JPH10341253A - Electronic mail client device and server device sending/ receiving electronic mail whose destination and sender are not specified and electronic mail system formed by connecting them - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To establish a form of communication not available in a conventional electronic medium by sending a mail whose destination and transmitted time are not specified with anonym. SOLUTION: In the electronic mail system, an electronic mail server S and pluralities of electronic mail client devices C connecting respectively to the Internet INET are provided. Each client device C converts text or graphics data entered by the user into image data of a BMP form and generates an anonym electronic mail that includes the image data and whose destination is not specified. The mail is stored in a mail box 30 of the server S and when other client device C logs in the mail, a mail is selected at random and returned. The mail reached to the client device C is illustrated as a bottle that is washed ashore and the indication/non-indication is decided by a discrimination step that is repeated at a prescribed time interval.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a client / server type e-mail system, and more particularly to an e-mail client device capable of transmitting a message with anonymity, and an e-mail file containing such a message stored on a network. And an e-mail server device capable of appropriately distributing to other e-mail client devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The Internet, which is a worldwide computer network, constitutes a data transmission path between computers located at remote locations.
It has been widely used in personal computers at home, including companies. Generally, communication on electronic networks including the Internet includes WW
There are four formats: W, chat, forum, and email (mailing list).

[0003] WWW is a form in which one's own work (thesis, illustration, novel, diary, etc.) is posted on the Internet and the work is presented to an unspecified number of people who have visited the posting place. It can be called "one-to-one communication with unspecified number of time differences".

[0004] In a chat, an electronic conversation is realized by exchanging text data inputted by each other in real time regardless of a specified or unspecified group. This is so-called "one-to-one or unspecified multiple real-time communication".

[0005] A forum is similar to talking to a group of a plurality of people having a particular hobby and taste while recording the minutes of the meeting in text data. This may be referred to as “one-to-one specific timed communication”.

[0006] Also, electronic mail (mailing list)
Is "one-to-one or one-to-many time-difference communication" that can mainly transmit electronic information such as text data, image data, and audio data to a specific or a large number of people.

[0007]

The communication on such a conventional electronic network is probably an arbitrary and problem-solving type of communication. In other words, communication such as forums and e-mails is mainly used to provide "Tell me" requests about work or hobbies, or to communicate necessary information for work or vacation. Conceivable. On the other hand, in WWW or chat, it is also possible to write irrelevant talks or selfish claims that have no particular purpose. However, in a chat, like a conversation in the real world, since there is a conversation partner, a participant does not always hear only his / her topic. Also, WWW
Then, creating a homepage to write your own assertion itself requires knowledge of the HTML language and authoring software and requires considerable effort,
Even if you make a homepage with such efforts, there is no guarantee that someone will see the page. Also, generally speaking, an anonymous remark can be made, but it is not possible to hide the handle name, e-mail address or URL.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to store an e-mail client device capable of transmitting a message with anonymity and an e-mail file containing such a message. It is an object of the present invention to provide an e-mail system including an e-mail server device which is capable of distributing an indefinite delivery time but which can be delivered to any other e-mail client device on a network.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic mail client device according to the present invention comprises:
It is configured with the following requirements (1) to (5).

(1) Text data and / or graphic data input by a user are converted into image data of a predetermined data format.

(2) An e-mail file including the converted image data and automatically attaching a predetermined mailbox address on a communication network to which the client device is connected as a destination address is generated. I do. The information that can identify the sender is not included in the e-mail file unless the user intentionally writes the image data in (1).

(3) When the user requests transmission of the e-mail file, if the user is connected to the communication network, the e-mail file is transmitted to the predetermined mailbox on the communication network. At this time, if an unsent e-mail file that has been created but has not been transmitted exists in the e-mail client device, the unsent e-mail file is also transmitted to the predetermined mailbox.

(4) Receiving and storing the e-mail file transferred from the predetermined mailbox, and displaying the incoming state of the e-mail file according to the result of the predetermined e-mail file reception display / non-display determination. .

(5) The image data contained in the received e-mail file is displayed to the user of the client device that has received the e-mail file.

[0015] Among the e-mail files received by the e-mail client device, an e-mail file that is not stored or deleted in the client device is transferred to another e-mail client device via the communication network. Can be configured.

The electronic mail file incoming display
The non-display determination is performed at time intervals calculated based on a predetermined calculation procedure, and the probability of occurrence of each event of the incoming call display and the incoming call non-display may be set.

Further, the display form of the received e-mail file may be changed based on information given to the received e-mail file according to the communication protocol. For example, the display form of the received e-mail file may be changed. By comparing the transmission time data with the current time, the longer the elapsed time, the more the image data of the e-mail file is displayed in a form in which changes over time are described in a form that is more visually expressed. Can be configured.

Next, the electronic mail server device according to the present invention is configured to satisfy the following requirements (1) to (3).

(1) An e-mail file uploaded from a user is stored in a predetermined mailbox in time series.

(2) When the user logs in, an e-mail file selected from the e-mail files stored in the mailbox is transmitted to the user, and the transmitted e-mail file is transmitted from the mailbox. delete.

(3) The transmission / reception processes with the plurality of users are processed in parallel so that the log-in of the plurality of users becomes possible.

The message file from the system may be stored in the mailbox and transmitted to the user who has logged into the server together with the e-mail file. In this case, it is preferable that data indicating the display conditions of the message file be attached to the message file.

Further, when the user logs in, one of the e-mail files randomly selected from the e-mail files stored in the mailbox may be transmitted to the user. Based on a predetermined rule corresponding to the number of e-mail files stored in the mailbox, one of the selected e-mail files is selected from the stored e-mail files.
Alternatively, a plurality of e-mail files may be transmitted to the user.

In the electronic mail system according to the present invention, the electronic mail client device and the electronic mail server device are connected via a communication network, and the electronic mail client device transmits the electronic mail file. The address of the mailbox of the electronic mail server device is specified as the destination address.

[0025]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. One of the major features of the e-mail system according to one embodiment of the present invention is that the entire system is a "bottle with a letter floating in the ocean".
It is built on the metaphor of that.
In other words, a bottle containing a letter: an e-mail circulating on the network Omihara: an e-mail server device that stores e-mail and a network to which the server device is connected. And its functions are set. The sandy beach where the waves rush from the ocean is each client device connected to the network, and "a bottle with a letter flowed by someone (an e-mail client) somewhere (in principle, E-mail) drifts across the ocean (networks and e-mail servers) and eventually reaches somewhere (another e-mail client). " From this, it can be seen that the system of the present invention basically has a very different property from a conventional e-mail system that has transmitted purposeful information to a specific individual or group. Will. However, such a metaphor is not necessarily limited to the sea, and other settings such as "balloons with mail floating in the sky" can be adopted. In addition, other items such as shells and balloons may drift and drift in place of the bottle.

Hereinafter, in the present specification, the electronic mail system according to the present invention is referred to as a “bottle mail system”. Further, an electronic mail data file distributed through this system is simply referred to as “mail”.

(A) Outline of System FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a bottle mail system. This bottle mail system includes an e-mail server device S connected to the Internet INET.
And a plurality of e-mail client devices C also connected to the Internet INET.

The server device S has an SMTP server 10 that receives mail from the client device C, and a POP server 20 that transfers mail to the client device C. The mail received by the SMTP server 10 is stored in the mailbox 30. Also, the mailbox 30
In addition to the mail received from the client device C, a mail including a message to be transmitted from the server device S to each client device C may be stored.
Such messages may include various notifications from the system to the subscriber (each client device C), corporate advertisements, public information, and the like.

The client device C is generally a personal computer equipped with hardware (modem, TA, etc.) for connection to the Internet INET and software (TCP / IP connection software, etc.), and the bottle mail system client software is installed. . In order to subscribe to the bottle mail system of the present invention, for example, it is only necessary to install the bottle mail system client software on a personal computer that can be connected to the Internet INET. S can be accessed. Note that the client software can be produced as so-called shareware, such as restricting some functions until a password separately issued by the system is input.

(B) Function of Client Device C Next, the function of the client device C will be described with reference to the attached flowchart.

(A) Generation and transmission of mail FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a mail generation and transmission routine of the client device C. Here, it is assumed that the bottle mail system client software has already been activated.

First, a user who wants to write a mail writes a character string (text data) or a picture (graphic data) as desired on a new mail creation screen (step 202). This is similar to general paint software. And these input data are
The data is converted into image data in a BMP format, which is a standard graphics data file format of Windows (step 204). Here, the conversion to the BMP format image data is performed in order to avoid inconveniences such as garbled text data due to a difference in the platform or language code of the client device C. From this viewpoint, the BMP format, which is considered to be the most versatile, is adopted in this system. From the point of realizing a cross-platform system, file formats other than the BMP format adopted in this bottle mail system, such as M
The standard graphics data file format in acOS, the PICT format, or the JPEG format or GI
A compressed file format such as the F format can also be adopted.

From the converted image data, a mail is generated to which the address of the mailbox of the server S is added as the destination address (step 206).
This e-mail is an anonymous e-mail with an unspecified destination that does not include a specific destination e-mail address and information that can identify a sender, in addition to the mailbox address of the server device S being specified as a destination address. However, if the sender particularly wants to clarify his or her identity, it is sufficient to write his / her own e-mail address and name in the e-mail.

A sound file (such as a WAV format, of course, may be an existing sound file) generated by incorporating a voice input device such as a microphone and a sound board into the client device C and capturing the voice. May be added to the mail.
In addition, video files such as QuickTime movie files can be attached.

Here, if the client device C is connected to the Internet INET (step 208 Ye
s) and immediately transmitted to the server S (step 2)
10). Then, although already generated, the server device S
It is determined whether there is any unsent e-mail that has not been sent to the server device. If there is such an unsent e-mail (Yes at Step 212), the mail is transmitted to the server S (Step 21).
4). If the client device C is not connected to the Internet INET (step 208 No), the generated mail is stored in a predetermined storage area in the client device C to prepare for the next transmission timing (step 21).
6).

(B) Processing of Received Mail FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the subsequent processing of the mail received by the client device C.

When there is a received mail and the contents of the mail are to be read (Steps 302 and 304 Yes), the display of the client device C (generally a CRT display, but of course using other display elements) The content of the received mail, that is, the BMP format image data included in the mail is displayed on the screen (step 306). For the mail whose contents are displayed, the user selects whether to delete, save, or transfer the same to another client device C (return to the server device S via the network). When deleting or storing (Step 308 or 312 Yes), the mail is deleted or stored in a predetermined storage area, respectively (Steps 310 and 314). If the received mail whose contents are displayed is not deleted or saved (steps 308 and 31)
2 No), the mail is forwarded. At this time, if the client device C is connected to the Internet INET (step 316 Yes), the mail is sent to the server device S.
(Step 318), and if there are other unsent mails (step 320 Yes), those mails are also sent to the server S (step 32).
2). If the client device C is not connected to the Internet INET (step 316, No), the mail is stored in a predetermined storage area as an unsent mail (step 314).

(C) Incoming mail display processing FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the incoming mail display processing of the client device C.

Upon receiving the data from the server device S, the client device C determines whether the data is a mail from another client device C or a message from the system. If the data is mail (step 404 "mail"), an incoming call is immediately displayed (it will be described in detail as "bottle ashore on the beach" on the screen of the client device C, which will be described in detail later). First, it is determined whether or not to display the incoming mail (step 406). In this display / non-display determination step, whether to display the incoming mail is determined with a probability of 1/3 each. If it is determined that the incoming call is to be displayed (Yes at Step 406), “bottled bottle” is displayed on the screen (Step 408). Note that the probability of each of the display / non-display events may be changed based on the operation status of the system. Or,
Each time the display / non-display determination step is performed, a probability value applied in the next determination step may be set in a predetermined calculation procedure.

If it is determined in step 406 that the display is not to be displayed, a counter for setting the time interval of the display / non-display determination is started (step 410). In the present system, the time interval by this counter is set to 15 minutes, but the time interval may be increased or decreased as appropriate, or the user of the client device C may change the setting as desired. The client software may be designed in advance. In the bottle mail system of this embodiment, the number of bottles displayed at one time is one, but a plurality of bottles are displayed on the screen to indicate that a plurality of mails have been received. May be.

Next, it is determined whether or not there is a mail that has been received by the client device C and is not displayed as an incoming call. If there is no such mail and an incoming call is displayed on the screen (display of a drifting bottle). (Step 414
No), Step 40 for determining whether or not to display the incoming call again
Steps 6 and after are executed. As described above, since there is provided a flow of repeatedly determining the presence / absence of a mail that has already been received but is not displayed as an incoming call, and determines whether to display or not the mail, the client device C
Even when is offline, the effect is as if the mail arrived online in real time.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 404 that the received data is a message from the system ("message" in step 404), the display control information contained in the message is read (step 416). . In the display control information, an attribute relating to the display condition of the message is written. In the case of the present system, the attributes are “display count” and “display expiration date” of the message. In order to control the number of display times, a preset value of the number of display times included in the display control information of the message may be decremented every time the message is displayed. To control with "display expiration date", for example, "display expiration date"
Is compared with the system clock of the client device C, and if the value of the display expiration date exceeds the current time indicated by the system clock, the message may not be displayed. In addition, if the “displayable time zone” of the message is further added as the display control information of the message, the system clock of the client device C is compared with the data written in the “displayable time zone” to make a determination. "Displayable time zone"
Other than the above, it can be controlled not to display the message.

When the message is determined to be valid (step 418 "valid"), the message is displayed on the screen of the client device C (step 420). If the message is determined to be invalid (step 418 "invalid") as described above, the invalid message is deleted (step 422). In this system, this message is displayed as "a signboard built on the coast", but other display forms (monolith, ship smoke, contrails, etc.) may be adopted. Needless to say.

(C) Function of Server S Next, the function of the server S corresponding to the client C described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation flow of the server device S.

When there is an access from the client device C, the server device S receives the mail transmitted from the client device C and stores it in the mailbox (steps 502 and 504). The mailbox of the server device S exists equally to all the client devices C, that is, is a completely common mail storage area, and the mail received from each client device C is stored in chronological order in the time of reception. You.

Next, one mail is randomly extracted from the mailbox (step 506) and transmitted to the client device C being accessed (step 50).
8). When extracting outgoing mail from the mailbox to the client device C, one or more mails are extracted according to the total number of mails stored in the mailbox (for example, if the stored mail in the mailbox is 1
When there are zero e-mails, three e-mails are extracted. When there are three e-mails, only one e-mail is extracted. ) May be used. Also,
The upper limit of the number of mails that can be extracted at one time may be set in consideration of the case where a large amount of stored mails exist in the mailbox.

Next, the server S determines whether a message other than a mail is stored in the mailbox. If there is a message other than mail (step 51
0Yes), it is determined whether the message has already been transmitted to the client device C. If the message has not been transmitted (step 512 No), the message is transmitted to the connected client device C. And
These steps are repeatedly performed, and when all the messages are transmitted to the client device C, the connection with the client device C is disconnected (step 516).

(D) Operation and Display of Client Device C The processing in the client device C and the server device S has been described above with reference to flowcharts. Hereinafter, the operation flow and screen display contents of the client device C will be described with reference to flowcharts and display screen diagrams. That is, what is to be described below is an interface between the user and the client device C.

FIGS. 6 to 9 are flowcharts showing the operation of the client device C and the flow of screen display. 10 to 16 show main screens displayed on the client device C.

When the user activates the bottle mail system client software installed in the client device C (step 602), a title screen including creator data and the like is displayed for a predetermined time, and then an idling screen is displayed (step 604). . The idling screen is a “scene in which a treasure chest is left behind on a sandy beach where waves are breaking (FIG. 10)”. This screen indicates that the client software is in a standby state waiting for the user's next action or mail arrival display. However, as described above with respect to the internal processing flow of the client device C, this is merely an idling display on the interface to the user, and does not indicate that the processing of the client software itself is stopped or suspended. Needless to say.

In the bottle mail system, the time when the client software is started is obtained from the system clock, and the scene of the beach corresponding to the current time is selected and displayed. For example, if you start the client software in the daytime, the beach in the daytime,
If it starts in the evening, the sunset beach will be displayed as an idling screen, and if it starts in the night, the starry sky beach will be displayed. Also,
The idling screen corresponding to the time at the time of activation may be displayed, and the subsequent elapsed time may be sequentially obtained from the system clock to control the idling screen display as if it were changing in real time.

(A) Viewing Mail Stored When viewing mail stored in an album (FIG. 6)
If the treasure chest on the screen is clicked (Step 606 Yes) (Step 608), an image (FIG. 11) in which the album and sketchbook pop out of the treasure chest is displayed (Step 610). 612), << List of stored mails (FIG. 12) >> is displayed with the album page opened (step 614). In this system, in this list display,
The four e-mails stored in the album spread at a time are displayed.

If the user does not see the mail stored in the album anymore (No in Step 702 in FIG. 7), the opened treasure box is clicked (Step 714). Step 71
6) Return to the idling screen.

If the mail stored in the album is to be displayed and viewed (Yes at step 702), double-click the mail to be viewed in the list display (step 7).
04), << Enlarged selected mail >> is displayed (step 706). If another mail is desired to be viewed (Step 708 Yes), the user clicks the expanded mail or the opened album (Step 710) to return to << List of stored mail >> (Step 712).

(B) Creating a New Mail When a new mail is created (FIG. 6, step 60)
6 No, Step 616 Yes), when the treasure chest on the screen is clicked (Step 618), << Image of album and sketchbook popping out of the treasure chest >> is displayed (Step 620). Step 622), << Sketchbook Page >>
Is displayed in an open state (step 624). Since the sketchbook also serves as a transmission record book, a copy of the transmitted mail is stored. Therefore, when the sketchbook is opened, the sent mail may be displayed. In such a case, a new blank page can be called by discarding the page in the trash. Alternatively, a blank page may be called by turning over the pages of the sketchbook (clicking the lower right or left end of each page).

If a new picture is to be drawn in order to create a new mail (Step 802 in FIG. 8), a blank page is output as described above (Step 804), and the drawing screen (blank page of the sketchbook) is displayed. The drawing tool (FIG. 13) >> is displayed, and a desired picture or character may be written (steps 806 and 808). As drawing tools, a keyboard, a crayon, an eraser, and scissors are provided, each of which is displayed as an icon, and a tool can be selected by clicking the icon. The keyboard is used to input characters from the keyboard of the client device C. Crayons are
It is a paint tool with various colors and can draw free curves directly. The eraser enables erasing of data that has been drawn, and the scissors allow movement by designating the range of the drawn data. The data drawn by the keyboard and the crayon is converted into BMP format image data as described above. Therefore, the character string input by the keyboard is bitmap image data which looks like text data at first glance, but is similar to other line drawings painted with crayons. The drawing tool may include a pencil, a pen, a brush, an airbrush, and the like, which are also used in general paint software.

When sending the mail created in this way (step 810 Yes), the user clicks on an empty bottle displayed on the screen (step 812) so that the "image in which mail enters bottle" and << A scene in which a bottle with mail is flowing offshore (Fig. 1
4) >> is displayed (steps 814, 816) to inform the user that the mail has been sent. However, as described above, when the client device C is off-line, the mail is stored in a predetermined storage area without being transmitted, and waits for the next transmission timing. There is no need to tell whether the mail has been sent or not, so if the mail is sent out on the network or added to the queue waiting to be sent, in either case, the bottle containing the mail will go offshore. Flowing scenes >> are displayed.

To save the newly drawn picture in the sketchbook without sending it as an e-mail (step 818 Yes), click on the opened treasure box (step 820), and << the sketchbook enters the treasure box. Image >> is displayed (step 822) and the picture is saved in the sketchbook.

If the newly drawn picture is neither transmitted nor saved (step 818, No), the trash can is clicked (step 824) to cause the << sketchbook page on which the picture is drawn to be rounded to the trash can. Is displayed (step 826), and the page is deleted.

Next, when looking at a picture already saved in the sketchbook without drawing a new picture (step 8)
28 Yes), move the page by clicking on the bottom right or bottom left corner of each page in the sketchbook (step 830) and repeat until the desired page appears.

If a new picture is not drawn and a picture stored in the sketchbook is not viewed (step 828)
(No), by clicking on the opened treasure chest (step 834), << image of sketchbook entering treasure chest >> is displayed (step 836), and the screen returns to the idling screen.

(C) Viewing the Contents of Received Mail Next, when the stored mail is not viewed and a new mail is not created (FIG. 6, Step 606 No, Step 616).
No), if there is a new mail and the incoming message is displayed (Step 626 Yes), << Scene where bottle with mail is launched on sandy beach (FIG. 15) >> is displayed. If you want to see (Step 62
8 Yes), click on “Bottled up” on the screen (step 630). Then, "Image of mail coming out of bottle" is displayed (step 63).
2) Subsequently, << contents of mail (FIG. 16) >> is displayed (step 634). At this time, on the same screen, "Album for saving mail", "Free bottle for transferring mail to other clients", and "Trash for deleting mail" are displayed as operation items Is done.

At this time, the transmission route attached to the header of the received mail, the transmission time, the country where the source server is installed (the top-level domain of the source mail address), and the platform of the client device C that receives the mail (Wi
The “method of displaying mail” may be changed based on data such as the type of OS (eg, ndows, MacOS, UNIX). As an example, an e-mail is displayed in the form of a "letter written on paper", so the state of "paper is out of date" corresponding to the time elapsed since the transmission time of the e-mail (the longer the time elapses from the transmission time, In this case, the display may be such that yellowing, spots, insect bites, etc. of the paper increase.), The "oldness" of the mail may be intuitively transmitted to the user. As another example, if the sending time is February and the sending country is Russia, a "frozen letter" may be displayed. That is, based on the header information and the like of the received mail, the attribute of the received mail can be displayed so as to be intuitively grasped.

FIG. 9 shows a flow of operation and display of what to do with a mail whose contents have been viewed. If you want to save the mail with the contents (step 902 Y
es), when the “album” item is clicked (step 904), “Image of mail attached to album” is displayed (step 906). Immediately, "Image of album entering treasure chest" is displayed (step 908), and the screen returns to the idling screen.

Next, when the mail whose contents have been viewed is transferred to another client without saving it (step 9).
10 Yes), when an empty bottle is clicked on the screen (step 912), "Image of mail entering bottle" is displayed (step 914), and then "Scene where mailed bottle flows offshore" is displayed. Is performed (step 916). At this time, an icon (in the present system, "a spherical mascot shaking the head") for accepting cancellation of the mail transfer operation is displayed on the screen for a predetermined time (30 seconds in the present system) (step 91).
8). To cancel the transfer operation, click this icon to return to the mail content display screen.

When the mail whose contents have been viewed is deleted without saving or forwarding (No in step 910), the user clicks a trash can on the screen (step 920).
"Image of mail rounded and put in trash box" is displayed (step 922). At this time, as in the case of the transfer operation described above, the screen displays a predetermined time (30 seconds in this system).
An icon for accepting the cancellation of the mail deletion operation is displayed for (seconds) (step 918), and by clicking this icon, the screen returns to the mail content display screen.

As described above, in the bottle mail system according to the present invention, the anonymous electronic mail transmitted from the client device C is stored in the mailbox of the server device in chronological order, and the mail stored in the mailbox is stored. Has been configured so that users who access the server device receive the information in order, so that the information that the user sent in the form of e-mail will someday reach some other user on the network. An extremely fuzzy form of communication is established that is completely different from electronic communication. This gives the user of the bottle mail system the motivation to speak extremely freely and privately.
As a result, for those who have some kind of mental troubles, there is a case where "free and anonymous remarks themselves become psychological healing" using this bottle mail system.

The bottle mail system is also useful in a situation where the user himself / herself has not completely grasped his needs and awareness of the problem. Because
When they are clear, you can use an information magazine or search system to find what you want. But,
Humans often have vague needs and awareness of issues, such as "I want what I want." In such a case, if a repetition is made through the bottle mail system of the present invention, there is a possibility that an unexpected recipient may receive advice or suggestion.

[0069]

As described above in detail according to one embodiment of the present invention, an e-mail client device, a server device, and an e-mail system connecting them, which transmit and receive e-mails with unspecified addresses according to the present invention. According to the above, the following effects are obtained.

(1) Text data and / or graphic data input by the user are converted into image data of a predetermined data format by an electronic mail client device, regardless of the computer platform and language used. Therefore, the recipient of the e-mail can receive the information created by the sender without being bothered by garbled characters.

(2) The e-mail client device generates an e-mail that includes the converted image data and does not include information that can identify the sender unless the user intentionally writes the data. The user can freely send anonymous mail.

(3) The e-mail client device receives and stores the e-mail file transferred from the mailbox of the e-mail server device, and receives the received e-mail file according to the result of the predetermined e-mail file arrival display / non-display determination. Since the completed e-mail file is displayed, it is possible to realize an environment in which e-mail is distributed irregularly regardless of whether the client device is online or offline.

(4) The e-mail file uploaded from the user's e-mail client device is stored in a predetermined mailbox of the e-mail server device in chronological order. When the user logs in, the stored e-mail file is stored. Is selected and delivered, thereby establishing a fuzzy communication environment in which it is unpredictable when and to which user the e-mail sent by the user will be delivered.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a bottle mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a mail generation and transmission routine of a client device C constituting a bottle mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a subsequent process for mail received by the client device C in the bottle mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an incoming mail display process of a client device C constituting the bottle mail system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation flow of the server device S configuring the bottle mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a first flowchart showing a flow of operation and screen display of the client device C constituting the bottle mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a second flowchart illustrating a flow of operation and screen display of the client device C included in the bottle mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart 3 showing a flow of an operation and a screen display of the client device C constituting the bottle mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a fourth flowchart showing the flow of the operation and screen display of the client device C constituting the bottle mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an idling screen “a scene in which a treasure chest is left behind on a sandy beach where waves hit”, which is an idling screen of the client device C constituting the bottle mail system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display image of “an image in which an album and a sketchbook pop out of a treasure box” of a client device C that constitutes a bottle mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a “list of stored mails” display screen of the client device C constituting the bottle mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a view showing a << drawing screen (blank page of a sketchbook) and a drawing tool >> display screen of the client device C which constitutes the bottle mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a “scene where a bottle containing mail flows offshore” display screen of a client device C constituting a bottle mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a view showing a “scene in which a bottle containing mail is being launched on a sandy beach” display screen of the client device C constituting the bottle mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a view showing a << mail content >> display screen of the client device C constituting the bottle mail system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 S E-mail server device C E-mail client device 10 SMTP server 20 POP server 30 Mailbox INET Internet

Claims (11)

[Claims] An e-mail client device configured to satisfy the following requirements (1) to (5) and transmitting / receiving an e-mail whose destination and sender are not specified. (1) Text data and / or graphic data input by a user are converted into image data of a predetermined data format. (2) Generate an e-mail file containing the converted image data and automatically attaching a predetermined mailbox address on a communication network to which the client device is connected as a destination address. The information that can identify the sender is not included in the e-mail file unless the user intentionally writes the image data in (1). (3) When the user requests transmission of the e-mail file and is connected to the communication network,
The e-mail file is sent to the predetermined mailbox on the communication network. At this time, if an unsent e-mail file that has been created but has not been transmitted exists in the e-mail client device, the unsent e-mail file is also transmitted to the predetermined mailbox. (4) Receiving and storing the e-mail file transferred from the predetermined mailbox, and displaying the incoming state of the e-mail file according to the result of the predetermined e-mail file reception display / non-display determination. (5) The image data included in the received e-mail file is displayed to the user of the client device that has received the e-mail file. 2. An e-mail file received by the e-mail client device and not stored or deleted in the client device is transferred to another e-mail client device via the communication network. The e-mail client device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The e-mail file arrival display / non-display determination is performed at a time interval calculated based on a predetermined calculation procedure, and the probability of occurrence of each event of an incoming display and an incoming non-display is determined. The e-mail client device according to claim 1, wherein each of the e-mail client devices is set. 4. The e-mail client device according to claim 1, wherein the display mode of the e-mail file is changed based on information given to the received e-mail file according to a communication protocol. 5. A comparison between the transmission time data attached to the received e-mail file and the current time, and the longer the elapsed time, the more visually the image data of the e-mail file is changed over time. The e-mail client device according to claim 4, wherein the display is performed in a form described on a sheet represented in (1). 6. An e-mail server device configured to satisfy the following requirements (1) to (3) and transmitting / receiving an e-mail whose destination and sender are not specified. (1) An e-mail file uploaded from a user is stored in a predetermined mailbox in chronological order. (2) When the user logs in, an e-mail file selected from the e-mail files stored in the mailbox is transmitted to the user, and the transmitted e-mail file is deleted from the mailbox. (3) Process transmission / reception with the plurality of users in parallel so that a plurality of users can log in. 7. The e-mail server device according to claim 6, wherein a message file from the system is stored in the mailbox, and is transmitted together with an e-mail file to a user who has logged in to the server device. 8. The electronic mail server device according to claim 7, wherein the message file is attached with data indicating display conditions of the message file. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein when a user logs in, one e-mail file selected at random from the e-mail files stored in the mailbox is transmitted to the user. 7. The e-mail server device according to 6. 10. One or a plurality of e-mails selected from the stored e-mail files based on a predetermined rule corresponding to the number of e-mail files stored in the mailbox. The e-mail server device according to claim 6, wherein a file is transmitted to the user. 11. The e-mail client device according to claim 1 and an e-mail server device according to claim 6, which are connected via a communication network, and an e-mail file transmission destination address of the e-mail client device. An e-mail system for transmitting / receiving an e-mail that does not specify a destination and a sender, wherein an address of a mailbox of the e-mail server device is specified.