JP6481795B1 - Message transfer apparatus, method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an environment that can be used more easily without impairing the convenience of communications such as SMS, which has features such as high message transmission capability and high identity verification capability. A receiving unit that receives a customer ID for identifying each of a plurality of customers, a transmission message transmitted from the customer to a terminal, and a terminal ID for identifying the terminal, wherein the plurality of customers include: A database for registering a relationship between a receiving unit, the group ID, the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID belonging to any one of the groups identified by the group ID, one different A database associated with each of a plurality of group IDs, a database control unit for updating and searching the database, and the sender ID associated with the group ID corresponding to the customer ID in the database. A transmission unit for transmitting the added transmission message to the terminal identified by the terminal ID; and the transmission A receiving unit for receiving the reply message, which is a reply message from the terminal that has received the message, wherein the sender ID added to the transmission message is designated as a reply destination and the terminal ID of the terminal is added And a transmission unit that transmits the reply message to the customer identified by the uniquely identified customer ID corresponding to the pair of the sender ID and the terminal ID registered in the database. A transfer device is provided. [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a message transfer apparatus, method, and program.

  There are various methods for transferring media information such as messages or images using a network. For example, SMS is an abbreviation for Short Message Service. SMS transmission is a service that transmits a message by using a phone number of a mobile phone or smartphone instead of an email address as a destination. Early SMS was generally referred to as “short message service” because it transferred a short text, but with the development of technology, the amount of data that can be transferred has increased and the types of media that can be transferred have diversified.

  SMS can perform individual distribution and simultaneous distribution. In SMS, since a telephone number is used, a message can be delivered more reliably to a user who filters incoming mail by mail address. SMS is often used for the purpose of personal authentication because a communication carrier uses a telephone number used as a destination. It also has a high ability to prevent spoofing and duplicate registration.

  In message communication such as SMS, using a communication using a telephone number as described above, a user (person) rather than using a mail address or the like that can be acquired relatively easily at a low cost or at a low cost. It is possible to carry out the identification more reliably.

  In other words, in order to use a telephone number, it is usually necessary to pay a network communication network usage fee. Therefore, obtaining a telephone number is more strict than using an email address or the like. In many cases, identity verification is required. In addition, the telephone number is generally used as a contact for reliable access to the person. Therefore, communication such as SMS using a telephone number is more reliable to identify the person than communication using a mail address or the like.

  On the other hand, the telephone number has a narrower degree of freedom of selection than a mail address that can be set by the person relatively freely, and it usually costs a certain amount to obtain. As a result, the phone number is more advantageous than the e-mail address in terms of the certainty of message transfer and the person's confirmation function, but the resource of the phone number is more limited and can be obtained. The cost of is also high. Moreover, the cost of transferring one message is generally higher in SMS using a telephone number than in communication using a mail address.

  Although the above description has been given by taking SMS communication using a telephone number as an example, the embodiment described below is not limited to SMS communication, and can be applied to communication having properties according to the above-described exemplary communication. It goes without saying that it is a thing.

Japanese Patent No. 5855732

  The disclosed embodiment is an environment that can be used more easily without impairing these conveniences for communications such as SMS having features such as high message transmission capability and high identity verification capability. The purpose is to provide.

  According to the disclosed embodiment, the receiving unit receives a customer ID for identifying each of a plurality of customers, a transmission message transmitted from the customer to the terminal, and a terminal ID for identifying the terminal, The plurality of customers is a database that registers the relationship among the receiving unit, the group ID, the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID that belong to any one of the groups identified by the group ID. A database in which one different sender ID is associated with each of a plurality of group IDs, a database control unit for updating and searching the database, and an association with the group ID corresponding to the customer ID in the database The transmission message to which the sent sender ID is added is transmitted to the terminal identified by the terminal ID. A reply message from the terminal that has received the transmission message, the sender ID that is added to the transmission message is designated as a reply destination, and the terminal ID of the terminal is added to the reply A receiving unit that receives a message, and a transmission that transmits the reply message to the customer identified by the uniquely identified customer ID corresponding to the pair of the sender ID and the terminal ID registered in the database And a message transfer device having a unit.

  The disclosed embodiment is easier for SMS or similar communications having features such as a high message transmission capability and a high identity verification capability without sacrificing these conveniences. An environment that can be used can be provided.

It is a block diagram which implement | achieves several embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the database in 1st Embodiment, and the example of message transmission / reception. It is a figure which shows the example of the data structure of the entry of a database. It is a flowchart of a 1st embodiment. It is a flowchart which transmits the reply message from a terminal to a customer via a message transfer apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of the database in 2nd Embodiment, and the example of message transmission / reception. It is a figure which shows the example of the data structure of the entry of a database. It is a flowchart of a 2nd embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the modification 1. It is a flowchart which shows the modification 2. It is a figure which shows another modification. It is a figure which shows the modification 3. FIG. It is a figure which shows the modification 4. It is a figure showing each hardware constitutions of an embodiment.

  As described above, the embodiment described below will be described by taking SMS communication using a telephone number as an example. However, the embodiment is not limited to SMS communication, and has any property according to the illustrated communication. Needless to say, it is applicable to communications.

  In addition, each embodiment is not exclusive, and a part of one embodiment is incorporated into another embodiment, or a part of one embodiment is replaced with a part of another embodiment. be able to.

In addition, the order of each flow in the illustrated flowchart can be changed as long as there is no contradiction. Moreover, as long as there is no contradiction, one illustrated flow can be executed a plurality of times at different timings.
Moreover, as long as there is no contradiction, a plurality of flows can be executed simultaneously.

  In addition, some programs of the disclosed embodiments can be realized by general-purpose programs such as an operating system or hardware. In addition, the disclosed program may be distributed and executed by a plurality of hardware.

<Outline of Functions of Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram for realizing a plurality of embodiments.
The customer 11 and the terminal 30 exchange messages including text. A mobile phone is an example of the terminal 30. The message transfer device 40 transfers a transmission message from the customer 11 to any one of the terminals 30, and transfers a reply message from the terminal 30 to any one of the customers 11.

  Each of the plurality of customers 11 belongs to one of the plurality of groups 10. When it is desired that the same customer belongs to a plurality of groups, for example, different customer IDs may be assigned to the same customer corresponding to each group.

  In FIG. 1, a customer a and a customer b belong to the group A, and a customer c, a customer d, and a customer e belong to the group B. For example, group A may be a management company that manages a plurality of tenant companies, and customer a and customer b may be tenants belonging to the management company. Further, for example, group A may be a parent company (franchise) of a certain franchise chain, and customer a and customer b may be independent stores (franchisers) participating in the franchise chain.

  In FIG. 1, a message transfer device 40 includes a database 41, a DB control unit 42, a receiving unit 45 that receives a transmission message from a customer, a transmission unit 46 that transmits the received transmission message to any one of the terminals 30, and a terminal 30. A receiving unit 48 that receives the reply message and the like, and a transmission unit 47 that transmits the reply message to the customer 11.

Note that a sender ID (not shown in FIG. 1) indicating the transmission source is added to the transmission message. In addition, a sender ID indicating a reply destination is added to the reply message. The sender address of the message transmitted by the message transfer device or the telephone number that is the destination address of the reply message received by the message transfer device is an example of the sender ID.
The DB control unit 42 includes an update unit 43 that creates or updates an entry in the database 41 and a search unit 44 that searches the database 41.

The database 41 has, for example, an entry that associates a customer ID that identifies the customer 11, a sender ID, and a terminal ID that identifies the terminal 30. Further, the database 41 has an entry that associates a group ID, a set of sender IDs, and a set of customer IDs.
The DB control unit 42 can receive a command from the customer 11 or the group 10 of customers. The customer 11 or the customer group 10 can edit the contents of the database by giving an instruction to the DB control unit 42 to create an entry in the database 41 or delete the entry. Further, by including a specific character string (or command) in the message from the customer 11 or the message from the terminal 30, the contents of the database can be edited by giving a command to the DB control unit 32. It may be. A specific example of editing the database 41 by the specific character string (or command) in the message and the customer 11 or the customer group 10 will be described later in the modification.
Alternatively, the DB control unit 42 receives the instruction from the user using the terminal 30 or the instruction by button operation by the voice call addressed to the sender ID from the customer 30, and the DB control unit 42 performs a predetermined operation so that the database You may make it edit the content of.
Alternatively, the DB control unit may edit the contents of the database by the DB control unit 42 performing a predetermined operation by receiving an instruction from the customer 30 at a predetermined website. The URL of the predetermined website may be described in a transmission message to prompt the operator of the terminal 30 to navigate to the website.

<First Embodiment>
The first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. 1 and other drawings.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a database and an example of message transmission / reception in the first embodiment.
FIG. 2A is an example showing the relationship among the group 10, the customer 11, and the sender ID 50 among the contents of the database 41. Group A has customer a and customer b, and it is shown that sender ID 51 and sender ID 52 can be used. Group B has customer c, customer d, and customer e, and it is shown that sender ID 53 and sender ID 54 can be used. Group C has customers f through k, and it is shown that sender ID 55 through sender ID 58 can be used.
In the following, description will be given using group B as an example.
FIG. 2B shows an example of message transmission / reception between the customer 11 and the terminal 30.

(Sent message)
The message transfer device 40 adds the sender ID 54 to the transmission message 70 from the customer c and transmits it to the terminal a. The update unit 43 registers an entry that links the customer c, the sender ID 54, and the terminal a in the database 41.

  Further, when the search unit 44 of the message transfer device 40 transmits the transmission message 70 from the customer d to the terminal a, an entry indicating that the customer d has already transmitted the transmission message to the terminal a in the past exists in the database 41. Check whether or not to do. (If the entry exists in the database 41, a sender ID associated with the entry may be added to the transmission message.) In FIG. 2B, it is assumed that the entry does not exist. In this case, the search unit 44 checks whether an entry indicating that a transmission message has already been transmitted from another customer to the terminal a exists in the database 41. In the case of FIG. 2B, the customer c has already added the sender ID 54 to the transmission message 70 and transmitted it to the terminal a. Therefore, the search unit 44 searches for a free sender ID among the sender IDs belonging to the group A. The search unit 44 finds that the sender ID 53 is not used for the terminal a. As a result, the search unit 44 gives the sender ID 53 to the transmission unit 46. The transmission unit 46 adds the sender ID 53 to the transmission message 70 from the customer d and transmits the transmission message to the terminal a. The update unit 43 registers, in the database 41, an entry that associates the customer d that is the customer ID, the sender ID 53, and the terminal a that is the terminal ID.

(Reply message)
When the reception unit 48 of the message transfer device 40 receives the reply message 75 in which the sender ID 54 is added to the reply message 75 from the terminal a, the search unit 44 searches the database 41. The search unit 44 searches the database 41 using the pair of the sender ID 54 and the terminal a that is the terminal ID as a search key, obtains the customer c that is the customer ID, and transmits the customer c that is the customer ID. To give. The transmission unit transmits a reply message 75 from the terminal a to the customer a.

  When the reception unit 48 of the message transfer device 40 receives the reply message 75 in which the sender ID 53 is added to the reply message 75 from the terminal a, the search unit 44 searches the database 41. The search unit 44 searches the database 41 using a pair of the sender ID 53 and the terminal a as the terminal ID as a search key, obtains the customer d as the customer ID, and transmits the customer d as the customer ID. To give. The transmission unit transmits a reply message 75 from the terminal a to the customer d.

FIG. 2 (B) shows how other transmission messages 70 and reply messages 75 are transmitted and received.
In the embodiment of FIG. 2B, two sender IDs are assigned to group B. Therefore, the condition that transmission messages from two customers 11 can be sent to each terminal 30 at the maximum is observed. Each of the customers 11 can transmit and receive a transmission message and a reply message with each of the terminals 30 via the message transfer device 40 using the two sender IDs to the maximum as long as the above conditions are satisfied. .

  Therefore, when a dedicated sender ID is assigned to each of the three customers 11 of group B in FIG. 2B, three sender IDs are required, but two sender IDs (sender ID 53 and sender ID 54) are required. ) Can be used to send and receive messages. Various measures for avoiding the inconvenience due to the above limitation will be described later. In order to avoid the inconvenience due to the above restriction, a new sender ID may be added and assigned to the group in which the inconvenience occurs.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of entries in the database 41.
FIG. 3A shows that customer c, customer d, and customer e belong to group (B), and that sender ID 53 and sender ID 54 belong to group (B). By searching for this entry, the search unit 44 can search for a group using the customer ID as a key. Moreover, the search part 44 can acquire the sender ID which can be utilized from customer ID or group ID.

FIG. 3B shows a plurality of entries that store the association of the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID with respect to the group B. The search unit 44 uses the customer ID / terminal ID pair as a key to search FIG. 3 (B), so that the customer ID / terminal ID pair has already sent and received a message. (If you have sent and received a message, which sender ID was used) can be checked. When it is found that the message has never been transmitted / received, a sender ID that has already been used for the specific terminal is obtained by performing a search using the specific terminal ID as a key. be able to. Information on whether or not there is an available sender ID by searching the entry in FIG. 3A using all of the sender IDs already used for a specific terminal as a key, and when it exists In addition, an available sender ID can be obtained.
FIG. 3B is an example of an entry, and it is obvious to those skilled in the art that an entry can be configured in other formats.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the first embodiment. An example of the operation of the first embodiment will be described below using this flowchart. Note that the subject of each step below is a message transfer device.
[S402] A customer ID, a transmission message, and a terminal ID are received from the customer 11. The processing moves to step S404.

[S404] The group ID is specified from the customer ID. Note that. If the group ID is obtained from the customer 11, this step need not be executed. The processing moves to step S406.

[S406] With respect to the specified group ID, it is checked whether a pair of customer ID and terminal ID is registered in the database. If this check is affirmative (yes), the process moves to step S408. If this check is negative (no), the process moves to step S412.
[S408] A first sender ID associated with the pair of customer ID and terminal ID is given to the transmission unit. The processing moves to step S424.

[S412] It is checked whether the terminal ID is registered in the database for the specified group ID. If this check is positive (yes), the process moves to step S416. If this check is negative (no), the process moves to step S414.
[S414] The third sender ID belonging to the specified group ID is given to the transmission unit. The processing moves to step S418.

[S416] A second sender ID other than the sender ID associated with the terminal ID and belonging to the specified group ID is given to the transmission unit. The processing moves to step S420.
[S418] An entry in which a pair of a customer ID and a terminal ID is associated with a third sender ID is registered in the database. The processing moves to step S424.
[S420] An entry in which a pair of a customer ID and a terminal ID is associated with a second sender ID is registered in the database. The processing moves to step S424.
[S424] A transmission message to which the first sender ID, the second sender ID, or the third sender ID is added is transmitted to the terminal specified by the terminal ID.

  Through the above processing, even if the number of sender IDs assigned to the group 10 is smaller than the number of customers 11 belonging to the same group 10, it is possible to effectively use the sender ID while minimizing the sacrifice of convenience. be able to.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for transmitting a reply message from the terminal 30 to the customer via the message transfer device 40. This process will be described below. The operation subject of the following processing is the message transfer device 40.
[S502] A reply message, a sender ID, and a terminal ID are received from the terminal 30. The processing moves to step S504.
[S504] The customer ID is searched from the database using the sender ID / terminal ID pair as a key. The processing moves to step S506.
[S506] A reply message is transmitted to the customer corresponding to the customer ID.

  Through the above processing, a reply message addressed to the sender ID can be transmitted from the terminal 30 to an appropriate customer. While the customer 11 is sharing the sender ID, the messages can be reliably communicated with each other.

<Second Embodiment>
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a database and an example of message transmission / reception in the second embodiment. This will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

FIG. 6A is an example showing the relationship among the group 10, the customer 11, and the sender ID 60 among the contents of the database 41. In group A, customer a and customer b exist, and the sender ID 61 can be used. In group B, customer c, customer d, and customer e exist, and the sender ID 62 can be used. In group C, customer f to customer k exist and sender ID 63 is available.
In the following, description will be given using group B as an example.
FIG. 6B shows an example of message transmission / reception between the customer 11 and the terminal 30.

(Sent message)
The message transfer device 40 adds the sender ID 62 to the transmission message 80 from the customer c and transmits it to the terminal c at time 1. The update unit 43 registers an entry that associates the customer c, the sender ID 62, the terminal c, and the time 1 with the database 41.

  The message transfer device 40 adds the sender ID 62 to the transmission message 80 from the customer e and transmits it to the terminal c at time 2. The update unit 43 registers an entry that associates the customer e, the sender ID 62, the terminal c, and the time 2 with the database 41.

The message transfer device 40 adds the sender ID 62 to the transmission message 80 from the customer d and transmits it to the terminal c at time 3. The update unit 43 registers an entry that associates the customer c, the sender ID 62, the terminal c, and the time 3 with the database 41.
Similar processing is performed for the other transmission messages in FIG.

(Reply message)
When the reception unit 48 of the message transfer device 40 receives the reply message 85 in which the sender ID 62 is added to the reply message 85 from the terminal c, the search unit 44 searches the database 41.

The search unit 44 searches the database 41 by using the pair of the sender ID 62 and the terminal c as the terminal ID as a search key, and searches for an entry having the latest time. The latest time is time 3. From the entry having the sender ID 62, the terminal c as the terminal ID, and the time 3, the customer d as the customer ID can be obtained.
The customer d which is the customer ID is given to the transmission unit 47. The transmission unit transmits a reply message 85 from the terminal c to the customer d.
FIG. 6 (B) shows how other transmission messages 80 and reply messages 85 are transmitted and received.

  In the embodiment of FIG. 6B, one sender ID is assigned to each group. Accordingly, each terminal 30 satisfies the condition that a reply message can be returned to one customer 11. Each of the customers 11 can transmit and receive a transmission message and a reply message with each of the terminals 30 via the message transfer device 40 by making maximum use of one sender ID.

  Therefore, when a dedicated sender ID is assigned to each of the three customers 11 of group B in FIG. 6B, three sender IDs are required, but one sender ID (sender ID 62) is assigned. By simply doing, message transmission and reception can be realized.

  Various other measures for avoiding inconvenience due to the above-described limitations will be described later. In order to avoid inconvenience due to the above-described restriction, a new sender ID may be added to the group in which the inconvenience occurs and assigned. When a plurality of sender IDs are assigned to one group, for example, the times may be individually managed for the plurality of sender IDs.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of entries in the database 41.
FIG. 7A shows that customer c, customer d, and customer e belong to group B, and that sender ID 62 belongs to group B. By searching for this entry, the search unit 44 can search for a group using the customer ID as a key. Moreover, the search part 44 can acquire the sender ID which can be utilized from customer ID or group ID.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the second embodiment. An example of the operation of the second embodiment will be described below using this flowchart. Note that the subject of each step below is a message transfer device.
FIG. 8A is a flowchart showing processing of a transmission message.
[S802] A customer ID, a transmission message, and a terminal ID are received. The processing moves to step S804.

[S804] The group ID is specified from the customer ID. Note that. If the group ID is obtained from the customer 11, this step need not be executed. The processing moves to step S806.
[S806] The sender ID is specified from the group ID. The processing moves to step S808.

[S808] An entry in which a customer ID, a terminal ID, a sender ID, and a transmission time are associated with each other is registered or updated in the database. The processing moves to step S810.
[S810] A transmission message to which the identified sender ID is added is transmitted to the terminal identified by the terminal ID.

FIG. 8B is a flowchart showing the reply message processing. The flow will be described below. The execution subject of the following processing is a message transfer device.
[S822] The reply message, sender ID and terminal ID are received. The processing moves to step S824.

[S824] The database is searched using the sender ID / terminal ID pair as a key, and the customer ID is obtained from the entry having the latest time among the searched entries. The processing moves to step S826.
[S826] A reply message is transmitted to the customer corresponding to the obtained customer ID.
Through the above processing, a reply message from the terminal 30 is transmitted to the customer 11.

<Modification 1>
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the first modification.

In FIG. 9, when a database is created or updated, the database processing is performed so that the old entry is overwritten by the entry related to the event that occurred most recently. This saves the trouble of searching for the latest entry from a plurality of entries registered in the database. The details of the processing are as follows.
(FIG. 9A: sent message)
[S852] The customer ID, transmission message, and terminal ID are received. The processing moves to step S854.
[S854] A group ID is specified from the customer ID. If the group ID can be acquired from the customer, this process is not necessary. The processing moves to step S856.
[S856] The sender ID is specified from the group ID. The processing moves to step S857.

[S857] It is checked whether an entry having a sender ID / terminal ID pair has been found in the database. If this check result is affirmative (yes), the process moves to step S858. If the check result is negative (no), the process moves to step S860.

[S858] The entry associated with the customer ID, terminal ID, sender ID, and transmission time is overwritten on the found entry. In this process, instead of overwriting, after the process of deleting the found entry, an entry that associates the customer ID, the terminal ID, the sender ID, and the transmission time may be newly registered. The processing moves to step S862.
[S860] An entry in which a customer ID, a terminal ID, a sender ID, and a transmission time are associated is registered in the database. The processing moves to step S862.
[S862] A transmission message with the identified sender ID added is transmitted to the terminal identified by the terminal ID.
With the above processing, when the database is created or updated, the database processing is performed so that the old entry is overwritten by the entry related to the event that occurred most recently.

(FIG. 9B: Reply message)
Processing of the reply message obtained from the terminal 30 is as follows. Note that the operation subject of the following processing is a message transfer device.
[S882] A reply message, a sender ID, and a terminal ID are received. The processing moves to step S884.
[S884] The database is searched using a sender ID / terminal ID pair as a key to obtain a customer ID. The processing moves to step S866.
[S886] A reply message is transmitted to the customer corresponding to the obtained customer ID.
Through the above processing, the reply message obtained from the terminal 30 is transmitted to the customer 11.

<Modification 2>
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the second modification.
In the second modified example, when a predetermined time elapses, the customer 11 occupies and uses the sender ID is shown. Details of this processing are as follows.
The processing is preferably started by, for example, periodic interrupt processing.
[S1002] The following processing in step S1004 is executed for all entries in the database.

[S1004] Delete an entry for which a predetermined time has elapsed since the entry was created or last updated. The entry to be deleted is an entry related to occupying the sender ID.
[S1006] A repetitive process is executed with step S1002.

  With the above processing, the sender ID assigned to the customer 11 is released after a predetermined time, and the center ID is used for other use. Can be used effectively.

<Other variations>
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another modification. In FIG. 11, although described as a series of processes, only a part of the processes shown in FIG. 11 may be adopted and executed.

(1) [S1101, S1102]

  In this process, when the sender ID is secured and the transmission message is transmitted from the customer 11 to the terminal 30 and the reply message is transmitted from the terminal 30 to the customer 11, the entry of the database related to the secured sender ID is performed. Process to delete.

  By this processing, the sender ID is secured by one round-trip message exchange, and the sender ID can be assigned to another message transfer.

(2) [S1104, S1106]

  In this process, when a transmission message from a customer having a predetermined customer ID is received, the database entry update process is not performed. By this process, it is possible to realize a process that meets the needs that do not want to receive a reply message only by transmitting a transmission message. For example, in a franchise chain, notification can be transmitted to the terminal 30 and used when the sender of the notification does not want to receive a reply message.

(3) [S1108, S1110]

  This process is a process in which the reply message is transmitted to the customer with the specific customer ID, not the customer with the customer ID used for message transmission. By performing this process, it is possible to meet the needs for transmitting a reply message from the terminal 30 to one customer.

(4) [S1112, S1114]

This process is a process that allows the customer 11 to which the reply message is transmitted to be selected by including a predetermined character string in the reply message. For example, if all the sender IDs assigned to a certain group are used and a reply message cannot be sent from the terminal 30 to the terminal 30 that wants to send a reply message, the reply message can be obtained by using this process. Is described in the message, it is possible to send a reply message from the terminal 30 to a customer different from the destination customer 11 determined by the sender ID added to the reply message. .
The various modifications described above can be selected and used according to needs, and various functions can be added.

<Modification 3>
FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a third modification of the embodiment. FIG. 12A shows a transmission / reception mode of the transmission message 80 and the reply message 85.
The customer m0 distributes the transmission message 80 to the terminals p0 to p7 all at once. Note that the content of the transmission message 80 sent to each terminal may be the same content or may be a different message content depending on each terminal. The transmission message 80 may be sent to the terminal with a common sender ID 70 added thereto.
Each of the terminals p0 to p7 that has received the transmission message 80 returns a reply message 85 with the sender ID 70 as the destination.

FIG. 13B shows a main part of entries stored in the database 41. The entry in FIG. 3B may be created in advance by the customer m0 or the operator of the group to which the customer m0 belongs. Upon receiving the reply message, the search unit 44 searches for the entry in FIG. 12B stored in the database 41. As a result, as shown in FIG. 12A, for example, the reply message 85 of the terminal p0 is transmitted to the customer m3. Other reply messages are also returned to the customer shown in FIGS. 12 (A) and 12 (B).
As described above, when the customer m0 transmits the transmission message all at once, the reply message from the terminal that received the message is distributed and transmitted to the customers m1 to m4 almost evenly. The entry for determining the customer as the reply destination is shown in FIG.
By doing in this way, it becomes possible for customer m1 thru / or customer m4 to share and respond to reply messages from a plurality of terminals.

In the above description, the entry in FIG. 12B has been described as being created in advance. However, the entry in FIG. 12B may not be created in advance.
For example, when the receiving unit 46 receives a reply message addressed to the sender ID 70 from the terminal, the search unit 44 searches the database 41 using the pair of terminal ID and sender ID as a key. The search unit 44 instructs the update unit 43 to create an entry when a hitting entry cannot be found in the database. Based on this instruction, the updating unit 43 sends a reply message to the database 41 related to the terminal that issued the reply message based on a predetermined rule, for example, as shown in FIG. Add an entry related to. For example, the update unit 43 creates the entry shown in FIG. 12B so as to transmit the reply message to each customer so that the number of reply messages is as even as possible. For example, a reply message may be transmitted to different customers in order using a round robin algorithm.

Note that the pattern of transmission of the reply message to the customer is not limited to the example shown in FIG. For example, the entry shown in FIG. 12B may be created in advance so that a reply message from each terminal in response to a message transmitted from each customer is transmitted to, for example, a specific customer. . Alternatively, the entry in FIG. 12B may be created by the update unit 43 each time a reply message from the terminal is received.
The above modifications are examples, and a plurality of sender IDs may be used, and the association between the customer, the sender ID, and the terminal shown in FIG. 12B may be set as necessary. it can. In FIG. 12B, the time is not used, but it goes without saying that the transmission / reception time of the transmission message or the reply message may be recorded in the database 41 to control the message transfer.

<Modification 4>
FIG. 13 shows another modification of the embodiment. FIG. 13A shows a case where, for example, a character string “STOP” exists in the transmission message 80 or the reply message 85. In this case, after the transmission message or the reply message is sent, the entry in the database 41 used for transferring the transmission message or the reply message may be deleted. By deleting the entry, the customer, sender ID, and terminal associated with the transfer of the transmission message or reply message will be deleted. After that, the customer associated with the deleted entry will be deleted. Message communication with the terminal cannot be performed.
Thus, by including a predetermined character string in the message, the update unit 43 can edit the database 41.

In FIG. 13B, for example, by including a character string “Broadcast” in the transmission message, the transmission message from the customer can be simultaneously distributed to a plurality of terminals. By transmitting this message from the customer m0, it is possible to perform simultaneous distribution in the simultaneous distribution in Modification 3 without specifying individual terminals.
In addition, when a predetermined message exists in the transmission message or the reply message, it is possible to perform a predetermined transfer or to edit a predetermined entry in the database.

<Hardware configuration>
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating each hardware configuration of the embodiment. The hardware configuration includes a CPU 901, a ROM 902, a RAM 903, a network interface 905, an input interface 906, a display interface 907, and an external memory interface 908 in which the program and data of this embodiment are stored. These hardware are connected to each other by a bus 904.

  The network interface 905 is connected to the network 915. The network 915 includes a wired LAN, a wireless LAN, the Internet, a telephone network, and the like. An input unit 916 is connected to the input interface 906. A display unit 917 is connected to the display interface 907. A storage medium 918 is connected to the external memory interface 908. The storage medium 918 may be a RAM, ROM, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, hard disk, memory card, or the like. The storage medium can store a program for realizing the present embodiment.

  The program for realizing the above-described embodiment can be executed by a computer having the hardware configuration shown in FIG. In addition, the program of the embodiment may be implemented as a method for causing a computer to execute the program. Part or all of the program of the present embodiment may be executed by an operating system. A part of the program may be realized by hardware. The program may be stored in the storage medium 918, the ROM 902, or the RAM 903.

Embodiments may be implemented as hardware devices.
It is needless to say that the above embodiments do not limit the invention described in the claims but are treated as examples.

10 group 11 customer 40 message transfer device 41 database 42 control unit 43 update unit 44 search unit 45 reception unit 46 transmission unit 47 transmission unit 48 reception unit

Claims (14)

A receiving unit that receives a customer ID for identifying each of a plurality of customers, a transmission message transmitted from the customer to a terminal, and a terminal ID for identifying the terminal, wherein the plurality of customers are identified by a group ID A receiving part belonging to any one of the groups to be
A database for registering a relationship between the group ID, the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID, wherein one different sender ID is associated with each of a plurality of group IDs;
A database controller for updating and searching the database;
A transmission unit for transmitting the transmission message with the sender ID associated with the group ID corresponding to the customer ID in the database to the terminal identified by the terminal ID;
A reply message from the terminal that has received the transmission message, the reply message having the sender ID added to the transmission message being designated as a reply destination and the terminal ID of the terminal being received A receiver,
A transmission unit for transmitting the reply message to the customer identified by the uniquely identified customer ID corresponding to a pair of the sender ID and the terminal ID registered in the database;
A message transfer device. The database control unit
By searching the database using the customer ID or the group ID received by the receiving unit as a key, the sender ID corresponding to the group ID is given to the transmitting unit,
Each time the transmission message is transmitted, the correspondence between the group ID, the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID used for transmitting the transmission message is updated, and the reply message is updated. The database is searched using a pair of the sender ID and the terminal ID included in the search key as a search key, and the customer ID is uniquely specified and given to the transmission unit.
The message transfer device according to claim 1. The database control unit searches the database using the received sender ID / terminal ID pair as a key, and obtains the customer ID from the entry having the latest time among the searched entries, thereby uniquely identifying the customer ID. Identify
The message transfer apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. When the database control unit updates the database including an entry relating the group ID, the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID, a pair of the received sender ID and terminal ID is set. Search the database using the key, and if the entry of the pair is already registered, delete the already registered entry and create a new entry or overwrite the already registered entry To update the database,
The message transfer apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The database control unit invalidates the first entry when a predetermined time has elapsed since the first entry of the database was created or overwritten, thereby registering the first entry. Deleting the relationship between the group ID, the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID from the database;
The message transfer device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. When the reply message is transmitted to the customer, the database control unit registers the second entry by invalidating the second entry used to identify the customer who transmits the reply message. Delete the relationship between the group ID, the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID from the database,
The message transfer device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The database control unit, when the customer ID received by the receiving unit is a predetermined first customer ID, even if a transmission message is transmitted, the group ID used for transmission of the transmission message, Do not create or update a database entry that associates the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID;
The message transfer device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. The database control unit, when the customer ID received by the receiving unit is a predetermined second customer ID, the group ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID used to transmit the transmission message And creating or updating a database entry relating the predetermined third customer ID instead of the predetermined second customer ID,
The message transfer device according to any one of claims 1 to 7. The database control unit gives a fourth customer ID to the transmission unit when a predetermined character string is detected in the reply message.
The message transfer device according to claim 1. A receiving step of receiving a customer ID for identifying each of a plurality of customers, a transmission message transmitted from the customer to a terminal, and a terminal ID for identifying the terminal, wherein the plurality of customers are identified by a group ID A receiving step belonging to any one of the groups to be
A database control step for updating and searching a database, wherein the database is a database for registering a relationship among the group ID, the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID, and is a different one A database control step in which a sender ID is associated with each of the plurality of group IDs;
Transmitting the transmission message with the sender ID associated with the group ID corresponding to the customer ID in the database to the terminal identified by the terminal ID;
A reply message from the terminal that has received the transmission message, the reply message having the sender ID added to the transmission message being designated as a reply destination and the terminal ID of the terminal being received Steps,
Communicating the reply message to the customer identified by the uniquely identified customer ID corresponding to the sender ID and terminal ID pair registered in the database;
A message transfer method comprising: The database control step includes
The sender ID corresponding to the group ID is given to the transmitting step by searching the database using the customer ID or the group ID received in the receiving step as a key,
Each time the transmission message is transmitted, the correspondence between the group ID, the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID used for transmitting the transmission message is updated, and the reply message is updated. Searching the database using a pair of the sender ID and the terminal ID included in the search key as a search key to uniquely identify and transmit the customer ID,
The message transfer method according to claim 10. The database control step searches the database using the received sender ID / terminal ID pair as a key, and obtains the customer ID from the entry having the latest time among the searched entries, thereby uniquely identifying the customer ID. Identify
The message transfer method according to claim 10 or 11. When the database control step updates the database including an entry relating the group ID, the customer ID, the sender ID, and the terminal ID, a pair of the received sender ID and terminal ID is set. Search the database using the key, and if the entry of the pair is already registered, delete the already registered entry and create a new entry or overwrite the already registered entry To update the database,
The message transfer method according to claim 10 or 11. A program for causing a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 10 to 13.

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