JP3505309B2 - Electronic information transfer method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for transferring electronic information such as electronic mail and electronic news, and particularly to a server that provides a service for providing electronic information and a list of electronic information obtained from this server. The present invention relates to an electronic information transfer method used in a client / server system including a client that requests a server to transfer predetermined electronic information based on the electronic information transfer method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electronic information services such as electronic mail and electronic news (sometimes referred to as electronic bulletin boards) using the Internet have begun to spread. Recently, the number of subscribers to the electronic information service system has been increasing year by year, and the amount of communication of information such as mail tends to increase accordingly.

Electronic information such as electronic mail and electronic news is sent to a server which is a computer that receives and stores the electronic information. The user uses a program such as a mail reader to read electronic information such as mail stored in the server.
The mail reader is executed on a client which is a computer connected to the server via a network.

When the user reads electronic information such as electronic mail and electronic news, the mail reader of the client first acquires a list showing a list of electronic information stored therein from the server. Then, it selects the necessary information from the information listed and requests it from the server. As a result, the requested information is transferred from the server to the client and displayed on the screen by the mail reader.

[0005]

However, in an electronic information service system using such a client / server model, a computer that is not always used in an environment such as a portable information terminal that can be connected to a network is provided. When used as a client computer, the number of connections to the server and the connection time are often limited, making it difficult to obtain necessary information from the server when needed.

Therefore, there is a demand for a batch transfer method in which a plurality of pieces of electronic information such as electronic mail stored in the server are collectively transferred to the client when connected to the server. In this case, even if the server and the client are not connected, the e-mail can be read because a plurality of e-mails have already been transferred to the client.

However, when the amount of mail stored on the server is large, it takes time to transfer all the mail to the client. Therefore, a technique for efficiently transferring only the mail required by the user from the server to the client is required, but for that purpose, the following procedure is usually required.

(1) The mail reader of the client requests the server for a mail list which is a list of mails. (2) The server sends the mail list to the client.

(3) The mail reader of the client displays the mail list. (4) The user looks at the sent mail list and requests the server to send the necessary mail.

(5) The server sends the requested mail to the client. By repeating the operations of (4) and (5), a plurality of mails are transferred from the server to the client.

As described above, the user needs to explicitly perform the mail transfer request operation by viewing the mail list. Therefore, it is necessary for the client to communicate with the server at least twice, a mail list transmission request and a mail transfer request. Similarly, with regard to the communication from the server to the client, at least the communication of the mail list and the transmission of the mail are performed at least twice.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and collectively transfers electronic information such as mail required by a user from a server to a client even if the user does not explicitly perform a transfer request operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic information transfer method capable of realizing the reduction of the number of communication between the client and the server.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention includes a server that provides a service for providing electronic information regarding electronic mail,
Specific mobile in the e-mail stored in the server
Get a list of e-mail of the band information terminals addressed, electronic information transfer method for use in a portable information terminal / server system that includes a portable information terminal that requests to the server to transfer the predetermined electronic mail on the basis of the list in the mobile
A transfer condition that defines a condition of transfer information to be transferred to the band information terminal is held in the server, and an e-mail that meets the transfer condition among e-mails to which the portable information terminal is the destination. To the server, and the selected e-mail is sent from the server to the mobile device together with a sendable list showing a list of e-mails not selected among the e-mails addressed to the portable information terminal. It is characterized in that it is transferred to the information terminal .

[0014] According to this electronic information transfer method, specific
E-mails that meet the transfer conditions can be automatically received in a batch from among the e-mails addressed to the mobile information terminal, and a sendable list that shows the list of e-mails that do not meet the transfer conditions is an e-mail that meets the transfer conditions. Since it is transferred together with, it can be received by issuing a transfer request to the server as needed based on the list. Therefore, efficient mail reception can be realized with a minimum number of communications. In particular, since the transfer conditions are stored on the server side, there is no need to perform special operation processing such as requesting a mail from the mobile information terminal to the server to match the transfer conditions, reducing the number of communications. it can.

It is preferable that the transfer condition is determined based on the source address and data size of each electronic information stored in the server, or a combination thereof. As a result, the e-mails and e-news sent from a specific sender can be transferred together with the list from the server to the client, or only electronic information of a certain data size or less can be transferred in a batch. It is possible to realize an operation mode in which large-sized electronic information is transferred only when explicitly specified by the user.

When the electronic information stored in the server is electronic news, the news group name or the like indicating the field to which the article of the electronic news belongs is used alone or as the above-mentioned transmission source address or data size. It is desirable to combine and use as a transfer condition. As a result, it becomes possible to collectively transfer the electronic news in the field in which the user is interested together with the list from the server to the client.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an information communication system to which an electronic information transfer method according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied and a functional configuration of a program used in the system. This information communication system provides an e-mail service using a network environment such as the Internet, and a mail server 1 that performs the e-mail service and a client that receives the e-mail service from the mail server 1. It consists of two.

The mail server 1 is a computer for receiving, storing and storing the electronic mails sent from each subscriber of the electronic mail service system, and is connected to a network such as the Internet. All emails addressed to the client 2 transmitted from other subscribers via this network are received and stored in the mail server 1.

The mail service program executed by the mail server 1 includes a mail receiving unit 11, a server mail management unit 12, a server mail storage unit 14, and a server connection management unit 15 as shown in the figure. Email receiver 1
1 receives the sent e-mail,
The e-mail received here is the server mail management unit 12
Sent to.

The server mail management unit 12 saves the received electronic mail and processes the mail list transmission request and the mail transfer request from the client 2. In the storage processing of the received mail, the electronic mail received by the mail receiving unit 11 is stored in the server mail storage unit 14, and the list information including the identifier of the stored electronic mail is registered in the server mail storage list 13. The server mail storage list 13 is managed individually for each client provided by the mail server 1, and the list information about the electronic mail addressed to the client 2 is registered in the server mail storage list 13 corresponding to the client 2. To be done.

The server mail saving unit 14 is for saving the received electronic mail, and when deleting the saved electronic mail or transferring the electronic mail to the client 2, the server mail saving unit 14 The corresponding e-mail is deleted from 14, and the list entry corresponding to the e-mail is deleted from the server mail saving list 13. An example of the server mail save list 13 is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, each list entry of the server mail storage list 13 has a mail identifier 1
22, a mail transmission source address 123, a mail transmission destination address 124, a mail header 125, and a mail size 126. The mail identifier 122 is an identifier for identifying each electronic mail. The mail transmission source address 123 and the mail transmission destination address 124 respectively indicate the transmission source and the transmission destination of the electronic mail. The mail headline 125 is headline information indicating an outline of the electronic mail. The mail size 126 is for indicating the data size of the electronic mail, and here indicates the number of lines of the mail body.

The mail reader program executed by the client 2 shown in FIG.
The client mail storage list 23, the client mail storage unit 24, the client connection management unit 25, the request input unit 26, the display unit 27, the transfer mail condition setting unit 31, and the transfer mail condition list 32 are provided.

The server connection management unit 15 is used by the client 2
Is for processing a connection request from the client 2 and receives a connection request from the client 2 to establish a connection between the mail server 1 and the client 2. When the connection is successful, the client connection management unit 25 of the client 2 is notified of the successful connection.

The client 2 is one of a large number of client computers that receive the e-mail service from the mail server 1. Among the e-mails stored in the mail server 1, the e-mail addressed to the client itself is the client 2. The corresponding server mail storage list is acquired, and the mail server 1 is requested to transfer the electronic mail selected by the user from the list information. The client 2 can be realized by, for example, a personal computer such as a personal digital assistant. In this case, the connection between the client 2 and the mail server 1 may be made not only via a dedicated network such as a LAN but also via a public line network such as a telephone or ISDN.

In the client 2, the client mail management unit 22 performs a process of transmitting a transmission request of the server mail storage list 13 and a transfer request of an electronic mail to the mail server 1, and at the same time, transfers the electronic mail transferred from the mail server 1. And save. The e-mail transferred from the mail server 1 is stored in the client mail storage unit 2
The mail information stored in No. 4 and transferred from the mail server 1 is registered in the client mail storage list 23.

The client mail storage unit 24 is for storing the electronic mail transferred from the mail server 1. As with the server mail storage unit 14, when the electronic mail is deleted, the client mail storage unit 24 stores the electronic mail. At the same time as the deletion, the list entry corresponding to the mail is deleted from the client mail storage list 23.

The client connection management unit 25 requests connection between the mail server 1 and the client 2.
From the client connection management unit 25 to the server connection management unit 15
A connection request is sent to. When the connection is successful, the server connection management unit 15 receives a notification of successful connection.

The request input unit 26 is for inputting a request from a user, and inputs a request for sending a mail list or a request for forwarding an electronic mail. The display unit 27 displays the list information and the electronic mail requested by the request input unit 26 on the screen.

The transfer mail condition setting unit 31 is for setting transfer conditions of an electronic mail to be transferred to the mail server 1 together with the server mail save list 13 when the client 2 requests transmission of the server mail save list 13. The transfer conditions set by the transfer mail condition setting unit 31 are registered in the transfer mail condition list 32.
FIG. 3 shows an example of the transfer mail condition list 32.

In FIG. 3, transfer mail condition list 3
2, three list entries of a source address, a destination address, and a mail size are registered as transfer conditions, and the client 2 stores the server mail save list 1
When requesting the transmission of No. 3, the electronic mail satisfying all these conditions is sent from the mail server 1 to the client 2 together with the mail list information.

Usually, the transmission destination address is the user name of the client 2 (here, tanaka), but the group name to which the user belongs may be included in the transmission address. In this case, the group name (here, k
Eiri, team) can be used as a transfer condition for the destination address.

In the server mail storage list 13 of FIG. 2, the e-mail having the identifier of 0120 matches the transfer condition of FIG. 3, so the e-mail is sent from the mail server 1 to the client 2 together with the mail list information. Will be done.

Next, referring to the flow chart of FIG.
A procedure for transferring an electronic mail from the mail server 1 to the client 2 will be described. First, the request input unit 26 issues a connection request to the mail server 1. Request input unit 26
The connection request input in (4) is sent to the client connection management unit 25. The client connection management unit 25 checks the connection state between the mail server 1 and the client 2 (step S1). If it is already connected, the display 27 indicates that it is connected. If not connected,
A connection request is sent to the server connection management unit 15 in order to try to connect the mail server 1 and the client 2 (step S2). If the connection fails, the server connection management unit 15
Notifies the client connection management unit 25 that the connection has failed. At this time, the user is notified on the display unit 27 that the connection has failed, and the process ends (step S1).
3). When the connection is successful, the server connection management unit 15 notifies the client connection management unit 25 that the connection is successful. At this time, the display unit 27 notifies the user that the connection is successful.

When the connection is successful, the request input section 26 makes a request to send the mail list information.
The transmission request entered in is the client mail management unit 22.
Sent to. Then, the client mail management unit 22 requests the server mail management unit 12 to transmit the server mail storage list 13 (step S4). At this time, the transfer conditions described in the transfer mail condition list 32 are also sent to the mail server 1, and a mail request satisfying the transfer conditions is simultaneously requested.

The server mail management unit 12 receives the request from the client mail management unit 22 and transmits the server mail storage list 13. At this time, search the mail to be transferred at the same time as the server mail save list 13 (step S
5). If there is an email that matches the forwarding conditions,
The mail is erased from the server mail storage unit 14 and at the same time deleted from the server mail storage list 13. Then, the server mail storage list 13 and the mail that matches the transfer condition are sent together to the client mail management unit 22 (steps S6 and S7). If there is no mail that matches the transfer conditions, only the server mail save list 13 is sent (steps S6 and S8).

The client mail management unit 22 saves the mail sent at the same time as the server mail save list 13 in the client mail save unit 24 and registers this mail in the client mail save list 23.
Next, the transmitted server mail storage list 13 and the client mail storage list 23 are transmitted to the display unit 27.

The display unit 27 displays the sent mail list. At this time, by displaying the list of mails stored in the server mail storage unit 14 and the list of mails stored in the client mail storage unit 24 separately, it is made clear which one is stored (step S9).

Next, the user designates the mail to be transferred in the request input section 26. At this time, the forwarding mail condition setting unit 31
A mail satisfying the condition set in advance has already been transferred and is stored in the client mail storage unit 24. Those emails do not need to be forwarded.

The request input unit 26 sends a mail transfer request to the client mail management unit 22. The client mail management unit 22 sends a mail transfer request to the server mail management unit 12 (step S11). The server mail management unit 12 transfers the mail in the server mail storage unit 14 to the client mail management unit 22, and removes the list entry corresponding to the mail to be transferred from the client mail storage list 23 (step S12).

The client mail management unit 22 stores the mail transferred from the server mail management unit 12 in the client mail storage unit 24 and registers it in the client mail storage list 23. Then, the display unit 27 is notified that the transfer is completed, and is displayed on the display unit 27.

As described above, in this embodiment,
At the same time as transmitting the server mail storage list 13, the electronic mail that matches the conditions set by the transfer mail condition setting unit 31 is also transferred. As a result, the mail that matches the conditions set by the transfer mail condition setting unit 31 is transferred without the user explicitly inputting the transfer request.

If the mails that need to be transferred are sufficient to be transferred at the same time as the server mail storage list 13 (if the user does not issue a transfer request for mails that were not transferred at the same time), the mail transfer Therefore, it is not necessary to perform communication again, and the number of times of communication can be reduced.

FIG. 5 shows an information communication system to which the electronic information transfer method according to the second embodiment of the present invention is applied and a functional configuration of a program used in the system.

This information communication system provides the electronic mail service by the client / server system as in the first embodiment of FIG. 1, but the transfer mail condition setting unit 31 is different from the first embodiment in that the transfer mail condition setting unit 31 is used. 2 and the point that the transfer mail condition list 32 is held in the server mail management unit 12.

That is, in the first embodiment, the condition of the mail to be transferred at the same time as the server mail storage list 13 is set in the client 2, but in the present embodiment, it is set in the mail server 1 differently. ing.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the mail transfer algorithm of the second embodiment. Here, FIG.
Only the parts that differ from are shown. That is, in step S4 of FIG. 4, the transfer mail condition list 32 is sent from the client 2 to the mail server 1 together with the server mail save list request. Here, the transfer mail condition list 32 is set in the mail server 1 in advance. Therefore, instead of step S4 of FIG. 4, only the process of issuing a request for the server mail storage list 13 to the mail server 1 is performed (step S41).

In the second embodiment as well, similar to the first embodiment, when the server mail storage list 13 is transmitted, it is possible to simultaneously transfer the mails that match the transfer conditions set by the transfer mail condition setting unit 31. no change. Therefore, a mail that matches the conditions set by the transfer mail condition setting unit 31 is transferred without the user explicitly inputting a transfer request. If the mail required by the user is sufficient to be transferred at the same time as the server mail storage list 13, it is not necessary to carry out communication for a transfer request, and the number of times of communication can be reduced.

In the mail transfer method described above, when the client 2 requests mail list information from the mail server 1, an electronic mail that matches the transfer condition designated in advance is sent together with the mail list information to the mail server 1. The transfer method is not limited to the transfer of e-mail, but the client acquires a list of electronic information such as electronic news accumulated in the server from the server, and the transfer method is based on the list. Any client / server system that requests actual information transfer can be similarly applied.

When an electronic news service system (sometimes called an electronic bulletin board system) is realized by the system configuration of FIG. 1 or 5, instead of the server mail save list 13 and the transfer mail condition list 32,
A server news storage list and a transfer news condition list as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, respectively, will be used.

Each list entry of the server news storage list is made up of a news group name, article number, news sender address, news headline, and news size. The news group name designates one of a plurality of news fields classified in advance. The article number is an identifier for identifying each electronic news item. Each news transmission source address indicates the transmission source of electronic news. The news headline is headline information indicating an outline of electronic news. The news size is for indicating the data size of electronic news, and here the number of lines of the news article text is shown.

In this case, the news transmission source, the news group name, the news size, etc. are individually set,
Alternatively, the transfer condition can be designated by any combination thereof.

In FIG. 8, three list entries are registered in the transfer news condition list, and when the client 2 requests transmission of the server news storage list, electronic news satisfying all of these conditions is combined with news list information. Is transmitted from the server 1 to the client 2. In the server news storage list of FIG. 7, the electronic news item number 251 matches the transfer condition, so the electronic news item is transmitted together with the list information.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a list of electronic information is transmitted from a server to a client, electronic information that matches a transfer condition designated in advance is transmitted at the same time, so that the user can clearly specify. It is possible to obtain necessary information without performing a transfer request operation, and it is possible to reduce the number of communications between the server and the client.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic mail service system to which an electronic information transfer method according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a server mail storage list used in the electronic mail service system of FIG.

3 is a diagram showing an example of a transfer mail condition list used in the electronic mail service system of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of electronic mail transfer from a server to a client in the electronic mail service system of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic mail service system to which the electronic information transfer method according to the second embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure of electronic mail transfer from a server to a client in the electronic mail service system of FIG.

7 is a diagram showing an example of a news storage list used when an electronic news service is provided by the system of FIG. 1 or FIG.

8 is a diagram showing an example of a transfer news condition list used when an electronic news service is provided by the system of FIG. 1 or FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mail server, 2 ... Client, 11 ... Mail receiving unit, 12 ... Server mail management unit, 13 ... Server mail storage list, 15 ... Server connection management unit, 22 ... Client mail management unit, 23 ... Client mail storage list, 24 ... Client mail storage unit, 25 ... Client connection management unit, 26 ... Request input unit, 27 ... Display unit, 3
1 ... Transfer mail condition setting unit, 32 ... Transfer mail condition list, 122 ... Mail identifier, 123 ... Mail source address, 124 ... Mail destination address, 125 ... Mail heading, 126 ... Mail size, 14 ... Server mail storage unit .

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page       (56) References JP-A-63-178637 (JP, A)                 JP-A-5-216930 (JP, A)                 JP-A-3-175763 (JP, A)                 JP-A-2-56144 (JP, A)                 JP-A-5-160854 (JP, A)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A server that provides a service for providing electronic information regarding electronic mail, and a list of electronic mail addressed to a specific mobile information terminal among the electronic mail stored in this server, and based on the list. And a portable information terminal that requests the server to transfer a predetermined email.
In the electronic information transfer method used in a portable information terminal / server system, the server holds a transfer condition defining a condition of transfer information to be transferred to the portable information terminal , and the server stores the transfer condition in the list. Request to get
When a list request is issued, the server is caused to select an email satisfying the transfer condition among emails addressed to the portable information terminal , and the selected email is transferred to the portable information terminal . An electronic information transfer method comprising: transferring from the server to the portable information terminal together with a sendable list showing a list of electronic mails that have not been selected among the electronic mails to be sent. 2. A server that provides a service for providing electronic information such as electronic mail and electronic news, a list of the electronic information obtained from the server, and transfer of predetermined electronic information to the server based on the list. Request mobile information
The electronic information transfer method for use in a portable information terminal / server system comprising a distribution terminal, allowed to hold the transfer condition which defines the condition for transferring information to be transferred to the portable information terminal to the server, the portable information
When a list request for requesting acquisition of the list is issued from a broadcast terminal , the server is caused to select electronic information satisfying the transfer condition from among the transmittable electronic information stored in the server. Characterized in that the selected electronic information is transferred from the server to the portable information terminal together with a transmittable list showing a list of electronic information not selected among the transmittable electronic information stored in And electronic information transfer method. 3. The electronic information transfer method according to claim 1, wherein the transfer condition defines a source address of transfer information to be transferred to the portable information terminal . 4. The electronic information transfer method according to claim 1, wherein the transfer condition defines a data size of transfer information to be transferred to the portable information terminal .