JPH06232901A - Electronic mail equipment and processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decide a sender address of the user independently of a computer separately by referencing stored sender address data so as to attain the sender corresponding to the user and delivering an electronic mail to a destination. CONSTITUTION:A sender address conversion section 102 references a sender address data storage section 105 storing cross reference between users and sender addresses to decide a sender address corresponding to the user and a transmission section 103 sends an electronic mail. Thus, when the other user uses the equipment, the sender address for the purpose is set independently of the computer for the transmission. Furthermore, since distribute processing is employed, even when a database function is lost, the transmission/reception of the electronic mail is not disabled, and when the database is used in duplicate, the function of the system is not lost and the reliability is improved. Moreover, when the content of the database is rewritten, the content in charge of each database is to be rewritten by the adoption of discrete database and the increase in the access frequency to the database is minimized.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail device and a processing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of network technology,
2. Description of the Related Art Electronic mail devices have come into wide use, and many users share electronic mail processing devices before exchanging electronic mail. By the way, e-mail means to electronically send a document or the like.
In the same way as the address is written on a postcard in normal mail,
Specify an email address to identify who is sent the email. Then, from which e-mail address to which user of which computer the e-mail is actually delivered, or to which computer the e-mail is finally delivered to which user of which computer from the destination computer. Determining whether to do it, deliver the mail to the computer. The computer that receives the mail performs the same process again, and finally the user designated by the destination address receives the mail.

The interpretation of this mail address is set uniquely in each computer, and the address of the sender is the computer that sent the electronic mail and is added according to its rules. This e-mail delivery technology is
Published by ASCII Jun Murai and others "Professional UNI
Since it is a well-known technique described in “X” and the like, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the electronic mail apparatus which is the subject of the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of this conventional electronic mail apparatus. In this figure, 500
Is the main body of the e-mail device, which is the transmission request reception unit 5
01, a transmission source address conversion unit 502, a transmission unit 503, and a control unit 504. Further, reference numeral 510 is a communication line with the outside.

Actually, in addition to this, RFC821, RFC882 and CC are used in order to exhibit the original functions of the electronic mail device.
It has a ROM, CRT, destination address conversion unit, error occurrence notification unit, broadcast communication control unit, etc. that incorporates the communication rules of the IT400 (International Telegraph and Telephone Advisory Committee) X400 series, etc. It is not directly related to the purpose of the invention, and is also co-authored by Ohm Kinji Ono and 4 others "OSI & ISDN Encyclopedia of Picture and Time", Minoru Akiyama "ISDN Picture and Book", Shigeru Watanabe and 2 others "Microcomputer Handbook""Information Processing Handbook" edited by the Information Processing Society of Japan, edited by Shoichi Noguchi, "Introduction to Multimedia Communication"
Since these are well-known techniques described in, etc., their illustration and description are omitted. And this is the same also in an Example.

[0006] The transmission request reception unit 501 issues a processing instruction to the control unit 504 in response to an electronic mail transmission request from the user. The source address conversion unit 502 determines the source address according to a predetermined address interpretation rule when transmitting an electronic mail. The source address conversion unit 502 is activated by the control unit 504,
The source address is determined according to a predetermined address interpretation rule. This address interpretation rule is specific to the computer set by the computer that sends the e-mail. The transmission unit 503 transmits the transmission source address obtained by the transmission source address conversion unit 502 to the transmission destination (“From” in industry terminology) destination (“To” in industry terminology). 503 is activated by the control unit 504. The control unit 504 receives a processing instruction from the transmission request receiving unit 501,
A source address interpretation command is issued to the source address conversion unit 502, and the address obtained above is used as a source to instruct the transmission unit 503 to send an e-mail, and the transmission unit 503 sends the e-mail. .

A plurality of electronic mail device bodies 500, 500c, 500d having the above-mentioned configuration are connected to the communication line 510.
Are connected to each other, function independently of each other, and exchange texts with each other. Now, the operation of the electronic mail device according to the conventional technique configured as described above will be described below. (1) User A (ID userA) issues an instruction to send an e-mail without explicitly designating the sender address. (2) The transmission request receiving unit 501 sends a signal instructing processing to the control unit 504. (3) The control unit 504 activates the transmission source address conversion unit 502 in response to the above operation. (4) When the user does not explicitly specify the source address at the time of transmission request, the source address conversion unit 502 follows the preset address interpretation rule for the user ID (identifier) of the user. Determine the source address. An address to be added to the source address is defined in the preset address interpretation rule. That is, as shown in (a) of FIG. 6, the portion added to the source address is determined by the setting in the computer that transmits, and the source address of the user A is 61 in (b) of FIG. Shown in "domain z ”. In addition, here "domain “Z” conceptually represents an electronic address of a transmission source called z. (5) Next, the control unit 504 activates the transmission unit 503. (6) The transmission unit 503 transmits the electronic mail by using the address indicated by 61 in (b) of FIG. 6 interpreted by the transmission source address conversion unit 502 as the transmission source address.

Based on the above, processing is carried out in the transmission of electronic mail, specifically, in the transmission of computerized text to a third party and predetermined data corresponding to electronic mail.

[0009]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, there is an associative fact that the station is managed for each machine in the telephone or the facsimile machine, and the sender is included in the address interpretation rule to be set. Since the address to be added to the address is defined and the source address is supposed to be converted according to the setting, the source address depends on the setting of the computer in the electronic mail device in which the source address operates. That is, for example, in the above operation example, when another user B tries to send an e-mail from the same computer, the sender address of the user B (ID userB) is also shown at 62 in FIG. 6B. "Domain z ”. Therefore, the source address depends on the setting of the computer itself even among users who share and use a computer. Therefore, when the user C receives the e-mail sent by the user B at the sender address 62 in FIG. 6B, when sending the reply by e-mail, the user C uses the sender address of the received mail. , Is specified as the destination address of the reply. However, the email address for the user B to receive the email (that is, the email address that identifies the user B, in this case, the user C uses the sender address attached to the email received from the user B). (Specified as a transmission product address to the user B) depends on the setting of the computer, greatly impairing the flexibility of the mail address. The management of the e-mail is inconvenient because the fact that the call is sent from the user A is recorded and formed in the record in the e-mail device of the recipient C and the formed image. On the contrary, when processing such as replying to an email received by C, even if it is clearly stated in the text of the email that the call was sent from B, it may be necessary to refer to the text. Even so, the destination tends to be A by referring to only the cover sheet. When the user B uses an electronic mail device shared with the user A or borrows the electronic mail device of A to send an electronic mail to C, for example, a communication fee bill is issued by the user B. Even though it is used, the system management such as coming to the user A becomes complicated. Inconvenience such as occurs.

In order to allow the user to use an address other than the address added to the sender's address determined by the computer due to the circumstances of business, the contents of electronic mail, the convenience of processing, etc. It is necessary to explicitly set it in a predetermined position in a predetermined format so that the user can recognize the electronic mail device every transmission. Furthermore, if the computer is unable to perform its functions, the electronic mail cannot be processed.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic mail apparatus and a processing method capable of making a call under each user name, directly transmitting and receiving, and having high security.

[0012]

The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and in the invention of claim 1, the source address data holding the data of the source address corresponding to the user. A storage unit, a transmission source address conversion unit that determines a transmission source address corresponding to the user by referring to the transmission source address data storage unit, and a transmission source address obtained by the transmission source address conversion unit. And an e-mail device for delivering an e-mail to a destination.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the source address data holding step for holding the data of the source address corresponding to the user and the data of the source address held by the step are referred to, thereby making the user And a transmission step of determining a corresponding transmission source address, and a transmission step of delivering an electronic mail to a transmission destination using the transmission source address obtained in the transmission source address conversion step as a transmission source. E-mail processing method.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in place of the transmission source address data holding section, data of a transmission source address corresponding to a user and data of a mailbox address of a user corresponding to a transmission destination address are stored. It has a held address data holding unit, and further has a destination address conversion unit that determines the address of the mailbox of the destination user from the destination address by referring to the address data holding unit. The electronic mail device according to claim 1.

In the invention of claim 4, in place of the source address data holding step, data of a source address corresponding to a user and data of an address of a user's mailbox corresponding to a destination address are stored. And a destination address conversion step of determining the address of the destination user's mailbox from the destination address by referring to the address data holding unit. The electronic mail processing method according to claim 2 is characterized.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, a distributed database is adopted in the source address data holding section or the address data holding section.
Alternatively, the electronic mail apparatus according to claim 3 is used. In the invention of claim 6, a distributed database is used in the step of holding and discarding the source address data or the step of holding the address data, and the electronic mail processing method according to claim 2 or 4 is provided.

[0017]

With the above configuration, the transmission source address data holding unit holds the data of the transmission source address corresponding to the user after adopting the distributed database. The source address conversion unit determines the source address corresponding to the user by referring to the source address data holding unit. The transmission unit delivers the electronic mail to the destination by using the source address obtained by the source address conversion unit as the source.

In the invention of claim 2, the above-mentioned claim 1
The same effect as that of the invention can be made. In the invention of claim 3, the address data holding unit holds the data of the source address corresponding to the user and the data of the address of the user's mailbox corresponding to the destination address. The destination address conversion unit refers to the address data holding unit to determine the address of the mailbox of the destination user from the destination address.

In the invention of claim 4, the above-mentioned claim 3
The same effect as that of the invention can be made. In the inventions of claims 5 and 6, the operation of the invention of each of the above claims is performed after adopting or using the distributed database.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electronic mail processing device according to the present invention will be described below based on embodiments. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows claims 1, 2, and 5.
7 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an electronic mail processing device according to the invention of claim 6 and FIG. As shown in the figure, the electronic mail apparatus main body 100 of this embodiment is composed of a transmission request reception unit 101, a transmission source address conversion unit 102, a transmission unit 103, and a control unit 104. In addition to the above, the source address data holding unit 105 is provided in the external distributed processing type database. Reference numeral 510 is a communication line through which a plurality of electronic mail processing devices 100a, 100c, 100d can access the source address data holding units 105, 105a.

Next, the operation of each of the units 101 to 105 will be described. The transmission request receiving unit 101 responds to an electronic mail transmission request from the user by operating the keyboard.
It issues a processing instruction to the control unit 104. The source address conversion unit 102 is activated by the control unit 104, and the user A (ID userA) input from the keyboard by the user.
The index is used as an index to refer to the source address data holding unit 105 to determine the source address corresponding to the user. The transmission unit 103 is activated by the control unit 104, and directly delivers an e-mail to the destination by using the transmission source address obtained by the transmission source address conversion unit 102 as the transmission source according to the communication protocol. Control unit 104
Receives a transmission instruction from the transmission request reception unit 101 by the user A, issues a transmission source address interpretation command upon recognizing the user A to the transmission source address conversion unit 102, and transmits it by the transmission source address conversion unit 102. After obtaining the original address, the transmitting unit 103 is activated next, and the transmission source address obtained by the transmission source address converting unit 102 is used as the transmission source to directly transmit the electronic mail to the transmission destination. Source address data holding unit 105
Stores, as data, a correspondence table of users and their corresponding source addresses as a distributed database conceptually shown in FIG.

The operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described below. Regarding the distributed database, for example, DNS and BIND, author Paul Albitz & Cricket Liu,
Publisher O'Reilly & Associates, I
nc. Book title, InternetworkingTCP
/ IP volume I; Principles, P
rotocols, and Architecture
second editon. , Book Douglas
E. Commer, Publisher Prentice-Hal
l International Editions
Related page 311-333. Book title, Introduction to distributed database system, supervision Shoichi Noguchi Author Sadayuki Hikita,
Since this is a well-known technique described in publisher Ohmsha, etc., detailed description thereof is omitted. (1) User A (ID userA) inputs the destination address and the body of the email in order to send the email. (2) The transmission request receiving unit 101 sends a signal instructing processing to the control unit 104. (3) The control unit 104 activates the source address conversion unit 102 in response to the operation. (4) The source address translation unit 102 uses the user A (I
D userA) obtains the source address of the user by referring to the source address data holding unit 105 having the data as shown in FIG. (5) Next, the control unit 104 activates the transmission unit 103. (6) The transmission unit 103 directly delivers the electronic mail by using the address interpreted by the transmission source address conversion unit 102 as the transmission source address. It should be noted that this can be achieved by using a distributed database together with an electronic mail device having a built-in computer rather than a telephone or a facsimile transmitter. (7) After that, the same processing as the electronic mail according to the related art is performed.

As described above, in this embodiment, the source address conversion unit 102 refers to the source address data holding unit 105 that holds the correspondence between the user and the source address as conceptually shown in FIG. Then, the sender address corresponding to the user is determined, and the sending unit 103 sends the electronic mail. Furthermore, the e-mail is directly sent to the destination.

Therefore, a user B (ID
When using userB), it can be set independently of the computer that sends the source address for that purpose. Further, since the processing is performed in a distributed manner together with this, even if the function of one database is lost for some reason, it is not impossible to send and receive all e-mails. Also,
If the databases are duplicated, the functionality of the system will not be lost and the reliability will be improved.

Furthermore, since the distributed database is adopted, the rewriting of the contents of the database due to the change in the relationship between the user and the electronic mail device is only for the individual database within the range in charge thereof. , The increase in frequency is minimal. (Second Embodiment) FIG. 3 shows claims 3, 4, and 5.
FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an electronic mail device according to the invention of claim 6; In the figure, 101 is a transmission request reception unit, 103 is a transmission unit, 301 is an address data holding unit,
Reference numeral 302 is a source address translation unit, 303 is a destination address translation unit, and 304 is a control unit. Next, regarding the operation of each of the above-mentioned parts, the configuration basically the same as that of the first embodiment,
The elements having the same functions are given the same numbers, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, illustration of a communication line and other electronic mail devices is also complicated, and therefore omitted. The address data holding unit 301 stores the data of the source address corresponding to the user as shown in FIG.
A correspondence table composed of data of addresses of user's mailboxes corresponding to destination addresses as shown in FIG. It should be noted that each user's mailbox is possessed by each computer for receiving confidential e-mails to individual users. The transmission source address conversion unit 302 refers to the address data storage unit 301 to determine the transmission source address corresponding to the user. Destination address conversion unit 303
Refers to the address data holding unit 301 to determine the address of the user's mailbox corresponding to the destination address. The control unit 304, in response to the processing instruction from the transmission request receiving unit 101, the transmission source address conversion unit 302,
The destination address conversion unit 303 is activated to obtain the transmission source address and the address of the destination user's mailbox, and then the transmission unit 103 is activated to obtain the transmission source obtained by the transmission source address conversion unit 302. With the address as the sender, the mailbox address of the recipient user obtained by the recipient address conversion unit 303 as the recipient,
Send email directly to the recipient.

Next, the operation of the electronic mail apparatus of this embodiment having the above-mentioned structure will be described below. However, only the operation different from that of the first embodiment will be described. (8)
Source address translation unit 302, destination address translation unit 3
Reference numeral 03 denotes an address data holding unit 301 having the data of the source address corresponding to the user and the data of the mailbox address of the user corresponding to the destination address in FIGS. 4A and 4B. By referring to it, the sender address and the recipient's mailbox address are determined.

As described above, in this embodiment, the address data holding unit 301 stores the data of the source address corresponding to the user and the data of the mailbox address of the user corresponding to the destination address of the user. And the transmission source address data conversion unit 302 and the transmission destination address data conversion unit 303 respectively hold the address data storage unit 301.
By referring to, the sender address of the user is determined independently of the setting of the sending computer, and the electronic mail is sent to the address of the destination mailbox.

Although the present invention has been described above based on the embodiments, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. That is, for example, in the first embodiment, the transmission source address conversion unit refers to the transmission source address data holding unit to obtain the transmission source address, but a file may be searched or a commercially available database may be used. May be. Although the user ID is specified in order to obtain the sender address, any other ID may be used as long as the sender address of the user can be specified. For the convenience of manufacturing, in the first embodiment, the source address conversion unit may be integrated into the control unit.

Also in the second embodiment, the source address conversion unit and the destination address conversion unit may be integrated, or the integrated unit may be incorporated in the control unit. On the contrary, one component may be different in terms of hardware. It does not matter what the content of the electronic mail is, how the various components are realized, or what the content of the database is. The storage of the correspondence between the user and the transmission source address is not limited to the memory, and the transmission source address is not always held by each user. In the case of having a plurality of source addresses, it goes without saying that which one is to be used is specified by the user separately. The input of the source address by the user is performed by using the keyboard, but this may be performed by a button operation, an electronic key insertion, or the like.

[0030]

As described above, in the electronic mail apparatus and the processing method according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, in sending an electronic mail, the source address of the user is separated from the setting of the computer. It is possible to determine independently, and therefore, the source address used for transmission is different, so that it is not necessary to perform a complicated operation and separately set again.

In the inventions of claims 3 and 4,
Similarly, it has the address of the user's mailbox corresponding to the destination address, which facilitates management of the mailbox. Also, by setting the destination address and the address of the user's mailbox corresponding to it, it becomes possible to deliver the mail directly to the computer used by the user. As a result, in addition to the effects of the inventions of claims 1 and 2, the practical effects are great.

Further, in the inventions of claims 5 and 6, since the distributed database is used, it is possible to manage the data in a distributed and multiplexed manner in all the inventions of the claims. Reliability is improved and its practical effect is even greater.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an electronic mail device according to the inventions of claim 1, claim 2, claim 5, and claim 6;

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of contents of a transmission source address data holding unit.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an electronic mail device according to the inventions of claim 3, claim 4, claim 5, and claim 6;

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of contents of an address data holding unit.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an electronic mail device according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 6 is a diagram conceptually showing determination of a source address according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

100, 100c, 100d E-mail device (Embodiment) 101, 501 Transmission request reception unit 102, 502 Source address conversion unit 103, 503 Transmission unit 104, 504 Control unit 105, 105a, 105c Source address data holding unit 301 Address Data holding unit 302 Source address converting unit 303 Destination address converting unit 304 Control unit 500, 500c, 500d E-mail device (conventional technology) 510 Communication line 61 Source address of user A (conventional technology) 62 User B's Source address (prior art)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A transmission source address data holding unit holding data of a transmission source address corresponding to a user, and a transmission for determining a transmission source address corresponding to the user by referring to the transmission source address data holding unit An electronic mail apparatus comprising: an original address conversion unit; and a transmission unit that delivers an electronic mail to a destination by using the transmission source address obtained by the transmission source address conversion unit as a transmission source. 2. A source address data holding step for holding data of a source address corresponding to a user, and a source address corresponding to the user by referring to the data of the source address held by the step. And a sending step of delivering an electronic mail to a destination by using the sender address obtained in the sender address converting step as a sender. 3. An address data holding unit holding, in place of the source address data holding unit, data of a source address corresponding to a user and data of an address of a user's mailbox corresponding to a destination address. And a destination address conversion unit that determines the address of the mailbox of the destination user from the destination address by referring to the address data holding unit. 1. The electronic mail device according to 1. 4. An address data holding step of holding data of a source address corresponding to a user and data of an address of a user's mailbox corresponding to a destination address in place of the step of holding the source address data. 3. The method further comprising a destination address conversion step of determining the address of the destination user's mailbox from the destination address by referring to the address data holding unit. E-mail processing method described. 5. The electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1 or 3, wherein a distributed database is adopted as the transmission source address data holding unit or the address data holding unit. 6. The distributed database is used in the source address data holding step or the address data holding step, according to claim 2 or 4.
E-mail processing method described.