JP2013030126A - Information processor, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism which, when an electronic mail system stops, distribution of an electronic mail is delayed, or the like occurs, properly notifies a sender of the mail, the distribution of which is stagnated due to the delay or the like, of the fact that mail distribution delay or the like has occurred.SOLUTION: An information processor is configured to: acquire information related to an electronic mail received by an electronic mail relay device; transmit a measurement mail to the electronic mail relay device; determine that processing in the electronic mail relay device is delayed when a time difference between transmission of the measurement mail to the relay device and reception of the measurement mail from the relay device exceeds a preset time; and notify a sender of the electronic mail of that effect.

Description

  The present invention relates to a mechanism for monitoring and notifying a delay in delivery of an electronic mail.

  At present, e-mail is used as a main means of information transmission because of its merit such that rapid information transmission is possible. In addition, email is indispensable in daily life and economic activities.

  Because of this situation, if the e-mail system is stopped or e-mail delivery is delayed, daily life and economic activities will be greatly hindered.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technology related to a system for monitoring an e-mail system stoppage or an e-mail delivery delay.

JP 2007-58495 A

  As mentioned above, if the email system is stopped or email delivery is delayed, it will cause a major hindrance to daily life and economic activities, so if the email system stops or email delivery is delayed. Needs to quickly detect a stop or delay and notify the user.

  Therefore, when the e-mail system is stopped or e-mail delivery delay occurs, the present invention notifies the sender of the mail whose delivery is delayed due to the delay or the like that the delay is appropriately generated. The purpose is to provide a mechanism.

  The present invention is an information processing apparatus for detecting a failure in an e-mail relay apparatus that transmits a received e-mail to a destination set in the e-mail, wherein information related to the e-mail received by the e-mail relay apparatus is An e-mail information acquisition unit to acquire; a transmission unit that transmits an e-mail to the e-mail relay device; a reception unit that receives the e-mail transmitted by the transmission unit from the e-mail relay device; and the transmission unit A transmission time recording means for recording a time at which the electronic mail is transmitted; a storage means for storing a time for determining whether or not a delay occurs in an electronic mail transmission process by the electronic mail relay device; and the transmission The time from when the time is recorded by the time recording means until the e-mail is received by the receiving means is stored in the storage means. A delay determining means for determining whether or not the time exceeds a delay, and when the delay determining means determines that a delay has occurred, a delay occurs for the sender of the e-mail whose transmission is delayed Delay notification means for notifying that it is in progress.

  Further, the present invention detects a failure in an e-mail relay apparatus that transmits a received e-mail to a destination set in the e-mail, and is a delay occurring in the e-mail transmission process by the e-mail relay apparatus? An information processing method by an information processing apparatus for storing a time for determining whether or not the mail information acquisition means of the information processing apparatus acquires information related to an electronic mail received by the electronic mail relay apparatus An information acquisition step; a transmission step in which the transmission means of the information processing device transmits an email to the email relay device; and an email sent by the reception means of the information processing device in the transmission step. A receiving step of receiving from the e-mail relay device, and a transmission time recording means of the information processing device transmits the e-mail by the transmitting step; A transmission time recording step for recording time, and a time from when the delay determination unit of the information processing apparatus receives an e-mail by the reception step from the time recorded by the transmission time recording step to the stored time A delay determination step for determining whether or not the delay time is exceeded, and when the delay notification means of the information processing apparatus determines that a delay has occurred in the delay determination step, the transmission source of the electronic mail whose transmission is delayed In contrast, a delay notification step of notifying that a delay has occurred is provided.

  Further, the present invention detects a failure in an e-mail relay apparatus that transmits a received e-mail to a destination set in the e-mail, and is a delay occurring in the e-mail transmission process by the e-mail relay apparatus? A program that is executed in an information processing apparatus that stores time for determining whether or not the information processing apparatus is a mail information acquisition unit that acquires information related to an electronic mail received by the electronic mail relay apparatus; A transmission unit that transmits an e-mail to the e-mail relay device; a reception unit that receives the e-mail transmitted by the transmission unit from the e-mail relay device; and a time at which the e-mail is transmitted by the transmission unit. Sending time recording means for recording, and e-mail by the receiving means from the time recorded by the sending time recording means A delay determining means for determining whether or not a time until reception exceeds the stored time; and when the delay determining means determines that a delay has occurred, an e-mail whose transmission is delayed It is made to function as a delay notification means which notifies that a delay has occurred to the transmission source.

  According to the present invention, when an e-mail system is stopped or an e-mail delivery delay occurs, a notification that the delay has occurred appropriately is sent to the sender of the e-mail whose delivery is delayed due to the delay or the like. It becomes possible.

It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the information processing system of this invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus applicable as the mail server 101, the notification server 102, the sender terminal 103, the receiver terminal 104, and the Web server 105 in FIG. A flowchart showing processing when the mail server 101 receives an e-mail transmitted from the sender terminal 103. The flowchart which shows the process at the time of the notification server 102 receiving the email transferred from the mail server 101 The flowchart which shows the process which the notification server 102 judges whether the delay by the process by the mail server 101 has generate | occur | produced. The flowchart which shows the process at the time of the mail server 101 receiving the measurement mail transmitted from the notification server 102 The flowchart which shows the process at the time of the notification server 102 transmitting a delay notification mail. The flowchart which shows the priority analysis process shown to step S502 by the notification server 102 Flowchart showing retained mail refresh process shown in step S306 by the notification server 102 The flowchart which shows the notification content display process which Web server 105 performs Table showing an example of information extracted in step S202 stored in the notification server Table showing an example of whitelist Table showing an example of blacklist Table showing an example of criteria for determining whether a delay has occurred

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

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of an information processing system according to the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing system according to this embodiment includes a mail server 101, a notification server 102, a sender terminal 103, a receiver terminal 104, and a Web server 105.

  Hereinafter, each apparatus which comprises the information processing system of this invention is demonstrated.

  Hereinafter, an example of a hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus applicable to the mail server 101, the notification server 102, the sender terminal 103, the receiver terminal 104, and the Web server 105 illustrated in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. .

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 denotes a CPU that comprehensively controls each device and controller connected to the system bus 204. Further, the ROM 203 or the external memory 211 is necessary to realize a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) or an operating system program (hereinafter referred to as an OS), which is a control program of the CPU 201, or a function executed by each server or each PC. Various programs are stored.

  A RAM 202 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 201. The CPU 201 implements various operations by loading a program necessary for execution of processing from the ROM 203 or the external memory 211 into the RAM 202 and executing the loaded program.

  An input controller 205 controls input from the input device 209 or the like. A video controller 206 controls display on a display device 210 such as a liquid crystal display. The display device is not limited to a liquid crystal display, and may be a CRT display or the like. These are used by clients as needed.

  A memory controller 207 is connected to the hard disk (HD), flexible disk (FD), or PCMCIA card slot for storing a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, editing files, various data, etc. via an adapter. The access to the external memory 211 such as a compact flash (registered trademark) memory is controlled.

  A communication I / F controller 208 connects and communicates with an external device via a network (for example, the LAN 400 shown in FIG. 1), and executes communication control processing in the network. For example, communication using TCP / IP is possible.

  Note that the CPU 201 enables display on the display device 210 by executing outline font rasterization processing on a display information area in the RAM 202, for example. Further, the CPU 201 enables a user instruction with a mouse cursor (not shown) on the display device 210.

  Various programs that operate on the hardware are recorded in the external memory 211 and are executed by the CPU 201 by being loaded into the RAM 202 as necessary.

  Next, processing executed when the mail server 101 receives an email transmitted from the sender terminal 103 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  Note that the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is processing in which the CPU 201 of the mail server 101 reads and executes a predetermined control program.

  In step S <b> 101, the CPU 201 of the mail server 101 receives an email transmitted from the sender terminal 103.

  In step S <b> 102, the CPU 201 of the mail server 101 transfers the email received in step S <b> 101 to the notification server 102. In this embodiment, it is assumed that a copy (e-mail copied) of the e-mail received in step S101 is transferred, but it may be information indicating that the e-mail has been received. Also, it is assumed that the e-mail received in step S101 remains in the mail server 101.

In step S103, the CPU 201 of the mail server 101 relays the e-mail received in step S101 to be transmitted to the destination of the e-mail.
Then, the process shown in this flowchart is terminated.

  Next, processing executed when the notification server 102 receives an e-mail transferred from the mail server 101 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  Note that the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is processing in which the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 reads and executes a predetermined control program.

  In step S201, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 receives the email transferred from the mail server 101 in step S102.

  In step S202, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 extracts information from the email received in step S201. Specifically, information for identifying the sender of the e-mail, time when the mail server 101 receives the e-mail, information indicating the notification priority when a delay occurs, and the like are acquired. The sender of the electronic mail is used as a notification mail transmission destination when a delay occurs, and the reception time is used to determine whether or not a delay occurs.

  In step S202, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 registers the information extracted in step S202 in the DB (FIG. 11).

  Next, a process in which the notification server 102 determines whether or not there is a delay in the process by the mail server 101 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  Note that the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is processing in which the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 reads and executes a predetermined control program.

  In step S <b> 301, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 transmits a measurement mail for determining whether or not there is a delay to the mail server 101. The notification server 102 records the time when the measurement mail is transmitted.

  In step S302, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 receives the measurement mail transmitted in step S301 and returned from the mail server 101 in step S402. The notification server 102 records the time when the measurement mail is received.

  In step S303, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 determines whether or not there is a delay in mail delivery processing from the time difference between the time when the measurement mail is transmitted in step S301 and the time when the measurement mail is received in step S302.

  Note that whether or not a delay has occurred is determined using the table shown in FIG. For example, in the example of FIG. 14, it is determined that there is a delay between 0:00 and 8:00 when the time difference is 30 minutes or more. Further, if the time difference is 5 minutes or more between 8:00 and 18:00, it is determined that a delay has occurred. Further, it is determined that there is a delay between 18:00 and 24:00 when the time difference is 30 minutes or more.

  In addition, whether or not there is a delay is determined not only by the time difference between sending and receiving a measurement email, but also when the elapsed time since sending the measurement email exceeds a preset time May be exercised so that it is determined that a delay has occurred. That is, it may be configured so that it can be determined that a delay has occurred without waiting for the reception of the measurement mail.

  In this way, by making the delay determination criteria different depending on the time zone, it is possible to reduce the load on the notification server 102 and to provide appropriate delay information to the user.

  If it is determined that a delay has occurred (step S303: YES), the process proceeds to step S304.

  If it is determined that no delay has occurred (step S303: NO), the process proceeds to step S306.

  In step S <b> 304, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 transmits a delay signal to the Web server 105. The processing of the Web server 105 when a delayed signal is transmitted will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S305, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 executes a delayed notification mail transmission process shown in the flowchart of FIG. Details of the delayed notification mail transmission processing will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S306, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 executes the retained mail refresh process shown in the flowchart of FIG. Details of the retained mail refresh process will be described later with reference to FIG.

  Next, processing when the mail server 101 receives the measurement mail transmitted from the notification server 102 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  Note that the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6 is processing in which the CPU 201 of the mail server 101 reads and executes a predetermined control program.

  In step S401, the CPU 201 of the mail server 101 receives the measurement mail transmitted from the notification server 102 in step S301.

  In step S <b> 402, the CPU 201 of the mail server 101 returns the measurement mail received in step S <b> 401 to the notification server 102.

  Note that the processing shown in steps S401 and S402 is the same as the processing shown in steps S101 and S103 in FIG.

  Next, the delayed notification mail transmission process shown in step S305 executed by the notification server 102 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  Note that the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is processing in which the CPU 201 of the mail server 101 reads and executes a predetermined control program.

  In step S <b> 501, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 acquires information that has passed the most time since the registration, among the information registered in the DB (FIG. 11).

  In step S502, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 analyzes the notification priority of the electronic mail related to the information from the information acquired in step S501. This priority analysis process will be described later with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  In step S503, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 determines whether the information whose priority is analyzed in step S502 is the last information among the information registered in the DB shown in FIG.

  If it is determined to be the last (step S503: YES), the process proceeds to step S505.

  If it is determined that it is not the last time (step S503: NO), the process proceeds to step S504.

  In step S504, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 acquires the following information and executes a priority analysis process (step S502) for the information.

  In step S505, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 sorts the information registered in the table shown in FIG. 11 according to the priority analyzed in step S502.

  In step S506, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 transmits to the sender of the email related to the information (sender terminal 103 that sent the email) that the information is delayed in the order sorted in step S505. To do.

  In step S507, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 deletes information related to the e-mail transmitted in step S506 from the table shown in FIG.

  Next, details of the priority analysis processing shown in step S502 of FIG. 7 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  Note that the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8 is processing in which the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 reads and executes a predetermined control program.

  In step S601, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 determines whether or not the transmission source of the email related to the information acquired in step S501 is registered in the black list (FIG. 13).

  If it is determined that it is registered in the black list (step S601: YES), the process proceeds to step S604.

  If it is determined that it is not registered in the black list (step S601: NO), the process proceeds to step S602.

  In step S602, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 determines whether or not the transmission source of the email related to the information acquired in step S501 is registered in the white list (FIG. 12).

  If it is determined that it is registered in the white list (step S602: YES), the process proceeds to step S603.

  If it is determined that it is not registered in the white list (step S602: NO), the processing shown in this flowchart is terminated.

  In step S603, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 rewrites the priority of the information according to the rewrite priority registered in the white list.

  In step S <b> 604, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 sets the priority to the lowest level (a level that does not notify that it is delayed). In other words, notifying the sender registered in the black list that the message is delayed means that the purpose of the sender (such as sending a large amount of mail to delay processing) has been achieved. This may cause a situation in which spam mails are sent more than ever. For this reason, by executing the processing in step S604, it is possible not to notify the transmission source registered in the black list that the delay has occurred, and it is possible to prevent the spread of damage. .

  Next, details of the process shown in step S306 of FIG. 5 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  The process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9 is a process in which the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 reads and executes a predetermined control program.

  In step S <b> 701, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 acquires information whose time has elapsed since the most registration among information registered in the DB (FIG. 11).

  In step S702, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 uses a predetermined time (for example, a time for determining whether or not the delay shown in FIG. 14 has occurred) after the information acquired in step S701 is registered in the DB. Is also good).

  If the predetermined time has elapsed (step S702: YES), the process proceeds to step S703.

  If the predetermined time has not elapsed (step S702: NO), the process proceeds to step S704.

  In step S703, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 deletes the e-mail that is determined to have passed the predetermined time in step S702. Thereby, when there is no delay, the information is deleted when a predetermined time has elapsed since registration in the DB.

  In step S704, the CPU 201 of the notification server 102 determines whether or not the electronic mail acquired in step S701 is the last mail.

  Next, the notification content display process executed by the Web server 105 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  Note that the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10 is processing in which the CPU 201 of the Web server 105 reads and executes a predetermined control program.

  In step S <b> 801, the CPU 201 of the web server 105 determines whether a delay signal is transmitted from the notification server 102.

  If it is determined that a delayed signal is transmitted (step S801: YES), the process proceeds to step S802.

  If it is determined that the delay signal is not transmitted (step S801: NO), the process proceeds to step S803.

  In step S802, the CPU 201 of the Web server 105 displays content indicating that a delay has occurred.

  In step S <b> 803, the CPU 201 of the Web server 105 does not display the content that notifies the occurrence of the delay, and deletes the content if the content that notifies the occurrence of the delay is already displayed.

  In the event that the e-mail system is stopped or e-mail delivery is delayed due to the above processing, the sender of the e-mail whose delivery has been delayed due to the delay or the like is notified that the delay has occurred appropriately. Is possible.

  For example, the load applied to the e-mail system can be reduced by changing the standard for notifying that a delay has occurred (how much delay is to be notified) according to the time zone in which the delay has occurred. However, it is possible to notify that a delay or the like has occurred.

  In addition, by setting a priority for notification that a delay or the like has occurred, it is possible to preferentially notify the occurrence of a delay or the like to a transmission source that should be preferentially notified. When information should not be provided to the sender of the e-mail, such as spam mail, it can be configured not to notify that a delay or the like has occurred.

  It should be noted that the configuration and contents of the various data described above are not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the various data and configurations are configured according to the application and purpose.

  Moreover, the program in this invention is a program which a computer can perform the processing method of FIGS. The program in the present invention may be a program for each processing method of each apparatus in FIGS.

  As described above, a recording medium that records a program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program stored in the recording medium. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by reading and executing.

  In this case, the program itself read from the recording medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the recording medium recording the program constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, silicon A disk or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on an instruction of the program is actually It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written to the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board is based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that the case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  The present invention may be applied to a system constituted by a plurality of devices or an apparatus constituted by a single device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or apparatus. In this case, by reading a recording medium storing a program for achieving the present invention into the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

  Furthermore, by downloading and reading a program for achieving the present invention from a server, database, etc. on a network using a communication program, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention. In addition, all the structures which combined each embodiment mentioned above and its modification are also included in this invention.

101 Mail server 102 Notification server 103 Sender terminal 104 Recipient terminal 105 Web server

Claims (6)

An information processing device that detects a failure in an email relay device that transmits a received email to a destination set in the email,
Mail information acquisition means for acquiring information related to the email received by the email relay device;
Transmitting means for transmitting an e-mail to the e-mail relay device;
Receiving means for receiving the e-mail transmitted by the transmitting means from the e-mail relay device;
Transmission time recording means for recording the time when the e-mail is transmitted by the transmission means;
Storage means for storing time for determining whether or not a delay has occurred in the transmission processing of the email by the email relay device;
Delay determining means for determining whether the time from the time recorded by the transmission time recording means to the time when the receiving means receives an e-mail exceeds the time stored in the storage means;
A delay notification means for notifying that a delay has occurred to a sender of an email whose transmission is delayed, when the delay determination means determines that a delay has occurred;
An information processing apparatus comprising: The storage means further stores a transmission source that is not notified by the delay notification means,
2. The information processing according to claim 1, wherein the delay notification unit does not notify the transmission source that does not perform the notification stored in the storage unit that the delay has occurred. apparatus. The storage means further stores a transmission source that gives priority to notification by the delay notification means,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the delay notification unit preferentially performs notification to a transmission source that preferentially performs notification stored in the storage unit.   The time for judging whether or not there is a delay in the transmission process of the e-mail stored in the storage means differs depending on the time when the e-mail relay device receives the e-mail. The electronic mail relay device according to any one of 1 to 3. In order to detect a failure in an e-mail relay apparatus that transmits a received e-mail to a destination set in the e-mail and determine whether or not there is a delay in e-mail transmission processing by the e-mail relay apparatus An information processing method by an information processing device for storing the time of
A mail information acquisition step in which the mail information acquisition means of the information processing apparatus acquires information related to the email received by the email relay apparatus;
A transmission step in which the transmission means of the information processing apparatus transmits an e-mail to the e-mail relay apparatus;
A receiving step in which the receiving means of the information processing device receives the email transmitted by the sending step from the email relay device;
A transmission time recording step of recording the time when the transmission time recording means of the information processing apparatus transmits an e-mail in the transmission step;
A delay determination step in which the delay determination means of the information processing apparatus determines whether the time from the time recorded by the transmission time recording step to the reception of the e-mail by the reception step exceeds the stored time When,
If the delay notifying means of the information processing apparatus determines that a delay has occurred in the delay determining step, it indicates that a delay has occurred with respect to the sender of the email whose transmission has been delayed. A delay notification step to notify;
An information processing method comprising: In order to detect a failure in an e-mail relay apparatus that transmits a received e-mail to a destination set in the e-mail and determine whether or not there is a delay in e-mail transmission processing by the e-mail relay apparatus A program executed in an information processing apparatus for storing the time of
The information processing apparatus;
Mail information acquisition means for acquiring information related to the email received by the email relay device;
Transmitting means for transmitting an e-mail to the e-mail relay device;
Receiving means for receiving the e-mail transmitted by the transmitting means from the e-mail relay device;
Transmission time recording means for recording the time when the e-mail is transmitted by the transmission means;
A delay determining means for determining whether the time from the time recorded by the transmission time recording means to the reception of the e-mail by the receiving means exceeds the stored time;
When the delay determining means determines that a delay has occurred, the delay determining means functions as a delay notifying means for notifying the sender of the e-mail whose transmission is delayed that the delay has occurred. A program characterized by comprising.

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