JPH03270537A - Electronic mail information storage transfer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the procedure of retransmission of an information data by a recipient and a sender by allowing the recipient and the sender according to their own will to give a command of storing a sent mail or a distributed reception mail and storing the mails into a transmission/reception mail box possessed by a subscriber. CONSTITUTION:A transmission mail box 11 storing a transmission mail and a reception mail box 12 storing a reception mail are provided corresponding to each subscriber. Distribution information data received by a reception means 17 from a sender is subject to discrimination as to whether or not the data is a distribution information data receiving a storage command. When the storage command is received, a transmission mail box storage means 13 corresponding to a sender discriminates from which subscriber the data comes via a transmission means 16 and the data is stored in a relevant mail box 11. On the other hand, a storage command of a reception data from a recipient is received by a reception means 18 and informed the reception to a mail box storage means 14 corresponding to each recipient. Then it is possible for the recipient to receive the reception data from its own reception mail box 12 while storing the data.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding an e-mail information storage and transfer method that can ensure e-mail delivery, confidentiality, and information management, the procedure for resending information data by the recipient and the sender is simplified. The purpose of providing a facsimile mail system is to use an e-mail information transfer method that uses an e-mail center that provides various services to subscribers. A mail box and a subscriber-specific receiving mail box for storing received mail for each subscriber are provided, and when there is an instruction from the sender to store the sent mail, the sent mail is stored in the subscriber-specific sending mail box. The bottom of the tank is provided with a mail storage means and a received mail storage means for storing the received mail in the subscriber-specific reception mail box when there is an instruction to store the received mail from the recipient.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an e-mail information storage and transfer system that can ensure e-mail delivery, confidentiality, and information management.

In recent years, with the spread of e-mail, etc., facsimile mail centers, an example of e-mail centers, have become increasingly important in order to reduce the effort involved in using facsimile operations and ensure the reliable delivery of outgoing mail to recipients. ing.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a switching network device having a facsimile mail center. In FIG. 4, 41a to 44a are facsimile terminal devices, and 41b to 44b are telephones. 45 is a public network or PBX, 46 is a facsimile mail center with various services, and! It is connected to M45 by telephone line. This facsimile mail center 46 includes a FAX/voice control section 46a and a disk control section 46.
b, disk 46c, console control unit 46d, CPU
46e and a memory 46f. An external console 47 for maintenance is connected to the facsimile mail center 46 .

Figure 5 is a file configuration diagram of a conventional disk. In Figure 0, 51 is a common mailbox, which is a file for temporarily storing delivery information for confidential mail, time-specified mail, etc., and is broadly divided into Send common mailbox 5
1a and a receiving common mailbox 51b. Delivery information data delivered by the sender is temporarily stored in one of the two common mailboxes. A subscriber information file 52 manages the subscriber's name, affiliation, telephone number of the terminal used, service functions used, etc. Reference numeral 53 denotes a device operating conditions file, which manages support telephone number ranges, FAX retransmission conditions, file configuration/capacity, support functions, and the like.

54 is a mail delivery management file, which manages the order of mail delivery and the storage location of each mail information I! :1t- Hereinafter, the conventional facsimile document delivery sequence will be explained with reference to FIG. When the sender uses the facsimile device 41a to send confidential facsimile data to the recipient of the facsimile device 44a, the facsimile device 44a on the recipient side may be busy or the recipient may be absent.

In such a case, the confidential delivery information is sent as a confidential email instruction and the facsimile manuscript is sent. Upon receiving this, the CPU 46e of the facsimile mail center 46 temporarily stores the delivery information data in the reception common mailbox 51b of the disk 46c.

Then, the receiver attaches a number to this accumulated delivery information data, and the receiver attaches the number to the recipient's facsimile device 4.
4a as an incoming call notification.

Thereafter, the recipient sends his or her password to the facsimile mail center 46. After confirming that this password is correct in the subscriber information file 52, the recipient inputs the number of the recipient who received the receipt. thus,
It was possible to take out the delivery information data, which is a confidential mail for reception consideration, from the common reception mailbox 51b to the facsimile device 44a at hand.

On the other hand, in the case of a time-specified mail in which the sender specifies the time and delivers it to the recipient, the CPU 46e temporarily stores the delivery information data in the common sending mailbox 51a, and also stores the information storage location. It is written to the subscriber information file 52. And email delivery management file 5
6, specify the time and register the delivery order.

After that, at the specified time, the CPU 46e receives the delivery instruction from the mail delivery management file 54, retrieves the information storage location from the subscriber information file 52, searches the common sending mailbox 51a, and retrieves the delivery information data. Extract. Then, it is accumulated in the common reception mailbox 51b, and outputted from there to the recipient's facsimile device 44a. In this way, the recipient can receive the delivery information data using the facsimile machine 44a at the time specified by the sender.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional facsimile mail center 46,
First, like time-specified emails where the sender specifies the arrival time, even though the recipient wishes to receive the delivery information data at a convenient time, the delivery information data cannot be stopped. There wasn't. Therefore, the facsimile mail center attempts to deliver the received mail many times by accessing the recipient.

Second, delivery information data could not be stored in the facsimile mail center at the sender's will.

Therefore, if you want to send the same delivery information data to another destination, it is necessary to repeat the same procedure for the facsimile machine again.

Thirdly, when the receiver side needs to transfer the confidentially received delivery information data to another party, after taking out the delivery information data from the common reception mailbox 51b, the receiver side newly operates the factor ξ calculation device, It was necessary to make a transmission request.

An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile mail system that simplifies the procedure for retransmitting information data by a recipient and a sender.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention. In the figure, in the e-mail information storage and transfer system, a sending mail box 11 for storing outgoing mail and a receiving mail box 12 for storing received mail are provided for each subscriber.

Then, the sent mail storage means 13 stores the sent mail in the subscriber-specific sent mail box 11 when there is an instruction to save the sent mail from the sender.

The received mail storage means 14 stores the received mail in the subscriber-specific received mail box 12 when there is an instruction to store the received mail from the recipient.

[For production]

In the present invention, the sending mail storage means 13 and the received mail storage means 1 can be stored by instructing the sender and the recipient to store the sent mail and the received mail to be delivered.
4 is a subscriber-specific sending/receiving mail box 11 owned by the subscriber.
．． 12.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2(a) is a functional block diagram of the present invention.

In the figure, the disk 46c consists of a sending mailbox 11 provided for subscribers, a receiving mailbox 12 provided for subscribers, and a common mailbox 51.

13 is a mailbox storage means for the sender, and 14 is a mailbox storage means for the receiver. 16 is a transmitting means, and 17.18 is a receiving means.

The delivery information data received from the sender by the receiving means 17 is determined whether it is delivery information data with a storage instruction.

If there is a storage instruction, the transmission mailbox storage means 13 corresponding to the sender determines which subscriber's data belongs via the transmission means 16, and the data is stored in the corresponding transmission mailbox 11.

On the other hand, the reception means 18 receives an instruction to store the received data from the recipient.
The acceptance is accepted and the mailbox storage means 14 corresponding to the recipient is notified. In this way, the recipient can retrieve the received data from his or her receiving mailbox 12 while storing it.

FIG. 2(b) shows an example of the file structure of the disc 10 of the present invention. The difference from the conventional file tank bottom in FIG.
12 is a newly established point. In the figure, the same parts as in FIG. 5 are given the same reference numerals. In normal delivery processing, etc., delivery information data is temporarily stored using the common mailbox 51, and then sent to the recipient. However, delivery information data with storage instructions is stored in the subscriber-specific delivery mailbox 11.
12 and performs delivery processing to the recipient.

FIG. 3(a) shows the methyl delivery and storage processing sequence. The figure shows, from the right, the sender FAX 41a, the exchange 45, the FAX/voice control section 46a, the user check function confirmation, activation and processing by function of the CPU 46e, and the processing sequence of the MB-DK and management DK of the disk 46c. A certain 0MB-DK consists of a common mailbox 51 and transmission/reception files 11.12 for each subscriber. The management DK also includes a subscriber information file 52, a device operating conditions file 53, and a mail delivery management file 54. The functional processing of the CPU 46e is a storage and transmission function, which is a process of distributing the information mail to the recipient and storing it in the sender's transmission mailbox for each subscriber. The processing sequence for storage of delivery information data and delivery instructions will be described below.

The caller dials the facsimile mail center 46 from the facsimile device 41a at hand.■1 The network 45 receives this and calls the FAX/voice communication control section 46a of the facsimile mail center 46.■1° The response signal is notified to the network 45.■ 1 and facsimile machine 4
1a is connected. ■1° The FAX/voice communication control unit 46a sends voice guidance, for example, "This is a mail center. Please enter your subscriber ID." to the facsimile machine 41a. ■1° The caller is your subscriber ID, which is given in advance;
For example, input "r1234#" ■1° Note that "#" indicates input.

FAX/voice communication control unit 4 that received this subscriber ID
6a is a disk 46c for performing a subscriber check.
Search the subscriber IDr 1234 in the subscriber information file 52.■1゜Check the subscriber ID in the subscriber information file 52, and return a check OK signal.■1゜Following this, the facsimile machine 41a sends voice guidance, For example, enter the r function code.

1 ■1゜The sender enters the function code "r155#" which instructs the delivery and storage of the information mail [phase].

FAX/voice communication control unit 4 that received this function code
6a checks the function and starts the save and send function indicated by the function code r155#1 ■1゜This causes the CPU 46
The save and send function is activated in e, and the caller is given voice guidance, such as r, to manually input the address. ” @1゜The caller asks for the destination of the information data, for example 10447889
Input 899#J ■1゜This destination is received by the FAX/voice communication control unit 46a and entered into the CPU 46e.

Then, start the voice guidance, for example rFAX. ” to request the transmission of a facsimile manuscript. I.

After hearing this guidance, the caller starts sending the facsimile document.■1゜When the caller finishes sending the facsimile document, the caller disconnects the line.■1゜This disconnection is carried out via the network 45 to the facsimile mail center 4.
6 is transmitted to the FAX/voice communication control unit 46a, the line is disconnected, and the FAX/voice communication control unit 46a
notifies the CPU 46 e of the termination ■1゜ The CPU 46 e recognizes this termination notification and faxes the termination
- Notify the voice communication control unit 46a @1゜@,.

Now, the CPU 46e stores the received facsimile data in the sender's sending mailbox @1, and registers the delivery order in the mail delivery management file @.

FIG. 3(b) shows the processing sequence for mail reception, notification and result notification. In the figure, notification delivery processing is performed by the CPU.
This is one of the processing functions of 46e.

In addition, the same reference numerals as in Fig. 3(a) refer to the same parts. Below, we will explain the processing sequence for receipt, notification, and result notification of information mail.

After the caller requests the facsimile mail center 46 to send a facsimile document (that is, after the processing shown in FIG. The CPU 46 e searches for the subscriber's telephone number in the subscriber information file 52 using the caller ID.■2 The receiver receives the caller's telephone number. is the FAX/voice communication control section 46
The number attached to a is the number 1 The date and time, all pages, and the address containing the delivery address deliver the notification ■2゜FAX/voice communication control unit 46
a calls the caller's facsimile device 41a by dialing the caller's telephone number.■2
゜Soon, the sender's facsimile device 41a and the facsimile mail center 46 are connected by line ■2, ■2, and a response signal is sent by the facsimile device 41a■
2゜When the FAX/voice communication control unit 46a receives a response, the reception desk notifies the facsimile device 41a of the information@
2゜After that, the line is connected 02 ~ @ 2, and the caller can check whether the call was processed correctly by checking the received information notification.

Although the acceptance notification has been explained above, the result notification is similar to the acceptance notification.

FIG. 3(c) shows the processing sequence for mail delivery. In the figure, the destination FAX 44a is the communication partner of the notification FAX 41a. In addition, the same reference numerals as in Fig. 3(b) refer to the same parts. The processing sequence for transferring information mail will be explained below.

The mail delivery management file 54 manages the delivery order of mail, and notifies the CPU of the delivery destination number and the storage location of the information data in the sender's mailbox from the mail whose delivery order has arrived ■3゜And For example, at this time, the CPU recognizes that the direct delivery setting to the facsimile device 44a is set.
・Request voice communication control unit 46a to deliver information ■3゜FAX・Voice communication control unit 46a dials the destination of the received information data■3, thereby calling destination facsimile device 44a■3゜When there is a response from the destination facsimile device 44a (3), the FAX/voice communication control unit 46a sends the response signal to the destination facsimile device 4.
Return to 4a■3゜Meanwhile, the CPU 46e retrieves the delivery information by searching the sender's sending mailbox based on the information storage location taken by the receiver.
3. Deliver the delivery information to the destination facsimile device 44a via the X/voice communication control unit 46a@3゜The FAX/voice communication control unit 46a sends the disconnection message to the destination facsimile device 44a when the delivery is completed. Send @3 and notify CPU66 e of delivery completion @)
3. Upon receiving the completion notification, the @zcPU 46e deletes the delivery information of the corresponding mail from the mail delivery management file 54.

FIG. 3(d) shows the processing sequence of archived mail delivery. In the figure, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 3(a) refer to the same elements. The processing sequence for transferring storage information will be explained below.

Connection with facsimile mail center 46 and subscriber ID
The numbering manual procedure is the same as the procedure from (1) to (2) in FIG. The sender may wish to also send the delivery information sent to the facsimile device 44a to the facsimile device 43a in the subscriber-specific sending mailbox. At this time, the sender enters the stored information transfer code r160##++, which requests the transfer of the distribution information stored in the sender's sending mailbox.The fax/voice communication control unit that received this function code 4
6a performs a function check ■4 and activates the stored information transfer function indicated by the function code r160#J ■4゜As a result, the CPU 46e activates the stored information transfer function from the memory 46f and provides voice guidance to the caller, for example, "
Please enter your information number. ■4゜The sender inputs the information number r999999#J, which the receiver received when the information was previously stored.■4゜The FAX/voice communication control unit 46a, which received this information number, uses the CPU 46.
Send the information number to e■4゜CPU 46 e searches for the information number r999999# from the sender's mailbox■4 and retrieves the corresponding forwarding information■4゜Then, send voice guidance to the caller, e.g. rPlease enter the destination. ■4゜The caller inputs the destination of the forwarding information, for example ro 447559899#J [Phase] 4゜The CPU 46 e sends the forwarding information retrieved from the sending mailbox to this destination, the facsimile device 43a of the destination. Deliver to.

Then, the caller is informed of the end of the transfer of the stored information by inputting a voice guidance, for example, "This will end the service."@4 to the caller.

Then, the line is disconnected using the same procedure as in FIG. 3(a).

Figure 3(e) is the same as Figures 3(a) and 3(b) in Figure 0, which shows the received information storage processing sequence for storing received received information in one's own mailbox. Objects are given the same reference numerals.

The processing sequence for storing received information will be explained below.

The processing procedures of (1) to (1) are the same as those shown in FIG. 3(a). Now, the function code requires human power■.

Then, the recipient enters the function code "177#" indicating a storage instruction.
Step 6a confirms the function and activates the received information storage function indicated by the function code ``177#j''.

CPU that receives received information storage function from memory 46f
46 e sets received information storage in the condition field of the subscriber information file 52. Instead, they will be stored in the reception mailbox provided for each recipient subscriber.

Regarding the delivery information sent from the sender, the delivery destination and information storage location are notified to the CPU 46e.

Upon receiving this notification, the CPU 46e checks the subscriber information file 52 to check the delivery conditions of the recipient corresponding to the destination.
5゜At this time, the CPU recognizes that the recipient's delivery condition is to store the received information.■5゜Then, the receiver retrieves the transmitted information from the information storage location. ■, forwarding to the incoming mailbox of the indicated recipient.

Then, the CPU notifies the completion of the information storage process.■5° Upon this completion notification, the delivery information of the corresponding mail is deleted from the mail delivery management file 54.

Although the above explanation has been given using the example of a facsimile mail center, the same applies to other types of e-mail.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, if a facsimile document is instructed to be stored, it is managed at the facsimile mail center side. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to file and keep the sent and received facsimile manuscripts at hand, making it possible to save time and space.

Furthermore, since the information can be stored at the facsimile mail center at the recipient's will, confidentiality can be improved. When reusing this stored information data, there is no need to repeat the delivery procedure to the facsimile machine, and the sender and receiver can easily reuse the stored information data by simply inputting the number manually. It becomes possible to use it.

Furthermore, since transmitted and received information can be reused simply by manually inputting the stored information number, facsimile manuscripts can be distributed even by instructions over the telephone, reducing labor and communication costs.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of the present invention, Figure 2 (a) is a functional block diagram of the present invention, Figure 2 (b) is a file configuration diagram of the disk of the present invention, and Figure 3 (a) is mail delivery. , storage processing sequence, Fig. 3(b) shows the processing sequence of notification and result notification for mail reception, Fig. 3(c) shows the processing sequence of mail delivery, and Fig. 3(d) shows the processing sequence of mail delivery.
) Figure 3(e) shows the processing sequence of archived mail delivery, Figure 3(e) shows the storage processing sequence of received information, Figure 4 is a configuration diagram of a switching network equipment having a facsimile mail center, and Figure 5 shows the flowchart of a conventional facsimile mail center. It is a file configuration diagram. In Fig. 1, the main parts are: 11...Subscriber-specific sending mailbox 12...
- Received mail box 13 for each subscriber...Sent mail storage means 14...Received mail storage means. "7"7"'E 'I l-/(-t->9"6--
--] Mae/L/Arrangement Storage Furi Sequence 柘3 (CL) Figure; 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an e-mail information transfer method using an e-mail center that provides various services to subscribers, for each subscriber, there is a subscriber-specific sending mail box (11) that stores outgoing mail for each subscriber, and a subscriber-specific outgoing mail box (11) that stores incoming mail. A subscriber-specific reception mail box (12) is provided to store each subscriber, and when there is an instruction from the sender to store the transmission mail, the transmission mail is stored in the subscriber-specific transmission mail box (12).
1), and a received mail storage means (13) that stores the received mail in the subscriber-specific received mail box (12) when there is an instruction from the recipient to store the received mail. 14) An e-mail information storage and transfer method characterized by providing the following.