KR100453936B1 - Electronic Mail System that is able to confirm every receptions and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention enables the sender to immediately check the number of receipts and the acknowledgment time zone of the recipient with respect to the sent mail, so that the sender can accurately know the recipient's response such as the recipient's preference and importance to the mail. The sender client unit adds an acknowledgment unit to the header of the mail file transmitted, assigns a unique number to each mail file, adds an acknowledgment signal generation unit to the copy of the mail file, and transmits it to the receiver mail server unit. Multi-reception confirmation means for receiving a negative acknowledgment signal and repeatedly changing the acknowledgment unit of the corresponding mail file header to record the acknowledgment number and the acknowledgment time period; Mail storage means for assigning and storing a unique number combining a time stamp and a random value in a mail file having an acknowledgment unit added to a header; Receiving the mail at the receiver client unit, the mail sending means for sending a copy of the mail file attached to the receiving confirmation signal generator to send the acknowledgment signal according to the sender mail server unit to the receiver mail server unit; multiple reception confirmation consisting of It relates to an electronic mail system and a method thereof.

Description

Electronic mail system that is able to confirm every receptions and method

The present invention relates to an electronic mail system having a multi-receipt confirmation means and a method thereof, and more particularly, the sender sending an email when sending and receiving an email through the Internet can immediately confirm whether the recipient receives the email. Whenever the recipient confirms receipt of the e-mail, the confirmed time is stored on the sender's mail server so that the receiver's response to the sent e-mail can be predicted because the receiver's e-mail's appeal and importance can be predicted. The present invention relates to an electronic mail system having multiple reception confirmation means and a method thereof for confirming in real time.

Recently, the modern society has received the information necessary for itself through the wired / wireless internet through the media such as computers and mobile communication terminals in the information age due to the remarkable development of the information and communication field and the internet due to the digital revolution. The Internet has been used for military purposes, known as the ARPANET, which was launched to share information related to the US Department of Defense and military research.

In addition to the explosive spread of computers, numerous internet networks have been linked to the world and become a huge and efficient information storage medium and medium for providing information. In particular, the Internet has e-mail, newsgroups, file transfers, information transmission and retrieval. As the number of networks connected to the Internet and the number of Internet users are rapidly increasing, an electronic mail system that enables users to conveniently send and receive a predetermined message using the Internet is being activated.

The e-mail system is widely known as a Unix application using TCP / IP under the name of e-mail or e-mail, and the e-mail system can send and receive various information such as sentences to and from a specified party. The typical sending and receiving protocol of e-mail used is SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).

Looking at a conventional e-mail system, an e-mail is largely composed of an envelope, a header, and a body, which is used by an MTA for transmission and is similar to an actual mail envelope. It is composed of SMTP commands. The header is used by the user agent and consists of sender, date, recipient and subject. The body represents the contents of the outgoing message.

As shown in Fig. 1, when an e-mail sender exchanges information by e-mail, a format and a transmission method of a transmission message are made according to an SMTP mail server. The SMTP mail server is always running and waits to process a message. After receiving the message sent from the sender's client unit with the list of the destinations, a copy of the message is transmitted to the corresponding destination through the Internet network, and if the message is not successfully transmitted, the transmission continues for a predetermined time. If it still fails, it abandons the transmission and notifies the sender client of the failure.

In order for the recipient to obtain e-mail from the mail server, a communication path must be established between the recipient client and the mail server. The protocol used at this time is Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3). If you want to see the access to the POP3 mail server to check whether the e-mail is received, and if it is received through the POP3 mail server can be brought to check.

As described above, in the case of using the conventional e-mail system, the sender and the receiver can easily send and receive a predetermined message by using the Internet network and the mail server. However, the sender has received the e-mail sent by the receiver. It is not possible to know whether or not the acknowledgment is confirmed. This is because the sender's mail server and the receiver's mail server are different so that the sender's mail server cannot check whether the recipient has received the e-mail. The problem is that you have to wait for the call from the recipient to confirm.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has been filed. Patent application No. 1999-14780, "E-mail system and method through the Internet with a receipt confirmation function," assigns a unique code to a mail sent by a sender and stores the database. (A) storing in the; If the recipient receives the mail in the mail given the unique code in step (a), attaching the CGI execution statement of the contents for sending the unique code of the mail given in the step (a) to the e-mail system (b) ; In step (a), a unique code is given, and in step (b), a mail with a CGI execution statement is received by the recipient, and a CGI execution statement is executed, so that the unique code of the mail received by the recipient is transferred to the e-mail system. Transmitted (c); And (d) transmitting the acknowledgment information to the sender of the mail when the unique code of the mail transmitted by the step (c) is compared with the information registered in the database.

In addition, a mail processing unit for assigning a unique code to the mail sent by the sender, and attaching the CGI execution statement for sending the assigned unique code to the e-mail system when the recipient receives the mail to deliver to the recipient mail server; A database unit for storing a unique code assigned by the mail processing unit; And a receipt acknowledgment unit receiving the unique code of the mail transmitted by the CGI execution statement after receiving the mail, confirming whether the destination code matches the unique code stored in the database, and transmitting the acknowledgment information to the sender if it matches. It is an e-mail system characterized by.

Although the above-described invention has the advantage that even if an e-mail is transmitted and received between independent servers through the Internet, the sender side can check the reception status. Because the sender can only see the one-time information that the recipient has just received the email, the sender's email can be sent to the recipient's email, such as how much interest is in the email sent by the sender and how important it is. There is a problem that the response is not predictable at all, and the unique code stored in the database and the unique code of the e-mail transmitted by the CGI execution statement can be checked through the matching step to check whether the recipient's e-mail is acknowledged. There is a cost burden due to the system construction, there is a problem that the mail service is not provided smoothly due to the overload if the mail server has a large amount of mail transmission.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and after receiving the e-mail transmitted from the sender at the receiver side, the caller recognizes the receipt confirmation time and the acknowledgment time zone every time the e-mail is opened and read. By making it possible to predict the likelihood and importance of the receiver's e-mail, it is possible to improve the reliability of the e-mail and to accurately know the receiver's response.

In order to achieve the above object, the sender client unit adds an acknowledgment unit to the header of the mail file, and assigns a unique number to each mail file, and adds an acknowledgment signal generation unit to the copy of the mail file and transmits it to the receiver mail server unit. A multiple reception confirmation step of receiving the reception confirmation signal of the receiver mail server unit and repeatedly changing the reception confirmation unit of the corresponding mail file header to record the reception confirmation frequency and the reception confirmation time zone; A mail storing step of assigning and storing a unique number obtained by combining a time stamp and a random value in a mail file having an acknowledgment unit added to a header; When the receiver receives the mail, the mail sending step of transmitting a copy of the mail file attached to the receiving confirmation signal generation unit to send the acknowledgment signal according to the sender mail server unit to the recipient mail server unit; multi-reception confirmation consisting of It was intended to implement the email method.

In addition, an acknowledgment unit is added to the header of the mail file transmitted from the sender client unit, and a unique number is assigned to each mail file, and the acknowledgment signal generation unit is added to the copy of the mail file and transmitted to the receiver mail server unit. Multi-reception confirmation means for receiving a negative acknowledgment signal and repeatedly changing the acknowledgment unit of the corresponding mail file header to record the acknowledgment number and the acknowledgment time period; Mail storage means for assigning and storing a unique number combining a time stamp and a random value in a mail file having an acknowledgment unit added to a header; When the receiver receives the mail, the mail sending means for sending a copy of the mail file attached to the receiving confirmation signal generating unit for transmitting the acknowledgment signal according to the sender mail server unit to the recipient mail server unit; It is an implementation of an email system.

1 is an overall block diagram of a system in which a conventional email service is provided;

2 is an overall block diagram of an electronic mail system with a conventional acknowledgment function;

Figure 3 is an overall block diagram of an electronic mail system having multiple reception confirmation means applied to the present invention;

4 is a flowchart showing a service process of an electronic mail system having multiple reception confirmation means applied to the present invention;

Figure 5 is a graph showing the multi-reception confirmation statistics applied to the present invention

* Description of Signs of Main Parts of Drawings *

10. Sender Client 20. Sender Mail Server

21. Multiple reception confirmation means 22. Mail storage means

23. Mail sending means 30. Recipient mail server

40. Recipient Client

According to the present invention, when the receiver client unit 40 receives the e-mail sent from the sender client unit 10, the number of acknowledgments and the acknowledgment time period are displayed each time the receiver client unit 40 opens the email. In order to allow the sender client unit 10 to correctly recognize the sender client unit 10, the mail header unit of the sender's mail server unit 20 stores the mail header of the e-mail stored in the inbox so that the record can be continuously recorded. It is.

Emails have their own headers of the form:

-----------

Header

-----------

body

-----------

As shown above, the header and the body are distinguished by first specifying the header up to two occurrences of the enter, and the contents of the header are defined by a special convention. In case of date, Date: xxxxx Records), and in the case of the title, Subject: xxxxx (the title is recorded here).

By slightly modifying the header part, the following header is further set. The name Hermes-Read-Ok is arbitrarily given a name in the present invention, and any name may be used in practice.

Hermes_Read_Ok: xxxxx (This time stamp can be used to recognize the exact time zone received by the receiver client unit 40.)

When the receiver client unit 40 reads the e-mail sent from the sender client unit 10 once, it knows whether or not it is received at the bottom of the header of the e-mail file stored in the sender mail server unit 20 and the reception time zone. The header changes as follows.

Hermes_Read_Ok: xxxxx (reading time zone)

When the receiver client unit 40 reads the email several times, the header is changed as follows.

Hermes_Read_Ok: xxxxx (first time zone read)

Hermes_Read_Ok: xxxxx (second read time zone)

Hermes_Read_Ok: xxxxx (third read time zone)

Hermes_Read_Ok: xxxxx (blank)

Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings will be described in detail with respect to the electronic mail system capable of confirming multiple reception and its method.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of the entire e-mail system capable of confirming multiple receptions applied to the present invention, Figure 4 is a flow chart showing the service process of the multiple-email confirmation possible system applied to the present invention, Figure 5 Is a graph showing the multiple reception confirmation statistics applied to the present invention.

3 is an overall block diagram of an electronic mail system capable of multiple reception confirmation according to the present invention.

As shown, in order to implement an email system capable of multiple reception confirmation according to the present invention, when the mail client unit 40 checks the mail in the sender's mail server unit 20, multiple reception confirmation means 21 is provided. Add the header of the mail stored in the mail storage means by receiving the mail reception confirmation signal, but the number of mail reception times and the acknowledgment time zone is recorded so that the multi-reception confirmation when the mail acknowledgment inquiry request from the sender client unit 10 is received. To be able to provide informed information.

The sender client unit 10 is connected to the sender mail server unit 20 to the Internet to transmit the e-mail, the sender mail server unit 20 and the recipient mail server unit 30 is also connected to the Internet via the e-mail The sender client unit 10 and the sender mail server unit 20 are connected to a private network, or the sender mail server unit 20 is a mail server of a computer communication service, and the sender is If you are a subscriber to a computer communication service, e-mail transmissions will not necessarily need to go over the Internet.

The sender mail server unit 20 is composed of a multi-receipt confirmation means 21, a mail storage means 22, a mail sending means 23, the multi-receipt confirmation means 21 in the sender client unit 10 When the sender mail server unit 20 sends a mail request, the mail file is stored in the mail storage means 22, and the acknowledgment part is added to the header, and the acknowledgment signal generation part is added to the copy of the mail file. It is possible to send the mail to the receiver mail server unit 30, and when the acknowledgment signal is transmitted from the receiver client unit 30, by adding the header portion of the corresponding mail file to check the multi-receipt details, the multi-receipt Confirmation means 21 is implemented in software so that the sender mail server unit 20 can perform the same role as described above.

The mail storing means 22 stores the acknowledgment header in the mail file transmitted from the sender client unit 10, and stores the same as the existing mail protocol, and the mail file is randomly selected with a time stamp. In order to have a unique number designed by combining a value and the like, and when the multi-acceptance confirmation program is executed by receiving a receipt signal from the receiver client unit 40, the acknowledgment unit of the header portion of the corresponding mail file is additionally changed. The mail sending means 23 can send the mail to the recipient mail server through the SMTP.

The recipient mail server unit 30 stores the mail sent from the sender mail server unit 20, and receives a request from the receiver client unit 40 to receive the corresponding mail through the POP3 server. To the receiver client unit 40 to check the mail contents, and when the receiver client unit 40 checks the mail contents, the acknowledgment signal included in the mail is sent to the sender mail server unit 20. To be transmitted.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a service process of an electronic mail system capable of confirming multiple receptions applied to the present invention.

When the sender client unit 10 sends a mail sending request to the sender mail server unit 20 (100), the sender mail server unit 20 receives the mail file transmitted from the sender client unit 10, and then multiple By executing the acknowledgment means 21 (110) to store the mail file in the mail storage means 22, which is the sender's mailbox, the acknowledgment part is added to the header portion of the mail file, and the stored mail file is time stamped. And a unique value designed by combining a random value with (120).

In order to send the mail file to the receiver mail server unit 30, a mail copy is generated, and the mail file is sent to the receiver mail server unit 30 through the mail sending means 23, including an acknowledgment signal generation unit 130, The recipient mail server unit 30 stores and stores a copy of the mail file in a predetermined storage means.

The recipient mail server unit 30 receives a request for receiving an e-mail from the receiver client unit 40, extracts the e-mail from the storage means in the POP3 server, and transmits the e-mail to the receiver client unit 40 so that the receiver receives the contents of the mail. When the recipient client unit 40 receives the e-mail, the acknowledgment signal generator included in the header of the mail file transmits the acknowledgment signal to the sender mail server unit 20. (140).

When the reception confirmation signal is transmitted from the receiver client unit 40 to the sender mail server unit 20, multi-reception confirmation means is executed (150) to analyze the current file name by the unique number of the mail file, and then the file header The acknowledgment part of the part is changed (170), and the acknowledgment part changes the first reading of the mail file, adds a header related to the acknowledgment of the file, and writes the file back to the file.

In this case, in the change of the acknowledgment unit of the mail file header, when multiple acknowledgments are implemented in the above manner, a message may be read several times instantaneously due to the intentional or mistake of the mail receiver. Whenever the sender's mail server unit 20 reads the header value for the mail and rewrites it, the system may become overloaded, which may cause a problem that a smooth multi-receipt confirmation service cannot be achieved. In the present invention, it is determined whether a predetermined time (eg, an interval of about 10 seconds) is exceeded, and the multi-acknowledgement is set when the mail is read again by the receiver client unit 40 within 160.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the process of changing the header value of the mail file in the sender mail server unit 20 according to the present invention will be described.

Looking at the multi-reception confirmation process by the multi-receipt confirmation means 21, the module for storing the multi-receipt in the mail storage means 22, which is a sent box, a module for attaching a reception confirmation signal of the contents of the mail, when receiving the mail The acknowledgment signal can be divided into modules that are recorded in the mail storage means 22 which is a letter sent several times.

[Example 1 (mail storage means)]

When the e-mail transmission is stored in the mail storage means 22, the following header is added to enable the acknowledgment to the general header.

Example 1-1) Example Header of a Sender from sendu Mail Server

To: hwiparam@sendu.com

Subject: test

Return-Path: hwiparam@sendu.com

From: Hong Gil Dong <hwiparam@sendu.com>

X-Mailer: Hwiparam Engine

X-Priority: 3

Return-Path: hwiparam@sendu.com

From: Hong Gil Dong <hwiparam@sendu.com>

X-Mailer: Hwiparam Engine

X-Priority: 3

Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 13:18:23 + 0900

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text / html

Hermes-Read-Ok: () ---> Acknowledgment

Since the acknowledgment part is a header part for multiple acknowledgments and is not currently received by the receiver, the acknowledgment part is blank.

[Example 2 (call receipt module in the contents of the mail)]

The sender's mail server unit 20 executes an acknowledgment module using the tag of <img src => among the contents of the mail. The part of executing the acknowledgment program in the contents of the mail is hidden as follows. It is hidden and sent as an image.

〈Img

src = http: //www.sendu.com/mail/ read_ok.neo? id = hwiparamnum = 1access = mailfilename = / home / mail1 / user1 / hwiparam / SENT / cur / 1017893903.5537.1116, email = hwiparam @ sendu.com width = 1 height = 1 top = 1〉

In the tag, you can see that the mail was sent with the ID of hwiparam, and the mail unique number is /home/mail1/user1/hwiparam/SENT/cur/1017893903.5537.1116, the moment the mail is read the sender mail server unit In (20), a multiple reception confirmation program called read_ok.neo is executed, and an id and a unique mail number are passed as parameters.

Example 3 (multiple reception confirmation module)

When the mail is read once by the receiver client unit 40, the header is changed and added as follows.

Example 3-1) Example of header when mail is received once

To: hwiparam@sendu.com

Subject: test

Return-Path: hwiparam@sendu.com

From: Hong Gil Dong <hwiparam@sendu.com>

X-Mailer: Hwiparam Engine

X-Priority: 3

Return-Path: hwiparam@sendu.com

From: Hong Gil Dong <hwiparam@sendu.com>

X-Mailer: Hwiparam Engine

X-Priority: 3

Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 13:18:23 + 0900

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text / html

Hermes-Read-Ok: (1017894111)

Hermes-Read-Ok: ()

Compared to the above example 1-1), it can be seen that only one additional acknowledgment time zone is attached, and one header Hermes-Read-Ok: In addition, 1017894111 is a time stamp used by UNIX to represent the current time, which can be converted to the current time.

If the mail is read several times by the receiver client unit 40, the header is changed and added as follows.

To: hwiparam@sendu.com

Subject: test

Return-Path: hwiparam@sendu.com

From: Hong Gil Dong <hwiparam@sendu.com>

X-Mailer: Hwiparam Engine

X-Priority: 3

Return-Path: hwiparam@sendu.com

From: Hong Gil Dong <hwiparam@sendu.com>

X-Mailer: Hwiparam Engine

X-Priority: 3

Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 13:18:23 + 0900

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text / html

Hermes-Read-Ok: (1017894111)

Hermes-Read-Ok: (1017893907)

Hermes-Read-Ok: ()

It can be seen from the header information that the mail has been read by the recipient client unit 40 twice, and the header is changed every time the recipient client 40 reads the mail.

As described above, in the case of using the electronic mail system capable of multi-receipt confirmation according to the present invention, since the sender side can accurately grasp the receiver's response such as the likelihood and importance of the recipient's mail, it can be used in various applications.

[Application Example 1 (Receipt Statistics)]

When the sender client unit 10 requests the acknowledgment inquiry request to the sender mail server unit 20, the multi-receipt confirmation program of the sender mail server unit 20 is executed to analyze the file name through the unique number of the corresponding mail. Then, after extracting the information of the number of acknowledgments and the reception time zone for the mail stored in the mail storage means 22, and transmits the acknowledgment result information to the sender client unit 10, as shown in FIG. As described above, it is displayed to be easy for the sender to recognize.

5 is a ranking statistics value based on a graph showing multiple acknowledgment statistics applied to the present invention and the number of acknowledgments, and shows the result information analyzed based on the number of acknowledgment times and the acknowledgment time zones as follows. do.

example)

1) aaa@sendu.com has read 13 messages, mainly reading the messages you sent during the day.

2) Your mail read 29 times (74%) during the day, 8 times (20%) in the morning, and 2 times (5%) in the night.

3) You received 9 mails you received, read 39 times, and the receipt rate is 100%.

Since the sender can accurately know the response to the mail, such as the likelihood and importance of the recipient's mail based on the multi-receipt confirmed result information as described above, in the case of a company in charge of marketing, certain products and advertisements of consumers This allows the user to know the response to the user in real time, so that they can establish an accurate marketing strategy. Also, the users in the relationship can recognize the other's mind accurately through the acknowledgment result for the mail. Do it.

As described above, the electronic mail having the multi-reception confirmation means according to the present invention can be variously applied when it is necessary to accurately know the response of the recipient to the mail, and the present invention described above is common in the art to which the present invention pertains. For those skilled in the art, various substitutions, modifications, and changes can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention, and are not limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

According to the present invention, when a sender sends a predetermined mail to a receiver through a mail server, each time the receiver receives the mail, the receiver can confirm the receipt confirmation frequency and the analyzed result information of the reception confirmation time zone in real time through the receiver client unit. By enabling the sender to accurately recognize the receiver's response to the mail, that is, the likelihood and importance of the mail, the user in the relationship can know the other's mind. If you need to know the immediate response of the recipients to the mail, such as enabling them to formulate an accurate marketing strategy based on the acknowledgment result information, the effect can be accurately recognized at low cost without the need for a separate system or organization configuration. .

Claims (7)

In the sender mail server unit and the receiver mail server unit connected to the Internet to send and receive e-mail, The sender client unit adds an acknowledgment unit to the header of the mail file transmitted from the sender client unit, assigns a unique number to each mail file, adds a receipt acknowledgment unit to the copy of the mail file, and transmits it to the receiver mail server unit. A multi-reception confirmation step of receiving an acknowledgment signal and repeatedly changing the acknowledgment unit of the corresponding mail file header to record the acknowledgment number and the acknowledgment time zone; A mail storing step of assigning and storing a unique number obtained by combining a time stamp and a random value in a mail file having an acknowledgment unit added to a header; When the receiver receives the mail, the mail sending step of sending a copy of the mail file attached to the receiving confirmation signal generation unit for transmitting the acknowledgment signal according to the sender mail server unit to the recipient mail server unit; E-mail method with receipt confirmation. The method of claim 1, The reception time zone of the acknowledgment unit of the mail file header stored in the mail storage means is recorded using a time stamp. The method of claim 1, The change of the header value of the mail file stored in the mail storing means includes the header related to the acknowledgment to the file after reading the mail file, and writes it to the file again. The method of claim 1, When the sender client unit requests an acknowledgment inquiry request to the sender's mail server unit, multi-receipt checking means is executed to transmit the acknowledgment result information for the corresponding mail stored in the mail storing means to the sender client unit. E-mail method with multiple receipt confirmation. The method of claim 4, wherein The acknowledgment result information analyzes the information on the acknowledgment frequency and the acknowledgment time zone of the receiver client, and provides the acknowledgment as information on the number of reception times, the reception time zone, and the acknowledgment rate. Email method. In the system for sending and receiving e-mails by sending and receiving mail server and sender mail server, The sender client unit adds an acknowledgment unit to the header of the mail file transmitted from the sender client unit, assigns a unique number to each mail file, adds a receipt acknowledgment unit to the copy of the mail file, and transmits it to the receiver mail server unit. Multiple reception confirmation means for receiving the confirmation signal and repeatedly changing the reception confirmation unit of the mail file header to record the reception confirmation frequency and the reception confirmation time zone; Mail storage means for assigning and storing a unique number combining a time stamp and a random value in a mail file having an acknowledgment unit added to a header; Receiving a mail at the receiver client unit, the mail sending means for transmitting a copy of the mail file attached to the receiving confirmation signal generation unit for transmitting the acknowledgment signal according to the sender mail server unit to the recipient mail server unit; E-mail system with acknowledgment. delete