JP2805784B2 - Distribution table expansion method for e-mail system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a distribution destination table expansion method in an electronic mail system.

[Conventional technology]

In this type of e-mail system, a workstation, a mail server, a directory server, and the like are connected via a network. Mail transmitted from the workstation is received by the mail server, and the mail is sent from the mail server to a destination via the network. Delivering. In addition, mail destinations include not only individual subscribers but also groups. If the destination is a group, the mail server delivers the mail to each subscriber belonging to the group.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional e-mail system, a distribution destination table indicating individual destinations belonging to a group is registered in a directory server, and only the system administrator can create and change the distribution destination table. That is, the distribution destination table is shared by a plurality of subscribers, and individual subscribers are not allowed to create or change the distribution destination table for their own convenience. For this reason, there is a problem that the contents of the distribution destination table do not always meet expectations for the subscriber.

Therefore, the present invention provides a distribution table expansion method in an electronic mail system in which a subscriber owns a distribution table dedicated to the subscriber and the subscriber can create and change the distribution table. Aim.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electronic device having a workstation that sends mail, a mail server that receives mail sent by the workstation via a network, and delivers the received mail to a plurality of destinations. In the distribution destination table expansion method in the mail system, the workstation is configured to store a plurality of distribution destination tables each registered with one or more subscribers as distribution destinations, and the distribution destination table name is specified as a destination address. When transmitting the mail, a distribution table having the distribution table name is extracted from the storage unit, and one or a plurality of subscribers registered in the extracted distribution table are expanded to the destination address of the mail. Means.

[Action]

According to the present invention, the workstation retains a plurality of distribution destination tables each registered with one or more subscribers as distribution destinations, and transmits a mail whose distribution destination table name is specified as a destination address. When the distribution destination table having the distribution destination table name is retrieved and one or more subscribers registered in the retrieved distribution destination table are expanded to the destination address of the mail, the distribution destination table is managed at the system level. Unlike the above, the distribution destination table can be easily created and changed, so that the mail address can be smoothly and flexibly specified.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electronic mail system to which an embodiment of a distribution table expansion method according to the present invention is applied.
In FIG. 1, a workstation 1 is connected to a mail server 3 and a directory server 4 through a local area network (hereinafter, referred to as LAN) 2.

The mouse 11 and the keyboard 12 in the workstation 1 are for inputting various data, commands, and the like. A random access memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM) 13 stores an operating program for operating the system, a data group and a command group input from the mouse 11 and the keyboard 12, and the like. The local disk 14 stores mail sheet display data and a distribution destination table to be described later.
The display control unit 15 controls a display 16 such as a CRT, and displays a mail sheet corresponding to display data in the local disk 14 and a window corresponding to various functions. A central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as a CPU) 17 reads a program from a program storage device 18, controls the RAM 13, the local disk 14, and the display control unit 15 in a time-sharing manner based on the program, and performs predetermined arithmetic and And so on.

Here, when the mail is transmitted from the workstation 1, the destination of the mail is transmitted from the workstation 1 prior to the transmission of the mail. The mail server 3 determines whether or not the destination of the mail is already registered in the directory server 4. If the destination of the mail is not registered, the mail cannot be delivered. 1 is notified. If the destination of the mail has already been registered, the mail is transmitted from the workstation 1 to the mail server 3 via the LAN 2.
The mail server 3 delivers this mail to a terminal (not shown) that is the destination of the mail via the LAN 2.

By operating the mouse 11 and the keyboard 12 in the workstation 1 in this embodiment, a distribution table for subscribers is created on the display screen of the display 16, and the distribution table is stored in a file on the local disk 14. Register in advance. The distribution destination table includes a distribution destination table name and a plurality of destinations (eg, subscriber names) belonging to the distribution destination table name.
The file in which the distribution destination table name is registered is given the distribution destination table name.

In this way, the distribution table for subscribers is stored on the local disk 14.
Is registered in the file having the distribution destination table name in the above, when transmitting the mail from the workstation 1, the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. Can be sent. It is assumed that the mail to be transmitted is already stored in the local disk 14.

First, assuming that the mail sheet icon is displayed on the display 16, the user operates the mouse 11 to indicate the icon, and presses the "open" key on the keyboard 12 (steps 101 and 102). In response, the display data of the mail sheet 31 shown in FIG.
Displays the mail sheet 31 on the display 16 based on the display data (step 103).

Here, by operating the mouse 11 and the keyboard 12, the subscriber name indicating the sender of the mail is written in the “From” column of the mail sheet 31. Then, the subscriber name and distribution destination table name are entered in the “To” column of the mail sheet 31 as the destination of the mail. Also, the subscriber name and distribution table name may be entered in the “Copies” column as recipients of the mail copy. Furthermore, "Importance"-"Not
Fill in each parameter in “e” as required.

When a plurality of names are entered in each column of “To” and “Copies” in the mail sheet 31, each name must be separated by “,”. In addition, in the case where a subscriber-specific distribution table name is entered in these fields, the extension "dl" must be entered following the distribution table name. This extension “dl” identifies the distribution destination table name exclusively for the subscriber.

When the various parameters have been entered in the mail sheet 31 in this way, the user operates the mouse 11 to instruct "Send" on the upper side of the mail sheet 31, and then inputs a mail transmission command stored in the local disk 14. (Step 103). In response, CPU 17 sends mail sheet 31
It is determined whether or not parameters are entered in the respective columns of “To” and “Copies” (step 104). For example, if no parameters are entered in any of the respective columns, the destination of the e-mail and the e-mail The display 16 via the display control unit 15 indicates that there is no recipient of the copy.
(Step 105). As a result, the user is prompted to enter parameters in the “To” and “Copies” fields, and the processing from step 103 is repeated.

If it is determined in step 104 that the parameter is entered in any of the columns of “To” and “Copies”, the CPU 17 enters the parameters in the columns of “To” and “Copies”. The parameters present are read one by one (step 106). In other words, if a plurality of parameters, that is, subscriber names and distribution table names are entered in the “To” and “Copies” fields, separated by “,”, these subscriber names and distribution destinations The table names are read one by one.
Here, as shown in FIG. 3, since “Mobyers.dl” and “Yoshino” are entered as parameters in the “To” and “Copies” columns of the mail sheet 31, respectively, the CPU 17 "Mobyers.dl" and "Yos
hino ”.

Then, the CPU 17 determines whether “Mobyers.dl” and “Yoshino” include the extension “dl” (step 107). Here, "Mobyers.dl" has the extension "dl"
, The process proceeds to step 111 for the parameter “Mobyers.dl” after performing the following steps 108, 109, and 110. Also, since the extension “dl” is not included in “Yoshino”, the steps “108”, “109”, and “110” are jumped for the parameter “Yoshino”, and the process proceeds to step 111.

In accordance with the determination that the parameter “Mobyers.dl” includes the extension “dl” in step 107, the CPU 17
yers "is a subscriber-only distribution table name,
The file named "Mobyers" is on local disk 1
It is checked whether or not it exists in step 4 (step 108). If the file does not exist in the local disk 14 (step 109), the CPU 17 causes the display 16 to display on the display 16 that there is no mail destination (step 105). As a result, the user is prompted to re-enter the parameters in the “To” column, and the processing from step 103 is repeated.

If a file named “Mobyers” exists in the local disk 14 in the step 109, the CPU 17 develops a distribution destination table having the same name as the file name registered in this file, and All destinations, that is, subscriber names, are read (step 110).

Thereafter, the workstation 1 sequentially transmits all the destinations belonging to the distribution destination table to the mail server 3. In response, the mail server 3 transmits and receives data to and from the directory server 4, thereby sequentially determining whether or not each destination is registered in the directory server 4, and determining the result of each determination for each destination. Is returned to the workstation 1 one by one (step 111).

If the CPU 17 in the workstation 1 has not registered any one of all the destinations belonging to the distribution destination table (step 112), the CPU 17 informs the display control unit 15 that there is no mail destination. It is displayed on the display 16 (step 105). As a result, the user is prompted to re-enter the parameters in the “To” column.
Repeat the process from 3. If it is determined in step 112 that all destinations belonging to the distribution destination table have been registered, the CPU 17 proceeds to the next step 113.

On the other hand, for the recipient of the copy of "Yoshino", which is determined not to include the extension "dl" in step 107, the destination of the recipient, that is, the parameter "Yoshino" is transmitted from the workstation 1 to the mail server 3
Sent to. In response to this, the mail server 3 sends and receives data to and from the directory server 4 to determine whether or not the destination of the recipient is registered in the directory server 4. Return the result to workstation 1 (step
111).

If the destination of the recipient is not registered (step 112), the CPU 17 causes the display 16 to display on the display 16 via the display control unit 15 that there is no mail destination (step 105). This prompts the user to re-enter the parameters in the “Copies” column, and repeats the processing from step 103. If it is determined in step 112 that the destination of the recipient is already registered, the CPU 17
Moves to the next step 113.

Next, in step 113, the CPU 17 determines whether the check has been completed for the registration of all destinations belonging to the distribution destination table and the destination of the recipient, and ends the check for any one destination. If not, the flow returns to the processing from step 106. If all the destinations have been checked, the CPU 17 reads the mail stored in the local disk 14 and sends the mail to the mail server 3 (step 114).

Upon receiving the mail, the mail server 3 delivers the mail to all the destinations belonging to the distribution destination table and the destinations of the recipients.

As described above, in this embodiment, the distribution table for the subscriber is created in the workstation 1 and the distribution table is stored in the local disk 14 so that the distribution table can be transmitted when the workstation 1 sends an e-mail. Mail sheet 31
The mail can be sent to all the destinations belonging to the distribution destination table simply by filling in the mail address.

Since this distribution destination table is created in the workstation 1 as a dedicated one for the subscriber, there is an advantage that the contents can be easily changed, added or deleted at the convenience of the subscriber.

In this embodiment, a distribution destination table including a distribution destination table name and a plurality of subscriber names belonging to the distribution destination table name is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this. Other distribution table names may be included. In this case, when developing a distribution destination table including another distribution destination table name, it is necessary to expand to each destination belonging to the other distribution destination table name.

[Effect of the Invention] As described above, in the present invention, the workstation holds a plurality of distribution destination tables each registered with one or more subscribers as distribution destinations, and the distribution destination table name is the destination address. When sending an email specified as
Since the distribution destination table having the distribution destination table name is extracted and one or more subscribers registered in the extracted distribution destination table are expanded to the destination address of the mail, the following effects can be obtained.

1) Unlike the case of managing the distribution destination table at the system level, the distribution destination table can be easily created and changed.

2) It is possible to smoothly and flexibly specify an e-mail address.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an e-mail system to which an embodiment of a distribution table expansion system according to the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is used for explaining the operation in the embodiment shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a mail sheet displayed on the display in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 ... workstation, 2 ... local area network, 3 ... mail server, 4 ... directory server, 11 ... mouse, 12 ... keyboard, 13 ... random access memory, 14 ... local disk, 15 ... ... Display control unit, 16 ... Display, 17 ... Central processing unit,
18 Program storage device.

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04L 12/54 H04L 12/58 G06F 13/00 351

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A workstation for sending mail,
A mail server that receives the mail transmitted by the workstation via a network and has the mail server deliver the received mail to a plurality of destinations. Storage means for storing a plurality of distribution destination tables each of which has a subscriber registered as a distribution destination; and when transmitting an e-mail with the distribution destination table name specified as a destination address, the distribution destination table having the distribution destination table name is stored in the storage unit. Expansion means for extracting one or a plurality of subscribers registered in the extracted distribution destination table extracted from the storage means to the destination address of the mail, and a distribution destination table expansion method in an electronic mail system. .