JP3589622B2 - Email system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an e-mail system, and more particularly to an e-mail system in which a plurality of users can individually transmit and receive e-mail when a plurality of users share one e-mail address to transmit and receive e-mail. About mail system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art With the development of information and communication technology, the number of different email systems interconnected to send and receive email has increased. In the case of the Internet, the interconnection of the e-mail systems is based on the fact that the respective systems are compliant with the public document RFC822 (Standard for the format of ARPA Internet text) of the Internet Standardization Task Force (IETF), an Internet standardization organization. Has been realized.
[0003]
According to RFC 822, when an e-mail is transmitted and received between the e-mail systems, the sender and destination mails (line starting with “from”) and the destination addressing column (line starting with “to”) are the sender and destination mails, respectively. The address is to be added. Therefore, when a user of a certain e-mail system attempts to send / receive mail to / from an external e-mail system, it is necessary to prepare e-mail addresses for the number of users.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, for financial, operational, administrative, and security reasons, it is better to have an organization that does not have as many e-mail addresses as there are users for communication with the outside world, or to have only one e-mail address. There is a good organization.
For example, in the case of schools at the elementary and middle school level, the e-mail address of the number of students should be Many schools think that it is better to prepare and operate only one representative e-mail address instead of preparing just the minute.
[0005]
Several techniques have already been disclosed for specifying the destination of an electronic mail. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 10-173697 discloses a technique for designating a destination by adding a keyword to address information. However, in this technique, a keyword is added to the address to generate a new address, and the new address is added to the destination line. Therefore, it cannot be used in an environment where only one mail address can be used for communication with the outside.
[0006]
Also, in the case of a company that does not operate its own mail server and obtains an e-mail address for communication with the outside from a provider, it is difficult to prepare e-mail addresses for the number of users.
There has been no technology that allows users of such an organization's e-mail system to share a single e-mail address and send and receive e-mail individually with the outside world. Also, there is no technology capable of individually sending e-mails to individuals or groups within an organization having only one e-mail address from outside.
[0007]
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and users within the organization of the e-mail system can communicate with external e-mail system users while sharing one representative address. It is an object of the present invention to provide an e-mail system capable of individually transmitting and receiving e-mails between them. In addition, the user of the external e-mail system can use one representative address as a destination and use the e-mail with the information specifying the individual or group in the organization of the destination as a viewer for the appropriate use in the organization. It is an object of the present invention to provide an e-mail system that can be delivered to a user.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention relates to an e-mail system which accommodates a plurality of user terminals and each user terminal exchanges a message with an external system using one representative address, wherein the outgoing mail transferred from the user terminals is provided. Create sender information including the group to which the user belongs in the predetermined outgoing information entry column of the e-mail, and include the user included in the predetermined incoming information entry column of the e-mail received from the external system. A relay system for extracting group information and delivering the received e-mail to a person in a group to which a user corresponding to the extracted information belongs;,  The outgoing information description column is a column for describing the representative address or a column for describing the title of an outgoing mail, and the incoming information description column is a column for describing the representative address or the title of a received e-mail. Characterized byAn electronic mail system is provided.
[0009]
In addition, the outgoing information description column is a column for describing the representative address or a column for describing the title of an outgoing mail, and the incoming information description column is for describing the representative address description column or the title of a received e-mail. Columns may be used. According to this, users in the organization having only one representative address can individually transmit and receive e-mails with the external system.
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an in-house mail system that accommodates a plurality of user terminals and sends and receives e-mails between the user terminals, and a relay system that sends and receives e-mails between the in-house mail system and an external system. An electronic mail system comprising: the relay system, wherein the only representative address given to the in-house mail system and personal identification information for each user who uses the user terminalAnd the group to which the user belongsAnd a receiving unit that receives an e-mail from the outside addressed to the representative address, and searches the incoming information entry field of the e-mail received by the receiving unit,Group to which the user belongsA decryption unit that determines whether or not information that matches the information is included.Person in the group to which the user belongsAnd a transfer unit for transferring the received e-mail to an in-house mail system with the address as a destination.
[0011]
The relay system of the present invention is a system for sending and receiving e-mails between an in-house mail system and an external system. Usually, hardware mainly including a microcomputer and software stored in a ROM, a RAM, or the like are used. It is composed of
The relay system is disposed between the in-house mail system and a network such as the Internet, and is preferably installed in the same premises as the in-house mail system.
[0012]
The hardware of the relay system is mainly composed of a microcomputer and peripheral devices including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a timer, an I / O, a RAM for storing software, a ROM, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, and data such as e-mail. , A rewritable storage medium such as a MO, MD, PD, DVD-RAM or the like.
The external system means a system connected to the electronic mail system of the present invention via a WAN such as a public communication line, a dedicated line, or the Internet.
[0013]
The in-house mail system is composed of a user terminal such as a personal computer used by the user and a server for controlling the transmission and reception of e-mail. The user terminal and the server are generally connected via a LAN. Is done.
This server mainly controls transmission and reception of e-mail between user terminals connected to the LAN, and a personal mail address is assigned to each user who uses the user terminal.
In the present invention, this personal mail address is used only inside the organization mail system.
[0014]
On the other hand, in the present invention, the in-house mail system is provided with only one mail address for sending and receiving e-mail with the external system, but the user of the user terminal sends the e-mail to the external system. When transmitting, the representative address is used as the sender information of the transmission information.
[0015]
Generally, in an e-mail to be transmitted, at least destination information (information starting with “to”) to which the mail is sent, sender information (information starting with “from”) indicating a sender of the mail, and a title of the mail (starting with “subject”) Information), in the present invention, the outgoing information description field means a field in which a user is permitted to include an arbitrary symbol string according to the communication protocol (RFC822).
The “transmission information description column” is, for example, a column for describing a representative address indicating a sender or a title column, but is not limited thereto, and may be a description column recognized at present or in the future.
[0016]
The “user-specific information” may use the personal mail address described above, or may use another identification code corresponding to the personal mail address. For example, an identification number, an in-house code number, an individual name itself, or the like given to an individual can be used.
As a specific example, when an in-house mail system is constructed in a certain school, information combining "school year", "group", and "attendance number" as user-specific information, for example, "6th grade 5th grade" A character string such as "set 12" can also be used.
[0017]
Further, as the information unique to the user, information obtained by adding “name” or “identification number” to the “group name” of the in-house mail system may be used.
Here, the “group name” is a character string such as “6 years and 5 sets”, and the group includes a plurality of individual users.
[0018]
Further, only the “group name” can be used as information unique to the user. In this case, the individual user cannot be specified, but when a plurality of groups exist in the organization mail system, the group can be specified.
[0019]
That is, when the group name is used as information unique to the user, one user can be read as one group, and the “group name” is entered as “user-specific information” in the incoming call information description column. Is received, the e-mail may be delivered to all users belonging to the corresponding group.
[0020]
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited by this.
FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of an electronic mail system according to the present invention.
In the present invention, a gateway system 2 is provided between an electronic mail system 1 (hereinafter referred to as an internal mail system) in an organization and a mail server 3 for external communication (hereinafter referred to as an external communication mail server). .
[0021]
The in-house mail system 1 is a system in which a server 12 and a large number of user terminals 11 (hereinafter, referred to as client PCs) are connected via a LAN, and each client PC 11 transmits and receives e-mails. .
When an electronic mail is transmitted from the client PC 11 to the outside, the electronic mail is taken into the server 12, converted into data of a predetermined format, and transferred to the transmission spool 5 of the gateway system 2.
[0022]
The in-house mail system 1 is provided with a mailbox 13 for each user (client PC), and the user can send and receive e-mails in the organization through the mailbox.
For example, when a user A of a client PC sends an e-mail to a user B, the e-mail is delivered to the user B's mailbox. Then, the user B can read the e-mail by going to confirm receipt of his / her mailbox.
[0023]
The external communication mail server 3 is an RFC822-compliant mail server used by an organization for sending and receiving Internet mail, and the account of the representative address is registered in the mail server 3 or the gateway system 2. Here, the representative address is, for example, Daihyo @ bbb. cc. jp. It is assumed that the in-house mail system 1 of the present invention has only one representative address.
[0024]
The external communication mail server 3 transmits the electronic mail transferred from the mail transmission unit 22 of the gateway system 2 to the outside, and transmits the electronic mail received from the external communication mail server 4 to the mail reception unit of the gateway system 2. The transfer processing is performed in response to the transfer request of 24.
[0025]
The gateway system 2 mainly includes a header information forming unit 21, a mail transmitting unit 22, a mail receiving unit 24, and a header information decoding unit 23, and further includes a transmission spool 5, a reception spool 6, a personal identification information table 7, and a group table 8. And a storage unit consisting of:
[0026]
FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the personal identification information table 7 used in the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the personal identification information table 7, a personal mail address 100 of each user used in the in-house mail system 1 and a unique code 101 (hereinafter, referred to as "user") used to identify each user in the organization. Is called a personal identification code).
[0027]
Here, a plurality of personal identification codes 101 may be provided for each personal mail address 100 in different notations such as a personal identification code A1, a personal identification code B1, a personal identification code C1, and so on. The number of users is not particularly limited. This personal identification code 101 corresponds to “information unique to the user”.
[0028]
FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the group table 8 used in the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 3, the group table 8 stores a plurality of group names 102, each of which stores a personal identification code 101 of a user constituting the group. The number of groups is not particularly limited.
As will be described later, this group table 8 is used to transfer the received mail to all users belonging to the group of the group name when the received information of the received mail includes the group name in the incoming information column. Is done.
[0029]
The gateway system 2 behaves as an RFC822-compliant mail client to the external communication mail server 3 and relays mail between the organization mail system 1 and the external communication mail server 3 in the following manner. It is a relay system.
[0030]
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the e-mail header information of the present invention.
FIG. 4A shows an embodiment of the information of the header portion of the e-mail transferred from the server 12 to the transmission spool 5.
Here, the header portion includes a message ID 111 (MSG1234), a personal mail address 112 (yyyyyyyy), a personal name 113 (Ichiro Yamamoto), an address 114 (Osaka), a date 115 (DATE2000052314), and destination information 116 (xxx @@ yyyy). .Zz.jp) and a title 117 (MAIL001), which is a portion where so-called transmission information is described.
[0031]
By the way, a comment can be added to the mail address of the sender of the electronic mail transmitted and received by the external communication mail server 3 based on RFC822. This comment may not be unique to the email address, and may be defined by the user.
[0032]
FIG. 4B shows an embodiment of a transmission information description column (hereinafter, referred to as a header) created by the header information forming unit 21.
Here, the header is created based on the information of the transmission spool shown in FIG. 4A, and includes a message ID 121, a sender 122, a destination 123, a date 124, and a title 125.
[0033]
The sender 122 contains the mail address of the person sending the normal mail, and the destination 123 contains the mail address of the person sending the mail. In the present invention, since the organization of the transmission source has only one representative address, the representative address is entered in the sender 122.
Further, a comment that the user may add can be put in the column of the title 125.
[0034]
For example, in FIG. 4B, the column of the sender 122 starts with “From”. In addition to the representative address 200 shown in FIG. 4D, the personal identification code 101 shown in FIG. This shows a name 113 and an address 114 added as comments.
The comment is not limited to this embodiment, but it is preferable to insert at least the personal identification code 101.
4A, the destination 123 is the destination information 116, the date 124 is the date 115, and the title 125 is the title 117.
[0035]
Hereinafter, a case where an electronic mail is transmitted from the in-house mail system 1 of the present invention to an external system will be described.
First, it is assumed that an e-mail A addressed to an external client PC 41 is transmitted from a user M of a certain client PC 11 in the in-house mail system 1.
This e-mail A is received by the server 12 and stored in the transmission spool 5 of the gateway system 2.
[0036]
When the gateway system 2 receives the e-mail A to be transmitted from the in-house mail system 1 to the external system, the header information forming unit 21 looks at the information of the e-mail A in the transmission spool 5 and sees FIG. Create a header like That is, the representative address 200 is put in the column of the sender 122 of the mail, and the personal identification code 101 is obtained from the personal mail address 100 with reference to the personal identification information table 7 as shown in FIG. Add a comment in the column.
[0037]
In FIG. 4B, a personal name 113 and an address 114 are also added as comments in the column of the sender 122, and the destination 123, the date 124, and the title 125 correspond to each in the transmission spool 5. Information is inserted.
Thereafter, the header of FIG. 4B and the text of the electronic mail A are sent to the mail transmitting unit 22.
The mail transmitting unit 22 assembles the header and the mail contents shown in FIG. 4B into a predetermined format and transfers them to the external communication mail server 3.
[0038]
The external communication mail server 3 assembles the header and the mail text content transferred from the mail transmission unit 22 into a predetermined format of RFC 822 and transmits the assembled data to the external communication mail server 4 via the external network 10.
[0039]
When receiving the electronic mail A, the external communication mail server 4 first decodes the destination 123 included in the header. When it is determined that the mail address described in the destination 123 is the user of the client PC 41, the received e-mail A is put in the mailbox of the corresponding client PC 41.
[0040]
At this time, in addition to the message ID 121, the representative address 122, the date 124, and the title 125, a comment added to the column of the sender 122 is also transferred.
Therefore, the user of the external client PC 41 reads the comment (such as the personal identification code 101) added to the column of the sender 122 to determine who is the sender of the e-mail A in the organization. Can be identified.
[0041]
Here, the same special hardware and software as the gateway system 2 and the like of the present invention are not required for the destination external communication mail server 4 and the client PC 41. In other words, it is only necessary to provide mail software that can send and receive mail complying with RFC822, which is usually commercially available.
[0042]
Next, an embodiment in which the external client PC 41 sends a reply mail B to the user M using the reply function to the received electronic mail A will be described. In many mail software currently on the market, the contents of the column of the sender 122 of the original received e-mail A are directly copied to the destination column of the reply mail B.
[0043]
That is, the information (the representative address 200 and the comment) shown for the sender 122 in FIG. 4B is automatically inserted into the destination field of the reply mail B. In the client PC 41, the sending date and the title of the reply mail B are given, and the sender information is created.
Here, the title can be created independently by the user of the client PC 41. However, in general, in the case of a reply mail, the title given to the received e-mail A is automatically used as a part of the title. Often.
[0044]
Then, when the reply mail B is sent from the client PC 41 to the external communication mail server 4, the reply mail B is transmitted from the external communication mail server 4 to the external network 10, and the external communication is performed using the representative address 200 in the destination column as a clue. Arrives at the mail server 3.
[0045]
The reply mail B arriving at the external communication mail server 3 is delivered to the mailbox 13 of the sender of the original electronic mail A by the following method.
[0046]
The external communication mail server 3 transfers the reply mail B in response to a transfer request from the mail receiving unit 24 of the gateway system 2. The mail receiving unit 24 stores the reply mail B in the receiving spool 6. The stored reply mail B is composed of a header and a mail text, and this header corresponds to so-called incoming information, and a destination column including the personal identification code 101 therein corresponds to an incoming information description column. .
[0047]
Then, the header information decoding unit 23 searches whether or not any of the comments added in the destination column matches the personal identification code 101 in the personal identification information table 7.
If there is a match, the reply mail B is stored in the mailbox 13 of the user of the mail address 100 corresponding to the corresponding personal identification code 101.
By such processing, the reply mail B is delivered to the individual user in the organization having only one representative address.
[0048]
When sending a reply mail to the user M in the in-house mail system 1, the user of the external client PC 41 does not need to know the user's personal mail address 112 at all.
That is, since the personal identification code 101 of the user M is included in the column of the sender 122 of the outgoing mail A, the external e-mail recipient performs a normal “reply mail” creation operation. A reply mail can be easily transmitted to each user in the organization mail system 1 having only one representative address.
[0049]
If the matching personal identification code 101 is not found in the destination field of the reply mail B stored in the receiving spool 6, the message is sent from the external client PC 41 by using the title field 125 described above. The transmission mail C and the reply mail B described above can be delivered to each user in the organization.
[0050]
Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the electronic mail system of the present invention distributes an electronic mail received to each user by using the title column 125 will be described.
Generally, an e-mail has a title box, and it is recognized that this title box is also used as a comment in RFC822. Then, the user of the external client PC 41 inserts the personal identification code 101 of the user of the in-house mail system into the title box of the outgoing mail C or the reply mail B to have the mail to be sent or the reply mail B created. To do.
Therefore, the user of the external client PC 41 needs to be notified of the personal identification code 101 in advance.
[0051]
When the outgoing mail C or the reply mail B with the personal identification code 101 inserted in the title column is transmitted from the client PC 41 and received by the external communication mail server 3 via the external communication mail server 4 and the external network 10. The outgoing mail C or reply mail B is stored in the receiving spool 6 of the gateway system 2.
Here, the outgoing mail C or reply mail B stored in the receiving spool 6 includes a header and a mail text. In this case, the title column in the header corresponds to the incoming information description column.
[0052]
Then, the header information decryption unit 23 compares whether or not there is any in the title column of the outgoing mail C or the reply mail B that matches the personal identification code 101 of the personal identification information table 7.
If there is a match, the outgoing mail C or reply mail B is stored in the personal mailbox 13 of the mail address corresponding to the corresponding personal identification code 101.
[0053]
As described above, by adding the “personal identification code 101” to the “title 125” field in addition to the “sender 122” field that can be used as a comment by the user, the external client PC 41 can send the in-house mail system. An e-mail can be delivered to one individual.
[0054]
If the "group name 102" of the group table 8 is used instead of the personal identification code 101, the electronic mail can be distributed to all the individuals belonging to the group.
For example, the group name 102 is entered in the title box of the outgoing mail C created by the external client PC 41, and the header information decoding unit 23 writes the group name 102 May be checked to see if there is any information that matches.
[0055]
When the user of the client PC 11 of the in-house mail system 1 creates and sends the group name 102 in the title box 117 of the e-mail A, the title box of the reply mail B to the e-mail A Includes the group name 102, the header information decrypting unit 23 may check whether there is any information matching the group name 102 in the title field of the reply mail B. .
[0056]
Further, when the gateway system 2 receives an e-mail to which the personal identification code 101 and the group name 102 are not added as a comment, the e-mail may be copied and delivered to the mailboxes of all the members in the organization. .
[0057]
The received mail that does not correspond to any of the above cases is determined to be a mail addressed to all the members of the organization, and by referring to the personal identification information table 7, the mail within the organization of all the users of the mail system 1 within the organization. The address is obtained, the address in the address column is changed to that address, and the received mail is delivered to the mailboxes 13 of all users of the in-house mail system 1.
[0058]
As a specific processing order of the header information analysis unit 23, first, information matching the personal identification code 101 in the personal identification information table is displayed in the destination column or title column of the e-mail stored in the receiving spool 6. Check if there is no personal identification code in the address and title fields, and check if there is any information matching the group name 102 in the address or title field of the e-mail. If it is not in the title box, the e-mail may be delivered to all users of the in-house mail system.
[0059]
As an application field of the present invention, an electronic mail system for schools can be considered. In this case, as the personal identification code 101, a notation in which a school year, a group, and an attendance number are combined, such as "6th, 5th, 12th" can be used. In addition, the expression “6 years” or “6 years and 5 sets” can be used for the group name 102. Therefore, even elementary school students can easily understand how to specify the viewer, and can utilize this function.
[0060]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, even in an organization where it is not possible to prepare the same number of e-mail addresses as the number of users for communication with the external system or in an organization where it is desirable to keep only one e-mail address, multiple users of the e-mail system can individually You will be able to send and receive e-mail with the system.
[0061]
Moreover, since only one representative address is required for the e-mail address for communication with the external system, the administrative burden and cost burden can be reduced. Further, since the mail received from the external system or the mail going to the external system can be checked with only one mail address, it is possible to prevent information leakage and being caught in a crime.
[0062]
In addition, when sending an e-mail from the external system to the e-mail system of the present invention, even if no dedicated e-mail software is prepared in the external system, a general e-mail software conforming to RFC822 is used and the title part is used. It is also excellent in that it is possible to specify and send a viewer by a simple method of inputting a personal identification code or a group name in the organization.
[0063]
The transmitted mail transmitted to the external system is added with the personal identification code of the sender as a comment in addition to the representative address. Therefore, when the mail user who receives this mail sends a reply to the sender, if the reply mail is sent using the reply function of the general e-mail software, the contents of the sender column of the sent mail will be the same as the reply mail. It is copied to the destination field and transmitted. In other words, when a user of the external system creates a reply mail, it is easy to perform a normal reply mail creation operation without entering a personal identification code at the beginning of the title string. A reply mail can be transmitted to an individual user of the electronic mail system of the invention.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an electronic mail system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an embodiment of a personal identification information table used in the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an embodiment of a group table used in the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of one embodiment of the header information of the electronic mail of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 organization mail system
2 Gateway system
3 External communication mail server
4 External communication mail server
5 Spool for transmission
6 Spool for receiving
7 Personal identification information table
8 Group table
10. External network
11 Client PC
12 servers
13 Mailbox
21 Header information component
22 Mail sending unit
23 Header information decryption unit
24 Mail receiving unit
41 Client PC
100 personal email address
101 Personal identification code
102 Group name

Claims (4)

An electronic mail system in which a plurality of user terminals are accommodated and each user terminal exchanges a message with an external system using one representative address, wherein a predetermined transmission of outgoing mail transferred from the user terminal is performed. In the information entry column, create sender information including the group to which the user belongs, and extract the group information to which the user belongs in the predetermined incoming information entry column of the e-mail received from the external system A relay system that delivers the received electronic mail to a person in a group to which a user corresponding to the extracted information belongs ;
The outgoing information description column is a column for describing the representative address or a column for describing the title of an outgoing mail, and the incoming information description column is a column for describing the representative address or the title of a received e-mail. An e-mail system characterized by the following . An electronic mail system that accommodates multiple user terminals and transmits / receives e-mail between user terminals, and a relay system that transmits / receives e-mail between the internal mail system and external systems A mail system, wherein the relay system stores a unique representative address assigned to the in-house mail system, personal identification information for each user who uses the user terminal, and a group to which the user belongs. Unit, a receiving unit for receiving an e-mail addressed to the representative address from the outside, and a receiving unit of the e-mail received by the receiving unit that searches the incoming information description column and includes information that matches the group to which the user belongs. And a decryption unit that determines whether or not the matching user is included in the group to which the matching user belongs when the matching information is included. E-mail system, characterized by comprising a transfer unit for transferring the received electronic mail on the inner mail system. The relay system receives an outgoing mail from a user using a user terminal of the in-house mail system, and writes personal identification information corresponding to the user of the outgoing mail in the transmission information of the outgoing mail. 3. The e-mail system according to claim 2 , further comprising a transmission unit for transmitting the data to an external device in addition to a field. Information of the group, one of the electronic mail system of claims 1 to 3, wherein the predetermined user is a group name belongs.

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