JPH06112970A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce communication cost and to attain automatic collection and totalization or the like for the result by devising the system such that an electronic mail is returned from a receiver side to a sender side after a required reply is described in a reply description area. CONSTITUTION:A sender side includes an area 41 in which a reply is to be described and information to specify the reply description area 41 in a text of an electronic mail 40 and a receiver side permits only the reply description area 41 of the electronic mail 40 and after a required reply is described in the reply description area 41, the receiver side sends the electronic mail to the sender side. The receiver side allows only the reply description area 41 for data input as to the electronic mail 40 requesting a prescribed reply to inhibit free revision of the text content by the receiver side. Furthermore, the communication cost is reduced by using only the reply description area as a return object. Moreover, a database collecting the reply description area for each of same kinds of electronic mails classifies the reply contents and makes statistic processing.

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 that digitizes information such as documents between computers and exchanges it like a mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, an electronic mail system has been widely adopted, which uses a communication function of a computer and a communication network such as a telephone to exchange electronic documents like mail. FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a conventional general electronic mail system. The system shown in the figure includes, for example, four terminal devices 1-1 to 1-1.
1-4 are connected via the public network 2 and exchange e-mail with each other. Since the configurations of the respective terminal devices are all the same, a specific block diagram of only the terminal device 1-1 is shown.

The terminal device 1-1 includes a document creating section 3,
A message creating unit 4, a network control unit 5, a message decomposition unit 6, and a document display unit 7 are provided. The document creating section 3 has a function just like a word processor and creates a document having arbitrary contents. The electronic message creating section 4 is a section for assembling this document into a fixed electronic mail format. Here, the name, address, sender name, recipient name, address of the receiving terminal device, etc. of the sending terminal device 1-1 are added to the document to be sent. The electronic message thus generated is transmitted to the terminal device on the partner side via the network control unit 5 and the public network 2. On the receiving side, the message received by the message decomposer 6 is decomposed,
A portion corresponding to a communication message is displayed on the document display unit 7 including a display or the like.

FIG. 3 shows a concrete hardware block diagram of a conventional general terminal device. The device shown in the figure has a CPU (processor) 12 and a memory 13 for a system bus 11.
The external storage device 14, the display device 15, the key input device 16, and the communication control device 17 are connected. The public network 2 is connected to the communication control device 17.

The CPU 12 controls the operation of this device,
The memory 13 stores an operation program for the CPU 12, parameters, and the like. The external storage device 14 stores, for example, the received electronic mail and the like, and the display device 15 displays the electronic message content of the received electronic mail. The key input device 16 is used when creating a telegram, and the communication control device 17 is a device for controlling communication with the public network 2. The document is created by the key input device 16 and the CP.
U12 and the memory 13 etc. are performed, and the electronic message creation and the decomposition of the electronic message are performed by the predetermined program stored in the CPU 12 and the memory 13.

In the electronic mail system as described above, it is possible to send and receive electronic mail of various formats between terminal devices. Further, the terminal device on the receiving side can send back a reply to the received electronic mail, and in this case, the reply can be sent back by using the information of the sender added to the received electronic mail. Various information can be received from the other party by using such an e-mail return function. For example, it is also used for obtaining answers to questionnaires, receiving responses to attendance confirmation at meetings, and sending and receiving slips in product transactions.

[0007]

By the way, for example, transmission / reception of a telegram of a questionnaire has been conventionally performed as follows. FIG. 4 shows a conventional e-mail content explanatory diagram.
In the image on the transmission side shown on the left side of the figure, for example, a telegram regarding the other party, the other party, a request for a questionnaire, etc. is displayed. Here, for example, a document such as "Your age" or "Your gender" is included as a question. On the other hand, on the receiving side, in order to answer such a questionnaire, it is necessary to copy the received message, display the image as shown in the figure, fill in the required parts and send it back. there were.

FIG. 5 shows a conventional e-mail return content explanatory diagram. On the receiving side which has received the request for the questionnaire as shown in FIG. 4, the answer of the questionnaire is filled in as shown in FIG. 5, the destination of the transmission etc. is written as it is, and it is returned to the transmitting side. FIG. 6 shows a conventional electronic mail return operation flowchart. As shown in the figure, first, the e-mail is displayed on the receiving side (step S1), and the content is once copied to correct the portion corresponding to the answer to the questionnaire (step S2). Then, the corrected e-mail is transmitted to the sender (step S3).

However, in such a case, there is a problem that the transmitting side receives the question sentence of the questionnaire, which is not originally necessary, at the same time, and wastes communication cost because it returns unnecessary information. Further, since the receiving side has not specified the answer format, it may be possible to send only the minimum part including the answer to the sending side in some cases. However, on the sending side, it is not possible to predict in what format the respondents of the questionnaire will return the answers, so it is necessary to manually check the content of the received e-mail individually and analyze the questionnaire data etc. was there.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above points. When the transmitting side requests the receiving side for a certain form of reply as described above, the communication cost is low and the result is automatically calculated. The purpose is to provide an electronic mail system that can collect and aggregate data.

[0011]

According to the electronic mail system of the present invention, in the sending side, the receiving side includes the area for writing the answer and the information for specifying the answer writing area in the electronic message of the electronic mail. In, the data entry is allowed only in the answer entry area of the email, and after the necessary answer is entered in the answer entry area, the email is returned from the receiving side to the sending side. It is characterized by.

Further, when the electronic mail is returned from the receiving side to the transmitting side, only the data in the answer entry area portion of the electronic mail received by the receiving side can be the object of the returning. Further, it is also possible to collect the answer entry areas of a plurality of e-mails returned to the sender for each e-mail of the same type and form a database.

[0013]

In this system, with respect to the e-mail requesting a certain reply, the receiving side allows the input of data only in the reply writing area and prohibits the receiving side from freely changing the contents of the message. Further, if only the answer entry area portion is to be returned, the communication cost can be reduced. Further, in the database in which the answer entry area portion is collected for each electronic mail of the same type, the answer contents can be classified and tabulated as they are, and statistics and the like can be performed.

[0014]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. In this figure, in order to clarify the functions of the transmitting side and the receiving side, regarding the terminal device 20 on the transmitting side, only the functional blocks necessary for the transmitting side are displayed, and the terminal device 30 on the receiving side is displayed.
As for, only the functional blocks necessary for the operation on the receiving side are displayed. However, in reality, each terminal device is composed of the same hardware having all of these functions.

First, the terminal device 20 on the transmitting side has a document creating section 21, a message creating section 22, an identification number assigning section 23, a message storing section 24, a message decomposing section 25, a synthesizing section 26, a display section 27 and a network control section. Equipped with 28. Furthermore, in the terminal device 30 on the receiving side connected to the terminal device 20 on the transmitting side via the communication network 2, a message creating unit 31, a document correcting unit 32, a difference extracting unit 33, a message storing unit 34, and a message disassembling unit. A section 35, a document display section 37, and a network control section 38 are provided. The document creation unit 21 of the terminal device 20 on the transmission side is a unit that operates like a word processor and creates a message to be sent, as in the conventional device. The electronic message creating unit 22 is a part for adding necessary additional information to the electronic message, and the names of senders and receivers, addresses of senders and receivers, and the like are added.

Here, in the present invention, in the electronic message creating section 22, a recognition number indicating the type of the electronic mail 40 is added as additional information. For example, the same identification number is given to questionnaires transmitted to a plurality of destinations with the same content. Even if it is an e-mail sent to the same destination, a different identification number is given in the case of a questionnaire requesting a different content or a document requesting an answer. This identification number is used for sorting and organizing electronic messages returned from a plurality of destinations and separately creating a database. In addition, in the electronic message creating unit 22,
In the present invention, regarding the electronic mail 40 shown on the left side of the figure,
Additional information 42 for designating an answer entry area 41 in which a required answer is entered on the receiving side is added.

FIG. 7 shows an electronic mail content explanatory diagram according to the system of the present invention. The left side of the figure is the image of the sending side,
The right side of the figure is the image on the receiving side. As shown in this figure,
In the image of the questionnaire created and sent by the sender,
Here, for example, two-position answer writing areas 41-1 and 41-
Two are provided. That is, an answer to the question "Your age is" is entered in the answer entry area 41-1 and an answer to the question "Your gender is" is entered in the answer entry area 41-2. The additional information 42 (FIG. 1) designating such an answer entry area is recognized by the editor in the terminal device 30 on the receiving side when the answer entry operation is performed, and the operation described later is performed.

The electronic message storage unit 24 shown in FIG. 1 is composed of a memory for storing the entire electronic message of the questionnaire thus transmitted. When the answer is obtained, the stored electronic message is combined with the answer and is used to display the questionnaire including the answer on the display unit 27. That is,
When the reply is received from the network control unit 28, the electronic message decomposition unit 35
The answer is extracted at. In the present invention, in this embodiment, the electronic message of only the answer entry area is received so that the communication cost is minimized. In the synthesizing unit 26,
The entire electronic message of the original questionnaire is read from the electronic message storage unit 24, combined with the answer, and the content is output to the display unit 27.

On the other hand, the telegram decomposition unit 35 of the terminal device 30 on the receiving side is a unit for decomposing a telegram received by the network control unit 38 via the communication network 2 and taking out a necessary document. The document display unit 37 is composed of a display or the like, and is a unit for displaying the contents of the document. The electronic message storage unit 34 is a unit for temporarily storing the received electronic message. The document correction unit 32 is composed of an editor or the like that controls the writing of an answer in the answer writing area of the received electronic message stored in the electronic message storage unit 34.

In the present invention, this editor performs an operation which allows data entry only in the answer entry area, for example. This operation is a circuit that performs a write-prohibited operation that is widely used in conventional database processing programs, or an operation that causes an answer to be written while leaving the original message as it is due to data input restrictions such as forcibly moving the cursor. Composed of. The difference extracting unit 33 is a unit that extracts only a different portion between the original electronic message received in the electronic message storage unit 34 and the corrected electronic message and uses it as a transmission electronic message. The electronic message creating unit 31 is a part for adding predetermined additional information for converting the electronic message generated by the difference extracting unit 33 into an electronic mail.

In the method of the present invention, the message returned to the transmitting side is as follows. FIG. 8 shows a diagram for explaining the contents returned by the electronic mail according to the present invention. When the questionnaire as shown in FIG. 7 is received at the receiving side, the answer is, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, only the answer entry area with the sender and sender and the identification number of the questionnaire added. Become. In this embodiment, in order to specify the answer writing area, the transmitting side writes, for example, the code #. Therefore, on the receiving side, the operation of extracting such a code of # from the document and permitting data input for that portion is performed.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the contents of the electronic mails synthesized on the sending side. As described above, when the sender receives an answer as shown in FIG. 8, it combines the entire text of the questionnaire previously stored in the electronic message storage unit 24 shown in FIG. 1 with the contents of the received answer. , And obtain a message as shown in FIG. As a result, the sending side can always display an answer in a fixed format.

FIG. 10 shows a system hardware block diagram of a modified example of the present invention. This system goes one step further than the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and has a function of automatically sorting received answers, collecting them, and creating a database. This terminal device 50 includes a document creating unit 51, a message creating unit 52, an identification number assigning unit 53, a message storing unit 54, a message decomposition unit 55, a combining unit 56, a display unit 57, a network control unit 58, a collecting unit 59, and a database. The configuration includes 60. The functional blocks of the collecting unit 59 and the other parts of the database 60 in the terminal device 50 are the same as those of the device of the present invention already described with reference to FIG. The collection unit 59 includes a message decomposition unit 55.
It is a part that collects the contents of the answers obtained in (1), sorts them by recognition number and stores them in the database 60. The database 60 is composed of, for example, a hard disk or a magnetic disk device. That is, the collection unit 59 collects the answers for each answer to the questionnaire having the same content, and automatically performs a process of creating a fixed database 60.

FIG. 11 shows a database contents explanatory view (No. 1). As shown in this figure, for example, all the answers to the questionnaire described above with reference to FIG. 7 can be classified by the same identification number and collected as shown in the figure. Then, by using the database obtained in this way, it is possible to automatically execute, for example, classification according to the gender of the respondent, average age of the respondent, and other various questionnaires. As a result, a large amount of data can be analyzed quickly and accurately as compared with the case where this type of work is conventionally performed manually.

FIG. 12 shows a database contents explanatory view (No. 2). For example, in the above database,
It is possible to add not only the content of the answer but also the name of the terminal device on the receiving side and the information of the recipient, that is, the answerer. This can be automatically extracted from the additional information in the email. This allows a more detailed analysis of the answer.

FIG. 13 shows a modified hardware block diagram of the present invention. The terminal device 70 shown in FIG.
1, message creating unit 72, identification number assigning unit 73, message storing unit 74, message decomposing unit 75, combining unit 76, display unit 77, network control unit 78, collecting unit 79, database 80, clock unit 81.
Etc. This terminal device 70 is obtained by further adding a clock unit 81 to the device of the embodiment of the device shown in FIG. The clock unit 81 supplies the collection unit 79 with data corresponding to the time when the electronic message is received.

The following data can be obtained by using the above apparatus. FIG. 14 shows a database content explanatory diagram (3). With the apparatus shown in FIG. 13, as shown in this figure, a database in which the date and time when the answer to the questionnaire is received and the contents of the answer are integrated can be obtained. As a result, it becomes possible to perform various kinds of detailed tabulation and the like.

FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of an example of automatic totalization processing according to the present invention. The apparatus of the present invention generally operates according to the procedure shown in this figure. First, in step S1, the sending side creates a message, and in step S2
In step S3, when the transmitting side transmits the electronic message, the receiving side receives the electronic message. Next, in step S4, the reception side inputs an answer, and in step S5, the reply entry area is returned to the transmission side, and in step S6, the transmission side collects the answers for each identification number and creates a database.

Next, in step S7, classification and aggregation processing is performed on the answer items of each database, and in step S8, the processing result is output. This processing result has various contents necessary for the processing and analysis of the questionnaire, such as a tabulation result list. That is, by using the electronic mail system, it is possible to perform even such a totaling of the answers and the like, and the extraction and processing of the answer contents of the questionnaire can be greatly automated and speeded up as compared with the conventional one.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. In the above embodiment, an example in which the present invention is carried out for collecting questionnaires, etc. is shown, but it can also be used for a slip processing system for receiving an order for a product by mail order, a voting system for conducting an election, etc. . Further, the system as described above can be widely used for those which freely send and receive electronic mails among a large number of terminal devices. The content of the electronic mail returned from the receiving side to the transmitting side may include not only the answer entry area portion but also before and after the answer writing area and an appropriate electronic message.

[0031]

According to the electronic mail system of the present invention described above, it is possible to allow the receiving side to input data only in the answer writing area, including the information for specifying the area for writing the answer in the electronic mail of the electronic mail. Therefore, the receiving side is prohibited from making a reply in a free format, and the sending side can easily refer to the reply. Also, if only the data in the answer entry area is to be returned, the communication cost for returning can be sufficiently reduced. Furthermore, the reply entry areas of multiple e-mails returned by the sender are collected for each e-mail of the same type based on their identification numbers, etc., and if a database is created, then the answers are automatically classified using a computer. , Statistics, etc. can be performed, and collection of questionnaires and other processing can be automated and speeded up.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system hardware block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a general electronic mail system.

FIG. 3 is a specific hardware block diagram of a general terminal device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the contents of a conventional electronic mail.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional electronic mail return content.

FIG. 6 is a conventional electronic mail return operation flowchart.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an electronic mail content according to the system of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the contents returned by the electronic mail according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of contents of an electronic mail that is combined on the transmitting side.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a modified system hardware of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram (1) of database contents.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a database content (No. 2).

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a system hardware of a modified example of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a database content (No. 3).

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an example of automatic totalization processing according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 communication network 20 terminal device 30 terminal device 40 e-mail 41 answer entry area 42 additional information

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. The sending side includes, in the electronic message of the e-mail, an area in which an answer is to be written and information for specifying the answer writing area, and the receiving side is concerned only with the answer entry area of the e-mail. An electronic mail system, which allows the input of data, and after the necessary reply is entered in the reply entry area, the e-mail is returned from the receiving side to the sending side. 2. When the electronic mail is returned from the receiving side to the sending side, only the data in the answer entry area portion of the electronic mail received by the receiving side is targeted for the returning. E-mail system described. 3. The response entry area portion of a plurality of e-mails returned to the sending side is collected for each e-mail of the same type and made into a database. E-mail system.