JP6690444B2 - Mail processing device and method of sending mail by mail processing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mail processing device having a mail sending function and a mail sending method by the mail processing device, and in particular, a mail processing device having a function of encrypting a file held by the mail processing device and attaching it to a mail, Also, the present invention relates to a mail transmission method by a mail processing device.

  In the present specification, drawings, and claims, “mail” is used to mean electronic mail (e-mail).

  Conventionally, instead of sending mail created by software called so-called mailer in a terminal device such as a personal computer to a mail server, the mail is operated by operating the terminal device based on the screen provided to the terminal device by the mail server. There is a method of sending a mail called WEB mail that creates a mail on a mail server.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-242242 describes a mail that receives a mail created by a terminal device, encrypts the attached file if the received mail has an attached file, and attaches only the encrypted file to a destination. The server is listed. Further, the mail server also has a password notification function of separately creating a mail in which the password for encrypting the attached file is written and sending the mail to the same destination.

  Further, Patent Document 2 discloses software that can set a time for suspending the transmission of an email when the email is directly transmitted from a terminal device and can cancel the transmission of the email within the suspension time. Has been done.

JP, 2015-28749, A JP-A-2005-277976

  By the way, when encrypting the file to attach to the email and sending the email with only the encrypted file attached, the first email to which the encrypted file is attached and the password when encrypted There are cases in which three mails are created: a second mail notifying the password and a third mail notifying the sender of the password.

  However, these three emails are treated as different sending jobs, and when displayed on the terminal device, it is difficult for the user to collectively understand whether the email is related to the encrypted attachment file. is there.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and encrypts a file attached to an email, creates an email in which a password used for encryption is described, and batches a series of these emails on a terminal device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a mail processing device that can be understood by the above, and a mail transmission method by the mail processing device.

  To achieve the above object, a mail processing device according to the present invention is a mail processing device connected to a terminal device via a network, and the mail processing device includes a server device and a storage device. The storage device stores a plurality of files, and the server device provides the terminal device with a selection screen for selecting a transmission target file to be transmitted from files held in the storage device. A terminal, an encryption unit that encrypts the file to be transmitted based on a predetermined password into an encrypted file, and a mail creation screen for creating a first mail to which the encrypted file is attached to the terminal device. A mail creation screen providing unit, a mail creating unit that creates a second mail for notifying the password to the same destination as the first mail, and the first mail And a sending screen providing unit for providing a transmission screen to be displayed at a time related to a second mail indicator indicating a first mail label and the second mail indicating mail to the terminal device.

  According to this, the user can easily understand a series of mails related to the encrypted file.

  Further, the transmission screen may include a representative line that is a sign representing the first mail and the second mail.

  According to this, the user can collectively understand a series of mails.

  In addition, the transmission screen providing unit may display a fold mark that is integrated with the first mail mark and the second mail mark on the transmission screen.

  According to this, a series of mails can be collectively processed without the user being aware.

  Further, the mail generation unit generates a third mail for notifying the sender of the password, and the transmission screen provision unit displays the third mail in the first mail sign and the second mail sign. It is also possible to associate the mail signs and display them at once. Here, the “sender” refers to a terminal device that has instructed to send a mail or a user who has operated the terminal device.

  According to this, it becomes possible to collectively grasp the mail in which the password sent to the sender is described together with the mail sent to the destination.

  The server device further includes a mail transmission unit that transmits the first mail and the second mail at a predetermined time, and the transmission screen providing unit is configured such that the mail transmission unit includes the first mail and the mail. A cancellation sign may be displayed on the transmission screen so that the transmission of the first email and the transmission of the second email can be canceled collectively until the second email is transmitted.

  According to this, the mail transmission time can be specified, and at least the first mail and the second mail can be collectively canceled while the mail transmission is suspended.

  Moreover, the encryption unit may encrypt the transmission target file immediately before the mail transmission unit transmits the first mail.

  According to this, it is possible to shorten the period in which the file before encryption and the file after encryption are held in the storage device at the same time, and it is possible to secure a large amount of free space in the storage device.

  In order to achieve the above object, a mail transmission method by a mail processing device according to the present invention is a mail processing device including a storage device that is connected to a terminal device via a network and stores a plurality of files, and a server device. And a selection screen providing unit of the server device provides the terminal device with a selection screen for selecting a transmission target file to be transmitted from files held in the storage device, and a predetermined screen is provided. Based on the password, the encryption unit encrypts the file to be transmitted into an encrypted file, and a mail creation screen providing unit creates a mail creation screen for creating a first mail with the encrypted file attached to the terminal device. The second email that provides the password and notifies the same recipient as the first email of the password, A transmission screen displayed at a time related to a second mail indicator indicating a first mail label and the second mail indicating mail transmission screen providing unit is characterized in that it provides to the terminal device.

  According to this, the user can easily understand a series of mails related to the encrypted file.

  The mail processing device and a program for causing a computer to execute each process included in the mail transmission method by the mail processing device also correspond to an embodiment of the present invention. Of course, the recording medium on which the program is recorded also corresponds to the embodiment of the present invention.

  According to the invention of the present application, it is possible to collectively grasp an email attached with an encrypted file and an email containing a password without burdening the terminal device.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network to which a NAS device according to an embodiment is connected. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the NAS device. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a selection screen displayed on the terminal device by the selection screen providing unit. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a mail creation screen displayed on the terminal device by the mail creation screen providing unit. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a transmission screen displayed on the terminal device by the transmission screen providing unit. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which the folding markers in the area surrounded by the broken line in FIG. 5 are expanded. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the mail transmission method.

  Next, an embodiment of a mail processing device according to the present invention and a mail transmission method by the mail processing device will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the following embodiments are merely examples of the mail processing device according to the present invention and the mail transmission method by the mail processing device. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is defined by the wording of the claims with reference to the following embodiments, and is not limited to the following embodiments. Therefore, among the constituent elements in the following embodiments, the constituent elements not described in the independent claims showing the highest concept of the present invention are not necessarily required to achieve the object of the present invention. It will be described as constituting the preferred form.

  In addition, the drawings are schematic views in which emphasis and omission are appropriately performed and ratios are adjusted to show the present invention, and may differ from actual shapes, positional relationships, and ratios.

  The present invention can be applied to a server, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, and the like. In this embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a NAS device will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a NAS device connected to a network.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the NAS device.

  As shown in these figures, the NAS device 100 includes a server device 101, and the server device 101 is connected to a plurality of terminal devices 200a and 200b via a LAN (Local Area Network) 310 and functions as a so-called file server. The server device 101 is further connected to a wide area network (hereinafter, referred to as WAN (Wide Area Network)) 300 via a gateway 320 and can communicate with other terminal devices 200c and 200d. The NAS device 100 further includes a storage device 102 that stores a file 122 and the like.

  Here, the terminal devices 200a, 200b, 200c, and 200d are devices that can display images and can perform information processing based on the displayed images. In the following description, these terminal devices 200a, 200b, 200c and 200d are collectively referred to as the terminal device 200. Specific examples of the terminal device 200 include a smartphone, which is a mobile phone having an enhanced information processing function, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), which is a portable personal information terminal, a stationary desktop computer, a notebook computer, and the like. Can be shown.

  The LAN 310 includes not only a wired LAN but also a wireless LAN. WAN 300 includes all networks capable of information communication such as the Internet and mobile phone networks.

  The storage device 102 is a device that holds digital data processed by the NAS device 100, and is a device that stores digital data by magnetic, optical, magneto-optical, semiconductor, or the like, and can be exemplified by a hard disk drive. SSD (Solid State Drive) may be used instead of the hard disk drive.

  The storage device 102 has a hierarchical file system, holds a block of digital data in units of files 122, and further holds the files 122 in a hierarchical structure (folder structure). In addition, information indicating a folder 124 is also stored in the storage device 102 as information indicating a group of one or a plurality of files 122.

  Here, the content indicated by the file 122 is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include text, images, videos, sounds, databases, programs, and files adapted to various software. The storage device 102 can also store a transmission target file 121 to be attached to an email and an encrypted file 123 obtained by encrypting the transmission target file 121.

  The server device 101 is a computer connected to the network 300 and specialized in reading and writing the file 122 held in the storage device 102.

  The server device 101 includes a plurality of processing units realized by executing a program stored as a file in the storage device 102. Specifically, the server device 101 serves as a processing unit such as a selection screen providing unit 111, a mail creation screen providing unit 112, an encryption unit 113, a mail generating unit 114, a transmission screen providing unit 115, and a mail transmitting unit 116. Is equipped with.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a selection screen displayed on the terminal device by the selection screen providing unit.

  As shown in the figure, the selection screen providing unit 111 operates the selection screen 201 displayed on the terminal device 200 to select the transmission target file 121 to be transmitted from the file 122 held in the storage device 102. A processing unit that provides the selection screen 201 to be selected to the terminal device 200. In the case of the present embodiment, the selection screen 201 is described in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language).

  By operating the selection screen 201 displayed on the terminal device 200, the hierarchy of the file structure constructed in the storage device 102 can be traced, and the files 122 and folders 124 displayed on the selection screen 201 can be traced. Can be selected singularly or plurally. In the case of the present embodiment, selecting the file 122 means checking the first check box 212 displayed before the file indicator 213 displayed in the selection screen 201. The same applies to the folder 124.

  Further, by operating the mail transmission button 211 displayed on the selection screen 201 after selecting the file 122 or the folder 124, the screen shifts to 202 in the mail creation screen and the created first mail and the selected transmission The target file 121 is associated.

  Although there is one file indicator 213 corresponding to the transmission target file 121 in FIG. 3, a plurality of files 122 may be selected from the displayed plurality of file indicators 213 and used as the transmission target file 121. . Further, although the folder 124 itself cannot be attached to a mail, by encrypting it, the folder and the files contained in the folder can be converted into one encrypted file, which can be attached to the mail and transmitted. In this specification, the term “file to be transmitted” includes “folder”.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a mail creation screen displayed on the terminal device by the mail creation screen providing unit.

  As shown in the figure, the mail creation screen providing unit 112 is for creating a first mail that is a mail for attaching an encrypted file 123 that is an encryption of the transmission target file 121 by the encryption unit 113 described later. A processing unit that provides the mail creation screen 202 to the terminal device 200. In the case of the present embodiment, the mail creation screen 202 is also described in HTML, like the selection screen 201. Further, the first mail created on the mail creation screen 202 is held in the storage device 102 as a file 122.

  In the terminal device 200 where the mail creation screen 202 is displayed, the mail address that is the destination to which the first mail is transmitted is selected based on the destination table (not shown) that appears by operating the destination table selection button 221. Alternatively, it may be entered in the email address field 222.

  The password for encrypting the transmission target file 121 is the password randomly generated by the password generation unit (not shown) included in the server apparatus 101 by operating the automatic generation button 223 on the mail creation screen 202. Become. Further, when an arbitrary password is input in the password input field 224 and the manual generation button 225 is operated, the transmission target file is encrypted with the input password.

  Also, on the mail creation screen 202, whether to create a third mail with a password based on the second check box 227 in front of the part that says "Send password mail to myself" and send it It is possible to select whether or not.

  Further, the mail creation screen 202 is provided with a field for inputting the subject of the first mail and the body of the first mail.

  Further, on the mail creation screen 202, creation of the first mail, the second mail, and the third mail until the first mail and the second mail (including the third mail in this embodiment) are transmitted. A cancel button 229 for canceling is displayed.

  The encryption unit 113 is a processing unit that encrypts the transmission target file 121 into an encrypted file 123 based on a predetermined password. The encryption method of the transmission target file 121 performed by the encryption unit 113 is not particularly limited, and a known technique is adopted.

  The timing at which the encryption unit 113 encrypts the transmission target file 121 is not particularly limited, but the transmission target file 121 may be encrypted immediately before the mail transmission unit 116 transmits the first mail. preferable. This is because the load on the storage device 102 can be reduced.

  The mail generation unit 114 is a mail in which the password for encrypting the transmission target file 121 by the encryption unit 113, that is, the password selected by the mail creation screen providing unit 112 is described, and the mail creation screen providing unit It is a processing unit that automatically generates a second mail that is the same destination as the destination (mail address) determined in 112. Further, the second mail automatically generated by the mail generation unit 114 is stored in the storage device 102 as the file 122.

  In addition, when the second check box 227 is checked in the mail creation screen providing unit 112, the mail creation unit 114 causes the encryption unit 113 to generate a password for encrypting the transmission target file 121, that is, a mail creation A third mail for notifying the sender of the first mail of the password selected by the screen providing unit 112 is automatically generated and stored in the storage device 102 as the file 122.

  Here, the mail generation unit 114 generates related information that associates the file corresponding to the first mail with the file corresponding to the second mail. In addition, when the third mail is generated, the related information also includes information associating the file corresponding to the third mail.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a transmission screen displayed on the terminal device by the transmission screen providing unit.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which the folding markers in the area surrounded by the broken line in FIG. 5 are expanded.

  As shown in these figures, the transmission screen providing unit 115 uses the first mail indicator 231 indicating the first mail (file) created in the mail creation screen 202 and held in the storage device 102 and the mail creating unit 114. It is a processing unit that provides the terminal device 200 with a transmission screen 203 that associates with the automatically generated second mail (file) the second mail indicator 232 based on the related information and displays it at once.

  When the fold indicator 234 is unexpanded, as shown in FIG. 5, the transmission screen 203 shows the first mail and the second mail, the representative line 230 representing the third mail, and the third mail (file). The third mail indicator 233 is displayed. When the folding indicator 234 is in the unfolded state, as shown in FIG. 6, the representative row 230, the folding indicator 234, the first mail indicator 231, the second mail indicator 232, and the third mail indicator 233 are displayed at once. Is displayed.

  In addition, when the third check box 236 in front of the representative row 230 is checked on the transmission screen 203, a stop button (cancel sign) 237 appears. By operating the stop button 237, it may be possible to cancel the transmission of the first mail, the second mail, and the third mail.

  The mail sending unit 116 is a processing unit that sends the first mail and the second mail to which the encrypted file 123 is attached. In the case of the present embodiment, the mail sending unit 116 is created based on the mail creation screen providing unit 112. It is a processing unit that transmits the first mail and the second mail generated by the mail generation unit 114 after a predetermined time has elapsed.

  Here, the predetermined time may be the time from when the operator (sender) operates the send button 228 displayed on the mail creation screen 202 to when the mail sending unit 116 performs a sending operation. , May be determined in advance corresponding to the identifier indicating the operator (transmission source). In addition, time such as year / month / hour / minute / second may be set. In addition, these may be stored in association with the operator by being set in advance by the operator, and the time until transmission or the time to be transmitted may be arbitrarily set. Further, the predetermined time may be uniformly set.

  Next, a mail transmission method by the NAS device 100 connected to the terminal device 200 via the network 300 will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the mail transmission method. In FIG. 7, “Y” indicates Yes and “N” indicates No.

  The NAS device 100 has a file management function, a business card management function, a reception fax management function, and a mail transmission management function, as shown in the function selection menu 215 shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. In the present embodiment, when the file management is selected from the function selection menu 215 to select the file 122 to be attached to the mail and the shared folder is further selected, the selection screen providing unit 111 provides the selection screen 201 to the terminal device 200. Yes (S101).

  When the operator who operates the terminal device 200 on which the selection screen 201 is displayed selects an arbitrary file 122 or folder 124 and operates the mail send button 211 in the selection screen 201, the encryption unit 113 causes the selected file to be displayed. The file 122 or the selected folder 124 is recognized as the transmission target file 121 (S102).

  On the other hand, the mail creation screen providing unit 112 provides the mail creation screen 202 to the terminal device 200 (S103).

  Based on the mail creation screen 202, the operator determines the destination email address by operating the address list selection button 221, selects the password, determines whether to send the password email to himself, and determines the subject of the email. And the text are input to create the first mail (S104). Then, when the format of the first mail is adjusted, the operator operates the send button 228 in the mail creation screen 202, and the mail creation screen providing unit 112 accepts that the send button 228 has been operated (S105).

  Here, the transmission screen providing unit 115 creates a transmission screen that collectively shows the first mail, the second mail, and the third mail (S106), and when the transmission reservation of the function selection menu 215 is selected, The transmission screen 203 is provided to the terminal device 200.

  If the predetermined time has not elapsed (S107: N), the transmission screen providing unit 115 determines whether or not the third check box 236 of the transmission screen 203 is checked (S108). When the third check box 236 is not checked (S108: N), the process returns to the determination of S107. When the third check box 236 is checked (S108: Y), the stop button 237 is displayed (S109). Next, it is determined whether or not the stop button 237 has been operated (S110). When the stop button 237 is not operated, the process returns to the determination of S107 (S110: N).

  When the predetermined time has elapsed (S107: Y), the encryption unit 113 encrypts the transmission target file 121 and creates the encrypted file 123 (S111). Further, the encrypted file 123 is attached to the first mail (S112).

  The mail generation unit 114 creates a second mail for notifying the same address as the first mail of the password used by the encryption unit 113 for encryption (S113). The mail generation unit 114 determines whether the second check box 227 is checked (S114), and if it is checked, creates the third mail (S115).

  Finally, the mail sending unit 116 sends the first mail, the second mail, and the third mail (S116).

  On the other hand, if the third check box 236 of the transmission screen 203 is checked before the elapse of the predetermined time (S107: N), the stop button 237 is displayed (S109), and if the stop button 237 is operated (S110: Y). ), The flow is completed without encryption, creation of the first mail and the second mail, and transmission of the mail.

  As described above, by selecting the file 122 or the like stored in the storage device 102 of the NAS device 100 and creating the first mail on the mail creation screen 202, the first mail and the second mail for notifying the password are created. Can be collectively grasped based on the transmission screen, and further the related third mail can be collectively grasped.

  Further, it is possible to suspend the transmission of the email for a predetermined time and cancel the transmission of the email during the suspension period. In this case, the transmission of the first email, the second email, and the third email that are collectively grasped based on the transmission screen can be canceled collectively, so that the first email with the encrypted file 123 attached It is possible to easily prevent only the second email notifying the password from being canceled and the second email notifying the password being sent.

  In addition, since the NAS device 100 performs encryption immediately before sending an email and automatically creates a second email or the like, it is possible to eliminate waste of encryption or email creation when the email transmission is canceled. Become. Therefore, it is possible to secure a large free area of the storage device 102 and reduce the load on the CPU of the server device 101.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, another embodiment realized by arbitrarily combining the constituent elements described in this specification or excluding some of the constituent elements may be an embodiment of the present invention. Further, the present invention also includes modified examples obtained by applying various modifications to those skilled in the art to the above embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention, that is, the meaning of the wording set forth in the claims. Be done.

  For example, the encryption timing of the encryption unit 113 is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the encryption may be performed immediately after the file 122 is selected.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, it has been described that the encryption unit 113 encrypts the transmission target file 121 after the elapse of the predetermined time just before the first mail is transmitted, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the encryption unit 113 may acquire an encryption time that is a time required to encrypt the transmission target file 121 in advance, and start encryption before the encryption time of a predetermined time elapsed time. It may be just before the first mail is sent.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is applicable to a NAS device, a server, etc., and in particular, a plurality of people can access one storage device 102, and a plurality of people can compose a mail by one server device 101. Available for

100 NAS device 101 Server device 102 Storage device 111 Selection screen provision unit 112 Mail creation screen provision unit 113 Encryption unit 114 Mail generation unit 115 Transmission screen provision unit 116 Mail transmission unit 121 File to be transmitted 122 File 123 Encrypted file 124 Folder 200 Terminal device 201 selection screen 202 mail creation screen 203 transmission screen 211 mail transmission button 212 first check box 213 file indicator 215 function selection menu 221 address list selection button 222 mail address column 223 automatic generation button 224 password input column 225 manual generation button 227 Second check box 228 Send button 229 Cancel button 230 Representative line 231 First email indicator 232 Second email indicator 233 Third email indicator 234 Indicator 235 Down menu 236 third check box 237 cancel button (cancel labeling)
300 WAN
310 LAN
320 gateway

Claims (7)

A mail processing device connected to a terminal device via a network,
The mail processing device includes a server device and a storage device,
The storage device is
Memorize multiple files,
The server device is
A selection screen providing unit that provides the terminal device with a selection screen for selecting a transmission target file to be transmitted from files stored in the storage device;
An encryption unit that encrypts the transmission target file based on a predetermined password to form an encrypted file,
A mail creation screen providing unit for providing the terminal device with a mail creation screen for creating a first mail to which the encrypted file is attached,
A mail generation unit that generates a second mail that notifies the same address as the first mail of the password,
A mail processing device comprising: a transmission screen providing unit that provides the terminal device with a transmission screen that associates a first mail sign indicating the first mail and a second mail sign indicating the second mail and is displayed at one time. The mail processing device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission screen includes a representative line that is a sign representing the first mail and the second mail. The mail processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transmission screen providing unit displays a folding mark that is integrated with the first mail mark and the second mail mark on the transmission screen. The mail generator is
Generate a third email to notify the sender of the password,
4. The transmission screen providing unit according to claim 1, wherein the first mail sign and the second mail sign are associated with a third mail sign indicating the third mail and displayed at one time. Mail processing device. The server device further includes
A first mail and a mail sending unit for sending the second mail after a predetermined time has passed,
The transmission screen providing unit displays, on the transmission screen, a cancellation sign that can cancel the transmission of the first email and the second email in a batch until the first email and the second email are transmitted. The mail processing device according to claim 1. The mail processing device according to claim 5, wherein the encryption unit encrypts the transmission target file immediately before the mail transmission unit transmits the first mail. A mail transmission method using a mail processing device, which is connected to a terminal device via a network and stores a plurality of files, and a server device,
The selection screen providing unit of the server device provides the terminal device with a selection screen for selecting a transmission target file to be transmitted from files stored in the storage device,
An encryption unit encrypts the file to be transmitted based on a predetermined password into an encrypted file,
The mail creation screen providing unit provides the terminal device with a mail creation screen for creating the first mail to which the encrypted file is attached,
The mail generation unit generates a second mail for notifying the password to the same destination as the first mail,
An email transmission by the email processing device provided by the transmission screen providing unit to the terminal device, in which a transmission screen displaying the first email indicator indicating the first email and the second email indicator indicating the second email in association with each other is displayed at once. Method.