KR20010081731A - Apparatus for and method of reading e-mail from web-based e-mail service server using e-mail program - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus and method for reading E-mail from a web-based mail service server using a dedicated E-mail program is provided so that a user can obtain all web-based mail services, in which he is registered and which he uses, on a dedicated E-mail program without the necessity of visiting E-mail service sites. CONSTITUTION: An apparatus(A) for reading E-mail from a web-based mail service server(13) using a dedicated E-mail program(2) consists of an interface module(3), a transaction processing part(4), a protocol processor(7), an E-mail processor(5), and an HTML processor(8). The interface module(3) is to communicate with the dedicated E-mail program(2) and the web-based mail service server(13). The transaction processing part(4), connected with the web-based mail service server(13) through the interface module(3), receives E-mail and delivers it to the dedicated E-mail program(2). The protocol processor(7) analyzes the protocol attribute of the first request signal sent from the dedicated E-mail program(2) and converts it in accordance with the protocol attribute of the second request signal to be sent to the web-based mail service server(13). The E-mail processor(5) processes the E-mail transferred from the web-based mail service server(13) by the transaction processing part(4) in order to transfer it in the form that the dedicated E-mail program(2) can read. The HTML processor(8) processes the E-mail associated functions of the HTML document sent from the web-based mail service server(13) by the transaction processing part(4).

Description

Apparatus for and method of reading e-mail from web-based e-mail service server using e-mail program}

The present invention relates to an e-mail processing apparatus and method. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for reading an e-mail from a web-based e-mail service server using an e-mail-only program.

E-mail means that the sender records the recipient's address and contents and sends it to a network such as the Internet. The network analyzes the recipient's address and sends the message from the sender to the recipient. From a system perspective, e-mail can be defined as "a network application that uses a variety of network protocols across various networks to electronically convey messages between end users."

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a general electronic mail apparatus, and is largely comprised of an email server and an email client. The e-mail server is connected to the Internet and implemented as a workstation or a Pentium-class PC. The server 1 is connected to the Internet to control mail coming into an account of a client 2 registered therein, or a registered client 2 Controls to send the email to the account of the other email server 1 '.

The e-mail client 2 has an account of the e-mail server 1, and receives an e-mail arriving at the e-mail server 1 by being connected to the Internet through a LAN or a telephone network, or from another e-mail client 2 The e-mail is transmitted to the e-mail server 1 'in order to send the e-mail to').

E-mail systems based on TCP / IP are largely based on SMTP and POP3 methods. Simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) is a method of controlling between two computers that send and receive messages. It checks whether two computers are connected properly and delivers the message body when the recipient is confirmed. SMTP does not need to be routed through an intermediary computer, and mail is sent directly to the server where the receiving user has an account.

Post office protocol (POP3) is a method of using an e-mail with a separate Internet account to a host connected to the Internet, and is a protocol that can conveniently use e-mail by connecting a host having an e-mail account from a computer. However, POP3 must continue to download new messages each time it connects, or if you download a message on one computer, the message is not visible to other computers, and every time you download a message, the downloaded message is not available. There is a disadvantage to remain.

Many execution programs for using such e-mail have been commercialized. Outlook Express (trade name), Netscape messenger (trade name), Hanmail (trade name), and so on. These programs are dedicated programs installed on each user's PC and connected to an e-mail server to receive and send e-mail and other various processes.

On the other hand, recently, a service for providing an e-mail address to an individual free of charge in a search engine or a portal site for providing various information and using an e-mail using his own website has been operated. In this case, rather than using a separate e-mail execution program, a menu for e-mail sending and receiving is built on a service site that gives an e-mail address to an individual for free and processes the e-mail. The e-mail service provided by the portal site and the like will be referred to herein as a "web-based mail service".

In order to use the web-based e-mail service, each user must access the site using a web browser, log in, and select the e-mail menu to search for e-mails sent to them and send e-mails to the other party. can do. In other words, the web-based e-mail service operates separately from an e-mail-only program installed on a user's PC.

Therefore, if a user wants to use both a web-based e-mail service and a dedicated e-mail service at the same time, the user visits the site of the web-based e-mail service provider he is using (subscribed) by using a web browser separately from the e-mail-only program. There is a hassle to do.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to operate between a web-based e-mail service and an e-mail-only program running on a user's computer, while all users are registered and used on an e-mail-only program without having to visit an e-mail service site. The present invention provides an apparatus and method for reading e-mail from a web-based e-mail service server using an e-mail-only program capable of providing a web-based e-mail service.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a general email system.

2A is a block diagram of a first embodiment of an electronic mail conversion apparatus according to the present invention;

2B is a flowchart of the first embodiment.

3A is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3B is a flowchart of the second embodiment.

<Description of Drawing Main Parts>

1: setting information storage device, 2: e-mail-only program, 3: interface module, 4: transaction processing unit, 5: mail processing unit, 6: mail storage unit, 7: protocol handler, 8: HTML processor, 9: configuration Information storage, 10: service server HTML information storage, 11: SMTP server, 12: POP3 server, 13: web-based email service server, 14: advertising service server

summary

The present invention has a basic concept of delivering an e-mail arriving at a web-based e-mail service server to an e-mail-only program located in an e-mail-only program and a web-based e-mail service server.

A general e-mail system is composed of an e-mail dedicated program 2, an SMTP server 11, and a POP3 server 12, as shown in Fig. 2A. The e-mail only program 2 refers to a program such as Outlook Express (trade name), Netscape Messenger (trade name) or Hanmail (trade name), and the SMTP server 11 is a server that transmits e-mail, and POP3 The server 12 is a server for transmitting the received e-mail to the user PC (client).

The e-mail only program 2 includes a setting information storage device 1, which stores setting-related information used by the e-mail only program. The contents to be stored are SMTP server information, POP3 server information, user ID and password information, and the like. In the present invention, the setting information storage device 1 also stores information necessary for implementing the present invention.

The dotted box A of FIG. 2A shows the configuration of the present invention, which will be described by dividing into a first embodiment and a second embodiment.

First embodiment

The apparatus (A, apparatus of the present invention) capable of reading e-mail from a web-based e-mail service server using an e-mail dedicated program according to the present invention is largely as shown in Fig. 2A.

An interface module (3) for communicating with an e-mail-only program (2) and a web-based e-mail service server (13),

Through the interface module 3, the web-based e-mail service server 13 is connected to the web-based e-mail service server 13 in response to a request of the e-mail-only program 2, and the e-mail is transmitted to the e-mail-only program 2. Transaction processing unit 4,

A protocol processor for interpreting protocol attributes of the first request signal sent from the e-mail-only program 2 through the interface module 3 and converting the protocol attributes of the second request signal to be sent to the web-based e-mail service server 13. (7),

An electronic mail processor (5) which is processed by the transaction processing unit (4) to process the electronic mail obtained from the web-based electronic mail service server (13) in a form that can be read by the electronic mail-only program (2);

It consists of an HTML processor 8 which processes functions related to e-mails of HTML documents received from the web-based e-mail service server 13 by the transaction processor 7.

Here, the first request signal is based on POP3, and the second request signal is based on HTTP.

The e-mail processor 5 includes an e-mail storage device 6 for storing the processed e-mail, and the HTML processor 8 stores setting information storing setting related information necessary for the operation of the HTML processor 8. Device 9 is included. The HTML processor 8 also includes a service server HTML information storage device 10 that stores the characteristics of different HTML documents for different web-based e-mail service servers.

The web-based e-mail service server 13 refers to a server for opening an e-mail service by opening a specific website as defined in the description of the prior art. For example, it refers to a server that operates portal sites such as "next (trade name)", "netien (trade name)" and "hot mail (trademark)".

The interface module 3 is a module for the device of the present invention to communicate with an existing e-mail-only program 2, and the transaction processing unit 4 is a request for an e-mail-only program (generally to retrieve an e-mail from a server). When a protocol called POP3 is delivered to the device of the present invention, the POP3 protocol is interpreted, and internal modules are used to connect to the web-based email service server 13 to receive the email and to send the email in the form of POP3. It serves to transmit to the e-mail-only program (2).

The email processor 5 is a part which processes the emails obtained from the web-based email service server 13 to deliver to the email-only program 2 in POP3 format, and the email storage device 6 It is a place for storing the electronic mail processed by the mail processing machine 5. For example, you can store the contents in a folder such as "Inbox", "Sent Letter", "Sent To", or "Deleted Letter".

The protocol processor 7 interprets the POP3 format request signal sent from the e-mail-only program 2 and converts the request signal of the HTTP format to the web-based e-mail service server 13. ) Is a device that processes (eg, forwards, receives, deletes, etc.) web-based e-mail by analyzing contents related to an e-mail function in an HTML document received from the web-based e-mail service server 13.

The service server HTML information storage device 10 is for electronic mail of various web-based email service servers. In general, the HTML pages of each email service server are different. Therefore, in order to process unique e-mail for each service server, each server stores characteristics and keywords of different HTML documents.

The overall operation of the apparatus of the present invention configured as described above will be described together with the method of the present invention shown in Fig. 2B (a method for reading e-mail from a web-based e-mail service server using an e-mail dedicated program).

First, the user clicks the delivery button of the e-mail-only program 2 [100]. In general, an e-mail-only program has a receive menu (delivery) button for reading a received message. When this button is clicked, an e-mail message stored on the POP3 server is downloaded to the user client.

When the user selects the delivery button of the e-mail-only program 2, the e-mail-only program 2 sends a request signal to the interface module 3 to retrieve an e-mail from the web-based e-mail service server 13 [ 102]. This request signal is a signal based on POP3.

A series of operations performed according to a request signal from the e-mail-only program 2 is performed by the transaction processing unit 4, which firstly causes the protocol processor 7 to transmit a request signal in POP3 format to the HTTP. The request signal is transmitted to the web-based e-mail service server 13 by converting it into a format [103].

In addition, the transaction processing unit 4 operates the HTML processor 8. The HTML processor 8 accesses the web-based e-mail service server 13 by using the user ID / password information of the web-based e-mail service server 13 stored in the setting information storage device 9. Get the mail [104].

Instructions on how to fetch, typically, to check email using a web-based email service server, a user visits a web server, enters an ID and password on the web server, selects an email-related menu, A series of actions, such as selecting a new e-mail viewing menu with a mouse, is performed through a mouse and a key. The present invention processes and reads the series of tasks automatically and transmits the same to an e-mail-only program.

The read e-mail is converted to e-mail in a format supported by POP3 [106]. Next, the converted contents are stored in the electronic mail storage device 6, and the electronic mail is transmitted to the electronic mail-only program 2 [112]. Thus, the user can read the e-mail reached to the web-based e-mail service server using the e-mail only program 2.

Example 2

The second embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 3A and 3B. In the second embodiment, the advertisement information obtained from the advertisement service server 14 is attached to the electronic mail and delivered to the electronic mail-only program 2 during the electronic mail processing. The advertisement service server 14 is a server that holds advertisement information so that specific advertisement information can be added to an email when a web-based email is transmitted to a user for an email-only program 2. The server 14 Since the web is based on the web, the overall operation is the same as in the first embodiment. 3A, it can be seen that the advertisement service server 14 is connected to the interface module 3 of the apparatus of the present invention in addition to the web-based e-mail service server 13.

Fig. 3b shows the operation flow of the second embodiment, in addition to the operation flow of the first embodiment, logging in to the advertisement service server 14 to obtain advertisement information [104 '], and converting the advertisement information into an e-mail format. It can be seen that step 106 'and step 108 of combining the converted e-mail and advertisement information read from the web-based e-mail service server 13 are added. Since the overall operation is the same as in the first embodiment, even if a detailed description is omitted, those skilled in the art will be able to easily implement this embodiment.

The technical spirit of the present invention is not limited only to the specific embodiments described above. What was described above was a device or a conversion method that is located between an e-mail executable program such as Outlook Express running on a PC and a web-based e-mail service server, but the same technical idea is that the web-based e-mail server (or POP3 server) and the web are the same. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the same operation can be performed even between the base email servers. For example, an e-mail between a first web-based e-mail server and a second web-based e-mail server may be located between a first web-based e-mail server and a second web-based e-mail server by placing a server on which the device according to the present invention is installed. It is also possible to model the conversion service.

In addition, the method according to the present invention can be programmed with Windows, Unix, or other usable software, and it is obvious that the technical scope of the present invention can be applied to a computer recording medium recording the program.

Typically, users using the Internet have multiple email addresses. And use e-mail-only programs to use such e-mail. However, the free e-mail service provided by portal sites does not support the e-mail protocol called POP3, so the e-mail-only program cannot handle it.

In general, when users use e-mail, an e-mail-only program can be used in conjunction with a trusted e-mail server like the user's company, and in conjunction with other e-mail servers supporting POP3. If you do not support POP3, such as the postal service, the number of free e-mail services that users are using is connected to the web site and checked.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the Internet users can conveniently utilize the web-based e-mail service registered and used by only one e-mail-only program.

Claims (12)

An e-mail conversion device for taking an e-mail of a web-based e-mail service server using an e-mail program installed on a user's PC and delivering the e-mail to an e-mail-only program. Interface means for communicating with an email-only program and a web-based email service server, Through the interface means, the transaction processing means for connecting to the web-based e-mail service server according to the request of the e-mail-only program to receive the e-mail and transmit the e-mail to the e-mail-only program, Protocol processing means for interpreting a protocol attribute of a first request signal sent from an e-mail-only program through an interface means and converting the protocol attribute of a second request signal to be sent to a web-based e-mail service server; An electronic mail processing means for processing the electronic mail obtained from the web-based electronic mail service server by a transaction processing means to deliver the electronic mail in a form readable by an electronic mail-only program; E-mail can be read from a web-based e-mail service server using an e-mail-only program, which includes HTML processing means for processing a function related to e-mail of an HTML document received from a web-based e-mail service server by a transaction processing means. Device. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request signal is based on POP3, and the second request signal is based on HTTP, wherein the email can be read from a web-based email service server using an email-only program. Device. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic mail processing means includes an electronic mail storage means for storing the processed electronic mail, wherein the electronic mail processing means reads the electronic mail from the web-based electronic mail service server. The method of claim 1, wherein the HTML processing means comprises setting information storing means for storing setting related information required for the HTML processing means. Readable device. The method of claim 1, wherein the HTML processing means, Web-based using a dedicated e-mail program, characterized in that it comprises a service server HTML information storage means for storing the characteristics of different HTML document for each different web-based e-mail service server A device capable of reading email from an email service server. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising means for combining advertisement information obtained from the advertisement service server through an interface means with an email document. A device that can read mail. A method for reading e-mails of a web-based e-mail service server using an e-mail-only program using the apparatus of claim 1, A second protocol for accessing the first protocol of the e-mail-only program to the web-based e-mail service server when a request signal for obtaining a new e-mail from the e-mail server is received from the e-mail-only program by the user's action. Converting to protocol, Accessing a web-based e-mail service server using a second protocol to obtain an e-mail; Converting an e-mail document received from a web-based e-mail service server into an e-mail document in a form supported by an e-mail-only program; Transmitting the converted e-mail document to an e-mail-only program, wherein the e-mail can be read from a web-based e-mail service server using an e-mail-only program. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first protocol is POP3 and the second protocol is HTTP. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing characteristics of different HTML documents for each service server, in order to read emails of various web-based email service servers into a single email-only program. To read email from a web-based email service server. The compound according to any one of claims 7 to 9, Obtaining the advertisement information by accessing the advertisement service server; Converting the advertisement information into an email form; A method of reading e-mail from a web-based e-mail service server using an e-mail-only program, further comprising the step of combining with e-mail obtained from a web-based e-mail service server. A computer recording medium having recorded thereon a program for implementing the method of claim 7. A computer recording medium having recorded thereon a program for implementing the method of claim 10.