JPH0918509A - Electronic mail device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To utilize plural electronic mail devices, transmit the arrival of an electronic mail addressed to a user to the electronic mail device that the user is using and securely and speedily receive the delivered mail, and attain the centralized management of data of electronic mails and improve operability, usability, reliability, and maintainability. CONSTITUTION: This device has a transmission and reception control part 2, a transmission part 3, a reception part 4, an electronic mail storage part 5 which temporarily stores received electronic mails, an electronic mail user storage part 6 which stores electronic mails by users, and a transfer destination address data holding part 10 which holds plural transfer destination address data parts showing transfer destination addresses that the users can use, and is equipped with a transfer destination address conversion part 8 which determines a transfer destination address, a transfer control part 9 which transfers an electronic mail, and an electronic mail storage control part 7 which moves the transferred electronic mail from the electronic mail storage part 5 to the electronic mail user storage part 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving electronic mail including messages in a network environment in which a plurality of terminals are connected by communication lines.

[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 that can send and receive electronic mail including messages are widely used, and information can be transmitted quickly and easily. An electronic mail is a means for electronically sending a mail created by using a computer or the like via a communication line or the like, and in the same manner as writing an address on a postcard in ordinary mail or the like, in an electronic mail device. Also, the destination of the e-mail is specified, and the e-mail is delivered to the specified e-mail device and the specified user in the specified e-mail device by the data called the mail address.
Alternatively, if the e-mail is delivered to a designated e-mail device, the destination e-mail device determines from which e-mail device to which user the e-mail is finally delivered, and the e-mail is delivered to the next e-mail device. An email is sent. That is,
The e-mail device that has received the e-mail performs the same transmission process, and the e-mail is finally received by the user designated by the e-mail address.

A conventional electronic mail device will be described below. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional electronic mail device. 21a and 21b are conventional electronic mail devices. 22a and 22b are conventional electronic mail devices 21
Transmission / reception control unit 23a, 23b for controlling a, 21b
Is a transmitting unit for transmitting an electronic mail, 24a and 24b are receiving units for receiving the electronic mail, and 25a and 25b are electronic mail storing units for storing the received electronic mail. Also, 26
Is a communication line that connects each electronic mail device and each terminal. Actually, in addition to this, in order to exert the original function of the electronic mail device, a ROM having a built-in communication protocol such as RFC821 and RFC882, a CRT, a source address conversion unit, a destination address conversion unit, and an error generation unit It has a notification unit, a broadcast communication control unit, and the like. These are well-known techniques described in the Information Processing Handbook (published by Ohmsha, edited by Information Processing Society of Japan) and the like.

The operation of the conventional electronic mail device 21a configured as described above will be described below.
First, in response to an electronic mail transmission request from a user, the transmission / reception control unit 22a determines a transmission source address and a transmission destination address according to a predetermined address conversion rule. This address conversion rule is unique to each e-mail device that sends e-mail. The transmission unit 23a uses a transmission source address (generally referred to as “From”) as a transmission source and a transmission destination address (generally, “T”).
"o"). Here, the transmission unit 23a is activated by the transmission / reception control unit 22a. Transmission / reception control unit 22a
Based on the source address and the destination address determined by the address conversion rule, issues an instruction to send the electronic mail to the sending unit 23a, and the sending unit 23a sends the electronic mail to the destination electronic mail via the communication line 26. Send to device.

On the other hand, upon reception, when an electronic mail arrives from the communication line 26 to the conventional electronic mail apparatus 21a, the receiving section 24a confirms the destination address and fetches only the electronic mail addressed to the conventional electronic mail apparatus 21a. , Otherwise, send to the next e-mail device. Here, when the receiving unit 24a receives an electronic mail addressed to the conventional electronic mail apparatus 21a, it activates the transmission / reception control unit 22a and delivers the received electronic mail to the transmission / reception control unit 22a. The transmission / reception control unit 22a confirms the destination user of this e-mail and temporarily stores it in the user storage area of the e-mail storage unit 25a. The user can use the e-mail storage unit 25a as appropriate.
The electronic mail can be received by searching and taking out, and the corresponding electronic mail in the electronic mail storage unit 25a is deleted.

A plurality of conventional electronic mail devices 21a, 21b, etc. which operate as described above are connected via a communication line 26, function independently of each other, and exchange texts with each other. Explained. Here, an example is shown in which a user A of the conventional electronic mail device 21a sends an electronic mail to a user B of the conventional electronic mail device 21b. (1) User A using the conventional electronic mail device 21a (user ID (identifier) = userA)
Issues an instruction to send an electronic mail to user B. (2) The transmission / reception control unit 22a determines the source address and the destination address for the user ID according to the address conversion rule. (3) Next, the transmission / reception control unit 22a causes the transmission unit 23
Start a. (4) The sending unit 23a sends an e-mail by using the address determined by the address conversion rule as the destination address. (5) On the other hand, when an electronic mail addressed to the conventional electronic mail device 21b arrives, the receiving unit 24b of the conventional electronic mail device 21b receives this electronic mail. (6) Next, the receiver 24b activates the transmission / reception controller 22b. (7) The transmission / reception control unit 22b confirms the destination of the arrived electronic mail. (8) The transmission / reception control unit 22b temporarily stores the electronic mail in the corresponding user storage area of the user B of the electronic mail storage unit 25b. (9) User B
When the user storage area of the e-mail storage unit 25b is appropriately searched and the delivered e-mail is designated, the e-mail is retrieved and the e-mail of the e-mail storage unit 25b is deleted.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, when an electronic mail arrives, the delivery can be received only by the electronic mail apparatus in which the user is registered and managed. For this reason, when the user is using something other than an e-mail device with a specified e-mail address for the convenience of e-mail content, business, processing, etc., the user is registered and managed for each transmission. It is necessary to explicitly set it in a predetermined position in a predetermined format so that the e-mail device that is present can recognize it, and it is necessary to search for an e-mail that lacks operability and does not know whether it is delivered. It had a problem that it lacked. That is, if the user is using another e-mail device, even if the e-mail arrives, special software or the like that appropriately searches the registered e-mail device is required. If it cannot be used, the registered e-mail device cannot be searched and the arrival of the e-mail cannot be known. As a result, the e-mail cannot be received promptly as needed, resulting in lack of operability, convenience and reliability. Had the problem.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and one user can use a plurality of electronic mail devices,
The operability that allows the user to appropriately notify the arrival of the e-mail to the e-mail device being used by the user so that the e-mail can be delivered reliably and promptly, and the e-mail data can be centrally managed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic mail device having excellent convenience, reliability, and maintainability.

[0009]

In order to achieve this object, an electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention is a transmission / reception control unit for controlling transmission / reception of electronic mail, and transmission for delivering electronic mail. Section, a receiving section that receives e-mails, an e-mail storage section that temporarily stores the received e-mails, an e-mail user storage section that saves e-mails for each user, and a user's use A plurality of transfer destination address data sections for recording a person ID item, a transfer destination address item indicating an electronic mail address which is a transfer destination address usable by a user, and an access flag item indicating whether or not to transfer to the transfer destination address Transferred e-mail received by searching and referring to the transfer destination address data holding unit to hold and the transfer destination address item and access flag item of the user's transfer destination address data unit A transfer destination address conversion unit that determines an address, a transfer control unit that transfers the e-mail with the transfer destination address obtained by the transfer destination address conversion unit as the transfer destination, and the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage unit. And an electronic mail storage control unit that moves to a user storage unit.

An electronic mail apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the electronic mail apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the transfer destination address data section includes a storage designation item that indicates whether or not to store the transferred electronic mail by turning on and off. , If the save specification item is ON, the e-mail storage control unit moves the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage unit to the e-mail user storage unit, and if the storage specification item is OFF, the transferred e-mail is transferred. And a save selection unit that deletes a mail from the electronic mail storage unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail apparatus according to the second aspect, when the transmission / reception control unit receives the transferred electronic mail, the reception notification signal is returned to the transferred electronic mail address. A notification transfer unit and a reception confirmation unit that receives a reception notification signal when the e-mail is transferred, and if the reception confirmation unit cannot receive the reception notification signal within a predetermined time, the e-mail storage control unit The storage confirmation unit moves the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage unit to the e-mail user storage unit regardless of whether the storage designation item is on or off.

An electronic mail apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the electronic mail apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the transfer destination address data holding unit is arranged in the distributed database. doing.

Here, in the electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1, the transmission / reception control unit and the like temporarily store the received electronic mail in the electronic mail storage unit, and the electronic mail storage control unit, An e-mail storage step of moving the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage unit to the e-mail user storage unit and storing the e-mail. As a result, the transferred e-mail is saved by the e-mail device that registers and manages the users, and all the e-mails are centrally managed for each user, so that data integrity can be secured.

Further, the electronic mail apparatus according to claim 2 is
If the save designation item in the transfer destination address data section is on, the e-mail storage control section moves the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage section to the e-mail user storage section, and the save specification item is off. In that case, a save selection step of deleting the transferred email from the email storage section,
It has. This makes it possible to select whether to save the e-mail and facilitate management.

Further, the electronic mail apparatus according to claim 3 is
The reception notification transfer unit of the transmission / reception control unit receives the transferred e-mail, and then the reception notification step of returning the reception notification signal to the e-mail address to which the e-mail was transferred, and the storage selection unit of the e-mail storage control unit. , After receiving the reception notification signal from the e-mail device to which the e-mail is transferred, the transferred e-mail is moved from the e-mail storage part to the e-mail user storage part according to the save designation item in the transfer destination address data part. And an e-mail storage step. As a result, the data can be reliably transmitted to the user, and the data can be prevented from being accidentally lost.

[0016]

With this configuration, the received electronic mail is temporarily stored in the electronic mail storage unit, and the transfer control unit of the electronic mail device is different from the electronic mail device in which the user is registered and managed. The e-mail address of the received e-mail is registered and managed by searching the transfer destination address data holding unit that holds the transfer destination address data unit that records the e-mail address of When using a terminal with an email address different from the email address, the received email is transferred to the transfer destination address obtained by the transfer destination address conversion unit based on the information in the transfer destination address data section. As
It can be transferred to the electronic mail device that the user is currently using. As a result, when using a plurality of electronic mail devices, the arrival of the electronic mail sent to a specific electronic mail device can be reliably delivered to the destination user by forwarding, which is convenient and reliable. Can be improved. Further, after the transfer, the e-mail storage control unit moves the e-mail temporarily stored in the e-mail storage unit to the e-mail user storage unit and stores it.
Received e-mails are not dispersed and can be saved in one place, data can be centrally managed, and data management can be facilitated.

Further, depending on the storage designation item of the transfer destination address data section, which indicates whether or not to store the transferred e-mail, the storage selection section provided in the e-mail storage control section has the storage specification item turned on. In this case, the transferred e-mail is moved from the e-mail storage part to the e-mail user storage part, and if the save specification item is off, the transferred e-mail is deleted from the e-mail storage part.
It is possible to control and effectively manage the storage amount of the electronic mail user storage unit.

Further, when the transmission / reception control unit receives the transferred electronic mail, a reception notification transfer unit that returns a reception notification signal to the transferred electronic mail address, and an electronic mail storage control unit when the electronic mail is transferred. If the storage confirmation unit of the above does not receive the reception notification signal within a predetermined time, the e-mail storage control unit saves the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage unit to the e-mail user, regardless of whether the specified save item is on or off. By moving to another department, when a transfer error occurs due to communication failure or the like, important email is not erased, and the reliability of data transmission can be improved.

Further, since the transfer destination address data holding unit is arranged in the distributed database, the concentration of data can be prevented, the maintainability can be improved and the communication cost can be reduced.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electronic mail device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic mail device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a transfer destination address data section of the electronic mail device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Is. In FIG. 1, 1 is an electronic mail device according to an embodiment of the present invention connected to a network environment, 2 is a transmission / reception control unit that controls transmission / reception of the electronic mail device 1, and 3 is a transmission unit that transmits electronic mail and the like. ,
4 is a receiving unit for receiving e-mails, 5 is an e-mail storage unit for temporarily storing the received e-mails, and 6 is an e-mail user storage for saving e-mails of the e-mail storage unit 5 for each user A part 7 is an e-mail storage control part for controlling the transfer of the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage part 5 to the e-mail user storage part 6, and 8 is a part of the e-mail received by referring to the transfer destination address data part. A transfer destination address conversion unit for calculating a transfer destination address, and 9 is a transfer control unit, and the user of the received electronic mail uses a terminal having an electronic mail address different from the registered electronic mail address. At this time, the electronic mail is transferred using the transfer destination address obtained by the transfer destination address conversion unit 8 as the transfer destination. A transfer destination address data holding unit 10 holds a transfer destination address data unit. Reference numeral 11 denotes a communication line that connects each electronic mail device 1 and each terminal, through which it is possible to send and receive electronic mail from a plurality of electronic mail devices 1 and access the transfer destination address data holding unit 10. Has been done. Here, the transfer destination address data holding unit 1
0 uses a distributed database, and as conceptually shown in FIG. 2, the transfer destination address data portion corresponds to the electronic mail address of each electronic mail device 1 of the registered and managed users. A user ID item, an e-mail address item indicating a transfer destination address, an access flag item indicating which e-mail device 1 the user is currently using to determine the transfer destination, and an e-mail transferred Is stored in the e-mail user storage unit 6 and is stored. Further, when the save designation item of each transfer destination address data section is turned on, the e-mail transferred by the e-mail storage control section 7 is moved from the e-mail storage section 5 to the e-mail user storage section 6 and the storage specification is performed. If the item is off,
A storage selection unit (not shown) for deleting the transferred E-mail from the E-mail storage unit 5, and an E-mail storage control unit 7
Is equipped with a reception notification transfer unit (not shown) that returns a reception notification signal to the transferred e-mail address when the transferred e-mail is received. If you can not receive in the time of,
The e-mail storage control unit 7 stores the transferred e-mail in the e-mail storage unit 5 regardless of whether the storage designation item is on or off.
From the e-mail user storage unit 6 to a storage confirmation unit (not shown). Further, when the user uses a terminal having an e-mail address different from the e-mail address of the registered and managed e-mail device 1, the transmission / reception control unit 2 of the currently used e-mail device 1
An access control unit (not shown) for transmitting access data having a user ID and an e-mail address to the transmission / reception control unit 2 of the e-mail device 1 having the e-mail address registered and managed by the user, and the user registration The managed transmission / reception control unit 2 of the electronic mail apparatus 1 refers to the transfer destination address data holding unit 10 based on the transferred access data, searches for the corresponding transfer destination address data unit, and turns on the access flag, And a flag control unit (not shown) for controlling the off state. The distributed database is a known technique described in "Introduction to Distributed Database Systems" (published by Sadayuki Hikita, Ohmsha).

With respect to the electronic mail apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention configured as described above, a method of sending and receiving electronic mail will be described below. First, in the case of transmission from the electronic mail device 1, the transmission / reception control unit 2 responds to an electronic mail transmission request from the user by a user ID input by the user by operating a keyboard or the like, for example, “A of the user A”. User ID
= UserA ", the source address corresponding to the user and the designated destination address are determined by the address conversion rule. The transmission unit 3 is activated by the transmission / reception control unit 2 and transmits an electronic mail to a destination via the communication line 11 according to the communication protocol. On the other hand, in the case of reception,
When the electronic mail arrives via the communication line 11, the receiving unit 4
Is received, the receiving unit 4 activates the transmission / reception control unit 2. The transmission / reception control unit 2 confirms the “user ID”, which is the destination of the arrived email, and temporarily saves the email in the corresponding user storage area of the email storage unit 5. Next, the transmission / reception control unit 2 activates the transfer destination address conversion unit 8 and issues a transfer destination address interpretation command. The transfer destination address conversion unit 8 determines the transfer destination address from the transfer destination address data unit of the transfer destination address data holding unit 10. A reception notification transfer unit (not shown) of the transmission / reception control unit 2 returns a reception notification signal to the transferred e-mail address when the transferred e-mail is received. A save selection unit (not shown) of the email save control unit 7 sends the transferred email from the email storage unit 5 when the save designation item is ON according to the save designation item of the transfer destination address data unit. When the storage designation item is OFF, the transferred e-mail is erased from the e-mail storage unit 5 when the storage designation item is OFF. Further, when the e-mail is transferred, the reception confirmation unit (not shown) receives the reception notification signal, but when the reception confirmation unit cannot receive the reception notification signal within a predetermined time, the e-mail storage control unit The storage confirmation unit 7 moves the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage unit 5 to the e-mail user storage unit 6 and stores the e-mail, regardless of whether the storage designation item is ON or OFF.

With respect to the electronic mail apparatuses 1a, 1b and 1c of the embodiment of the present invention which operate as described above, a specific method for transmitting and receiving electronic mail will be described in detail below. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration in which a plurality of electronic mail devices in one embodiment of the present invention are connected. 1a, 1b, 1c are electronic mail devices, 2a, 2b, 2c are transmission / reception control units, 3
a, 3b and 3c are transmitters, 4a, 4b and 4c are receivers,
5a, 5b and 5c are e-mail storage units, 6a, 6b and 6
c is an e-mail user storage unit, 8a, 8b and 8c are transfer destination address conversion units, 9a, 9b and 9c are transfer control units, and 1
Reference numerals 0A and 10B are transfer destination address data holding units, and 11 is a communication line.

Here, the user A of the electronic mail device 1a
“User ID = userA” is a user B (user ID = user) registered and managed in the electronic mail device 1b.
When sending e-mail to B), user B (ID = us
erB) uses an e-mail device 1c different from the e-mail device 1b that is registered and managed. (1) User A “User ID = userA” is
In order to send an electronic mail from the electronic mail device 1a to the electronic mail device 1b, a destination address and an electronic mail text are input from a terminal (not shown) of the electronic mail device 1a. (2) The transmission / reception control unit 2a of the electronic mail device 1a
The source address and the destination address are determined by the address conversion rule. (3) The transmission / reception control unit 2a of the electronic mail device 1a activates the transmission unit 3a. (4) The sending unit 3a of the electronic mail device 1a sends an electronic mail by using the determined address as a destination address. (5) On the other hand, when the user B starts using the terminal of the electronic mail device 1c (hostC) different from the registered and managed electronic mail device 1b, the access control of the transmission / reception control unit 2c of the electronic mail device 1c. The user inquires about whether or not to transfer the arriving electronic mail to the user B, and when it is selected to transfer the arriving electronic mail, the access data is transmitted to the electronic mail device 1b. At this time, the electronic mail device 1
From b, it is possible to know the received information of the email that has already arrived. (6) The flag control unit of the transmission / reception control unit 2b of the electronic mail device 1b is the electronic mail device 1
The access signal from c is received, the transfer destination address data holding unit 10A or 10B is searched, and the corresponding access flag of the transfer destination address data unit is turned ON. (7) On the other hand,
In the electronic mail device 1b, when the electronic mail from the electronic mail device 1a arrives, the receiving unit 4b receives the electronic mail. (8)
The reception unit 4b of the electronic mail device 1b activates the transmission / reception control unit 2b. (9) Transmission / reception control unit 2 of the electronic mail device 1b
b is the destination of the email that arrived (here, user ID
= UserB). (10) Transmission / reception control unit 2b
Stores the electronic mail in the corresponding user storage area of the user B in the electronic mail storage unit 5b. (11)
The transfer control unit 9b of the electronic mail apparatus 1b searches the transfer destination address data unit of the transfer destination address data holding unit 10A or 10B, refers to the transfer destination address data unit whose access flag of the user B is ON, Determine if you need to transfer. When transfer is necessary, the transfer destination address conversion unit 8b determines the transfer destination address.
That is, using FIG. 2 as an example, the user B (user ID = u
serB) is userB-ho as a transfer destination address.
Although stA and userB-hostC are registered, it is known from the access flag that userB-hostC is currently being used, and use as a transfer destination address.
Determine rB-hostC. Also, depending on the storage designation item in the transfer destination address data section, the e-mail user storage section 6
It is determined whether or not to save in b. (12) The transmission / reception control unit 2b activates the transmission unit 3b in response to a command from the transfer control unit 9b of the electronic mail device 1b. (13) The transmission / reception control unit 2b of the electronic mail device 1b transmits the electronic mail to the electronic mail device 1c using the transfer destination address obtained from the transfer destination address conversion unit 8b as the destination address. At this time, the e-mail remains stored in the corresponding user storage area of the e-mail storage unit 5b. (14) The electronic mail device 1c receives the electronic mail from the electronic mail device 1b by the receiving unit 4c. (15) The receiver 4c of the electronic mail device 1c activates the transmission / reception controller 2c.
(16) The transmission / reception control unit 2c of the electronic mail device 1c temporarily stores the electronic mail in the corresponding user storage area of the electronic mail storage unit 5c. (17) The transmission / reception control unit 2c of the electronic mail device 1c determines the destination of the arrived electronic mail (user B
"User ID = userB") is confirmed, and further, the transfer destination address data holding unit 10A or 10B is referred to, and the electronic mail apparatus for registering and managing the received mail of the user B is 1b.
Make sure that Here, the electronic mail that registers and manages the user B may be added to the received mail.
(18) The transmission / reception control unit 2c activates the transmission unit 3c.
(19) Next, the reception notification transfer unit of the transmission / reception control unit 2c
When the transferred e-mail is received, the reception notification signal is returned to the transferred e-mail address. (20) User B “User ID = userB” can know and receive the arrival of the electronic mail addressed to the user in the electronic mail device 1c, confirm the content, and check the corresponding contents of the electronic mail storage unit 5c. Delete the delivered e-mail stored in the user area. (22) On the other hand, in the electronic mail device 1b, the reception confirmation unit of the electronic mail storage control unit 7b receives the receipt notification signal from the electronic mail device 1c in the receiving unit 4b.
To confirm that the email was received and forwarded correctly. (23) The save selection unit of the email save control unit 7b confirms the save designation item in the corresponding transfer destination address data unit, and when the save designation item is ON, the transferred email is the email of the email device 1b. When the user moves from the corresponding user storage area of the storage unit 5b to the e-mail user storage unit 6b and the storage designation item is off, the transferred e-mail is transferred from the corresponding user storage area of the e-mail storage unit 5b. Delete it. (24) E-mail storage control unit 7
When the reception confirmation unit of b does not receive the reception notification signal within a predetermined time, the storage confirmation unit of the e-mail storage control unit 7b stores the transferred e-mail as an e-mail regardless of whether the storage designation item is ON or OFF. The part 5b is moved to the e-mail user storage part 6b. As a result, it is possible to ensure the data integrity and improve the operability and convenience.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the transfer control unit of the electronic mail device transfers the delivered electronic mail to the transfer destination address data holding unit as shown in FIG. 2 by the transfer destination address conversion unit. The delivered electronic mail can be transferred to the electronic mail apparatus currently used by the user by searching and referring to the destination address data section. As a result, even when the user is using the terminal of the electronic mail device other than the registered electronic mail device, the arrival of the electronic mail is surely transmitted to the user, and
E-mail transfer can be automated, and operability, convenience, and reliability can be improved. Further, after the transfer, the e-mail storage control unit stores the e-mail temporarily stored in the e-mail storage unit in the e-mail user storage unit, so that the received e-mail is not dispersed, and the data is unified. Management becomes possible and operability can be improved. Further, since the distributed database is adopted, the load can be distributed, the contents can be read and written quickly and efficiently, and the maintainability can be improved.
Furthermore, rewriting the contents of the database due to changes in the relationship between the user and the e-mail device will be within the scope of its responsibility for each database by adopting the distributed database, facilitating management. You can

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the transfer destination address data section causes the user to selectively transfer an electronic mail to an electronic mail device having an electronic mail address different from the registered electronic mail address. It is easy to do, the user does not need to search the email sent from time to time, can reliably receive the email, and can promptly and appropriately transmit information to the user. It is possible to realize an electronic mail device that is excellent in efficiency, convenience, and reliability. Furthermore, after transfer, the e-mail storage control unit moves the e-mail temporarily stored in the e-mail storage unit to the e-mail user storage unit and stores it, so that the received e-mail is not dispersed and It is possible to realize unified management, and it is possible to realize an electronic mail device that is easy to manage and has excellent operability. Further, when the save designation item is on according to the save designation item of the transfer destination address data section indicating whether to save the transferred email by turning on / off, the save selection unit provided in the email saving control unit
Move the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage to the e-mail user storage, and if the save specification item is off, delete the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage to save the e-mail user. It is possible to realize an e-mail device having excellent operability in which the amount of storage in a unit is controlled and resources can be effectively used. Also, the transmission / reception control unit
When a forwarded e-mail is received, the reception notification transfer unit that returns a reception notification signal to the transferred e-mail address, and when the e-mail is transferred, the storage confirmation unit of the e-mail storage control unit displays the reception notification signal. When the e-mail cannot be received within the specified time, regardless of whether the specified storage item is on or off, the e-mail transferred by the e-mail storage control unit is moved from the e-mail storage unit to the e-mail user storage unit, making communication impossible, etc. Therefore, when the transfer is not possible, it is possible to realize an electronic mail device having excellent reliability of data transmission without deleting the electronic mail. Further, since the transfer destination address data holding unit is arranged in the distributed database, the concentration of data can be prevented, the communication cost can be reduced, and an electronic mail device excellent in maintainability can be realized. You can

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic mail device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a transfer destination address data section of an electronic mail device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration in which a plurality of electronic mail devices in one embodiment of the present invention are connected.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional electronic mail device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1a, 1b, 1c E-mail device 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 22a, 22b Transmission / reception control unit 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 23a, 23b Transmission unit 4, 4a, 4b, 4c, 24a, 24b Reception unit 5,5a, 5b, 5c, 25a, 25b E-mail storage unit 6,6a, 6b, 6c E-mail user storage unit 7,7a, 7b, 7c E-mail storage control unit 8,8a, 8b, 8c Transfer destination address Conversion unit 9, 9a, 9b, 9c Transfer control unit 10, 10A, 10B Transfer destination address data holding unit 11, 26 Communication line 21a, 21b Conventional electronic mail device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A transmission / reception control unit for controlling transmission / reception of electronic mail, a transmitting unit for delivering the electronic mail, a receiving unit for receiving the electronic mail, and a temporary storage of the received electronic mail. An email storage unit for storing the email, and an email user storage unit for storing the email for each user,
A user ID item of the user, a transfer destination address item indicating an electronic mail address that is a transfer destination address usable by the user, and an access flag item indicating whether or not to transfer to the transfer destination address are recorded. A transfer destination address data holding unit that holds a plurality of transfer destination address data units;
A transfer destination address conversion unit that determines the transfer destination address of the received electronic mail by searching and referring to the transfer destination address item and the access flag item of the transfer destination address data part of the user; and the transfer destination. A transfer control unit that transfers the electronic mail using the transfer destination address obtained by the address conversion unit as a transfer destination, and transfers the transferred electronic mail from the electronic mail storage unit to the electronic mail user storage unit. An email storage controller,
An electronic mail device comprising: 2. The transfer destination address data section includes a storage designation item that indicates whether to save the transferred email by turning it on and off. When the storage designation item is on, the email saving is performed. The control unit moves the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage unit to the e-mail user storage unit, and when the storage designation item is off, transfers the transferred e-mail from the e-mail storage unit. The electronic mail device according to claim 1, further comprising a storage selection unit that deletes the data. 3. The reception notification when the transmission / reception control unit receives the transferred electronic mail, the reception notification transfer unit that returns a reception notification signal to the transferred electronic mail address, and the reception notification when the electronic mail is transferred. A reception confirmation unit that receives a signal, and when the reception confirmation unit cannot receive the reception notification signal within a predetermined time, the e-mail storage control unit determines whether the storage designation item is on or off. The electronic mail apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a storage confirmation unit that moves the transferred electronic mail from the electronic mail storage unit to the electronic mail user storage unit. 4. The electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the transfer destination address data holding units is arranged in a distributed database.