JP3921842B2 - E-mail incoming information transmitting apparatus, e-mail incoming information transmitting method, e-mail incoming information receiving apparatus, and e-mail incoming information receiving method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an e-mail incoming information transmitting apparatus, an e-mail incoming information transmitting method, an e-mail incoming information receiving apparatus, and an e-mail incoming information receiving method for notifying a user that an e-mail has arrived.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the present day when the Internet has become widespread, an increasing number of people obtain an e-mail address by contracting with an Internet service provider (ISP). In this way, in an environment where each individual dials up and reads e-mail at home, the user can check whether there is a new mail unless he / she is always connected to a mail server with an Internet service provider. I have to work. Specifically, the user may make a dial-up connection to the ISP, authenticate with a POP (Post Office Protocol) server, and withdraw the e-mail from the POP server to check for the first e-mail. it can.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, every time the user performs such a work, the user has to make a telephone call many times, and the communication cost may increase only by the work for checking such a new mail.
[0004]
In order to solve such a problem, some dial-up routers and the like regularly dial up to the ISP to check whether or not there is an e-mail of the POP server. However, although the user's work is surely reduced, in this case as well, the telephone cost is similarly charged, so the communication cost becomes high.
[0005]
There is also a service for notifying incoming e-mails using the ISDN D-CH. This is because the e-mail sending side sends an incoming notification in advance by filtering a telephone number, so incoming notification information relating to an individual whose telephone number is different from that of himself / herself is not transmitted. For example, when a broadcast mail is exchanged, the sender of the e-mail cannot recognize whether the recipient is reading the e-mail. For this reason, when electronic mail is exchanged between broadcasts, there is a demand for not only me but also other users' incoming email information. On the other hand, even if such incoming information is notified to other users, personal information should not be disclosed, and such private information must not be known to other users.
[0006]
The present invention has been proposed in view of such a situation, and all users can share public information and can maintain the confidentiality of private information of each user. An object of the present invention is to provide an incoming information transmission device, an incoming email information transmission method, an incoming email information reception device, and an incoming email information reception method.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, an electronic mail incoming information transmission apparatus according to the present invention provides non-public information and public information in incoming notification information related to an electronic mail in a mail spool of a mail server, and information acquired every predetermined time. An acquisition unit; an encryption unit that encrypts the non-public information; a file generation unit that generates an incoming notification file including the public information and the non-public information encrypted by the encryption unit; and the incoming notification File transmission means for transmitting the file by broadcast.
[0008]
An electronic mail incoming information transmission method according to the present invention includes: non-public information and public information in an incoming notification information related to an electronic mail in a mail spool of a mail server; an information acquisition step for acquiring the predetermined information every predetermined time; An encryption step for encrypting, a file generation step for generating an incoming notification file composed of the public information and the non-public information encrypted in the encryption step, and file transmission for transmitting the incoming notification file by broadcast A process.
[0009]
An apparatus for receiving incoming information of an electronic mail according to the present invention is an identification address for identifying an individual comprising public information and encrypted private information in incoming notification information relating to an electronic mail in a mail spool of a mail server. A file receiving means for receiving an incoming information notification file to which is added, a display means for displaying the contents of public information of all incoming information files received by the receiving means, and an incoming information file received by the receiving means File acquisition means for acquiring an incoming call information file to which an identification address that matches the identification address of itself is added.
[0010]
The method for receiving incoming information of an electronic mail according to the present invention comprises the public information and the encrypted private information in the incoming notification information related to the electronic mail in the mail spool of the mail server. A file receiving process for receiving an incoming call information notification file with an address added thereto, a display process for displaying the contents of the public information of all incoming call information files received in the file receiving process, and an incoming call information received in the file receiving process. A file acquisition step of acquiring an incoming information file to which an identification address that matches the identification address of the file is added.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0012]
The present invention is applied to, for example, a mail arrival notification system 1 having the configuration shown in FIG.
[0013]
The mail arrival notification system 1 includes a mail server system 10, an incoming information transmission device 20 that transmits information about whether an electronic mail (hereinafter referred to as “mail”) has arrived to the mail server system 10, and a mail server system 10. And an incoming information receiving device 30 for receiving information as to whether the mail has arrived.
[0014]
The mail server system 10 is connected to the Internet 40 and extracts mail addressed to each user from a terminal device connected in dial-up based on the POP protocol. Specifically, the mail server system 10 includes a mail server 11 having a mail spool and a database 12.
[0015]
The mail server 11 includes a mail spool for each user, and stores mail transmitted via the Internet in the mail spool of each user.
[0016]
The database 12 stores a MAC (Media Access Control) address and password for the user's satellite line. The MAC address and the like in the database 12 are read from the mail server 11 as necessary.
[0017]
The mail server 11 is programmed to periodically check the contents of each user's mail spool. Specifically, the mail server 11 executes the processing from step ST1 to step ST5 shown in FIG.
[0018]
The mail server 11 looks at the contents of each user's mail spool (step ST1), reads each user's MAC address from the database 12 (step ST2), and creates an incoming call notification information structure variable for each user based on this. (Step ST3). An example of the incoming call notification information structure variable is shown in FIG.
[0019]
The mail server 11 transfers the incoming call notification information structure for all users to a data server 21 (to be described later) of the incoming call information transmission device 20 of the digital broadcasting consignment company via a dedicated line (step ST4). Then, the mail server 11 is activated after one minute (step ST5), and executes the processes after step ST1 again.
[0020]
For example, when the mail server 11 receives a mail addressed to the name “tiger” (or handle name), the mail server 11 sends an incoming call notification information structure variable, which is information about the e-mail in the mail spool of the tiger, to the incoming information transmission apparatus 20. Send.
[0021]
The incoming call information transmitting apparatus 20 includes a data server 21 that creates an incoming call notification file, a database 22 that stores a service ID, a program ID that is a MAC address, a password, and the like, and an encoder 23 that performs an encoding process on the incoming call notification file. Prepare.
[0022]
The data server 21 creates an incoming notification file based on the incoming notification information structure variable array from the mail server system 10. Specifically, the data server 21 executes the processing from step ST11 to step ST15 shown in FIG. 4 to create the incoming call notification file.
[0023]
The data server 21 creates an incoming notification file for each user based on the incoming notification information structure of each user transmitted from the mail server system 10 (step ST11). The incoming call notification file is configured as shown in FIG. 5, for example.
[0024]
The data server 21 reads the MAC address and password for each user stored in the database 22, and encrypts the user's personal information with reference to the encryption key generated based on the password (step ST12). For example, MAC address, type information indicating the number of unread mails, and public information indicating information to be disclosed to all users are not encrypted, and e-mails and files addressed to individuals are encrypted. .
[0025]
The data server 21 makes a pair of the incoming notification file composed of the encrypted data, type information, and public information, and the transmission parameters (serviceID, programID = macAddress) that are identification addresses for each user in the database 22. Then, the data is transferred to the encoder 23 (step ST14). Then, the data server 21 starts up after 1 minute and executes the processing from step ST11 again (step ST15).
[0026]
For example, when the data server 21 receives the above array indicating that a new mail addressed to Tiger has arrived, for example, “800 (0x320) @trapone A” as the Tiger service ID from the customer database 22 and the Tiger program ID as the Tiger program ID. For example, “1234 = 0x42d” and further the Tiger encryption key is read out. The data server 21 encrypts the mail or file addressed to the tiger with this encryption key, and transmits the incoming call notification file to the encoder 23 as described above.
[0027]
The encoder 23 encodes the incoming notification file with the MAC address for each user according to a predetermined rule on data transmission as shown in FIG. 6, and further according to the format. The encoder 23 transmits the encoded incoming call notification file to the communication satellite 50 via the transmission antenna 24.
[0028]
On the other hand, the incoming information receiving device 30 includes an IRD 32 that is a receiver, a television receiver 33 that displays whether or not a mail has arrived, and a so-called personal computer 34 that is a terminal that displays whether or not a mail has been received or sends and receives mail. With.
[0029]
The IRD 32 receives the incoming notification file transmitted from the communication satellite 50 via the receiving antenna 31, and demodulates it into a baseband band. The IRD 32 acquires an incoming call notification file addressed to itself based on the transmission specifications assigned to each user, analyzes the contents thereof, and determines whether an incoming mail has been received. Further, the IRD 32 transmits the analysis result to the television receiver 33 and the personal computer 34, and displays the contents of public information, specifically, whether or not mail has been received, on the monitor.
[0030]
For example, all users can recognize the arrival of a new mail addressed to Tiger, the number of unread mails regarding other users, the presence of incoming information, and other public information via the monitor. However, since the mail and file addressed to the tiger are encrypted, it is possible to prevent other users from reading information on the individual tiger.
[0031]
When the user confirms that his / her mail has been received in this way, the personal computer 34 makes a dial-up connection to the mail server 11 of the mail server system 10 and the personal computer 34 has its own decryption key. Can be used to decrypt mail and files to read unread mail and open files.
[0032]
When the unread mail is read, the mail server 11 sets the type of the incoming notification information structure to 0 so that the number of mails remaining in the mail spool in which the mail is stored is 0. Then, as described above, the mail server 11 continues to send information indicating that there is no incoming mail every minute to all users.
[0033]
As described above, the mail arrival notification system 1 can not only obtain the incoming information on whether mail has arrived to itself, but can also send the incoming information to a plurality of people by broadcast. For example, the sender of the mail can check whether the mail has been received and read by the recipient's POP server. Further, for example, it is possible to notify all users that the user is on vacation by sending an e-mail indicating that he / she is on vacation to the public information.
[0034]
Further, by changing the value of the type of the incoming notification information structure variable shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to transmit information other than the incoming mail to the user, such as with a mail text.
[0035]
For example, if the subject is prefixed with [sub_mail] (PREFIX), the following character string is always represented as a short message. At this time, the type of the incoming notification file to be generated to the data server 21 is
type = subject_mail
Thus, the character string originally treated as the subject may be interpreted as a short message from the sender on the receiving side, and the content of the short message may be displayed to each user.
[0036]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the mail server 11 may check the mail spool every 10 minutes or every hour instead of every minute. Further, the incoming notification file may not be transmitted / received via the communication satellite 50 but may be transmitted via a unidirectional transmission path such as a terrestrial wave or a cable, and the scope of the technical idea described in the claims. Of course, the design can be changed within a range not departing from the above.
[0037]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the electronic mail incoming information transmitting apparatus and incoming information transmitting method according to the present invention, the non-public information and the public information in the incoming notification information regarding the electronic mail in the mail spool of the mail server are predetermined. Obtain every hour, encrypt private information, generate an incoming notification file consisting of public information and private information encrypted by encryption means, and send it to all users In addition, the confidentiality of the private information of each user can be maintained.
[0038]
According to the incoming information receiving apparatus and the incoming information receiving method of the present invention, the incoming information notification file including the public information and the encrypted non-public information to which the identification address for identifying the individual is added is provided. Receive and display the contents of all received incoming information files, and obtain the incoming information file with the identification address that matches the identification address of the received incoming information file. These users can share the public information, and only the user related to the non-public information can acquire the non-public information.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mail delivery system to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the mail server of the mail delivery system.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an incoming call notification information structure variable.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the data server of the mail delivery system.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an incoming notification file configuration.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a transmission format when transmitting the incoming call notification file.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 mail arrival notification system, 10 mail server system, 11 mail server, 12, 22 database, 20 incoming information transmission device, 21 data server, 30 incoming information reception device, 32 IRD, 33 television receiver, 34 personal computer

Claims (14)

Information acquisition means for acquiring non-public information and public information in the incoming notification information related to the e-mail in the mail spool of the mail server, every predetermined time;
An encryption means for encrypting the non-public information;
File generation means for generating an incoming notification file composed of the public information and the non-public information encrypted by the encryption means;
An e-mail incoming information transmission device comprising: a file transmission means for transmitting the incoming notification file by broadcast. The encryption means encrypts non-public information related to the electronic mail in the mail spool of each user by using an encryption key created based on an address and / or password used for authentication of each user of the mail server. The electronic mail incoming information transmission device according to claim 1. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission means transmits the incoming notification file via a one-way transmission path. An information acquisition step for acquiring non-public information and public information in the incoming notification information regarding the electronic mail in the mail spool of the mail server, every predetermined time;
An encryption process for encrypting the non-public information;
A file generation step of generating an incoming notification file composed of the public information and the non-public information encrypted in the encryption step;
An e-mail incoming information transmission method comprising: a file transmission step of transmitting the incoming notification file by broadcast. The encryption step encrypts the non-public information regarding the electronic mail in the mail spool of each user by using an encryption key created based on an address and / or password used for authentication of each user of the mail server. The method for transmitting incoming information of an electronic mail according to claim 4. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the sending step sends the incoming notification file via a one-way transmission path. File reception for receiving an incoming information notification file that is made up of public information and encrypted non-public information in the incoming notification information related to electronic mail in the mail spool of the mail server, and to which an identification address for identifying an individual is added Means,
Display means for displaying the contents of the public information of all incoming information files received by the receiving means;
An e-mail incoming information receiving apparatus comprising: a file acquisition means for acquiring an incoming information file to which an identification address that matches the identification address of the incoming information file received by the receiving means is added. 8. The incoming e-mail according to claim 7, wherein the display means displays the presence / absence of an incoming e-mail or the number of unread e-mails for each user based on the public information of the received file incoming information. Information receiving device. 8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the file receiving unit receives an incoming notification file transmitted via a one-way transmission path. Decryption means for decrypting the private information subjected to encryption processing of the incoming notification file acquired by the file acquisition means;
8. The incoming e-mail information receiving apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising non-public information output means for outputting the non-public information decrypted by the decryption means. A file for receiving an incoming information notification file that includes public information and encrypted non-public information in the incoming notification information related to electronic mail in the mail spool of the mail server, and to which an identification address for identifying an individual is added Receiving process;
A display step for displaying the contents of the public information of all incoming information files received in the file reception step;
A method of receiving incoming e-mail information, comprising: a file acquisition step of acquiring an incoming information file to which an identification address that matches the identification address of the incoming information file received in the file reception step is added. 12. The incoming e-mail according to claim 11, wherein the display step displays the presence / absence of an incoming e-mail or the number of unread e-mails for each user based on the public information of the received file incoming information. Information receiving method. 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the file receiving step receives an incoming notification file transmitted via a one-way transmission path. A decryption step of decrypting the private information subjected to the encryption process of the incoming notification file acquired in the file acquisition step;
12. The method for receiving incoming e-mail information according to claim 11, further comprising a secret information output step of outputting the secret information decrypted in the decryption step.

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