail; The e-mail delivered to the client terminal device by the first delivery means is deleted from the storage means. And the client using the mail account information of the distribution request source and the mail account information of the distribution history managed by the management means when an e-mail distribution request is made from the e-mail terminal device. Identification means for identifying an electronic mail distributed to the terminal device, acquisition means for acquiring the distributed electronic mail specified by the specification means from the client terminal device, and the distributed information acquired by the acquisition means The second delivery means for delivering the e-mail to the e-mail terminal device.

  The e-mail confirmation system of the present invention includes the information processing apparatus, the e-mail terminal apparatus, and the client terminal apparatus.

An information processing apparatus control method according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus control method capable of communicating an electronic mail terminal device and a client terminal device via a network, and stores a received electronic mail in a storage means. When an email delivery request is received from the client terminal device, the email addressed to the email account of the delivery request source is delivered from the email stored in the storage means to the client terminal device. A distribution in which at least the first distribution step to be performed, the mail specifying information for specifying the electronic mail distributed to the client terminal device by the first distribution step, and the mail account information related to the distribution destination of the electronic mail are associated with each other Management step for managing history and the client terminal device by the first distribution step The deletion step of deleting the distributed e-mail from the storage means, and the e-mail terminal device, when there is an e-mail distribution request, is managed by the e-mail account information of the distribution request source and the management step Using the mail account information of the distribution history, a specifying step for specifying an e-mail that has been distributed to the client terminal device, and an acquisition for acquiring the distributed e-mail specified by the specifying step from the client terminal device And a second distribution step of distributing the distributed electronic mail acquired in the acquisition step to the electronic mail terminal device.

  The program of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute a control method of an information processing apparatus capable of communicating an electronic mail terminal device and a client terminal device via a network, and stores the received electronic mail in a storage means. And when the electronic mail is requested from the client terminal device, the electronic mail stored in the storage means is sent to the electronic mail addressed to the mail account of the distribution request source. At least correspondence between a first distribution step distributed to the device, mail specifying information specifying the electronic mail distributed to the client terminal device by the first distribution step, and mail account information related to the distribution destination of the electronic mail A management step for managing the attached distribution history, and the first distribution step A deletion step of deleting the electronic mail distributed to the client terminal device from the storage means, and when there is an electronic mail distribution request from the electronic mail terminal device, the mail account information of the distribution request source and the management A step of specifying an e-mail that has been distributed to the client terminal device using the mail account information of the distribution history managed in steps, and the e-mail that has been distributed specified in the specifying step as the client This is for causing a computer to execute an acquisition step acquired from a terminal device and a second distribution step of distributing the distributed electronic mail acquired in the acquisition step to the electronic mail terminal device.

  The computer-readable storage medium of the present invention stores the program.

  According to the present invention, a mobile phone or the like is generally spread even after an e-mail is delivered to a client terminal device such as a PC without squeezing the memory capacity of an information processing device such as an e-mail server device. The e-mail can be referred to from the e-mail terminal device.

  The best mode (embodiment) for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an e-mail confirmation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the e-mail confirmation system 100 includes an external device 110, an e-mail terminal device 120, the Internet 130, an e-mail server device 140, a LAN 150, and a PC 160. Note that the internal configurations of the external device 110, the electronic mail terminal device 120, the Internet 130, the electronic mail server device, the LAN 150, and the PC 160 shown in FIG. 1 are merely examples, and various other configurations may be provided depending on the application and purpose. Needless to say.

  The external device 110 is configured to include a mailer 111, a mail storage unit 112, an operation unit 113, and a display unit 114 that are commonly used, and are devices such as a mobile phone and a PC, for example. . In the present embodiment, the external device 110 is used by a third party, and is used when the third party transmits an e-mail to the user or receives an e-mail from the user. is there.

  The mailer 111 performs processing related to various types of electronic mail such as reference, creation, editing, and transmission / reception of electronic mail. The mail storage unit 112 stores electronic mail. The operation unit 113 is operated when an input instruction is given to the external device 110. The display unit 114 displays various information including electronic mail. In the mailer 111 and the mail storage unit 112, for example, Netscape_Messenger, Eudora, Mozilla_Thunderbird, Becky! It is possible to apply mail software such as MUA (Mail User Agent).

  Similar to the external device 110, the e-mail terminal device 120 includes a mailer 121, a mail storage unit 122, an operation unit 123, and a display unit 124 that are commonly used. It is an electronic mail portable terminal device such as a mobile phone or a notebook PC. In the present embodiment, the e-mail terminal device 120 is used by a user, and is used, for example, when the user transmits / receives an e-mail from an outside location.

  Like the mailer 111 of the external device 110, the mailer 121 performs processing related to various types of electronic mail such as reference, creation, editing, and transmission / reception of electronic mail. The mail storage unit 122 stores electronic mail. The operation unit 123 is operated when an input instruction is given to the electronic mail terminal device 120. The display unit 124 displays various information including electronic mail. Also in the mailer 121 and the mail storage unit 122, for example, Netscape_Messenger, Eudora, Mozilla_Thunderbird, Becky! It is possible to apply mail software such as MUA (Mail User Agent).

  The Internet 130 connects the external device 110, the e-mail terminal device 120, and the e-mail server device 140 so that they can communicate with each other. In FIG. 1, an N / W connection unit such as a LAN board or router for connecting to the N / W of the external device 110 and the e-mail terminal device 120, a DNS server device or a firewall server device on the Internet 130, etc. Is omitted because it is not directly related to the present invention. In addition, when the external device 110 and the e-mail terminal device 120 are mobile phones, the external device 110 and the e-mail terminal device 120 are connected to the Internet 130 via wireless communication with a base station of a mobile phone company. Omitted because there is no.

  The electronic mail server device 140 includes an N / W connection unit 141, a mail confirmation unit 142, a distribution history database (hereinafter referred to as “DB”) 143, an account information DB 144, an attached file processing table 145, An error processing table 146, a mail processing unit 147, and a mail storage unit 148 are included.

  The e-mail server device 140 manages transmission / reception of e-mails between the external device 110, the e-mail terminal device 120, and the PC 160 via the Internet 130 and the LAN 150. For example, a server computer such as a PC or a workstation It is.

  The N / W connection unit 141 is for connecting to the Internet 130 and the LAN 150.

  In response to an e-mail reception inquiry request from the e-mail terminal device 120, the PC 160, or the like, the e-mail confirmation unit 142 performs various confirmation processes including confirmation of the presence of a new e-mail. Further, the mail confirmation unit 142 performs a process of acquiring a distributed (downloaded) electronic mail from the PC 160 as necessary. It should be noted that the process of acquiring the distributed (downloaded) e-mail from the PC 160 may be performed by the mail processing unit 147.

  In the distribution history DB 143, distribution history information in which an e-mail is received (transmitted) to the e-mail terminal device 120 and the PC 160 in response to an e-mail reception inquiry request from the e-mail terminal device 120 and the PC 160 is recorded.

  In the account information DB 144, account information including various information such as user mail accounts, the IP address of the PC 160 for each user mail account, and network drive information is recorded in advance.

  The attached file processing table 145 is a management table that defines whether or not an attached file can be transmitted in an e-mail to the e-mail terminal device 120, and includes a database or a definition file.

  The error processing table 146 is a table for managing the correspondence between error types and error processing, and is configured by a database or a definition file.

  The mail processing unit 147 performs e-mail processing. The mail storage unit 112 stores electronic mail. For example, mail server software such as Sendmail and Postfix or a system such as MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) can be applied to the mail processing unit 147 and the mail storage unit 148.

  The LAN 150 connects the electronic mail server device 140 and the PC 160 so that they can communicate with each other.

  The PC 160 is configured to include an N / W connection unit 161, a mailer 162, a mail storage unit 163, an operation unit 164, and a display unit 165. It is a client terminal device used in.

  The N / W connection unit 161 is for connecting to the LAN 150. The mailer 162 performs processing related to various types of electronic mail such as reference, creation, editing, and transmission / reception of electronic mail. The mail storage unit 163 stores electronic mail. The operation unit 164 is operated when an input instruction is given to the PC 160. The display unit 165 displays various information including electronic mail.

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and POP (Post Office Protocol) that are widely used are used when sending and receiving electronic mail.

Next, an example of a processing procedure of the e-mail confirmation system 100 will be described.
FIGS. 2-1 and 2-2 are flowcharts illustrating an example of a processing procedure of the e-mail confirmation system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, in step S <b> 101 of FIG. 2A, the external device 110 (mailer 111) performs processing for transmitting an e-mail to the e-mail server device 140 via the Internet 130. The e-mail transmitted here is an e-mail body edited and created by a third party using the operation unit 113 by the mailer 111 and stored (stored) in the e-mail storage unit 112. This operation by a third party is the same as a general e-mail creation / transmission operation by a PC or a mobile phone.

  Subsequently, in step S <b> 201, the mail processing unit 147 of the electronic mail server device 140 performs a process of receiving an electronic mail transmitted from the external device 110 via the N / W connection unit 141 and the Internet 130.

  Subsequently, in step S202, the mail processing unit 147 of the electronic mail server device 140 performs a process of storing the electronic mail received in step S201 in the mail storage unit 148.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the received e-mail according to the embodiment of the present invention. The e-mail received in step S201 is stored in the mail storage unit 148 as a file for each user (eg, / var / spool / mail / user01).

  Thereafter, when the user who is the recipient of the email transmitted by the third party in step S101 (eg, user01@aaa.jp) makes an inquiry for receiving the email addressed to himself / herself to the PC 160, then in step S301, The mailer 162 of the PC 160 makes a reception inquiry request for the user's e-mail to the e-mail server apparatus 140.

Specifically, the process of step S301 will be described.
The user activates the mailer 162 of the PC 160 at his / her desk at the workplace or the like and performs an operation of receiving an e-mail using the operation unit 164. In response to this, the mailer 162 requests the electronic mail server device 140 to receive an email for the user via the N / W connection unit 161 and the LAN 150. At this time, for example, generally used SMTP and POP are used as the inquiry request protocol.

  When the e-mail server apparatus 140 receives the e-mail reception inquiry request in step S301, subsequently, in step S203, the e-mail processing unit 147 of the e-mail server apparatus 140 stores the e-mail reception inquiry request in the e-mail storage unit 148 based on the reception inquiry request. A process for searching the stored electronic mail is performed. For example, when the mail server program is sendmail, “/ var / spool / mail / user01” is searched using “user01” which is the user's mail account as a search key.

  Subsequently, in step S204, the mail processing unit 147 of the e-mail server device 140 performs a process of distributing the e-mail searched in step S203 to the PC 160 that has made the e-mail reception inquiry request in step S301. In other words, in this example, a process of transmitting the electronic mail acquired from “/ var / spool / mail / user01” to “user01@aaa.jp” is performed. If the corresponding e-mail cannot be searched in step S203, an empty e-mail (or an e-mail indicating that there is no corresponding e-mail) is delivered in step S204.

  Subsequently, in step S302, the mailer 162 of the PC 160 performs processing for receiving the email transmitted from the email server device 140 in step S204. Thereafter, the mailer 162 of the PC 160 performs processing for saving the electronic mail (e-mail transmitted from a third party) distributed to the user in the mail storage unit 163. Further, the mailer 162 of the PC 160 performs a process of displaying the received electronic mail on the display unit 165 as necessary (for example, according to an input instruction from the user via the operation unit 164).

  The series of processes in steps S101, S201 to S204, S301, and S302 is an e-mail transmission / reception process using general SMTP and POP.

  Subsequently, in step S205, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the e-mail server device 140 stores the distribution information of the e-mail (e-mail transmitted from a third party) distributed in step S204 as distribution history information in the distribution history DB 143. Perform the recording process.

  Similar to the mail processing unit 147, the mail checking unit 142 is always operating as a server program on the electronic mail server device 140. For example, the mail confirmation unit 142 monitors the SMTP port of the electronic mail server device 140 in the same manner as a general mail server program, acquires electronic mail distribution information, and records this in the distribution history DB as distribution history information. To do. Here, the distribution information (distribution history information) of electronic mail is information indicating when and which mail was distributed to which user. This will be specifically described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of distribution history information recorded in the distribution history DB 143 shown in FIG.
The mail ID 401 shown in FIG. 4 is a unique ID assigned to each email by the mail processing unit 147, for example. This mail ID 401 corresponds to a character string following “Message-id:” of the electronic mail shown in FIG. The delivery date and time 402 is date and time information when the email processing unit 147 delivered the email in step S204. For example, the mail processing unit 147 acquires the date / time information from the current time of the OS of the electronic mail server device 140. The mail account 403 is an electronic mail account ID of an electronic mail delivery destination. This mail account 403 corresponds to the character string following “Return-Path:” in the electronic mail shown in FIG. Send_to 404 is the IP address of the apparatus that has made an e-mail reception inquiry request to the e-mail server apparatus 140 in step S301 or the like. The distribution destination 405 searches for and acquires the account information recorded in the account information DB 144 by using a mail account and an IP address. Specifically, the distribution destination 405 is “PC” when the mail account and the IP address are present in the account information DB 144, and is “mobile” when they are not present.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of account information recorded in the account information DB 144 shown in FIG.
This account information is registered when the system administrator registers account information of an e-mail user using the mail processing unit 147. When using e-mail, no matter which mail server software is used, it is necessary for the system administrator to register user account information in the e-mail server device 140. Normally, as the account information, an ID and password before the @ mark of the mail address are registered as the mail account. In the account information DB 144 of this example, the mail account 501, the IP address 502, the shared name 503, the access ID 504, and Account information including each information of the access PW 505 is registered.

  A mail account 501 shown in FIG. 5 is a mail account of each user. The IP address 502 is the IP address of the PC 160 at the user's own office or the like. The shared name 503 is an e-mail storage location such as a folder constructed in the mail storage unit 163 of the PC 160. That is, the mail storage unit 163 of the PC 160 is configured so that each user can share it. The access ID 504 is an ID for accessing the mail storage unit 163, and the access PW 505 is a password for accessing the mail storage unit 163. Each of the information 501 to 505 is registered upon application by the user when using the e-mail.

Here, the description returns to FIG. 2-1.
When the processing of step S205 is completed, subsequently, in step S206, the mail processing unit 147 of the electronic mail server device 140 converts the electronic mail distributed in step S204 (e-mail transmitted from a third party) to the mail storage unit. The process of deleting from 148 is performed.
That is, in this step S206, processing for deleting the electronic mail downloaded to the PC 160 from the electronic mail server device 140 is performed. Thereby, the effect that the memory resource in the mail memory | storage part 148 of the electronic mail server apparatus 140 can be used effectively is acquired.

  Thereafter, for example, when the user makes an inquiry about receiving an e-mail addressed to the e-mail terminal device 120 from an outside location or the like, the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal device 120 subsequently sends the e-mail server device 140 in step S401. In response to the request, the user's e-mail reception inquiry request is made. At this time, as the inquiry request protocol, generally used SMTP, POP, or the like is used as in the case of the inquiry inquiry for receiving an email from the PC 160 in step S301.

  As described above, by using a protocol related to mail transmission / reception that has been widely used, the mail confirmation unit 142 and the mail processing unit 147 can transmit / receive information such as the body of an email, a user's mail account, and the date / time of mail transmission / reception. Can be obtained. Here, the reception inquiry request is made from the e-mail terminal device 120 in step S401. For example, the e-mail server device 140 detects a new e-mail using a push distribution function that is generally popular. Thus, step S401 can be omitted.

  When the e-mail server 140 receives the e-mail reception inquiry request in step S401, subsequently, in step S207, the e-mail processing unit 147 of the e-mail server apparatus 140 stores the e-mail reception inquiry request in the e-mail storage unit 148 based on the reception inquiry request. A process for searching the stored electronic mail is performed. At this time, as in step S203, the user's mail account is used as a search key.

  The e-mail searched in step S207 is a new e-mail received from the external device 110 after the e-mail is received by the PC 160. That is, the e-mail searched in step S207 is a new e-mail that exists in the mail storage unit 148 and has not been distributed to the PC 160 or the e-mail terminal device 120 yet.

  Subsequently, in step S208, as a result of the search in step S207, the mail processing unit 147 of the e-mail server device 140 stores the received (new arrival) e-mail based on the reception inquiry request in step S401 in the mail storage unit 148. Judge whether there is.

  As a result of the determination in step S208, if there is an e-mail that has been received based on the reception inquiry request in step S401 in the mail storage unit 148, the process proceeds to step S209.

  In step S209, the mail processing unit 147 of the e-mail server device 140 performs a process of distributing the e-mail searched in step S207 to the e-mail terminal device 120 that has made the e-mail reception inquiry request in step S401. Do. At this time, the mail processing unit 147 transmits a list of e-mails and a text of the e-mail to the e-mail terminal device 120.

  Subsequently, in step S402, the mailer 121 of the electronic mail terminal device 120 performs a process of receiving the electronic mail list transmitted from the electronic mail server device 140 in step S209.

  Further, in step S403, the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal apparatus 120 performs a process of receiving the text of the e-mail transmitted from the e-mail server apparatus 140 in step S209. Thereafter, the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal device 120 performs processing for storing the received e-mail list, the body of the e-mail, and the like in the mail storage unit 122. At this time, the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal device 120 displays the received e-mail list, the text of the e-mail, etc. on the display unit 124 as necessary (for example, according to an input instruction from the user via the operation unit 123). Processing to display is performed.

  As described above, the e-mail searched in step S207 is a new e-mail that exists in the mail storage unit 148 and has not yet been distributed to the PC 160 or the e-mail terminal device 120. At 120, only the newly arrived e-mail can be acquired.

  Thereafter, in step S210, the mail processing unit 147 of the e-mail server device 140 performs a process of deleting the e-mail distributed in step S209 from the mail storage unit 148. This is because once a new mail is acquired by the e-mail terminal device 120, it is stored in the mail storage unit 122 of the e-mail terminal device 120 and the contents can be confirmed at any time, so there is no need to acquire it again. . In addition, it is possible to effectively use memory resources in the mail storage unit 148 of the electronic mail server device 140.

  Here, the processes of steps S209 and S210 are mail delivery processes of a general electronic mail server apparatus 140, and the processes of steps S402 and S403 are general mails of an electronic mail terminal apparatus 120 such as a mobile phone. Reception processing. Here, whether or not the attached file of the e-mail is received by the e-mail terminal device 120 depends on the service content of a communication company such as a mobile phone and the function of the mobile phone.

  When the process of step S210 is completed, or when it is determined in step S208 that there is no received e-mail based on the reception inquiry request in step S401 in the mail storage unit 148, the process proceeds to step S211 in FIG. move on.

  When the process proceeds to step S211 in FIG. 2-2, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the e-mail server apparatus 140 is recorded in the distribution history DB 143 using the mail account of the user who has made the e-mail reception inquiry request in step S401. A process for searching for distribution history information is performed. Specifically, referring to FIG. 4, when the user's mail account 403 is “user01”, the distribution history information 406, 407, 409, and 410 shown in FIG. 4 is searched. At this time, in this example, the distribution history information 408 is not searched because the mail account 403 is “user02”.

  Subsequently, in step S212, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the e-mail server device 140 determines whether there is distribution history information satisfying a predetermined condition among the distribution history information searched in step S211 as the distribution destination is the PC 160. Judging.

Here, specific determination processing in step S212 will be described.
In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, first, it is determined whether there is distribution history information in which the distribution destination 405 of the distribution history DB 143 is the PC 160. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the distribution destination 405 of the distribution history information 406, 409, and 410 among the distribution history information searched in step S211 is the PC 160. In the determination process in step S212, the distribution history information before the previous e-mail distribution to the e-mail terminal device 120 is excluded. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 4, the distribution history information 407 is the distribution history information in which the e-mail was delivered to the e-mail terminal device 120 last time. Are excluded.

This is to prevent the electronic mail terminal device 120 from receiving duplicate electronic mail downloaded to the PC 160. In step S212, whether there is distribution history information to the PC 160 is determined by the distribution history information having the distribution date and time 402, the mail account 403, the distribution destination 405, etc. satisfying the following conditional expression 1, conditional expression 2 and conditional expression 3. , It is determined as distribution history information whose distribution destination is the PC 160.
Conditional expression 1: Mail account 403 = “user01”
Conditional expression 2: distribution destination 405 = “PC”
Conditional expression 3: Last (most recent) delivery time to mobile phone <Delivery date and time 402 ≦ Reception inquiry request time from this mobile phone

  In conditional expression 3, <indicates that the time is new. In conditional expression 3, the previous (most recent) delivery time to the mobile phone is that the mail account 403 is “user01”, the delivery destination 405 is “mobile phone”, and the delivery date and time 402 is the latest delivery history information. It is. Further, in conditional expression 3, the current time of the inquiry request from the mobile phone is the time when the e-mail confirmation unit 142 detects the e-mail reception inquiry request in step S401 by monitoring the SMTP connection port of the e-mail terminal device 120, for example. It is. Conditional expression 3 is a condition for avoiding redundant delivery of emails that have already been delivered to the email terminal device 120 to the email terminal device 120 again. As a result, it is possible to obtain an effect that the user can efficiently search for the target e-mail and an effect that the communication fee can be reduced. Here, when adopting a form in which the e-mail that has been distributed from the PC 160 to the e-mail terminal apparatus 120 is again distributed to the e-mail terminal apparatus 120, the conditional expression 3 may be removed in the determination of step S212.

  As a result of the determination in step S212, if the distribution destination is the PC 160 and there is no distribution history information satisfying a predetermined condition among the distribution history information searched in step S211, FIG. 2-1 and FIG. The process in the flowchart shown in FIG. In this case, the user recognizes that there is no distribution history because there is no change in the email list screen displayed on the display unit 124 of the email terminal device 120 (that is, no new email appears). Become. At this time, the e-mail server device 140 (for example, the e-mail confirmation unit 142 or the e-mail processing unit 147) is compatible with the generally popular functions of the e-mail terminal device 120 relative to the e-mail terminal device 120. It is also possible to adopt a form in which a message indicating that no new electronic mail exists is transmitted. In this case, the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal device 120 performs a process of displaying a message received from the e-mail server device 140 indicating that no new e-mail exists on the display unit 124, and distributing it to the user. It becomes a form to recognize that there is no history.

  On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S212, if the distribution destination is the PC 160 and there is distribution history information satisfying the above-described predetermined condition among the distribution history information searched in step S211, the process proceeds to step S213. Here, among the distribution history information shown in FIG. 4, the e-mail corresponding to the distribution history information 409 and 410 has been downloaded to the PC 160 and does not exist in the mail storage unit 148 by the process of step S208. . Therefore, the e-mail is acquired from the PC 160 in the processing after step S213.

  In step S213, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the e-mail server device 140 searches the mail account of the user who made the e-mail reception inquiry request in step S401, and the Send_to 404 of the distribution history information determined to be affirmative in step S212. The account information DB 144 is searched as a key, and the account information related to the PC 160 as the distribution destination (download destination) of the corresponding electronic mail is acquired.

  Here, Send_to 404 shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to the IP address 502 of the account information DB 144. With reference to the example of FIG. 5, an account information acquisition process related to the PC 160 as a distribution destination (download destination) of the corresponding e-mail will be described.

  In step S212, “user01” of the mail account 403 of the distribution history information 409 determined to be the distribution history information satisfying a predetermined condition with the distribution destination being the PC 160, and “xx.101” of the Send_to 404. If the account information DB 144 is searched using as a search key, the account information 506 can be acquired. In step S212, “user01” of the mail account 403 of the distribution history information 410 determined to be distribution history information satisfying a predetermined condition with the distribution destination being the PC 160, and “xx. When the account information DB 144 is searched using “103” as a search key, the account information 508 can be acquired. This indicates that the user (user01) receives an e-mail from a PC 160 different from PC1 and PC3 using the same mail account.

  Subsequently, in step S214, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the electronic mail server device 140 determines the N / W connection unit based on the account information acquired in step S213 (in this example, account information 506 and 508 shown in FIG. 5). 141 establishes the N / W drive connection between the PC 141 and the PC 160.

  Specifically, the e-mail confirmation unit 142 selects “PC1” of the shared name 503 of the PC 160 having the IP address 502 of “xx.101” based on the account information 506 of the account information DB 144 shown in FIG. Then, the process of establishing the N / W drive connection is performed with “Usr01” of the access ID 504 and “u001” of the access password (access PW) 505. The N / W drive connection establishment process may use an N / W sharing function of a generally popular OS, or from a UNIX (registered trademark) OS such as Linux, Solaris, or Mac_OS_X. Free software such as Samba that shares files with Windows (registered trademark) _OS may be used.

  Similarly, the e-mail confirmation unit 142 selects “PC3” of the shared name 503 of the PC 160 of “xx.x.103” of the IP address 502 based on the account information 508 of the account information DB 144 shown in FIG. Then, the process of establishing the N / W drive connection is performed with “Usr03” of the access ID 504 and “u003” of the access password (access PW) 505.

  Each account information in the account information DB 144 shown in FIG. 5 is registered, for example, when a user applies for e-mail use to a system administrator. Here, with respect to the IP address 502 of the PC 160 used by the user, when DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is adopted, the DHCP server automatically assigns an IP address to the DHCP client of the PC 160. The IP address may be acquired from the DHCP server and set to the IP address 502 instead of the registration based on the application, or the Send_to 404 information of the distribution history DB 143 may be set.

  Subsequently, in step S215, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the electronic mail server device 140 determines whether the N / W drive connection established in step S214 is successful. Here, the OS of the electronic mail server device 140 performs various error detections related to the N / W drive connection due to an N / W failure, a hardware failure, or the like.

  As a result of the determination in step S215, if the N / W drive connection established in step S214 is successful, the process proceeds to step S216.

  In step S216, the mail confirmation unit 142 (or the mail processing unit 147) of the e-mail server device 140 makes a reception inquiry request in step S401 from the mail storage unit 163 of the PC 160 established in step S214. The electronic mail corresponding to the mail ID of the distribution history information that has been affirmed in step S212 is searched.

Here, the process of step S216 will be described.
First, when the PC that established the connection in step S214 is based on the account information 506 shown in FIG. 5, the mail confirmation unit 142 sends the mail storage unit of the PC 160 of “xx.101” with the IP address 502. The e-mail of the mail account “user01” is searched from the mail archive file stored in “PC1” of the shared name 503 constructed in 163. Here, as described above, the shared name 503 shown in FIG. 5 is an e-mail storage location such as a folder constructed in the mail storage unit 163 of the PC 160, and the mail storage unit 163 is shared by each user. It is configured to be possible. The mail archive file is a single file in which the mail header information and the mail text of a plurality of e-mails are connected, as shown in the e-mail file shown in FIG. Becky is popular! The mail storage unit 163 corresponding to the mailer 162 such as Eudora, Mozilla_Thunderbird, PostPet, and Tsurugame mail is based on the mbox format and has a similar file format.

  Then, the mail confirmation unit 142 sends “01-2008-0211-A4@aaa.jp” of the mail ID 401 of the distribution history information 409 that has been affirmed in Step S212 from the mail storage unit 163 of the PC 160 that has established the connection in Step S214. Search for emails corresponding to "". At this time, the e-mail search is performed by text-searching the mail archive file line by line, and searching for the text of the e-mail in which the character string following “Message-id:” shown in FIG. To do so. The procedures such as opening / closing the mail archive file, fetching the text line by line into the reading buffer, searching for the character string, and the like are commonly used techniques, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

  Also, when the PC that established the connection in step S214 is based on the account information 508 shown in FIG. 5, “x.x.x.” of the IP address 502 has the same gist as the account information 506 described above. 103 ”is retrieved from the mail storage unit 163 of the PC 160 corresponding to“ 01-2008-0301-A5@bbb.jp ”of the mail ID 401 of the distribution history information 410 that has been affirmed in step S212.

In this example, the description is given on the assumption that the email corresponding to the email ID 401 of the distribution history information 410 that has been affirmed in step S212 is present in the email storage unit 163 of the PC 160 in the process of step S216. However, for example, a case where the corresponding e-mail is deleted and does not exist in the processing in the PC 160 is considered.
In this case, for example, based on an instruction from the mail confirmation unit 142, the mail processing unit 147 sends a new e-mail delivered to the e-mail terminal device 120 in step S 204 (new arrivals not received in steps S 402 and S 403). Is sent to the PC 160 due to deletion or the like. In this case, the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal apparatus 120 receives an error indicating that the new e-mail received from the e-mail server apparatus 140 and not received by the e-mail terminal apparatus 120 does not exist in the PC 160. A process of displaying a message mail on the display unit 124 and notifying the user to that effect is adopted.

  Subsequently, in step S217, the mail confirmation unit 142 (or mail processing unit 147) of the electronic mail server device 140 determines whether or not there is an attached file in the electronic mail searched in step S216. Whether there is an attached file is determined by a character string following “Content-type:” which is a character string key of the e-mail file shown in FIG. Specifically, as shown in “Content-type:” 302 (302a) shown in FIG. 5, when the subsequent character string is “multipart / mixed”, it indicates that there is an attached file, and is shown in FIG. As shown in “Content-type:” 301, when the subsequent character string is “text / plain”, it indicates that there is no attached file. In addition, “Content-type:” 302b illustrated in FIG. 5 represents the file format of the attached file that is determined to have an attached file in “Content-type:” 302a. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the attached file is a PowerPoint file.

  If the result of determination in step S217 is that there is an attached file in the e-mail searched in step S216, processing proceeds to step S218.

  In step S218, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the e-mail server device 140 uses the attachment file processing table 145 to determine whether or not the attachment file of the e-mail searched in step S216 can be transmitted to the e-mail terminal device 120. .

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of transmission permission / inhibition information recorded in the attached file processing table 145 shown in FIG.
FIG. 6 shows transmission permission / inhibition information for the maximum file size 602, the image file 603, the ppt file 604, and the PDF file 605 for each mail account 601.

  In step S218, specifically, the mail confirmation unit 142 searches for the transmission permission / prohibition information related to the attached file in the attached file processing table 145 using the user's mail account as a search key. When the user's mail account is “user01”, transmission permission / inhibition information 606 is acquired using “user01” as a search key.

  The maximum file size 602 defines the maximum file size of the attached file that can be transmitted. When the maximum file size is not defined (in the case of “−” shown in FIG. 6), the maximum file size is restricted. There is no consideration for this maximum file size. An attached file exceeding the file size defined by the maximum file size 602 cannot be transmitted.

  If the attached file of the e-mail searched in step S216 is an image file, transmission is disabled when the image file 603 shown in FIG. 6 is “0”, and transmission is possible when the file is “1”. . If the attached file of the e-mail searched in step S216 is a power point file, transmission is disabled when the ppt file 604 shown in FIG. 6 is “0”, and transmission is possible when the file is “1”. . Further, when the attached file of the e-mail searched in step S216 is a PDF file, transmission is disabled when the PDF file 605 shown in FIG. 6 is “0” “0”, and transmission is possible when it is “1”. It becomes.

  Here, as described above, the type (file format) of the attached file is the character string key of the mail archive file following “Content-Type: multipart / mixed” (302a) indicating the presence of the attached file shown in FIG. The determination is made based on a character string subsequent to a certain “Content-Type:” (302b). When the subsequent character string is “image / jpeg”, the attached file is determined to be an image file. When the subsequent character string is “application / vnd.ms-powerpoint”, the attached file is determined to be a power point file. If the subsequent character string is “application / pdf”, the attached file is determined to be a PDF file. The attached file name is defined by “name =”. In the example of the e-mail 310 shown in FIG. 3, as indicated by “Content-Type:” 302b, a PowerPoint file is attached as an attached file, and the file name is “MAP.ppt”. The format described above is defined by MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension), which is a standard for transmitting and receiving electronic mail other than text files on the Internet.

  As described above, since whether or not an attached file can be transmitted can be controlled using the attached file processing table 145, unnecessary attachment files can be prevented from being transmitted to the e-mail terminal device 120, and the amount of communication and communication time can be reduced. is there. In addition, since whether or not to transmit for each user and each file format is consistently managed by the attached file processing table 145, each time the user receives an e-mail, bothering to specify whether or not to receive the attached file, It is possible to prevent a system change for adding a function for specifying whether or not an attached file can be received to the electronic mail terminal device 120.

  In the example of the attached file processing table 145 shown in FIG. 6, whether or not an image file, a power point file, and a PDF file can be transmitted is specified, but any other file format can be specified.

Here, the description returns to FIG. 2-2 again.
If the process in step S218 is completed, or if the result of determination in step S217 is that there is no attached file in the e-mail searched in step S216, the process proceeds to step S218.

  In step S219, the mail processing unit 147 of the e-mail server device 140 first receives an e-mail list in step S401 based on the instruction from the e-mail confirmation unit 142 in the e-mail list related to the e-mail searched in step S216. A process of delivering to the electronic mail terminal device 120 that has made the inquiry request is performed. This e-mail list is created, for example, by the mail confirmation unit 142.

  Thereafter, the mail confirmation unit 142 (or mail processing unit 147) of the electronic mail server device 140 retrieves the electronic mail searched in step S216 from the mail storage unit 163 of the PC 160 to a buffer in the own device (different from the mail storage unit 148). Then, the mail processing unit 147 performs processing for distributing the acquired electronic mail to the electronic mail terminal device 120 that has made the electronic mail reception inquiry request in step S401. At this time, for the e-mail that is determined to be unsendable in step S218, only the body of the e-mail is acquired without acquiring the attached file, and only the body of the e-mail is transmitted.

  Furthermore, in step S219, the mail processing unit 147 transmits the message to the electronic mail terminal device 120 together with the presence / absence of an attached file and, when it is determined in step S218 that the attached file cannot be transmitted.

  Note that the mail delivery procedure in step S219 or the like depends on the specifications of the mail server program. For example, if the specification of the mail server program is sendmail, access to the server port by the telnet command, specification of the recipient mail account by the RCPT_TO command, specification of the text and attached file by the DATA command, termination by the QUIT command Take steps.

  If it is determined in step S215 that the N / W drive connection established in step S214 has not been successfully established (if it has failed), the process proceeds to step S220.

  In step S220, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the e-mail server device 140 searches the error processing table 146 using the error code notified from the OS of the e-mail server device 140, and the type of error and its corresponding. An error is determined to determine the processing.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of error determination information recorded in the error processing table 146 shown in FIG.
The error processing table 146 shown in FIG. 7 shows an example of error determination information related to the error code 701, the error content 702, and the processing flag 703.

  In step S220, the mail confirmation unit 142 searches the error code 701 in the error processing table 146 using the error code notified from the OS of the electronic mail server device 140, and obtains the processing flag 703. For example, when the error code notified from the OS of the electronic mail server device 140 is “0x00000033”, “M” is acquired as the processing flag 703, and when the error code is “0x00000036”, “M” is acquired as the processing flag 703. If “R” is acquired and the error code does not correspond to the error code 701 shown in FIG. 7, “Z” is acquired as the processing flag 703.

  Subsequently, in step S221, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the electronic mail server device 140 determines the type of processing flag acquired by the error processing in step S220. In step S221, the types of “M”, “R”, and “Z” shown in the processing flag 703 in FIG. 7 are determined.

  As a result of the determination in step S221, when the processing flag 703 acquired by the error processing in step S220 is “Z”, the processing in the flowchart is ended.

  Further, as a result of the determination in step S221, if the processing flag 703 acquired by the error processing in step S220 is “R”, the process proceeds to step S222.

  In step S222, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the electronic mail server device 140 determines whether or not the current process is a process equal to or less than a predetermined number of repetitions.

  If the result of determination in step S222 is that the current process is less than or equal to a predetermined number of repetitions, the process proceeds to step S223. In step S223, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the electronic mail server device 140 waits for a predetermined time, and then returns to step S214 to perform the process of establishing the N / W drive connection again. Then, the processes after step S215 are repeated again.

  Here, the predetermined number of repetitions and the predetermined time for waiting in step S223 are set as parameters (not shown) of the program constituting the mail checking unit 142. For example, if the number of repetitions is set to 30 by the parameter and the fixed waiting time is set to 5 minutes, if an error with the error code “0x00000036” occurs, the error content 702 in the error processing table 146 causes the network to be busy. Since this is an error, after waiting for 5 minutes, the process of establishing the N / W drive connection is performed again. When the same error occurs (when the network is busy), the loop process is repeated up to 30 times. The number of repetitions is counted by an internal flag of the mail confirmation unit 142, and the end of the waiting time is determined by comparing the waiting time set as a parameter with the system time acquired from the OS.

  On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S222, if the current process is not a process equal to or smaller than the predetermined number of repetitions (that is, a process exceeding the number of repetitions), the process proceeds to step S224. Also, as a result of the determination in step S221, when the processing flag 703 acquired by the error processing in step S220 is “M”, the process proceeds to step S224.

  In step S224, the mail confirmation unit 142 of the email server apparatus 140 creates an error confirmation mail for the user (user01 in this example) based on the error content 702 for the error code 701 in the error processing table 146. The created error confirmation mail is immediately distributed by the mail processing unit 147 of the e-mail server apparatus 140 to the e-mail terminal apparatus 120 that has made the e-mail reception inquiry request in step S401.

  Note that the mail delivery procedure in step S224 depends on the specifications of the mail server program. For example, when the specification of the mail server program is sendmail, a procedure for starting access to the server port with the telnet command, specifying the recipient mail account with the RCPT_TO command, specifying the text with the DATA command, and ending with the QUIT command is adopted. Further, which process is performed according to the error code can be changed by editing the error processing table 146. The error processing table 146 is edited by a system administrator.

  The error confirmation mail transmitted from the electronic mail server device 140 in step S224 is received by the mailer 121 of the electronic mail terminal device 120 in step S404. Then, the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal device 120 performs a process of displaying the error confirmation mail received from the e-mail server device 140 on the display unit 124, and the N / W drive connection with the distribution destination PC is in error for the user. Notify that there is. Thereafter, the processing in the flowchart is terminated.

  In this embodiment, in order to effectively use the memory resource in the mail storage unit 148 of the e-mail server device 140, the delivered e-mail is immediately deleted in step S206, but there is a margin in the memory resource. In some cases, a method may be considered in which the delivered mail is stored in a special memory area for a certain period after the delivery history is stored in step S205. When the distribution history DB 143 is recorded, by providing a flag for identifying that the delivered mail is stored, if the N / W drive connection cannot be established in step S215, it is stored for a certain period of time. Get delivered mail from memory area. In this way, even when N / W drive connection cannot be established, it is possible to acquire a certain delivered mail from the electronic mail terminal device 120.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of the error confirmation mail received in step S404 of FIG. 2-2. FIG. 8 shows the error confirmation mail displayed on the display unit 124 of the electronic mail terminal device 120. Specifically, an example in which the error code 701 of the error processing table 146 shown in FIG. 7 is “0x00000056” is shown. It is shown.

  In addition, the e-mail list transmitted from the e-mail server apparatus 140 in step S219 is received by the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal apparatus 120 in step S405. At this time, the presence / absence of an attached file transmitted from the electronic mail server device 140 in step S219 and a message to that effect when it is determined in step S218 that the attached file cannot be transmitted are also received. Thereafter, the mailer 121 of the electronic mail terminal device 120 performs a process of displaying the list of electronic mails received in step S405 on the display unit 124.

  FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a display example of the e-mail list received in step S405 of FIG. FIG. 9 shows an e-mail list displayed on the display unit 124 of the e-mail terminal device 120.

  It should be noted that the following processing can be performed by providing the mailer 121 of the electronic mail terminal device 120 that is generally used with the functions of the graphic icon 900 and the check box 908 as shown in FIG.

  The mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal device 120 displays, for example, an icon 900 of a different graphic for each e-mail on the display unit 124 as in the e-mail list shown in FIG. Can be recognized.

  For example, e-mails 901 and 903 indicate e-mails that have been received and read by the PC 160 with the icon 900, and e-mails 902, 904, and 905 indicate e-mails that have been received and have not been read by the PC 160 with the icon 900. . Further, for example, the e-mail 906 indicates an e-mail received and read by the e-mail terminal device 120 by the icon 900, and the e-mail 907 indicates an e-mail received and unread by the e-mail terminal device 120 by the icon 900. ing.

  In determining whether the e-mail terminal device 120 has already been received by the PC 160, the e-mail terminal device 120, or whether the e-mail terminal device 120 has already been read or unread, for example, the e-mail confirmation unit 142 includes the header of the e-mail body It is possible by giving information and referring to it. For example, in the case of an e-mail that has been received and read by the PC 160, “X-Status: PR” is described in the header of the e-mail body, and in the case of an e-mail that has been received by the PC 160 and has not been read, “X -"Status: PU" is described in the header of the e-mail body. Further, for example, in the case of an e-mail received and read by the e-mail terminal device 120, “X-Status: MR” is described in the header of the e-mail body, and received and unread by the e-mail terminal device 120. In the case of electronic mail, “X-Status: MU” is described in the header of the electronic mail body.

  Subsequently, in step S406, the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal device 120 displays the text of the e-mail transmitted from the e-mail server device 140 in step S219 (if the attachment file is permitted to be transmitted in step S213). (Including the attached file). Note that only the body of the e-mail is received for the e-mail that is determined to be unable to send the attached file in step S218. Thereafter, the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal apparatus 120 stores the text of the e-mail received in step S406 in the mail storage unit 122 and performs a process of displaying it on the display unit 124. Thereafter, the processing in the flowchart is terminated.

  Note that the mailer 121 of the e-mail terminal device 120 has the function of the check box 908 shown in FIG. 9, so that, for example, the user can select an e-mail that needs reference from the e-mail list displayed in step S405. By selecting a mail using the operation unit 123, it is possible to receive only an electronic mail that needs to be referenced in step S406. As a result, it is possible to prevent unnecessary emails from being received and referenced, and the effect of reducing the amount of communication and reducing the number of reference man-hours by the user can be obtained.

As described above, an electronic mail server device (information processing device) 140 capable of communicating an electronic mail terminal device 120 and a PC (client terminal device) 160 such as a mobile phone via a network. Then, the following processing is performed.
That is, the e-mail server device 140 stores the e-mail received from the external device 110 used by a third party in the mail storage unit (storage means) 148 (S202 in FIG. 2-1), and sends e-mail from the PC 160. When a distribution request is made, an e-mail addressed to the e-mail account of the distribution request source is distributed to the PC 160 from e-mails stored in the mail storage unit 148 (S204 in FIG. 2-1). : First distribution step).
Then, a distribution history (see FIG. 4) at least associating mail specifying information (for example, 401 in FIG. 4) specifying the electronic mail distributed to the PC 160 and mail account information (for example, 403 in FIG. 4) related to the distribution destination of the electronic mail. 4) is managed (S205 in FIG. 2-1: management step), and the electronic mail distributed to the PC 160 is deleted from the mail storage unit 148 (S206 in FIG. 2-1: deletion step).
When an e-mail distribution request is made from the e-mail terminal device 120, the e-mail that has been distributed to the PC 160 using the e-mail account information of the distribution request source and the e-mail account information of the distribution history (FIG. 4). Is identified (S211, S212 in FIG. 2-2: identification step), and the identified delivered e-mail is acquired from the PC 160 (S216 to S219, S220 to 223 in FIG. 2-2: acquisition). Step). Then, the distributed e-mail acquired in the acquisition step is distributed to the e-mail terminal device 120 (S219 in FIG. 2-2: second distribution step).
According to this configuration, since the electronic mail distributed to the PC (client terminal apparatus) 160 is deleted, it is possible to prevent the memory capacity of the electronic mail server apparatus (information processing apparatus) 140 from being pressed. Moreover, since the distribution history (FIG. 4) is managed and the electronic mail is distributed, the management of the user can be prevented from becoming complicated. Further, even after the electronic mail is distributed to the PC (client terminal device) 160 and the electronic mail is deleted from the mail storage unit 148, the electronic mail terminal device 120 such as a mobile phone is widely used. The electronic mail can be referred to. This embodiment is suitable when, for example, referring to an e-mail downloaded to the PC 160 at his / her workplace or the like by using the e-mail terminal device 120 from an outside location.

  Further, the electronic mail server device (information processing device) 140 distributes an error message mail to the electronic mail terminal device 120 when the electronic mail that has been distributed in the acquisition step cannot be acquired (FIG. 2). 2 S224 (including the case where an error message mail is sent in S216): the third distribution step).

(Other embodiments of the present invention)
Each component (each unit) constituting each device 110, 120, 140, 160 of the e-mail confirmation system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, and each step shown in FIGS. 2-1 and 2-2 Can be realized by the CPU of the computer in each apparatus executing a program stored in a RAM, a ROM, or the like. This program and a computer-readable recording medium recording the program are included in the present invention.

  In addition, the present invention can be implemented as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, storage medium, or the like. Specifically, the present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices. You may apply to the apparatus which consists of one apparatus.

  In the present invention, a software program that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments (in the embodiment, a program corresponding to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2-1 and 2-2) is directly or remotely transmitted to a system or apparatus. Includes supplies. The present invention also includes a case where the system or the computer of the apparatus is achieved by reading and executing the supplied program code.

  Accordingly, since the functions of the present invention are implemented by computer, the program code installed in the computer also implements the present invention. In other words, the present invention includes a computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

  In that case, as long as it has the function of a program, it may be in the form of object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to the OS, and the like.

  Examples of the recording medium for supplying the program include a floppy disk (registered trademark), a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, an MO, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, and a CD-RW. In addition, there are magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD-R), and the like.

  As another program supply method, a browser on a client computer is used to connect to an Internet home page. The computer program itself of the present invention or a compressed file including an automatic installation function can be downloaded from the homepage by downloading it to a recording medium such as a hard disk.

  It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different homepage. That is, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for realizing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the present invention.

  In addition, the program of the present invention is encrypted, stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, distributed to users, and key information for decryption is downloaded from a homepage via the Internet to users who have cleared predetermined conditions. Let It is also possible to execute the encrypted program by using the downloaded key information and install the program on a computer.

  Further, the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the computer executing the read program. In addition, based on the instructions of the program, an OS or the like running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments can also be realized by the processing.

  Further, the program read from the recording medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Thereafter, the CPU of the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Note that each of the above-described embodiments is merely a specific example for carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited thereto. . That is, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the technical idea or the main features thereof.

It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of schematic structure of the email confirmation system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence of the email confirmation system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of the e-mail confirmation system according to the embodiment of the present invention following FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows embodiment of this invention and shows an example of the received email. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the distribution history information recorded on distribution history DB shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the account information currently recorded on account information DB shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the transmission permission / prohibition information recorded on the attached file processing table shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the error determination information recorded on the error processing table shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a display of the error confirmation mail received by FIG.2-2 S404. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a display of the email list received by step S405 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

100 Email Confirmation System 110 External Device 111 Mailer 112 Mail Storage Unit 113 Operation Unit 114 Display Unit 120 Email Terminal Device 121 Mailer 122 Mail Storage Unit 123 Operation Unit 124 Display Unit 130 Internet 140 Email Server Device 141 N / W Connection Unit 142 Mail Confirmation Unit 143 Distribution History DB
144 Account information DB
145 Attached file processing table 146 Error processing table 147 Mail processing unit 148 Mail storage unit 150 LAN
160 PC
161 N / W connection unit 162 Mailer 163 Mail storage unit 164 Operation unit 165 Display unit

Claims (11)

An information processing apparatus capable of communicating an electronic mail terminal device and a client terminal device via a network,
Storage means for storing received e-mail;
When an email delivery request is made from the client terminal device, the email addressed to the delivery request source email account is delivered from the email stored in the storage means to the client terminal device. 1 delivery means;
Management means for managing a distribution history that associates at least mail specifying information for specifying an electronic mail distributed to the client terminal device by the first distribution means and mail account information related to the distribution destination of the electronic mail;
Deleting means for deleting the electronic mail distributed to the client terminal device by the first distribution means from the storage means;
When there is an e-mail delivery request from the e-mail terminal device, the client terminal device uses the delivery request source mail account information and the delivery history mail account information managed by the management means. A specific means of identifying delivered email,
Obtaining means for obtaining the delivered electronic mail identified by the identifying means from the client terminal device;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a second distribution unit that distributes the distributed electronic mail acquired by the acquisition unit to the electronic mail terminal device.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specifying unit specifies the delivered electronic mail that has not been received by the electronic mail terminal apparatus. The acquisition unit acquires the attached file from the client terminal device when a predetermined condition is satisfied when the distributed email specified by the specifying unit has an attached file,
The second distribution unit distributes the attached file together when the acquired file is acquired by the acquisition unit when distributing the distributed electronic mail to the electronic mail terminal device. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second distribution unit further distributes information on an e-mail list related to the distributed e-mail specified by the specifying unit to the e-mail terminal device. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.   5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a third distribution unit configured to distribute an error message mail to the electronic mail terminal device when the acquired electronic mail cannot be acquired by the acquisition unit. The information processing apparatus according to item 1.   6. The acquisition unit according to claim 1, wherein when the delivered electronic mail cannot be obtained, the obtaining unit repeats obtaining the delivered electronic mail until a predetermined condition is satisfied. Information processing device. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The electronic mail terminal device;
An e-mail confirmation system comprising: the client terminal device. The information processing apparatus distributes information of an e-mail list related to the distributed e-mail specified by the specifying unit to the e-mail terminal apparatus,
8. The e-mail confirmation system according to claim 7, wherein the e-mail terminal device displays information of the e-mail list on a display unit. An information processing apparatus control method capable of communicating an electronic mail terminal device and a client terminal device via a network,
A storage step of storing the received e-mail in the storage means;
When an email delivery request is made from the client terminal device, the email addressed to the delivery request source email account is delivered from the email stored in the storage means to the client terminal device. 1 distribution step;
A management step of managing a distribution history that associates at least the mail specifying information for specifying the electronic mail distributed to the client terminal device by the first distribution step and the mail account information relating to the distribution destination of the electronic mail;
Deleting the electronic mail delivered to the client terminal device by the first delivery step from the storage means;
When there is an e-mail distribution request from the e-mail terminal device, the e-mail terminal device uses the e-mail account information of the distribution request source and the e-mail account information of the distribution history managed by the management step to the client terminal device. Specific steps to identify delivered emails;
An acquisition step of acquiring the delivered e-mail specified by the specifying step from the client terminal device;
And a second distribution step of distributing the distributed electronic mail acquired in the acquisition step to the electronic mail terminal device. A program for causing a computer to execute a control method of an information processing apparatus capable of communicating an electronic mail terminal device and a client terminal device via a network,
A storage step of storing the received e-mail in the storage means;
When an email delivery request is made from the client terminal device, the email addressed to the delivery request source email account is delivered from the email stored in the storage means to the client terminal device. 1 distribution step;
A management step of managing a distribution history that associates at least the mail specifying information for specifying the electronic mail distributed to the client terminal device by the first distribution step and the mail account information relating to the distribution destination of the electronic mail;
Deleting the electronic mail delivered to the client terminal device by the first delivery step from the storage means;
When there is an e-mail distribution request from the e-mail terminal device, the e-mail terminal device uses the e-mail account information of the distribution request source and the e-mail account information of the distribution history managed by the management step to the client terminal device. Specific steps to identify delivered emails;
An acquisition step of acquiring the delivered e-mail specified by the specifying step from the client terminal device;
A program for causing a computer to execute a second distribution step of distributing the distributed electronic mail acquired in the acquisition step to the electronic mail terminal device.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 10.

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