JP2829929B2 - Message communication processing system and method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a communication message storage / exchange function including communication terminals connected to each other via a communication medium and storage means for storing a message to be sent to each communication terminal. And a message communication processing method in the system.

[Prior Art] A message communication process comprising a communication terminal connected to each other via a conventional communication medium, and a center device having a communication message storage / exchange function including storage means for storing a message to be sent to each communication terminal. As one of the basic functions of a system, especially a message communication processing system (e-mail system) for processing multimedia information, a mail box service is known.

This is because a mail box for each mail recipient is prepared in the system, and when the mail sender sends a message to this mail box together with the destination information, the mail box is sent to the destination (destination) mail box specified by the destination information. It is to be registered.

On the other hand, the mail receiver can access the mail box of his / her own and take out the message addressed to him / her, thereby receiving the mail from the mail sender.

By using the above system, the transmitting side can execute message communication without worrying about the situation of the receiving party.

In addition, the receiving side has an advantage that it can receive a mail addressed to the user at his own convenience.

However, when the access of the receiver is delayed or the access is forgotten, the messages are held in a memory or the like in the system for a long time, so that the number of messages that can be handled is reduced. In particular, when dealing with a message having a large amount of information such as image information, a serious problem occurs.

Conventionally, the following method has been used to solve this problem.

That is, the effective use of the mail box is attempted by determining the expiration date of the message storage in the mail box and automatically deleting the expired message.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, according to the conventional method, even if the access of the receiver is delayed or the access is forgotten for some reason, the message is automatically deleted.
Even in this case, the details of the deleted mail box can no longer be known, and an important processing timing may be missed.

In these cases, new data must be stored again in the mailbox.

Further, the handling of received messages is entirely left to the receiving system, so that the messages may be processed against the intention of the sender, which is very inconvenient.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the above problems, and has the following configuration as one means for solving the above problems.

That is, in a message communication processing system comprising a communication terminal connected to each other via a network, and a center device having a communication message storage and exchange function including storage means for storing a message to be sent to each communication terminal, Receiving means for receiving data including a message from a communication terminal, storing control means for storing the message received by the receiving means in the storing means and executing reading control of the stored message, and receiving by the receiving means A transfer means for causing the storage control means to read the received message without reading when the data is not read from the communication terminal of the designated destination, and transferring the received message to another communication terminal; The transfer of the received message by the transfer means based on whether or not is specified. Characterized in that it comprises a Gosuru transfer control means.

And, for example, there is provided timing means for timing the accumulation time of the message received by the receiving means after being stored in the storage means, and the transfer means receives the message by the receiving means by a predetermined time of the timing means. When there is no reading from the communication terminal of the destination specified by the read data, the received message without the reading is transferred to the specified transfer destination.

Further, for example, a transfer destination holding unit that holds the transfer destination information when the message stored in the storage unit by the transfer unit is transferred to another communication terminal is provided.

Further, for example, when there is a read from the destination specified by the data received by the receiving means after the transfer by the transfer means, the transfer means notifies the destination of the transfer to another communication terminal. It is characterized by.

The communication terminal includes a communication terminal connected to each other via a network, and a communication message storage / exchange function including a storage unit for storing a message to be sent to each communication terminal. In a message communication processing system comprising a center device for automatically erasing, in the center device, receiving means for receiving data including a message from a communication terminal, and storing the message received by the receiving means in the storage means. Storage control means for executing read control of the stored message together with the receiving means, and determining whether to delete the received message without reading when there is no reading from another communication terminal when the predetermined condition is satisfied. Setting means for setting based on the received data, and setting when the setting means is set to be erased. When a setting is made so as to delete the message stored in the storage means and satisfying the predetermined condition and not to delete the message, the deletion control means prohibits the deletion of the message even if the predetermined condition is satisfied. It is characterized by the following.

And, for example, a clock means for clocking the storage time of the received message after being stored in the storage means,
Storage means for storing an expiration date in advance, wherein the setting means determines whether or not to delete the unread received message when the timing means times the expiration date stored in the storage means as the predetermined condition. Is set.

Furthermore, in a message communication processing method in a message communication processing system comprising a communication terminal connected to each other via a network, and a center device having a communication message storage and exchange function including a storage unit for storing a message to be sent to each communication terminal Receiving the data including the message from the communication terminal in the center device;
The received message is stored in the storage means, and when there is no reading from the communication terminal of the destination specified by the received data, if the transfer destination is specified by the received data, the message without the reading is stored in the storage unit. It is characterized in that it is read from the storage means and transferred.

And, for example, there is provided a step of measuring an accumulation time since the received message is accumulated in the accumulation means,
When there is no reading from the communication terminal of the destination specified by the received data by the timing of the predetermined time by the timing, the received message without the reading is transferred to the specified transfer destination.

Alternatively, for example, when the message stored in the storage unit is transferred to another communication terminal, the transfer destination information is held. Alternatively, when reading from a destination specified by the received data is performed after the transfer of the received message, the destination is notified of the transfer to another communication terminal.

Or a communication terminal connected to each other via a network, and a communication message storage and exchange function including a storage unit for storing a message to be sent to each communication terminal, and a message stored in the storage unit based on predetermined conditions. In a message communication processing method in a message communication processing system comprising a center device for automatically deleting,
The center device receives data including a message from a communication terminal, stores the received message in the storage unit, and, when the predetermined condition is satisfied, when there is no reading from another communication terminal, the reading is performed. Whether or not to delete a received message without data is set based on the data received by the receiving means, and when set to be deleted, the message stored in the storage means and which satisfies the predetermined condition is deleted. When the setting is made not to delete the message, the deletion of the message is prohibited even if the predetermined condition is satisfied.

Then, for example, the expiration date is stored in advance, the accumulation time of the received message after being accumulated in the accumulation means is measured, and when the expiration date is measured as the predetermined condition by the measurement, reception without reading is performed. It is characterized in that whether or not to delete a message is set.

Hereinafter, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a multimedia message communication processing system (hereinafter, referred to as a system) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numerals 1 to 7 denote message terminals (A to G), which are communication terminals capable of message communication with the mail processing device 9 via the network 8, and include telematic terminals such as teletex and facsimile, and voice input / output functions. And voice terminals and their composite terminals.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a network for connecting the mail processing device 9 to the mail terminals 1 to 7. The network includes a public network (digital data network, dedicated line, telephone network, ISDN) and a private network (LAN, PBX). Is included. Reference numeral 9 denotes a mail processing device which is a center device of the message communication processing system.

In the mail processing device 9, a main control unit 10 controls the entire mail processing device 9 according to the present embodiment according to a program shown in FIGS.
Reference numeral 11 denotes a communication control unit which controls connection with the network 8;
Is a main storage unit that stores the above-described mail processing program and the like, and includes communication data, mail terminal groups A to G (1 to 7).
If the mail is stored in the processable media table 12a in which the terminal type such as the terminal is associated with the processable media and whether or not the mail is stored in the terminal mail box of the mail box storage unit 13, Includes a mailbox management table 12b and the like in which the accumulated elapsed time and the like by the timer unit 14 after being stored are registered and updated. Note that the mail box management table 12b may be provided in the mail box storage unit 13 described below instead of the main storage unit 12.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a mail box storage unit that stores a mail box assigned to each mail terminal, and is composed of, for example, a magnetic disk device. Reference numeral 14 denotes a timer for counting the time elapsed since the message was stored in the mailbox storage unit 13.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a message format used in the multimedia message communication processing system of this embodiment.

The message format is composed of a message header section composed of fields 21 to 25 and a message body section 26.

In the message header section, a service type field 21 for specifying a mail box service, a confidential service, etc.,
Write the sender's name Writer's name field 22, Write the recipient's name Recipient name field 23, Write the media type of characters, images, audio, etc.Media type field 2
4. Includes an additional information field 25 for writing various additional information such as comments.

In the present embodiment, all the media that can be handled as digital data are targeted for the information written in the message body field 26.

Arbitrary information can be written in the additional information field 25. FIG. 3 shows a usage example of the additional information field 25 by the terminal device in the present embodiment. These additional fields are transmitted at the time of registration in the mail box, so that the mail processing device 9 performs processing in accordance with the designation in the additional fields.

In FIG. 3, the usage example indicated by 31 is used to specify a transfer destination to be transferred to another communication terminal when the message storage expiration time has expired as a result of monitoring the message storage time in the mail box by the control described later. Is the destination field when the expiration date is expired. Similarly, reference numeral 32 denotes an erasure enable / disable field for designating whether or not the message is to be erased from the mailbox storage unit 13 when the expiration date has expired. By designating that the erasure is not allowed in the field, even if the message accumulation time is long, it is possible to prevent the message from being erased.

Note that these two examples show one usage example of the additional information field 25 in the present embodiment, and can store other various kinds of instruction information.

Next, FIG. 4 shows details of the processable media table 12a in the main storage device 12 described above.

In FIG. 4, media indicated by “処理” are media that can be processed on the terminal side.

In the present embodiment, for example, terminal A is teletex, terminal B
Is facsimile, terminal C is mixed mode terminal, terminal D
Is a telephone, and terminal G is a multimedia processing terminal installed in the operation section of the system.

The details of the mail exchange processing in the mail processing apparatus 9 of the present embodiment having the above configuration will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The mail processing device 9 is controlled by the main control unit 10 under the control of the main storage unit.
The following processing is executed according to the mail processing program stored in 12.

In the following description, first, a case where the terminal A1 sends an e-mail to the terminal C3 using the mail box service will be described as an example.

When a mail box (hereinafter, referred to as MB) registration request message addressed to terminal C 3 is sent from terminal A 1 to terminal C 3 via network 8, when this message is received by communication control unit 11,
The processing from step S1 is executed. First, in step S1, the service type field 21 when a received message is received is checked.

If there is a received message and the service type is the mailbox registration service, the process proceeds to step S2, and the MB registration process is executed. That is, the mail box storage unit 13 is assigned a predetermined mail box area for each terminal in advance. Accordingly, first, the contents of the recipient field 23 of the received message are examined. In this case, since the content of the recipient field 23 is the terminal C, the content of the message received from the terminal A1 is stored in the mail box for the terminal C3 in the mail box storage unit 13. Then, the process proceeds to step S3, and the timer 14 stores the terminal stored in step S2.
Start timing the message for C3.
Then, the mail storing process is completed, and the process returns to step S1.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1 that the request is not an MB registration request, the process proceeds to step S5 to check whether the request is an MB withdrawal request. In this embodiment, the communication terminal issues an MB withdrawal request to the mail processing device 9 as needed, and checks whether there is a message addressed to itself. Then, when a message addressed to the own terminal is stored in the mail box for the own terminal in the mail box storage unit 13, the stored message is extracted.

Therefore, when the reception message is detected and the service type field 21 is the MB withdrawal request, for example, when the MB withdrawal request from the terminal C is output, etc., the step S6 is executed.
Proceed to. In step S6, an MB withdrawal process is executed. For example, in the case of an MB withdrawal request from the terminal C3, the mail box for the terminal C3 in the mail box storage unit 13 is checked, and the corresponding message is read and delivered to the terminal C3.

The above is the normal mailbox service processing.
In this embodiment, the following processing is performed when the mail box extraction request from the receiving terminal is further delayed.

That is, if there is no received message, the process proceeds from step S5 to step S10, where the mail box management table 12b is checked, and it is checked whether any message is registered in the mail box storage unit 13. If no message is registered, return to step S1 and
Monitors for incoming messages.

On the other hand, if there is a registered message,
The process advances from step S10 to step S11 to check whether or not the elapsed time of the message stored in the mailbox management table 12b in the timer unit 14 is within a preset expiration date.
If the expiration date has not passed here, proceed to step S1,
It waits for an MB withdrawal request from the receiving terminal again.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the expiration date has passed, the process proceeds to the next step S12, and it is checked whether or not an instruction of a transfer destination at the time of expiration is issued from the terminal device to this message. This is determined based on whether or not the transfer destination field 31 at the time of expiration in the message additional information field 25 is set at the time of MB registration. If it has been set, it indicates that there is an instruction for the transfer destination when the expiration date has expired, and the process proceeds to step S13, where the message is read from the MB, and the mail delivery process for transmitting the message to the specified transfer destination is performed. . In this case, the sender, the receiver, the distribution destination information, and the like of the message that has been subjected to the mail distribution processing may be registered in the management table 12b, and may be searched later.

On the other hand, if there is no instruction of the transfer destination at the time of expiration in step S12, the process proceeds to step S15 to check whether this message can be erased. If the terminal device wants to prohibit the erasure of the message, it is only necessary to set the erasability field 32 at the time of expiration in the message additional information field 25 to the erasure-impossible mode during MB registration. If the erasure permission field 32 at the time of expiration is set to the erasure prohibition mode and the erasure is prohibited, the process returns to step S1, and the stored message is left as it is.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the erasability field 32 at the time of expiration is not in the erasable mode but is erasable, the process proceeds to step S16, and the e-mail message whose expiration date has passed, such as the mail message in the mail box storage unit 13, is stored. Erase and step
Return to S1.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a message stays in the message storage means for a predetermined period or more, the message is transferred to another communication terminal, whereby the message is erased carelessly. Can be prevented.

Details of the MB withdrawal process in step S6 in the above description will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the MB withdrawal process, first, in step S20, the mail box management table 12b in the main storage unit 12 is checked to determine whether or not the box stores data of the terminal to which the withdrawal request has been made. When data is stored, the process proceeds to step S21, where a storage message corresponding to the retrieval request is read out from the corresponding mail box in the mail box storage unit 13, and a transfer frame as shown in FIG. The process is sent to the destination terminal (terminal terminal C3), and the process ends.

On the other hand, when the data requested in step S20 is not in the mailbox storage unit 13, the process proceeds from step S20 to step S20.
Proceeding to step 25, it is checked whether or not there is any mail transferred to another terminal in the process of step S13. If there is no forwarded mail, the flow advances to step S26 to generate a return frame instructing no mail in the mail box storage unit 13, transmit the generated return frame to the extraction request terminal, and end the process.

On the other hand, if there is a forwarded mail, the process proceeds to step S30 in step S25, and in order to notify the transfer destination to the extraction request terminal, a return frame storing the transfer destination information in the additional information 25 is generated and transmitted to the extraction request terminal. Send and end the process. The terminal receiving this requests the mail withdrawal to the transfer destination.

In the above description, an example has been described in which, even when there is a message whose expiration date has passed in step S11, a process according to the instruction of the terminal device is performed, the present invention is not limited to the above example. .

For example, in the case where there is a message whose expiration date has passed in step S11, control is performed so that the message is automatically transferred to a specific communication terminal device and the message is not automatically deleted even if there is no instruction from the terminal device. You may. Even in this case, it is possible to prevent the message in the mail box from disappearing as in the related art.

 FIG. 7 shows the process in this case.

In FIG. 7, the same control as in FIG. 5 is assigned the same step number, and the detailed description is omitted.

In FIG. 7, if there is a message in step S11 in which the time counted by the timer 15 has passed the preset expiration date, the process proceeds to step S18. In step S18, the message in the mailbox storage unit 13 whose expiration date has passed is read out. Then, in the following step S19, this message is transmitted to a predetermined communication terminal set in advance, and the process returns to step S1.

As a result, automatic erasure of the message can be prevented, and it is possible to prevent the message box 13 from being unable to enter the message box completely, thereby achieving an efficient message box function.

The setting of the predetermined communication terminal is performed by, for example, setting input from a system console (not shown) connected to the mail processing device 9. As the predetermined communication terminal, specifically, a multimedia processing terminal G7 or the like installed in the operation department of the present system is set.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when a message is stored in the message storage means for a predetermined period or more, the stored message is transmitted to a predetermined communication terminal, so that the number of messages that can be handled by the system is reduced. And a message communication processing system capable of distributing electronic mail without deleting the message.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when a communication terminal of a destination designated by a transmission side does not read a message, the message can be transferred to a communication terminal of a destination designated by the transmission side. Since the message can be deleted, it is possible to eliminate the trouble of retransmitting the message on the transmitting side.

Moreover, since the transfer is performed to the transfer destination specified by the transmission side, the transfer destination can be changed according to the message transmitted by the transmission side, and the transfer can be performed to the transfer destination intended by the transmission side.

Further, according to the present invention, even when the center device satisfies the condition for automatically deleting the received message, the deletion can be prohibited based on the instruction from the transmitting side, so that the sender can give the receiver The message to be passed can be passed without being deleted unnecessarily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multi-media message communication processing system according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a message format used in this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram of additional information in this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of use, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing details of a processable media table in a main storage unit of this embodiment, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a mailbox service process of this embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of the MB withdrawal process, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a mailbox service process of another embodiment according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 to 7: communication terminal, 8: network, 9 ...
… Mail processing device, 10… Main control unit, 11… Communication control unit, 12… Main storage unit, 12a… Processable media table, 12b… Mail box management table, 13… Mail box storage unit 14 This is the clock section.

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

Claims (12)

(57) [Claims] 1. A message communication processing system comprising: a communication terminal connected to each other via a network; and a center device having a communication message storage and exchange function including a storage unit for storing a message to be sent to each communication terminal, Receiving means for receiving data including a message from a communication terminal in a center device; storing control means for storing the message received by the receiving means in the storing means and executing read control of the stored message; and receiving means Transfer means for causing the storage control means to read the received message without reading when there is no reading from the communication terminal of the destination specified by the data received at the transfer terminal, and transferring the received message to another communication terminal; and data received by the receiving means. Transfer of a received message by the transfer means based on whether a transfer destination is specified And a transfer control means for controlling execution of the message communication processing. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a timer for measuring a storage time of the message received by the receiving unit after the message has been stored in the storage unit, wherein the transfer unit transmits the message by a predetermined time of the timer unit. 2. The message communication processing system according to claim 1, wherein when there is no reading from the communication terminal of the destination specified by the data received in step (1), the received message without the reading is transferred to the specified transfer destination. 3. A transfer destination holding means for holding transfer destination information when a message stored in said storage means is transferred to another communication terminal by said transfer means. Item 3. The message communication processing system according to any one of Items 2 and 3. 4. When data is read from a destination specified by data received by the receiving means after the transfer by the transfer means, the destination is notified that the data has been transferred to another communication terminal by the transfer means. The message communication processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein 5. A communication terminal which is connected to each other via a network, and has a communication message storing and switching function including a storing means for storing a message to be sent to each communication terminal, and is stored in said storing means based on predetermined conditions. A message communication processing system comprising: a center device for automatically deleting a received message; receiving means for receiving data including a message from a communication terminal in the center device; and storing the message received by the receiving means in the center device. Storage control means for executing read control of a stored message while storing the received message in the absence of reading from another communication terminal when the predetermined condition is satisfied. Setting means for setting based on data received by the receiving means, and the setting means being set to be erased. When the setting is made to delete the message stored in the storage means and satisfying the predetermined condition and not to delete the message, the deletion control means for prohibiting the deletion of the message despite satisfying the predetermined condition. And a message communication processing system. 6. A time counting means for counting an accumulation time of the received message after being accumulated in the accumulation means, and a storage means for previously storing an expiration date, wherein the setting means sets the predetermined condition as the predetermined condition. 6. The message communication processing system according to claim 5, wherein when the time counting means times the expiration date stored in the storage means, it is set whether or not to delete the unread received message. 7. Message communication in a message communication processing system comprising: communication terminals connected to each other via a network; and a center device having a communication message storage and exchange function including storage means for storing a message to be sent to each communication terminal. In the processing method, in the center device, data including a message from a communication terminal is received, the received message is stored in the storage unit, and there is no reading from a communication terminal of a destination designated by the received data. A message communication processing method, wherein if the transfer destination is specified by the received data, the message without reading is read out from the storage means and transferred. 8. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of measuring an accumulation time of the received message after the message is accumulated in the accumulation means. 8. The message communication processing method according to claim 7, wherein, when the message is not read, the received message without the message is transferred to a designated transfer destination. 9. The message communication processing method according to claim 7, wherein the transfer destination information is held when the message stored in the storage unit is transferred to another communication terminal. . 10. When there is a read from a destination specified by the received data after the transfer of the received message, the destination is notified of the transfer to another communication terminal. The message communication processing method according to any one of claims 7 to 9. 11. A communication terminal connected to each other via a network, and a communication message storage / exchange function including a storage means for storing a message to be sent to each communication terminal. A message communication processing method in a message communication processing system comprising a center device for automatically deleting a message, wherein the center device receives data including a message from a communication terminal, and stores the received message in the storage unit. When the predetermined condition is satisfied, when there is no reading from another communication terminal, whether or not to delete the received message without reading is set based on the data received by the receiving means, and is deleted. Erasing messages that are stored in the storage means and satisfy the predetermined condition when set And a message communication processing method for prohibiting deletion of the message when the setting is made not to delete the message even though the predetermined condition is satisfied. 12. An expiration date is stored in advance, and an accumulation time after the received message is accumulated in the accumulation means is counted. When the expiration date is counted as the predetermined condition by this measurement, reading is performed. 12. The message communication processing method according to claim 11, wherein it is set whether or not to delete an unreceived message.