JPH08307448A - Notification method for reception of electronic mail and electronic mail communication system applying the notification method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To early confirm whether a receiver has surely received his electronic mail by returning the reception notification information when the reception is over based on the reception notification request code of the transmitted electronic mail. CONSTITUTION: The transmission information including a written reception notification request code is sent to a desired area from an access terminal 103-A-1 of a spot A, etc., via a mail server 101-A. Then the transmission information is received and stored by a mail server 101-B of an access terminal 103-B-1 of a spot B, etc. When this reception of information is over, the terminal 103-B-1 generates the reception notification information based on the reception notification request code and sends the information to the terminal 103-A-1. Then the transmitter side generates the reception unconfirmed information when the reception notification information is not returned to the transmitter side within fixed time after a stored transmission time point. Thus it is possible to early confirm whether a receiver has surely received his electronic mail or not.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention allows a sender and a receiver not to talk in real time but to temporarily store the transmitted information in a storage device, and then the receiver can access the storage device. The present invention relates to a storage-type non-real-time communication in which information is received by the method, and more particularly, to a reception notification method for electronic mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a general electronic mail communication system adopted in a company or a school. In the electronic mail communication system of FIG. 2, mail servers 101-A and 101-B are provided for each point (only two points A and B are shown in FIG. 2), and these mail servers are always provided. The power is on. A plurality of access terminals 103-A-1, 103-A-2, 103-A-3 ...
..And 103B-1, 103B-2, 103B-3
... are installed and these access terminals 103-A-1, 103-A-2, 103-A-3, ... and 1 are installed.
03B-1, 103B-2, 103B-3, ... Are connected to the mail servers 101-A and 101-B by access wirings 102-A and 102-B such as a local area LAN. Also, the mail servers 101-A, 1 at the points A, B
01-B is connected by a communication path 104. The communication path 104 may be a dedicated line or a public network regardless of type.

Next, a general communication procedure in the electronic mail system of FIG. 2 will be described. FIG. 3 is a sequence chart showing an example of a general procedure of an electronic mail communication system, and (a), (b), and (c) show a transmission procedure, a normal reception procedure, and a reception error procedure, respectively.

When the sender A at the point A wants to send an electronic mail to the recipient B at the point B, as shown in FIG. 3A, the access terminal 103-A-1 is turned on, Log in to the mail server 101-A at the point A and start the electronic mail application program. After that, the electronic mail with the destination address of the recipient B on the electronic mail system added to the header is sent. The mail server 101-A interprets the destination address and then executes the communication path 1
This electronic mail is delivered to the mail server 101-B at the point B via 04. It may take several hours or more depending on the type of communication path. Mail server 101-B
Stores this e-mail with an arrival time.

FIG. 3B shows a receiving procedure at the point B when the electronic mail accumulated in the transmitting procedure of FIG. 3A is normally received. Within a fixed time t1 after the e-mail is stored in the mail server 101-B, the recipient B turns on the power of the access terminal 103-B-1,
When logging in to the mail server 101-B, the mail server 101-B searches the accumulated electronic mail and notifies that the electronic mail addressed to the recipient B has arrived. Recipient B looks at this, starts the application program for electronic mails, and receives an electronic mail. with this,
The e-mail has been successfully received.

On the other hand, FIG. 3C shows an example of a procedure when a reception error occurs. When the recipient B does not access the mail server 101-B even after the elapse of a certain time t1 after being stored in the mail server 101-B, the mail server 101-B determines that there is an error and stores the stored electronic mail. Error notification to the mail server 101-A
Return to. The mail server 101-A notifies the sender A of the arrival of the email to which the error notification has been added. Upon receiving this error notification, the sender A knows that the sent electronic mail has not arrived, and starts the electronic mail application program to read the electronic mail to which the error notification has been added. In this case, if the fixed time t1 until the error notification is issued is shortened too much, error notifications will occur frequently when the user is out of the office for several days, so a long period such as several days to one week should be set. Is common.

[0007]

That is, in the storage type non-real time represented by the current electronic mail communication system,
If the information is received normally, nothing is notified to the sender, and the error notification may be sent for one week after the transmission. There was no way to confirm that early. For this reason,
The electronic mail communication system is not reliable from the viewpoint of delivering information within a certain period of time, and conventionally, after transmission, confirmation by another means such as a telephone having real-time property is required as necessary. An object of the present invention is to provide a reception notification method capable of confirming whether or not a receiver has surely received, and an electronic mail communication system for implementing the method.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an electronic mail reception notification method of the present invention is an electronic mail reception notification method in which transmitted information is temporarily stored in a device and then read out. In addition, when an area for indicating a reception notification request is assigned to the e-mail to be transmitted and the reception side has a reception notification request code for requesting a reception notification in the area of the transmitted e-mail, When the recipient finishes receiving the transmitted electronic mail, reception notification information is generated and returned to the sender. In this case, when sending the e-mail, the sender stores the time at which the e-mail with the reception notification request code is sent, and the reception notification information about the e-mail is sent to the sender within a predetermined time. If it is not returned, reception unconfirmed information is generated.

The electronic mail communication system of the present invention comprises a plurality of electronic mail communication devices, and each electronic mail communication device has a plurality of access terminals and an electronic mail application started in response to access from each access terminal. A mail server that executes a program and is common to the plurality of access terminals, and when sending an e-mail to another e-mail communication device, the mail server uses the destination address described in the e-mail. When an e-mail is sent to a mail server of another e-mail communication device specified by, and the e-mail server receives the e-mail from the other e-mail communication device, the e-mail is accumulated and described in the e-mail. When there is access from the recipient via the access terminal corresponding to the destination address , An email communication system for reading the email to the access terminal, wherein the sender requests receipt notification information for notifying the sender that the recipient has received the email. A reception notification request information area that describes whether or not the mail server stores the e-mails sent from other e-mail communication devices, and the e-mails are stored in the access terminal within a first predetermined time period. When it is accessed from the recipient via the, the reception notification request information area of the e-mail is inspected, and when the code for requesting the reception notification information is written, the recipient finishes receiving the e-mail. When this occurs, reception notification information is generated with the address of the sender's access terminal as the destination address, and this is sent to the mail server of the sender's e-mail communication device. When the mail server receives the reception notification information from the other electronic mail communication device, the mail server stores the reception notification information, and according to the access from the access terminal of the transmission source, the reception notification information is transmitted to the access terminal. Read to. Further, when the mail server sends an e-mail in which a code for requesting the reception notification information is written in the reception notification request information area to another e-mail communication device, the mail server stores the time at which the e-mail was sent, and sent the e-mail. After the time, if the reception notification information regarding the electronic mail is not received from the other electronic mail communication device even after the second predetermined time has elapsed, reception unconfirmed information is generated and the access terminal of the transmission source is generated. According to the access from, the reception unconfirmed information is transmitted to the access terminal.

The reception notification request information area is assigned to the header or trailer of the electronic mail to be transmitted, and the second predetermined time is preferably shorter than the first predetermined time.

[0011]

In the method and system of the present invention, if the sender desires to receive the receipt notification, the receipt notification information is sent to the sender when the recipient finishes receiving the electronic mail. Therefore, upon completion of reception, the sender can confirm that the electronic mail has reached the destination.

If the reception notification information is not returned to the transmitting side within a predetermined fixed time (second predetermined time), the e-mail is still sent to the receiver by the reception unconfirmed information. You can know that it has not been received. In this case, it is possible to confirm the fact that the reception of the electronic mail has not been confirmed by a real-time communication means such as a telephone. In any case, it is possible to determine whether or not the e-mail has been normally received within the second predetermined time after the e-mail is transmitted.

Therefore, it is preferable that the second predetermined time is short. However, as is well known, since the relationship between the mail server and the access terminal is the relationship between the server and the client, even if the email arrives at the mail server on the receiving side, if the recipient does not access, Not done. As a result, if the second predetermined time is too short, the reception unconfirmed information is frequently issued, and the operation becomes rather unstable. However, for the purpose of the invention, it is desirable that the second predetermined time be shorter than the first predetermined time.

[0014]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a sequence chart for explaining an embodiment of a transmission / reception procedure of an electronic mail communication system to which an electronic mail reception notification method of the present invention is applied. The hardware configuration of the electronic mail communication system is the same as the general configuration of FIG. In the figure, the three parts surrounded by a dotted line are the parts in which the transmission / reception procedure of this embodiment is different from that of the prior art.
When sending an electronic mail, the sender A uses the access terminal 103-A-1 to activate the electronic mail application program of the mail server 101-A. In the method of the present invention, the reception notification request information area indicating the presence or absence of the reception notification request from the sender is assigned to the header or trailer of the transmission information. When the sender A wants to confirm the reception of the e-mail to be sent from now on, a predetermined reception notification request code is written in the reception notification request information area when the information is transmitted, and the e-mail of the receiver B is written. An e-mail is sent with the destination address on the communication system added to the header. Mail server 101
-A stores the sending time after interpreting the destination address, and sends the mail server 101 at the point B via the communication path 104.
-Send the email to B. The mail server 101-B stores an e-mail in which the reception notification request code is written with an arrival time.

In the case of normal reception, in the electronic mail application program of the mail server 101-B on the receiving side, the stored electronic mail is stored in the access terminal 103-
When the recipient B is accessed via B-1, the reception notification request information area of the electronic mail is checked, and if the reception notification request code is written, the electronic mail sent by the recipient. When the reception of the e-mail has been completed, reception notification information having the sender address of the original electronic mail as the destination address is generated, and this is sent to the mail server 101-
Send to A. The mail server 101-A stores this receipt notification information. Next, the mail server 101-A issues an e-mail arrival notification when accessed by the sender A via the access terminal 103-A-1, and according to the e-mail application program activated by the sender A, Access terminal 1 stores the received notification information
03-A-1. The sender A of the e-mail confirms that the e-mail has been normally received by receiving the reception notification information.

When the reception confirmation is not performed within a predetermined time t2 (generally smaller than the above-mentioned t1) after sending the original electronic mail, the mail server 101-A on the transmitting side receives a reception error. And the unconfirmed information is generated. The mail server 101-A issues an e-mail arrival notification when the sender A makes an access, and sends the unconfirmed information to the access terminal 103-A-1 according to the e-mail application program activated by the sender A. To do. Access terminal 10
By receiving the reception unconfirmed information, the 3-A-1 can recognize that it is unconfirmed whether or not the electronic mail is received.

[0017]

As described above, in the reception notification method for electronic mail according to the present invention, an area for indicating a reception notification request is assigned to the header or trailer of transmission information, and the area of the transmitted information is allocated to the area. If the code for requesting the receipt notification is written, the receipt notification information is generated and returned to the sender, and if the receipt notification information does not return within a predetermined time, the reception unconfirmed information is sent. Due to the occurrence, it is possible to receive the reception notification information or the reception unconfirmed information within a predetermined time after sending the e-mail, and only when the reception unconfirmed information is received, use other means such as a telephone, Since it is possible to confirm whether the e-mail has been received to the destination, it is possible to easily and reliably send information using e-mail. Door can be.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sequence chart illustrating an example of a transmission / reception procedure of an electronic mail communication system to which a reception notification method for electronic mail according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a general electronic mail communication system.

FIG. 3 is a sequence chart showing an example of a general procedure of an electronic mail communication system, in which (a), (b), and (c) show a transmission procedure, a normal reception procedure, and a reception error procedure, respectively.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 101-A mail server 101-B mail server 102-A access wiring 102-B access wiring 103-A-1 access terminal 103-A-2 access terminal 103-A-3 access terminal 103-B- 1 access terminal 103-B-2 access terminal 103-B-3 access terminal 104 communication path

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In a reception notification method for an electronic mail in which the transmitted information is temporarily stored in a device and then read out, an area for indicating a reception notification request is allocated to the electronic mail to be transmitted, and the receiving side transmits the information. If a reception notification request code for requesting a reception notification is written in the area of the received email, the reception notification information is generated when the recipient finishes receiving the transmitted email. A method for notifying receipt of an electronic mail, which is characterized by returning the mail to the sender. 2. When sending an e-mail, the time at which the sending side sends the e-mail with the reception notification request code is stored, and the reception notification information related to the e-mail is sent within a predetermined time. The method of notifying receipt by e-mail according to claim 1, wherein unconfirmed reception information is generated if the information is not returned to. 3. An e-mail communication system comprising a plurality of e-mail communication devices, each e-mail communication device comprising a plurality of access terminals and an e-mail application program activated in response to an access from each access terminal. And a mail server common to the plurality of access terminals, the mail server specifies a destination address described in the e-mail when transmitting the e-mail to another e-mail communication device. The electronic mail is transmitted to the mail server of the other electronic mail communication device, and when the mail server receives the electronic mail from the other electronic mail communication device, the electronic mail is accumulated and described in the electronic mail. When there is an access from the access terminal corresponding to the destination address, the email is sent. In the e-mail communication system that reads out to the access terminal, the e-mail describes whether or not the sender requests reception notification information for notifying the sender that the e-mail has been received by the sender. A reception notification request information area is provided, and when the mail server accumulates emails sent from other email communication devices, the emails are received via the access terminal within the first predetermined time. When the recipient accesses the email, the reception notification request information area of the email is checked, and when the code requesting the receipt notification information is written, the sender is sent when the recipient finishes receiving the email. Generates reception notification information with the address of the access terminal of as the destination address, and transmits this to the mail server of the sending side email communication device, Rusaba, when receiving the reception notification information from other e-mail communication device accumulates the received notification information,
An e-mail communication system, wherein the reception notification information is read out to the access terminal according to an access from the access terminal of the own e-mail communication device. 4. The mail server, when sending an e-mail having a code for requesting the reception notification information written in the reception notification request information area to another e-mail communication device,
The time of the transmission is stored, and after the time of the transmission, the second
If the reception notification information related to the e-mail is not received from the other e-mail communication device even after the lapse of the predetermined time, the reception unconfirmed information is generated, and according to the access from the access terminal of the sender, The system according to claim 3, wherein reception unconfirmed information is transmitted to the access terminal. 5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the reception notification request information area is assigned to a header or trailer of an email to be transmitted, and the second predetermined time is shorter than the first predetermined time.