JPH05316145A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the processing time by confirming whether or not a destination address is valid and registering it when the address is valid, thereby saving the labor and time of prior-registration of a new destination address. CONSTITUTION:The operator prepares an electronic mail by a mail operation means 11, transmits and sends it to a delivery means 16. The delivery means 16 checks a destination address and uses a retrieval means 18 to retrieve whether or not the destination data are in existence in an address storage means 17. When no destination address is stored, the mail operation means 11 is used to make a request of confirmation for the operator. When the operator enters that the address is valid, a registration means 19 registers the destination address to the address storage means 17. Then a communication means 13 transfers an electronic mail. Thus, the destination address of the generated electronic mail is registered to the address storage means 17 not through the operation by the operator.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail system for sending and receiving electronic mail between a plurality of computers via a communication line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an electronic mail system of this type, an electronic mail transmission control system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 146538/1988 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 28184/1990.
An electronic mail transmission system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7 is known.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of an electronic mail transmission control system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-146538.
In the figure, 1 is a destination register and 2 is an electronic mail function. Considering a case where the operator A sends a mail, first, the electronic mail function 2 searches the address register 1 created by the operator X in advance, and the operator A can send the mail based on the search result. Find a destination. if,
When the operator A makes a call to the recipient B, the recipient B's destination is registered in the destination register 1, so that the electronic mail is correctly transmitted. Further, when the operator A sends a message to the recipient C, the recipient C does not have the destination registered in the destination register 1, so the email is returned to the operator A as an error. In this way, the system shown in FIG. 5 has a mechanism in which an electronic mail is not sent to a destination not registered in the destination registration list 1.

Next, the electronic mail transmission system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-281847 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. 6 is Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-281.
8 is a block diagram of an electronic mail transmission system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 847, in which 3 is a communication cable,
Reference numeral 4 is a workstation for sending mails, 5 is a mail service for managing electronic mails, and 6 is a directory service for storing information about destinations of electronic mails.

The flow of processing of the electronic mail transmission system will be described below with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. When sending an e-mail, first, when the operator inputs the e-mail address from the workstation 4, it is determined in step S1 of FIG. 7 whether or not the address input is completed. If the input is completed, step S2 Then, the destination information is transmitted to the mail service 5. Mail service 5,
At this point in time when only the destination information of the email has been sent, normal email processing is not performed, and the destination information is transferred to the directory service 6 in order to verify the destination information (step S3). In directory service 6,
Data relating to this destination information is retrieved by collating with its own database (step S4). And
The result is transferred to the mail service 5 in step S5. When the verification result is sent, the mail service 5
The collation result is transmitted to the workstation 4 which has transmitted the destination information (step S6). The collation result regarding the destination is displayed on the display of the workstation 4 (step S7). Then, the determination in step S8 is Y.
In the case of (YES), that is, when the operator looks at the display contents and selects a desired destination, the process proceeds to step S9, and the workstation 4 transmits an electronic mail to the destination. On the other hand, as a result of collating the destinations, if the corresponding destination does not exist, that is, the determination in step S8 is N.
In the case of (NO), the process proceeds to step S10, the operator performs an operation to cancel the transmission, and the series of processes ends.

Next, the flow of processing of the directory service in the electronic mail transmission system will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 8. In step T1 of FIG. 8, the directory service 6 searches the database based on the destination information sent from the mail service 5. If Y in step T1, that is, if the destination data in the database contains the same destination information as the destination information sent, or if the destination data includes the destination at the beginning, those are listed (steps). T2). Next, in step T3, the portraits of the respective destinations are added from the database to create collation data in a predetermined format. This collation data is transmitted to the mail service 5 in step T4. On the other hand, if the result of the search is N in step T1, that is, if the same destination as the sent destination information does not exist in the destination data of the database, the process proceeds to step T5 and this destination information A similar destination is created based on. Next, step T6
, It is determined whether or not there is a destination that is the same as these destinations or that includes these destinations at the head in the destination data of the database. If the result is Y, the process proceeds to step T2, and the destination and its destination are determined. List the destination data that starts with. If the destination data is still not found here, the process proceeds to step T7 to create the collation data in which the corresponding destination does not exist, and then the process proceeds to step T4 to send it to the mail service 5.

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional electronic mail system of this type, when sending an electronic mail to a new destination address, the destination address data is stored in advance in a destination register or a database. There was a need. In addition, when the address of the recipient is changed, the address must be deleted or changed from the destination register or the database by using a human means, so that there is a problem that the processing takes time. Therefore, it has been a problem to solve such a problem.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and saves time and effort for pre-registering a new destination address when sending and receiving an electronic mail between a plurality of computers via a communication line. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail system that can quickly send an e-mail to shorten the processing time and improve the operation efficiency of an operator.

[0009]

The present invention is an electronic mail system for sending and receiving electronic mail between a plurality of computers via a communication line, and enables an operator to receive and send electronic mail, check an email address, etc. It is provided with a user interface unit having a mail operation unit for performing, a communication unit having a communication unit for transferring an electronic mail with another computer via a communication line, and a delivery management unit. And
The delivery management unit is a delivery unit that delivers electronic mail in cooperation with a user interface unit and a communication unit.
Address storage means for storing the destination address of the electronic mail, search means for searching whether the destination address at the time of sending the mail is included in the contents of the address storage means, and for the electronic mail newly sent by the operator And a registration means for registering a destination address.

[0010]

In the electronic mail system according to the present invention, when the operator sends an electronic mail to a new destination address, the delivery means uses the mail operating means to confirm whether the destination address is valid by the operator, When there is an input for determining that the destination address is correct, the destination address can be registered in the address storage means by the registration means.

[0011]

EXAMPLES Example 1. Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
Will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an electronic mail system according to the present invention, which has a function for receiving and transmitting electronic mail between a plurality of computers via a communication line. .. E-mail system 1 of this embodiment
Reference numeral 0 denotes a user interface unit 12 having a mail operating unit 11 for receiving and transmitting an electronic mail by an operator, confirming a mail address, and a communication unit 13 for transferring an electronic mail to and from another computer via a communication line. The communication unit 14 and the delivery management unit 15 are provided. The delivery management unit 15 delivers the electronic mail in cooperation with the user interface unit 12 and the communication unit 14, and stores the delivery means 16 for temporarily storing the electronic mail and the destination address of the electronic mail. Address storing means 17 for searching, a searching means 18 for searching whether or not the destination address at the time of mail transmission matches the contents of the address storing means 17, and a registering means 1 for registering the destination address.
9 and 9.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the flow of the transmission processing according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1. The operation of the device of the first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. First, in step P1, the operator uses the mail operation means 11 to create and send an electronic mail, and delivers it to the delivery means 16. Next, in step P2, the delivery means 16 checks the destination address of the electronic mail, and if the destination address is the operator himself, the process proceeds to step P3, the electronic mail is returned to the mail operating means 11, and the processing ends.

If the destination address is destined for another computer, the process proceeds to step P4, and the search means 18 is used to search whether or not the destination address exists in the destination data stored in the address storage means 17. If the search result is YES, that is, if the destination address matches the destination data, the process proceeds to step P7, and the communication unit 13 transfers the electronic mail to another computer.

On the other hand, if the search result in step P4 is NO, that is, if the destination address is not stored and the destination address does not match the destination data, step P5
Then, the operator requests the operator to confirm whether the destination address is valid by using the mail operating means 11. If the determination in step P4 is NO, that is, if the operator inputs that the destination address is not valid,
The e-mail is returned to the mail operating means 11 to allow the operator to recreate and retransmit (step P1). On the other hand, Y
If the operator inputs ES, that is, it is valid, the process proceeds to step P6, and the registration unit 19 registers the destination address in the address storage unit 17. Then, in step P7, the communication means 13 transfers the electronic mail to another computer.

As described above, the new destination address of the electronic mail can be registered in the address storage means without the operator's operation.

Embodiment 2. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the electronic mail system according to the present invention. In the electronic mail system 10 of this embodiment, as in the case of the first embodiment, an operator receives and sends an electronic mail and confirms a mail address. A user interface unit 12 including a mail operation unit 11 for performing the above, a communication unit 14 including a communication unit 13 for transferring an electronic mail with another computer via a communication line, and a delivery management unit 15 are provided. There is. Further, the delivery management unit 15 delivers the electronic mail in cooperation with the user interface unit 12 and the communication unit 14 and performs a process of temporarily storing the electronic mail, and a destination address of the electronic mail. Address storing means 17 for storing the address, searching means 18 for searching whether the destination address at the time of sending the mail matches the contents of the address storing means 17, and registering means 1 for registering the destination address.
9 and a deleting means 20 for deleting the destination address from the contents of the address storing means.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of the receiving process according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
When the electronic mail is transferred to 3, the communication means 13 sends the electronic mail to the delivery means 16 (step Q1). In the following step Q2, the delivery means 16 judges whether the electronic mail is an error mail due to a wrong address, and if N
O, that is, if it is not an error mail, step Q3
Then, the operator is notified of the arrival of the electronic mail by using the mail operating means 11.

On the other hand, if YES in step Q2, that is, if it is an error mail, the deleting means 20 deletes the destination address from the address storing means 17 (step Q4). Further, in step Q5, the mail operating means 11 is used to output a message to the operator that the destination address is incorrect.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the new destination address of the electronic mail can be registered in the address storage means without the operator's operation, and the electronic mail sent by the operator to another computer can be registered. When the address of the recipient of the mail is changed and an error mail due to a wrong address is returned from another computer to the communication means, the deleting means can delete the destination address from the address storing means without an operator's operation.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the destination address of the created electronic mail is registered in the address storage means without the operator's operation. Therefore, the destination address can be pre-registered. It is possible to save time and effort, and it becomes possible to quickly send an e-mail to a new destination address, and the operability of sending can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a flow of a calling process in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of a receiving process in the embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of an electronic mail transmission control method showing an example of a conventional electronic mail system.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an electronic mail transmission system showing another example of a conventional electronic mail system.

7 is a flow chart showing a flow of a transmission process of the electronic mail transmission system shown in FIG.

8 is a flowchart showing a flow of directory service processing of the electronic mail transmission system shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 electronic mail system 11 mail operating means 12 user interface section 13 communication means 14 communication section 15 delivery management section 16 delivery means 17 address storage means 18 search means 19 registration means 20 deletion means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an electronic mail system for receiving and sending electronic mail between a plurality of computers via a communication line, a user interface unit having a mail operating means for receiving and sending electronic mail by an operator and confirming a mail address. And a communication unit having a communication unit that transfers electronic mail to and from another computer via a communication line, and a delivery management unit, and the delivery management unit includes a user interface unit and a communication unit. A delivery means that cooperates with the above to deliver an email, an address storage means that stores a destination address of the email, and whether or not the destination address when the email is sent is included in the contents of the address storage means. It is characterized by comprising a searching means for searching and a registering means for registering a destination address of an e-mail newly sent by the operator. E-mail system.