JPH07110016B2 - Email system - Google Patents

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 which transmits and receives text data, binary image data and other binary data and has a broadcast function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electronic mail systems have become extremely popular with the spread of office automation.
Conventionally, the electronic mail system has been mainly to send and receive information composed only of character information. However, recently, there is an increasing demand for transmitting and receiving binary data such as image information and audio information.

The conventional electronic mail has an address conversion table in which one or more entries of physical addresses are defined in advance corresponding to the entries of the destination logical address, and at the time of transmission, the destination logical address of the transmission data is transmitted. The broadcast communication function was realized by replacing each entry with a physical address using an address conversion table.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned conventional configuration has a problem that a single e-mail system must be prepared for each sending means because the sending means is always single. Alternatively, when the data type of the transmission data is different from the data type handled by the transmission means, the data cannot be transmitted, or the user needs to explicitly perform data conversion each time, which places a burden on the user.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. It is possible to specify a destination address that is easy for the user to understand and does not depend on the transmission means. Moreover, the same operation is always performed without considering the type of the transmission content data. The purpose is to provide an electronic mail system that can send.

[0006]

To achieve this object, the present invention provides a plurality of data transmission means, a plurality of logical address entries of a data transmission destination, and one or more physical corresponding to each entry. An address conversion table holding an entry of an address and an entry of a transmission means name corresponding to each physical address entry, an address input means for a user to edit the entry of the address conversion table, and one or more Destination logical address,
Transmission data creating means for creating one or more pieces of transmission content data and a tag expressing the data type of each transmission content data, and a destination logical address in the transmission data created by the transmission data creating means Of each of the entries and the logical address in the address translation table, and the address translation means for extracting the physical address and transmission means name in the address translation table corresponding to the entry of the collated logical address, and the address translation means. Transmitting means deciding means for deciding the transmitting means according to one or more transmitting means names fetched by the transmitting means, transmitting the transmitting content data according to the transmitting means decided by the transmitting means deciding means and the data type of the transmitting content data Transmission to a data type that can be transmitted by the means and transfer to the transmission means And a and a data conversion unit.

[0007]

According to the present invention, according to the above construction, the address translation means uses the address translation table in which the destination logical address and the corresponding physical address and the name of the sending means are registered in advance, and the destination logical address in the transmission data is used. From the transmission destination physical address and the transmission means name, and the transmission means determination means compares the transmission data type added to the transmission content data in the transmission data with the transmission means name, and as a result of the comparison, the transmission is performed. When the transmitting means designated by the means name cannot transmit the transmission content data, the transmission data converting means converts the data. As a result, the user can specify the transmission address independent of the transmission means, and can always transmit the data by the same operation without considering the type of the transmission content data.

[0008]

(Embodiment 1) A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of an electronic mail according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 11 is an address input means, 12
Is an address conversion table, 13 is a transmission data creating means,
Reference numeral 14 is transmission data, 15 is address conversion means, 16 is transmission means determination means, 17 is transmission data conversion means, 18 is transmission means, and 19 is auxiliary storage.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the inside of the address conversion table 12. In FIG. 2, 21 is a logical address, 22 is a physical address, and 23 is a transmission means name.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the inside of the transmission data 14. In FIG. 3, 31 is a collection of one or more destination logical addresses, 32 is transmission content data, and 33 is a tag indicating the data type of each transmission content data 32.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the inside of the transmission data creating means 13. In FIG. 4, 41 is a logical address input means, 42 is a text editor, 43 is a binary image editor, and 44 is a capture file designation window.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the inside of the transmitting means 18. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 51 is a UNIX (registered trademark) mail server, 52 is an MHS mail server, 53 is an electronic bulletin board system, and 54 is a facsimile controller.

The operation of the electronic mail system configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

The user uses 11 to create an address conversion table in advance. The procedure is shown in FIG. The numbers in parentheses represent the blocks in FIG.

A logical address 21, one or more physical addresses 22 corresponding to 21 and a transmitting means name 23 are input (63, 64, 65). The order of inputting 21, 22, and 23 does not matter. After one logical address 21 is associated with one or more physical addresses 22 and the transmission means name 23 corresponding to the physical address (66), it is registered in the address conversion table (67). Needless to say, this address conversion table may be created not only by the user but also by the system administrator in advance.

Next, FIG. 7 shows a procedure from creation of transmission data to transmission. The numbers in parentheses represent the blocks in FIG.

The user uses the transmission data creating means 13 to create one or more pieces of transmission data 14 (71). The transmission data is created by inputting a logical address using the logical address input means 41, and the transmission content data is created by using any one of the text editor 42, the binary image editor 43, or the capture file designation window 44 once or more. Done by. The file designated by the fetched file designation window 44 is read from the auxiliary storage 19 and fetched as a part or all of the transmission data. It goes without saying that the order of creating each transmission content data and the order of creating a destination logical address and creating the transmission content data do not matter. Thereafter, the user gives a transmission instruction (72).

The address conversion means 15 compares the logical address 21 in the address conversion table 12 for each entry registered in the destination logical address 31 in the transmission data 14 and holds the physical data of the matched entry. The address 22 and the transmission means name 23 are taken out (73, 74).

Next, the transmitting means determining means 16 sets 32 for each piece of the transmission content data 32 in the transmission data 14.
The transmission content data type 33 added to is extracted (76,
77).

The transmitting means name 23 extracted by the address converting means 15 is compared with the transmission content data type 33 (78).

As a result of the comparison, if the transmission means 18 designated by the transmission means name 23 cannot transmit the data of the transmission content data type 33, the transmission content conversion means 17 is used to change the transmission content data 32 to a transmittable data type. Converted (79)
The physical address 22 is later delivered to the transmitting means 18.
When the transmission content data type 33 is a type that can be directly transmitted by the transmission means name 23, the transmission data conversion means 17 does not perform data conversion (83). As an example, the case where the data type 33 of the transmission content data 32 is text and the transmission means name 23 is the facsimile control device 54 will be described. In this case, the transmitting means determining means 16 selects, as the transmitting data converting means 17, a filter which develops the characters in the text into a bit map to perform the data conversion. The physical address 22 becomes the telephone number of the transmission destination.

Finally, the transmitting means 18 transmits the received data to the address designated by the physical address 22 (8
1).

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, by providing the address conversion table, the address converting means, the transmitting means determining means, and the transmitting data converting means, from the logical address of the destination designated by the user to the physical address of the destination. And means for determining the transmission means. As a result, it is possible to realize an excellent e-mail system in which a destination address that is easy for the user to understand and that does not depend on the transmission means can be specified, and that data can always be transmitted by the same operation without considering the type of transmission content data. .

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an address conversion table in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a structure of transmission data in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of transmission data creating means in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of transmission data creating means in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation of creating an address translation table in the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an operation of sending an e-mail in the first embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 address conversion table 14 transmission data 15 address conversion means 16 transmission means determination means 17 transmission data conversion means 18 transmission means 21 destination logical address 22 destination physical address 23 transmission means name 31 destination logical address list 32 transmission content data 33 Data type of transmission contents data

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of data transmitting means, a plurality of logical address entries of a data transmission destination, one or more physical address entries corresponding to the respective entries, and transmission corresponding to each physical address entry. An address conversion table holding an entry of means name, an address input means for editing the entry of the address conversion table, one or more destination logical addresses, one or more transmission content data, and each transmission Transmission data creating means for creating a tag expressing the data type of the content data, each entry of the destination logical address in the transmission data created by the transmission data creating means, and the logical address in the address conversion table And the address translation table corresponding to the entry of the logical address that has been verified. Address converting means for extracting the physical address and the transmitting means name in the table, transmitting means determining means for determining the transmitting means according to one or more transmitting means names extracted by the address converting means, and the transmitting means determining means. An electronic mail system comprising: the transmitted transmission means and a transmission data conversion means for converting the transmission content data into a data type that can be transmitted by the transmission means according to the data type of the transmission content data, and passing the data to the transmission means.