JPH1198175A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the electronic mail system that protects privacy of an address such as a telephone number and creates an excellent electronic mail communication environment. SOLUTION: The system is provided with an address data conversion section 105 that conceals or encrypts part or all of an address set by the address data setting section 104, and adds an address converted in the case of sending an electronic mail to a text mail as address information. Thus, in the case that pluralities of names of mail recipients are in existence, the privacy of an address such as a telephone number is protected against among recipients.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, e-mail has been developed, and e-mail can be transmitted and received using a small e-mail device called a personal computer (PC), a work station, or a portable information terminal. It has become. Some of these devices have an address book that manages the addresses, telephone numbers, and the like of the individuals or organizations involved, so that transmission and reception can be easily performed in combination with the e-mail function. ing.

[0003] In the address book, for example, names of individuals,
An address, a personal computer communication address, an Internet mail address, a telephone number, a FAX number, and the like are registered in a predetermined format. The sender of the mail, for example, first prepares a body mail, sets a recipient address retrieved from the address book, and transmits the mail via a communication line.

[0004] In addition to the text of the mail, the e-mail received by the recipient includes sender address information (From address information) such as the sender's name and Internet mail address, and the recipient's address such as the recipient's name and Internet mail address. Information (To address information, Cc address information, etc.) is written.

[0005] By reading the sender address information and the recipient address information attached to the body mail, the receiver can know who sent this mail, who sent this mail, and to whom. . In addition, when an answer is required for an e-mail, the answer is transmitted by a simple operation. For example, in the case of Internet mail, a reply destination can be specified by specifying an address in the Reply-To line.

[0006]

However, the e-mail system shown in the above-mentioned conventional example has a problem that an address is made public among recipients. This is a serious problem in an e-mail device that addresses a highly-private telephone number or the like.

[0007] In addition to the problem of privacy, the following problems may occur in practice. That is, when the transmission address is a telephone number, the receiver can reply to the received e-mail by telephone.

[0008] The great advantage of the e-mail system is that you can read the e-mail at your own convenient time,
The answer can be stored in the e-mail device. On the other hand, if a response is received by telephone, the telephone must be answered even when busy. Further, when the person is absent, the information is transmitted by a message using a memo, which causes a problem that the information itself becomes inaccurate.

[0009] In Internet addresses and the like, unnecessary direct mail may be transmitted from address information attached to, for example, a bulletin board, and it is sometimes desirable to keep the address private.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to protect the privacy of telephone numbers and the like and to create a favorable e-mail communication environment.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an electronic mail device according to the present invention is configured to perform partly or all of an address set by an address setting means at the time of sending an electronic mail. Alternatively, there is provided an address data conversion means for performing encryption processing, and the converted address is attached as address information.

With this configuration, it is possible to provide a favorable e-mail communication environment in which address information relating to privacy, such as a telephone number, can be protected, and reply by e-mail can be easily performed.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention provides an e-mail creating means for creating an e-mail text, a posting means for performing an e-mail posting operation, and an address of a recipient. An address setting means for setting, an address data conversion means for converting the set address, and a communication means for transmitting and receiving an e-mail are provided, so that privacy such as a telephone number can be protected.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the address data converting means comprises:
This is characterized by being a hidden character processing means or an encryption processing means, and can protect the privacy of telephone numbers and the like.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the address data converting means comprises:
It is characterized by comprising a hidden character processing means and an encryption processing means, and can protect the privacy of telephone numbers and the like.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second or third aspect of the present invention, the address data encrypting means encrypts at least the originating address. This feature protects the privacy of the sender of the e-mail.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, third, or fourth aspect of the present invention, the address data encrypting means includes at least a recipient of the mail. It is characterized in that the address of the principal is not converted, so that privacy can be protected and address transmission processing from the transmitting terminal to the receiving terminal can be simplified.

[0018] The invention described in claim 6 of the present invention relates to claim 1, claim 2, claim 3, claim 4, or claim 5.
In the invention described in the above, the address data encryption means,
It is characterized by encrypting at least the telephone number address, and can protect the privacy of the telephone number that is most frequently used as an information device used everyday, that is, the telephone number that requires privacy protection most.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the first, second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth aspect of the present invention, the address data encryption is performed. The means encrypts at least the fax number address, and can protect the privacy of the fax number. Therefore, unnecessary FA
Recording paper is not wasted by receiving X.

[0020] According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an e-mail creating means for creating the body of an e-mail, a posting means for performing an e-mail posting operation, and an address setting for setting a recipient address. Means, address data converting means for converting the set address, address data conversion specifying means for specifying the address to be converted and the type of address conversion, and communication means for transmitting and receiving e-mail. The address translation can be set in accordance with each communication environment.
Therefore, address conversion can be performed according to the circumstances of each recipient, which is optimal for protecting privacy.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the eighth aspect of the present invention, the address conversion means comprises a hidden character processing means and an encryption processing means. Address translation can be set according to the environment.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail creating means for creating a body of an electronic mail,
E-mail reply means for performing a reply operation to the received e-mail; reply address generation means for decoding a reply encrypted address encrypted in a predetermined format to generate a destination address; It is provided with communication means for transmitting and receiving, and is capable of replying by e-mail to an address subjected to encryption processing, so that a comfortable e-mail communication environment can be realized.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail creating means for creating a body of an electronic mail,
Mailing means for performing e-mail posting operations, a cryptographic address book for registering addresses that have been cryptographically processed in a predetermined format, and a cryptographic address setting for setting the cryptographic addresses registered in the cryptographic address book in the body of the e-mail Means, address data decoding means for decoding an encrypted address,
A communication means for transmitting and receiving an electronic mail is provided, and encrypted address information attached to a mail body as address information can be taken into an address book. The encrypted address cannot be read by humans. Therefore, even if the user looks into the address book, the privacy of the owner of the electronic mail device and the addresses registered in the address book can be protected.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an electronic mail apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG.
, 101 is a control unit, 102 is an e-mail creation unit, 103 is a posting unit, 104 is an address data setting unit,
Reference numeral 105 denotes an address data conversion unit, and reference numeral 106 denotes a communication unit.

The control unit 101 includes a CPU and performs control processing of the electronic mail device. E-mail creation unit 102
Is a display unit such as a liquid crystal panel not shown in the figure,
And an input unit. The input unit is, for example, an icon provided on a screen of a display unit formed of a liquid crystal panel, or a button arranged around the display unit, and inputs a mail text by touching with a pen or the like. The input mail text is displayed on the display unit.

The mailing section 103 is a place for temporarily storing the body mail created by the electronic mail creating section 102, where header information including address information is attached. The address information is stored in the address data setting unit 1
04.

The address data conversion section 105 converts the address data into a secret character or encrypts the address data.

Here, the conversion into the hidden character means that the address "050-111-2222" which is a telephone number is changed to "**".
*-***-**** ". The concealed information only indicates that the original data has been lost and that the address was previously there. Therefore, it cannot be decoded to the original address information. On the other hand, the encryption converts address information according to a predetermined format. For example, the address "050-111" which is a telephone number
-2222 "as" qwertyuop @ ". Encrypted address "qwertyuop
"" Can be decoded to the original address "050-111-2222" by the address data decoding means described later.

The communication unit 106 transmits the mail body stored in the mailing unit 103 based on the address information attached to the mail body. The communication unit 106 also receives mail from the other party.

Next, the functions and effects of the present invention will be described by describing the operation of the electronic mail device of the present invention.

For example, the user can send an e-mail
Thus, a mail body as shown in FIG. 2A is created.

Next, the mail body is posted to the posting section 103. When a mail is posted, the electronic mail device waits for input of address information according to a predetermined procedure. FIG.
(B) shows an example of a setting format of the address information.

In the figure, the From address on the first line is
This is the address of the sender A. Mr. A sets his own address from the address data setting unit 104. FIG.
In the example of (b), the address set by Mr. A is a telephone number. The To address on the second line in FIG. 2B is the address of the recipient. A plurality of destinations can be specified for the To address. Also, as the recipient address, 3 in FIG.
The Cc address or the like shown in the line may be used. Normally, the To address is an indirect person who needs to reply or reply to the mail text, whereas the Cc address is an indirect one that is better to be contacted simply as information. Stakeholders. A plurality of destinations can be designated for the Cc address.

FIG. 2C shows an example of an address set by Mr. A from the address data setting unit 104.

In the example shown in FIG. 2C, the address of Mr. B is a telephone number, the addresses of Mrs. C and D are PC communication addresses,
Assume that Mr. E's address is a fax number.

The address data conversion unit 105 performs two types of conversion processes, ie, a masking process and an encryption process. By combining the address of each person with the translation processing method, various combinations of address translation can be performed.

For example, the address information shown in FIG. 2C is translated under the following conditions. (1) Encrypt the sender address.

(2) The address of the recipient (To, Cc, etc.) is subjected to a hidden character processing. FIG. 3 shows an example of a flowchart of the address conversion.

Hereinafter, the flowchart will be described step by step. First, the address data conversion unit 105 extracts a sender address from the e-mail of the posting unit 103 (step S11), encrypts the address, and temporarily stores it in a storage unit in the address data conversion unit 105 (step S11). S
12).

Next, the address data converter 105 extracts the To address from the e-mail, checks the number n of the addresses, and performs initial setting of the To address conversion (step S1).
3, S14).

The i-th address is extracted, each character of the address value is converted to "*", and temporarily stored in the storage unit in the address data conversion unit 105 (steps S16 and S1).
7). This operation is repeated n times (steps S15 to S1).
8). When i = (n + 1) th, C
The c address is extracted, and initialization of Cc address conversion is performed (steps S19 and S20). Hereinafter, similarly, the characters of all the Cc address values are replaced with “*” by the operations of steps S21 to S24, and are temporarily stored in the address data conversion unit 105.

Finally, communication is started from the communication unit 106 based on the unconverted address information of the recipient stored in the mailing unit 103. When the line is connected, the mail body is transmitted with the temporarily stored conversion address information attached to the address data conversion unit 105. In this way, the e-mail communication is sequentially performed for all the recipients.

When the above address data conversion processing is performed,
Each of the recipients B, C, D, and E receives the mail to which the address in FIG. 2D is attached.

For example, Mr. B sends this mail from Mr. A according to the address information, and Mr. C, Mr. D
He knows that Mr. and Mr. E have been notified, but cannot know the address of each person involved in privacy. However, if Mr. B has an e-mail device that decrypts Mr. A's encrypted address, he will reply to Mr. A with an e-mail saying "Attendance at the reflection meeting on September 23". can do.

As described above, according to the present invention, the respective addresses of the mail recipients B, C, D, and E are hidden, so that privacy can be protected.

The priorities for converting the addresses of the sender and receiver, and the format of the conversion, should be based on the following principles from the viewpoint of protecting privacy and maintaining the communication environment.

(1) Since the telephone number address and the FAX number address have high privacy, it is preferable to convert the addresses.

(2) Since the sender's address requires a reply, an inquiry, or the like of the mail, it is preferable that the address is subjected to an encryption process capable of decrypting the address.

(3) In general, it is not necessary to convert the address of the recipient to the recipient.

(4) A personal computer communication address, an Internet address, etc. can be used without converting the address.
Privacy is rarely violated.

As a rule of the address conversion, the address conversion suitable for the communication environment can be performed. Further, it is preferable that a recipient who wants to keep his / her address private can convert the address of a specific individual. Embodiment 2 describes an e-mail apparatus in which address conversion can be adapted to a communication environment in use.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electronic mail apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. 4, a control unit 101, an e-mail creation unit 102, a posting unit 103, an address data setting unit 10
4. The address data conversion unit 105 and the communication unit 106 are the same as those in the first embodiment. Reference numeral 107 denotes an address data conversion designating unit.

The address data conversion designation section 107 designates an address for which address conversion is to be performed among addresses such as a sender address and a recipient address, and the type of conversion of the specified address, ie, hidden face processing or encryption. This specifies the type of conversion such as processing.

Here, an example of a mail address received by each recipient when the address shown in FIG. 2C is converted by the address data conversion specifying unit 107 according to the following conditions is shown in FIG. ).

(1) The sender address is encrypted. (2) The recipient address is not converted by the recipient address.

(3) Telephone number and FA by recipient address
The X number address is subjected to face-down processing. (Phone number and fax
Address conversion processing is not performed for addresses other than number addresses. FIG. 5 shows an example of a flowchart of the address conversion designation.

Hereinafter, the conversion flow will be described for each step with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the address data conversion unit 105 includes the address data conversion designating unit 10.
7, the sender address is extracted from the address data information attached to the body mail of the mailing section 103 (step S30), this is encrypted, and the encrypted address data is sent to the body of the mailing section 103. Replace with the address data information attached to the mail (step S31).

Next, address data conversion section 105 executes the following operation in accordance with the instruction of address data conversion specifying section 107. All destinations (T
o, Cc addresses, etc.), check the number n of addresses, and initialize the conversion loop (steps S32 and S3).
3).

The i-th address is extracted, and it is checked whether it is the address of the recipient (steps S35 and S36). If the extracted address is yes (the recipient itself), the address is not converted. If no (the recipient is other than the recipient), it is checked whether the address data is a telephone number or a fax number (step S37). no (telephone, FA
If it is not an X number, the address is not converted.
If yes (which is a phone or fax number)
Replace each character of the address value with '*' and submit it to the posting section 1
03 is replaced with the address data (step S38).
The above operation is performed n times (steps S34 to S39).

Based on the address information of the mailing section 103 in which predetermined address data has been converted, the communication section 106 attaches the address information to the mail body after connecting the line and transmits the mail.

As a result of the address conversion as described above, the addresses of Mr. A, Mr. B, and Mr. E who used the telephone number address or the FAX number address are expected to have a degree of privacy infringement, Depending on the necessity of disclosure, no processing, encryption processing, and face-down processing are performed. That is, the address of the sender A who is expected to answer or inquire about the mail is subjected to encryption processing capable of decryption processing, no processing is performed in the case of the recipient himself, and hidden processing is performed if the recipient is not the principal. Addresses for personal computer communications, etc., which cause little invasion of privacy, are not converted.

Of course, even in the case of an address such as a personal computer communication, if it is known in advance that a specific recipient does not want to disclose the address, the hidden character processing and the encryption processing are performed according to the recipient's request. Etc. can be specified.

In the second embodiment, when the recipient is the recipient, the address information conversion process is not performed. Therefore, there is an effect that the address transmission process from the transmitting terminal to the receiving terminal can be simplified.

(Embodiment 3) In the case of Embodiment 1 or Embodiment 2, the address information received by the receiver is transmitted as shown in FIG. 2D or 2E. The human address has been cryptographically processed. Therefore, the e-mail device according to the first or second embodiment cannot normally reply or make an inquiry to this e-mail. The electronic mail device according to the third embodiment is capable of replying to a sender address that has been subjected to encryption processing.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an electronic mail device according to the third embodiment. The control unit 101, the e-mail creation unit 102, and the communication unit 106 are the same as those in the first embodiment, 108 is an e-mail reply unit, and 109 is a return address generation unit.

The electronic mail reply unit 108 automatically creates a reply address and a sender address for the received mail from the received mail address. If the reply address has not been converted, a reply body mail may be created, attached with the address information created by the e-mail reply unit 108, and transmitted from the communication unit 106. The return address generation unit 109 has a decryption unit for decrypting the encryption. Therefore, when the return address is encrypted, the encrypted address can be decrypted, and the mail can be transmitted with the address information based on the decrypted address attached.

FIG. 7 shows, as an example, a flowchart when Mr. B sends a reply mail to Mr. A in response to the mail in which the address information shown in FIG. 2D is set.

Hereinafter, the reply procedure will be described step by step with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The e-mail reply section 108 extracts the sender address from the e-mail of Mr. A and transmits this to the reply address generation section 109 (step S40). The return address generation unit 109 determines whether or not encryption processing is performed (step S41). If yes (there is encryption processing), the return address generation unit 109 decrypts the encrypted address and returns the return address. Is generated (step S
44). In step S41, if no (no encryption processing), the sender address is directly used as the reply address (step S43). The reply address generated in step S42 or S43 is sent to the e-mail reply unit 1
08 (step S44). The communication unit 106 transmits the electronic mail to Mr. A.

According to this electronic mail device, Mr. A can protect the privacy of the telephone number and can receive a reply mail only by electronic mail. Therefore, it is free from the inconvenience of telephone inquiries and the like.

(Embodiment 4) An e-mail apparatus according to Embodiment 4 allows an encrypted address to be registered in an address book.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an electronic mail device according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. 8, a control unit 101, an e-mail creation unit 102, a posting unit 103, and a communication unit 106 are the same as those in the first embodiment, 110 is an encrypted address book, 111 is an encrypted address setting unit, and 112 is an encrypted address setting unit. It is an address data decoding unit.

The cryptographic address book 110 is configured to register a cryptographic address when a cryptographically processed address is attached from the other party. The registration of the encryption address in the encryption address book 110 is performed by a copy operation or an input key of the electronic mail creation unit 102.

The encryption address setting unit 111 includes the posting unit 10
An encrypted address is set for the text posted in 3.

The address data decrypting section 112 decrypts the encrypted address attached to the posting section 103, and transmits an electronic mail from the communication section 106.

According to the fourth embodiment, the encrypted address registered in the address book cannot be seen by a human, but can be handled in the same manner as a normal address in an electronic mail device. Therefore, according to the electronic mail device, the privacy of the owner of the electronic mail device can be protected at the same time as protecting the privacy of the other party.

It is natural that the address data decrypting section 112 is preferably configured to decrypt only the address of the receiver among the set encrypted addresses, from the viewpoint of privacy protection.

[0078]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
The privacy of the address information of the sender and the receiver is protected, and a comfortable communication environment can be created.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

2A is a diagram illustrating an example of a mail text according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of a format of address information attached to the mail text. (D) and (e) are diagrams showing an example of the conversion address information attached to the mail received by the recipient.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of conversion of address information according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an electronic mail device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of address information conversion according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an electronic mail device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of address information conversion according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an electronic mail device according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 control unit 102 e-mail creation unit 103 posting unit 104 address data setting unit 105 address data conversion unit 106 communication unit

Claims (11)

[Claims] An electronic mail creating means for creating a body of an electronic mail, a posting means for performing an operation of posting an electronic mail, an address setting means for setting an address of a recipient, and an address for converting the set address An electronic mail device comprising: a data conversion unit; and a communication unit for transmitting and receiving an electronic mail. 2. The electronic mail device according to claim 1, wherein the address data conversion means is a secret character processing means or an encryption processing means. 3. The electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the address data conversion means comprises a hidden character processing means and an encryption processing means. 4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said address data conversion means performs at least an outgoing address encryption processing.
The electronic mail device according to claim 2 or claim 3. 5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the address data conversion means does not perform conversion processing on at least the address of the person who received the mail. Mail device. 6. The e-mail apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the address data conversion means performs at least encryption processing on the telephone number address. . 7. An address data conversion means comprising at least F
7. The electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the AX number address is subjected to encryption processing. 8. An e-mail creating means for creating a body of an e-mail, a posting means for performing an e-mail posting operation, an address data setting means for setting an address of a recipient, and converting the set address. An e-mail apparatus comprising: an address data conversion unit; an address data conversion specification unit that specifies an address for performing the conversion and a type of the address conversion; and a communication unit that transmits and receives an e-mail. 9. An address data converting means comprising a hidden character processing means and an encryption processing means.
An e-mail device according to claim 1. 10. An e-mail creating means for creating a body of an e-mail, an e-mail reply means for performing a reply operation to a received e-mail, and a reply for a reply encrypted in a predetermined format. An e-mail apparatus comprising: a return address generation unit that generates a destination address by decrypting an encrypted address; and a communication unit that transmits and receives an e-mail. 11. An e-mail creating means for creating an e-mail text, a posting means for performing an e-mail posting operation, an encryption address book for registering addresses encrypted in a predetermined format, It is characterized by comprising an encryption address setting means for setting the encryption address registered in the encryption address book in the body of the e-mail, an address data decoding processing means for decoding the encryption address, and a communication means for transmitting and receiving the e-mail. Email device.