JP2013003862A - Electronic mail server with substitute reply request function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide technique for surely sending a response to a received order in order not to discomfort the consumer, even when a contact person of a store cannot quickly send a response to the received order due to some reason.SOLUTION: On receiving an e-mail, a mail server 100 determines whether the e-mail is a monitoring target by referring to a monitoring target table storage unit 107. When the e-mail is determined as a monitoring target, the mail server 100 stores information concerning the received e-mail in a reply monitoring table storage unit 108, and monitors a reply mail to the e-mail. If the mail server 100 does not receive a reply mail to the e-mail until a reply monitoring timer of a monitoring timer unit 106 causes time out, a mail generation processing unit 110 generates a substitute reply request mail for another terminal.

Description

  The present invention relates to an e-mail server that requests a proxy reply to an addressable address when the address to which the e-mail is transmitted cannot respond.

  In recent years, communication by e-mail has been actively performed, and e-mail has become an indispensable tool in business. For example, when ordering or estimating a product using electronic commerce, it is common to use an e-mail for communication between the consumer and the store.

  When a store receives an order for a product from a consumer, it is desired that the store promptly reply to the consumer. If a reply cannot be made for some reason, the consumer may be greatly distrusted or discomforted.

  As one method for solving this problem, there is a technique for automatically returning a fixed message to a received electronic mail (for example, Patent Document 1).

  In Patent Document 1, when a reply to an email received by a mobile terminal becomes impossible for some reason, the mobile terminal shifts to an automatic reply mode, and the received mail is automatically “running” according to the state of the mobile terminal. A technique for generating a message including a predetermined circumstance such as “is” and returning the message to the transmission source is disclosed.

JP 2004-206627 A

  However, the technology of Patent Document 1 is only a primary response mail for notifying the circumstances of a store-side person in charge, and does not send a reply about specific contents.

  Also, in the case of the primary response email, the unilateral situation and conditions of the store manager will be communicated to the consumer, such as “the person in charge is currently absent” or “I will reply by XX days”. Therefore, it may be considered that such a mechanical response may cause discomfort to the consumer.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for returning a reliable response without causing discomfort to the consumer.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a proxy reply for replying to the email to the sender of the email instead of the destination of the received email when the email is received. An e-mail server that can make a request to a destination of the e-mail, and registers a condition relating to an e-mail address or title or a keyword in the e-mail body for specifying the e-mail to be proxied for requesting the proxy reply Proxy reply request condition registration means,
Proxy reply target determining means for determining whether an email received with reference to the proxy reply request condition registration means is the proxy reply target email; and the proxy reply target determining means is a proxy reply target email; Reply determining means for monitoring an email transmitted to the determined sender of the email and determining whether or not a reply to the email has been made, and determining that the proxy reply target determining means is a proxy reply target email Proxy reply request means for requesting a proxy reply to a predetermined destination to the predetermined email, and the proxy reply target determining means each time the own email server receives the email, The e-mail address or title or e-mail text is compared with the conditions registered in the proxy reply request condition registration means, and the received e-mail is It is determined whether or not the email is a physical reply target email, and the reply judgment means monitors the title of the email sent to the email sender determined by the proxy reply target judgment means as the proxy reply email When the title includes all or part of the title of the proxy reply target e-mail, it is determined that a reply has been made, and the proxy reply requesting unit determines that the reply determining unit is within a predetermined period. When it is not determined that a reply to the proxy reply target email has been made, a reply request mail requesting a reply to the proxy reply target email is automatically sent to a destination that matches a predetermined condition. It is characterized by.

  According to the present invention, when a specific electronic mail is received, the mail server transmits a proxy reply request mail including the electronic mail to a specific destination other than the destination when there is no reply to the destination for a predetermined period. And request an email proxy response. As a result, the consumer can receive a reply without feeling uncomfortable.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the mail server. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a monitoring target table, in which FIG. 3A is an example of a monitoring mail address, and FIG. 3B is an example of a monitoring keyword table. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a reply monitoring table. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the presence table. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the mail server.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In addition, the same reference number is given to substantially the same site | part, and description is not repeated.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mail system includes a mail server 100 of the present invention connected to a LAN 500, a terminal 200 connected to the LAN 500 and belonging to the mail server 100 and having a function as a mail client, and a gateway that relays between the LAN 500 and the WAN 600. 400 and a counterpart terminal 300 connected to the WAN 600 and having a mail client function.

  Originally, a mail server is also installed on the WAN 600 side, and the partner terminal 600 belongs to the mail server, and relays the electronic mail of the terminal belonging to the mail servers. In the description, the WAN mail server is omitted.

  Further, in the following description, in order to explain the flow of electronic mail in an easy-to-understand manner, in the following description, the case where the mail server 100 transmits an electronic mail to the partner terminal 300 on the WAN 600 side is “forwarded”, The case of sending an e-mail to the terminal 200 on the side is referred to as “send”.

  The mail server 100 relays an electronic mail transmitted / received between the counterpart terminal 300 and the terminal 200 or an electronic mail transmitted / received between the terminals 200.

  When mail server 100 receives an electronic mail addressed to terminal 200 from partner terminal 300 (or terminal 200), mail server 100 analyzes the received electronic mail and determines whether the electronic mail is a monitoring target.

  If it is a monitoring target, the mail server 100 stores the analysis data of the e-mail, transmits the e-mail to the destination terminal 200, and sends the e-mail to the e-mail from the destination terminal 200. Wait for a reply mail for a predetermined period (here 5 minutes). When there is no reply mail for a predetermined period (here 5 minutes), the mail server 100 sends a proxy response such as “Please respond on behalf of the destination terminal” to a predetermined terminal other than the destination terminal. Send a proxy reply request email containing a message to request. Note that the proxy reply request mail includes the contents of the received electronic mail.

  It is assumed that an electronic mail having a transmission destination of the terminal 200-1 and a CC destination of the terminal 200-3 is transmitted from the counterpart terminal 300. Then, when the mail server 100 receives an e-mail from the counterpart terminal 300, the mail server 100 temporarily stores the received e-mail, analyzes the received e-mail, determines that it is a monitoring target, and monitors the reply mail from the terminal 1.

  When an e-mail transmission request is received from each of the terminals 200-1 to 200-3 belonging to the mail server 100, an e-mail is sent to the terminal 200-1 and the terminal 200-3 that are the transmission destination and CC destination of the received e-mail. Transmit and start a reply monitoring timer (for example, 5 minutes) and a reminder monitoring timer (for example, 12 minutes).

  Note that the e-mail transmission request means that when the user of the terminal 200 activates the mailer software of the terminal 200, or when the user performs a mail receiving operation on the terminal 200 in which the mailer software is activated, or the mailer software Is a request signal periodically transmitted to the mail server 100 from the terminal 200 that is running the mail server 100. When receiving the request signal, the mail server 100 extracts and transmits an e-mail addressed to the requesting terminal.

  It is assumed that the terminals 200-1, 200-2, and 200-3 regularly transmit an e-mail transmission request, and the mail server 100 to the terminals 200-1 and 200 in the following description. -2, there is always an operation for sending an e-mail before an e-mail is sent to each terminal 200-3.

  When the reply monitoring timer (for example, 5 minutes) times out, the mail server 100 generates and transmits a proxy reply request mail addressed to the CC destination terminal 200-3. Further, the mail server 100 generates a proxy reply requested mail including a message indicating that a proxy response such as “Requested a proxy response to the terminal 200-3” is requested to the terminal 200-1 to a predetermined destination. To send. Then, the reply monitoring timer that has timed out is restarted.

  The mail server 100 includes the e-mail addressed to the terminal 200-2 that has transmitted the e-mail transmission request to the e-mail received in step 1000 when the reply monitoring timer (for example, 5 minutes) times out without receiving the reply e-mail. Generate and send a proxy reply request email.

  Then, the mail server 100 generates and transmits a proxy reply requested mail indicating that “the terminal 200-2 has requested a proxy response” to the terminal 200-1. Then, the reply monitoring timer that has timed out (for example, 5 minutes) is restarted.

  When the reminder monitoring timer times out (for example, 12 minutes), the mail server 100 sends “urgent, send to the destination terminal that sent the email in step 1003 and the destination terminal that sent the proxy reply request email. Please send a response e-mail ", and generate and send a reminder e-mail containing a message prompting you to respond.

  Here, it is assumed that the user of the terminal 3 creates and transmits a reply e-mail.

  When the mail server 100 receives the reply e-mail from the terminal 3, the mail server 100 analyzes the mail and determines that it is a reply mail, and cancels the monitoring of the reply mail. Then, the received electronic mail is transferred to the partner terminal 300. Further, a response-completed mail including a message indicating that the response has been completed, such as “terminal XX has replied”, is generated and transmitted to the destination of the electronic mail.

  Next, each functional block of the mail server 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the mail server 100.

  The mail server 100 includes an external interface unit 101, a communication control unit 102, a mail server processing unit 103, a mail analysis unit 104, a target mail processing unit 105, a monitoring timer unit 106, a monitoring target table storage unit 107, The reply monitoring table storage unit 108, the presence table storage unit 109, and the mail generation processing unit 110 are functional blocks.

  The external interface unit 101 is a connection interface for connecting to the LAN 300.

  The communication control unit 102 controls the overall communication with the counterpart terminal 300. Specifically, data including mail transmission / reception with the terminal 200, the gateway 400, and the partner terminal 300 using various communication protocols such as Ethernet (registered trademark), IEEE, 802.11, TCP / IP, SMTP, SNTP, and POP. Communicate.

  The communication control unit 102 connects to the monitoring target table 107 and rewrites the contents of the monitoring target table 1072 in accordance with an instruction from the terminal 200 or another communication terminal.

  The mail server processing unit 103 includes a temporary storage unit 1031 and transfers the electronic mail sent from the communication control unit 102 to a predetermined destination 200 or transmits it to a terminal 200 to perform general processing of the mail server. Specifically, when receiving the e-mail addressed to the terminal 200 belonging from the communication control unit 102, the mail server processing unit 103 temporarily stores it in the temporary storage unit 1031 and receives the e-mail transmission request from the belonging terminal 200. Then, the corresponding e-mail is transmitted to the request source. In addition, when the mail server processing unit 103 receives an e-mail addressed to a destination other than the terminal 200 to which it belongs, the mail server processing unit 103 transfers the e-mail to a predetermined address on the WAN 600.

In addition, when the mail server processing unit 103 receives the electronic mail sent from the communication control unit 102, the mail server processing unit 103 copies the electronic mail and passes it to the mail analysis unit 104. When the mail server processing unit 103 receives the email transmission request from the communication control unit 102, the email server processing unit 103 specifies the email address of the request source of the email transmission request and stores the specified email address and the current time in the presence table storage unit 109. . When the transmission source of the email received from the communication control unit 102 is the terminal 200 belonging to the mail server 100, the mail server processing unit 103 displays the email address and current time of the email transmission source in the presence table. Store in the storage unit 109. The mail server processing unit 103 transfers the e-mail to the WAN 600 when the e-mail addressed to the partner terminal 300 or the other terminal of the WAN 600 is generated by the mail generation processing unit 110 from the mail generation processing unit 110.
Further, the mail server processing unit 103 stores the e-mail addressed to the terminal 200 generated by the mail generation processing unit 110 from the mail generation processing unit 110 and stores it in the temporary storage unit 103. The mail server processing unit 103 deletes the electronic mail generated by the mail generation processing unit 110 stored in the temporary storage unit 103 in response to an instruction from the target mail processing unit 105.

  When the e-mail received by the mail server processing unit 103 from the communication control unit 102 is passed, the e-mail analysis unit 104 receives the e-mail address of the transmission source, the e-mail address of the transmission destination, the e-mail address of the CC destination, the title, Analysis data of various electronic mails such as text is extracted and passed to the target mail processing unit 105.

The target mail processing unit 105 includes a monitoring timer unit 106, a monitoring target table storage unit 107, a reply monitoring table storage unit 108, a presence table unit 109, and a mail generation processing unit 110 according to the analysis data received from the mail analysis unit 104. Control each functional block. The monitoring timer unit 106, which will be described in detail later, has two types of timer functions, a reply monitoring timer and a reminder monitoring timer, for each terminal 200 to which it belongs, and each timer 200 responds to an instruction from the target mail processing unit 105. Start / stop. Then, when the monitoring timer unit 106 times out, the monitoring timer unit 106 notifies the target mail processing unit 105 that the timeout has occurred.

  The monitoring target table storage unit 107 stores a keyword for determining whether or not the target mail processing unit 105 is a monitoring target in advance as a monitoring target table. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the monitoring target table. FIG. 3A is an example of the monitoring mail address 1071, and FIG. 3B is an example of the monitoring keyword 1072.

  In each field of the monitoring mail address 1071 and the monitoring keyword 1072, a mail address and a keyword are stored in advance, respectively, and are called according to an instruction from the target mail processing unit 105. Further, it is rewritten according to an instruction from the communication control unit 102.

  The reply monitoring table storage unit 108 stores a reply monitoring table 1080 for determining whether it is a reply mail. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the reply monitoring table 1080. The reply monitoring table 1080 includes a title field 1081, a transmission source field 1082, a transmission destination field 1083, a CC destination field 1084, a reply monitoring timer field 1085, a reminder monitoring timer field 1086, a proxy This field is composed of fields in the reply request destination field 1087.

  The title field 1081 contains the title of the analysis data determined to be monitored, the transmission source field 1082 the analysis data transmission source determined to be monitored, and the transmission destination field 1083 the monitoring object. The CC destination field 1084 of the analysis data determined to be stored in the CC destination field 1084 stores the CC destination data of the analysis data determined to be monitored.

  The remaining time of each timer is stored in the reply monitoring timer value field 1085 and the reminder monitoring timer value field 1086. Originally, the operation of each timer is collectively managed by the monitoring timer unit 106, and the timer number of each timer is stored in the reply monitoring timer value field 1085 and the prompt monitoring timer value field 1086. However, in this embodiment, the remaining time of each timer is described for easy understanding.

  The proxy reply request destination field 1087 stores the mail address of the transmission destination when the proxy reply request mail is generated. In addition, an identification flag for determining whether or not the generated electronic mail has been transmitted is stored in () of each illustrated mail address, (1) has been transmitted, and (0) has not been transmitted. means.

  The presence table storage unit 109 stores a presence table 1090 for managing the presence / absence of the terminal 200 belonging to the mail server 100. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the presence table 1090. The presence table 1090 includes a mail address field 1091 and an access time field 1092.

  The mail address field 1091 stores the mail address for each terminal 200 belonging to the mail server 100, and the access time field 1092 stores the time when the terminal 200 belonging to the mail transmission request or e-mail was transmitted. Is done.

  The mail generation processing unit 110 generates, in response to an instruction from the target mail processing unit 105, a proxy reply request email, a proxy reply completed email, a response completed email, a reminder email, and a corresponding extension email, and the generated email Is stored in the temporary storage unit 1031.

  Next, the operation of the mail server 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the mail server 100. This flow starts when the power of the electronic mail server 100 is turned on and the mail server function is activated. Further, the description of the email relay process performed by the conventional mail server processing unit 103 is omitted.

  First, the mail server 100 has received an e-mail (S100), has received a mail transmission request (S120), has the reply monitoring timer timed out (S130), or has the reminder monitoring timer timed out (S150) Wait for one of the following.

  When the electronic mail is received (S100, Yes), the mail server 100 analyzes the received electronic mail and determines whether the electronic mail is a reply mail (S101).

  Specifically, the mail analysis unit 104 receives an email from the mail server processing unit 103, receives the email address of the transmission source, the transmission destination, and the CC destination from the header portion, and the email title and email text of the email from the payload portion. Each is extracted and passed to the target mail processing unit 105 as e-mail analysis information. The target mail processing unit 105 searches the sender 1082 of the reply monitoring table using the mail address of the destination of the e-mail analysis information as a key. If there is a matching mail address, a record with a matching mail address is further extracted from the reply monitoring table, and the title of the e-mail analysis information is searched using the title stored in the title 1081 of the extracted record as a key. When the titles match, it is determined as a reply target.

  If the email is not a reply email, it is further determined whether or not the email is a monitoring target (S107).

  Specifically, the target mail processing unit 105 searches the monitoring mail address 1071 in the monitoring target table 107 using the mail address of the transmission source of the email analysis information as a key. Alternatively, the target mail processing unit 105 searches the title of the email analysis information or the mail text using the monitoring keyword in the monitoring target table 107 as a key. When there is a matching email address or matching keyword, it is determined as a monitoring target.

  In this embodiment, when both the transmission source 1082 and the title 1081 of the reply monitoring table match, it is determined as a reply mail, and when either the monitoring mail address 1071 or the monitoring keyword 1072 matches, the monitoring target However, the present application is not limited to this. For example, when either one of the transmission source 1082 and the title 1081 in the reply monitoring table matches, the reply mail may be determined, or when both the monitoring mail address 1071 and the monitoring keyword 1072 match, the monitoring target is determined. It is good. Further, when a predetermined part of the character string stored in the title 1081 matches, it may be determined as a reply mail.

  When the received electronic mail is a reply mail (S101, Yes), a target record is extracted from the reply monitoring table (S102). Then, the reply monitoring timer 1085 and the reminder monitoring timer 1086 of the extracted record are stopped, and it is determined whether or not the proxy reply request mail has been generated (S103).

  Specifically, in step 102, a record in which the mail address and title match is extracted from the reply monitoring table, and the reply monitoring timer 1085 and the reminder monitoring timer 1086 for the record are stopped. Then, it is determined whether there is stored information in the proxy reply request destination 1087 of the record, and if there is memory, it is determined that the proxy reply request mail has been generated.

  If the proxy reply request mail has been generated (S103, Yes), unsent mail is deleted from the mail related to the proxy reply request mail generated by the mail generation processing unit 110 (S104). Then, a response mail is generated to the mail address of the record sender and the proxy reply request mail (S105).

  Specifically, although not shown, the e-mail stored in the temporary storage unit 1031 is monitored in step 107 in order to identify the e-mail generated by the mail generation processing unit 110 to which e-mail. Is stored for each e-mail title determined to be. If the proxy reply request mail has been generated, the target mail processing unit 105 instructs the deletion of the generated mail related to the title together with the title 1081 of the record extracted in step 102. Upon receiving the instruction, the mail server processing unit 103 temporarily stores the electronic mail (proxy reply request mail, proxy reply requested mail, and prompt mail) generated by the mail generation processing unit 110 corresponding to the title from the temporary storage unit 1031. Delete from 1031. Then, the target mail processing unit 105 responds to the mail address set to 1 in the sent flag among the mail address of the sender 1082 of the record and the record stored in the proxy reply request destination 1087. Is generated.

  When the response mail is generated, the record is deleted (S106). Then, the process proceeds to step 110. Further, even when the proxy reply request mail is not generated (S103, Yes), the record is deleted (S106), and the process proceeds to step 110.

  When the received e-mail is a monitoring target (S107, Yes), the mail server 100 adds a new record to the reply monitoring table, and sends the e-mail title, transmission source, transmission destination, and CC destination mail. The address is stored (S108). Then, the mail server 100 activates a reply monitoring timer and a reminder monitoring timer for the record newly added to the reply monitoring table (S109). Then, the process proceeds to step 110.

  In step 110, it is determined whether or not the transmission source of the electronic mail received in step 100 is the terminal 200 belonging to the mail server 100. When the transmission source of the electronic mail is a terminal belonging to the own mail server 100 (S110, Yes), the own mail server 100 updates the presence table (S111).

  Specifically, when the mail server processing unit 103 receives an e-mail via the communication control unit 102, the mail server processing unit 103 extracts the e-mail address of the transmission source of the e-mail, and uses the extracted e-mail address as a key. The affiliated terminal storage unit storing the mail address and IP address of the terminal belonging to the server 100 in association with each other is searched. If there is a matching mail address, the terminal is determined to belong. Then, the mail server processing unit 103 acquires the current time from a timer unit (not shown).

  When the current time is acquired, the record of the matching mail address 1091 is extracted from the presence table 1090 using the mail address of the terminal to which it belongs as a key, and the access time 1092 is updated to the current time. If no matching mail address 1091 exists, a new record is added to the presence table 1090 and the mail address and the current time are stored.

  Then, the process returns to step 100. Also, if the sender of the e-mail is not a terminal belonging to the mail server 100, the process returns to step 100.

  When the mail transmission request is received (S120, Yes), the corresponding records in the presence table and the reply monitoring table are updated (S121).

  Specifically, when the mail server processing unit 103 receives a mail transmission request via the communication control unit 102, the mail server processing unit 103 extracts a transmission source IP address of the mail transmission request, and a mail address corresponding to the extracted transmission source IP address Is searched from the belonging terminal management unit (not shown) in the mail server processing unit 103, and the detected mail address and the current time acquired from the timer unit (not shown) are registered in the presence table. If the detected mail address is already registered in the presence table, the access time 1092 corresponding to the registered mail address is updated. The mail server processing unit 103 determines whether there is a proxy reply request mail in the transferred electronic mail when the electronic mail is transferred to the transmission source that has requested the mail transmission. When there is a proxy reply request mail in the e-mail to be transferred, the mail server processing unit 103 extracts a mail address of a destination of the proxy reply request mail, and substitutes the reply monitoring table using the extracted mail address as a key. With reference to the reply request destination 108, the transmitted flag of the matching mail address is set to 1.

  When the reply monitoring timer times out (S130, Yes), the timed out record is extracted from the reply monitoring table 1080 (S131), and it is determined whether or not the proxy reply request mail has been generated (that is, the proxy reply request mail is generated). (S132).

  When the proxy reply request mail has been generated (S132, Yes), a predetermined number (for example, three) of mail addresses close to the current time are extracted from the mail addresses 1091 of the presence table 1090 (S133). Then, the extracted mail address is searched for a mail address in which a proxy reply request mail has not been generated (S134), and it is determined whether there is a mail address that has not been generated (S135).

  Specifically, the proxy reply request destination 1087 of the record extracted in step 131 is searched from the reply monitoring table 1090 using the mail address extracted in step 133 as a key. If there is a mismatched mail address, the proxy reply request mail Is determined to have an ungenerated email address.

  If there is a mail address that has not been generated as a proxy reply request mail (S135, Yes), the mail address that has not been generated is extracted (S136). Then, a proxy reply request mail is generated (S137).

  Then, the mail address of the proxy reply request mail in the reply monitoring table is added to the proxy reply request destination 1087 of the record extracted in step 131, and the flag 0 is set (S138). Further, a proxy reply requested mail is generated to the mail address of the transmission destination 1083 of the record extracted in step 131 (S139). Then, the reply monitoring timer 1085 for the record is restarted (S140).

  When there is no e-mail address that has not been generated as a proxy reply request e-mail (S135, No), the e-mail address of the sender 1082 of the record extracted in step 131 is addressed with "No person is available nearby. A “correspondence extension mail” including a delay in the reply such as “Please” is generated and transferred (S141). Then, the process proceeds to step 140.

  If the proxy reply request mail has not been generated in step 132 (S132, No), it is determined whether or not the CC destination 1084 of the record extracted in step 131 is stored (S142).

  If the CC destination 1084 is stored (S142, Yes), the mail address of the CC destination 1084 is extracted (S143), and the process proceeds to step 137.

  When there is no CC destination (S143, No), a predetermined number of e-mail addresses close to the current time are extracted from the presence table 1090 (S144), and the process proceeds to step 137.

If the reminder monitoring timer has timed out (S150, Yes), the timed out record is extracted from the reply monitoring table 1080 (S151), and a “reminder email” is sent to the email address of the transmission destination 1084 and proxy reply request destination 1087 of the record. Generate (152). Then, the reply monitoring timer is restarted (S153).
The operation of the present invention has been described above.

  According to the present invention, the mail server 100 determines that the received mail address title and the sender mail address are the mail addresses and titles stored in the monitoring target table, and monitors the reply mail as a monitoring target. To do. If a reply mail is not received within a predetermined period, a proxy reply request mail is transmitted to a predetermined destination. As a result, even if the transmission destination cannot be replied to the e-mail for some reason, the proxy reply request is automatically requested to the other terminal, and the e-mail sender can receive the reply.

  Further, according to the present invention, when the proxy reply request mail is transmitted, the proxy reply request mail is transmitted to the transmission destination of the electronic mail determined to be the monitoring target. As a result, the transmission destination can know who requested the proxy reply request.

  Further, according to the present invention, when the proxy reply request mail is transmitted, the reminder monitoring timer is started, and when the reminder monitoring timer times out, the transmission destination of the email determined to be monitored or the transmission of the proxy reply request mail transmitted Send a reminder email first. This makes it possible to notify the transmission destination and the transmission destination of the proxy reply request that the response is in a hurry.

  Further, according to the present invention, when a reply mail is received, the reply mail is transmitted to the transmission destination of the electronic mail determined to be monitored. Thus, the transmission destination or the proxy reply request destination can indicate that the reply mail has been transmitted, and can avoid the confusion that a plurality of persons transmit the reply mail.

  Further, according to this embodiment, when a mail transmission request is received or mail is transmitted from a terminal belonging to the mail server 100, the mail address and transmission time are registered in the presence table 1090, and a proxy reply request mail is generated. From the presence table 1090, the access time 1092 refers to the mail address closest to the current time. Thereby, possibility that the said electronic mail will be browsed can be raised and the probability that a reply mail will be transmitted can be made high.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, when the reply monitoring timer times out for the first time, a proxy reply request mail is generated for the CC destination. As a result, it was possible to reduce the burden of the user of the terminal 200 belonging to the other mail server 100 replying to a proxy reply request mail to the person concerned with the mail first.

  In this embodiment, when a reply mail is received, the record is deleted and the processing is completed. However, the present application is not limited to this. For example, even when a reply mail is received, the reply to the electronic mail is monitored, and if a reply mail is received from a terminal other than the terminal that sent the reply mail, the reply mail is deleted without being transmitted to the partner terminal 300 or the sender An inquiry may be made as to whether the reply mail may be further transmitted.

  Thereby, there is an effect that it is possible to avoid the confusion that a plurality of reply mails are transmitted to the counterpart terminal 300.

  In this embodiment, the reply monitoring timer and the reminder monitoring timer are described as fixed values, but the present application is not limited to this. For example, if an e-mail transmission request is transmitted from an e-mail transmission destination determined to be monitored while the reply monitoring timer is running, it is determined that the e-mail has been received by the transmission destination and the reply monitoring timer and the reminder monitoring timer are counted. It may be changed (for example, 20 minutes).

  Thereby, the burden that the user of the terminal 200 belonging to the other mail server 100 replies can be reduced.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Mail server 101 ... External interface part 102 ... Communication control part 103 ... Mail server process part 1031 ... Temporary storage part 104 ... Mail analysis part 105 ... Target mail process part 106 ... monitoring timer unit 107 ... monitoring target table storage unit 108 ... reply monitoring table storage unit 109 ... presence table storage unit 110 ... mail generation processing unit 200 ... terminal 300 ... Remote terminal 400 ... Gateway 500 ... LAN
600 ... WAN

Claims (5)

An e-mail that, when receiving an e-mail, can request a predetermined reply to a proxy reply to reply to the e-mail to the sender of the e-mail on behalf of the destination of the received e-mail A server,
Proxy reply request condition registration means for registering a condition relating to a keyword in a mail address or title or mail text for specifying the proxy reply target e-mail for requesting the proxy reply;
Proxy reply target determination means for determining whether or not an email received with reference to the proxy reply request condition registration means is the proxy reply target email;
Reply determining means for monitoring whether an email sent to the sender of the email determined by the proxy reply target determining means as the proxy reply target email and determining whether a reply to the email has been made;
Proxy reply request means for requesting a proxy reply for an email determined as the proxy reply target email by the proxy reply target judgment means to a predetermined destination;
The proxy reply target determination means compares the e-mail address or title or mail text of the received e-mail with the conditions registered in the proxy reply request condition registration means every time the e-mail server receives the e-mail. And determining whether the received e-mail is a proxy reply e-mail,
The reply determination unit monitors the title of the email transmitted to the sender of the email determined by the proxy reply target determination unit as the proxy reply target email, and includes the title of the proxy reply target email in the title When all or part of the title is included, it is determined that a reply has been made,
The proxy reply request means, when the reply determination means does not determine that a reply to the proxy reply target e-mail has been made within a predetermined period, the proxy reply target to a destination that matches a predetermined condition An electronic mail server having a proxy reply request function, wherein a reply request mail for requesting a reply to an electronic mail is automatically transmitted. The e-mail server according to claim 1,
When the proxy reply request unit transmits a reply request mail, the destination of the email determined by the proxy reply target determination unit as the proxy reply target email and the destination from which the proxy reply request unit has transmitted the reply request mail in advance An e-mail server having a proxy reply request function, further comprising: a proxy reply requested mail transmission unit that transmits a reply requested mail indicating that a reply request has been transmitted to The e-mail server according to claim 1 or 2,
When the proxy reply request means transmits a reply request mail and the reply determination means does not determine that a reply to the proxy reply target e-mail has been made within a predetermined period, it is determined as a proxy reply e-mail. The proxy reply request characterized by further comprising a reminder mail transmitting means for sending a reminder mail for prompting a reply to the proxy reply target email to the recipient of the sent email and the reply request mail. A functional email server. The e-mail server according to claim 1, wherein
Presence storage means for storing, when the mail address of the received e-mail is the mail address of the terminal belonging to the e-mail server, the mail address of the e-mail and the reception time are stored in association with each other Have
When the proxy reply request means transmits a reply request mail and the reply determination means does not determine that a reply has been made to the proxy reply target email within a predetermined period, the proxy reply request means A proxy reply request function for requesting a proxy reply to an email determined to be the proxy reply target email addressed to a source email address newly stored by the presence storage means within the predetermined period; Have an email server. The e-mail server according to claim 1 or 2,
When the proxy reply request means transmits a reply request mail and the reply determination means determines that a reply to the proxy reply target email has been made within a predetermined period, other than the reply source that made the reply Proxy reply mail notification that notifies the proxy reply mail that the reply to the proxy reply target e-mail has been made to the destination of the e-mail that has been determined as the proxy reply e-mail and the destination to which the reply request mail has been sent An electronic mail server having a proxy reply request function, further comprising means.