KR20020010936A - A downmail method and it's system under which mail is downloaded from the mailbox of sender - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A system and a method for downloading mails from a mailbox of a sender are provided to allow the sender to store an original mail in the mailbox of the sender, and to deliver just a sending notification mail to a recipient, so that the recipient can receive the stored original mail at his/her intention. CONSTITUTION: A sender(101) writes a mail using a personal computer, and transmits the mail to a sender down mail server(102). The sender down mail server(102) receives the mail of which the sending is requested by a recipient(104) to store the mail in a sender mailbox(109), and delivers a sending notification mail to a recipient down mail server(103), then sends the stored mail to the recipient(104) on his/her request. The recipient down mail server(103) receives the sending notification mail from the sender down mail server(102) for storing in a recipient mailbox(107), and delivers the sending notification mail to the recipient(104) on request. The recipient(104) receives the sending notification mail from the recipient down mail server(103) to download the mail stored in the sender mailbox(109) of the sender down mail server(102) by his/her selection. In the sender down mail server(102) and the recipient down mail server(103), message delivery agents(105) receive the mail or deliver the mail to a destination mail server. The recipient mailboxes(107) store the received sending notification mail. Recipient mailbox managers(106) deliver the stored sending notification mail at the request of the recipient(104). The sender mailboxes(109) store the mail delivered from the sender(101). And sender mailbox managers(108) send the mail stored in the sender mailboxes(109) to the recipient(104) at his/her request. And message user agents(105) are mounted on the sender(101) and the recipient(104) respectively, to assist the writing and sending of the mail and the receiving of the sending notification mail and original mail.

Description

A downmail method and it's system under which mail is downloaded from the mailbox of sender}

The present invention stores the original mail sent by the sender in the e-mail, such as Internet mail, Webmail, to the sender's mail mailbox, and only to the recipient's intention to receive the mail after sending it to the recipient notifying the sending of the mail The present invention relates to a method and a system for receiving an original mail stored in a sending mail mailbox.

1 shows a conventional email delivery method. Looking at the e-mail delivery system as a whole, a sender who creates a mail using a personal computer and sends it to the sender's mail server, a sender's mail server that receives the sender's mail to send and sends it to the receiver's mail server, and sends it to the receiver's mail server. It consists of a receiving mail server that receives mail from the server and stores it in the receiving mail mailbox, and finally delivers the mail to the recipient upon request of the recipient, and a recipient receiving the mail from the receiving mail server. The sender delivers the mail to the sending mail server, and the sending mail server delivers the mail to the receiving mail server by a standardized communication procedure called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). The reading of e-mail is done by standardized communication procedures such as Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) or Post Office Protocol (POP) 3. Such a conventional e-mail method is generally implemented by three types of programs: a message user agent, a message forwarding agent, and a receiving mail mailbox manager. The message user agent is a program that provides the user with the ability to compose and send mail or to receive mail from the receiving mail mailbox. Products such as Microsoft Outlook are widely used, and the message delivery agent can send the actual mail to the destination mail server. Products such as Sendmail are used as the program to deliver. Receiving mailbox manager is a program that sends mail in the receiving mail mailbox to the recipient upon request of the recipient. Products such as IMAP server or POP3 server program are widely used. Recently, a lot of web mails integrating a mail server and a web server have been widely used. In the case of such web mail, a sender sends a mail through an interface called CGI (Common Gateway Interface) over HTTP, which is a web protocol instead of the conventional SMTP communication procedure. Is transmitted to the sender's mail server, and the receiver receives his mail from the receiver's mail server through the CGI interface over HTTP instead of standardized communication procedures such as IMAP and POP3.

Let's take an example of mail delivery in a conventional email delivery method. When a sender with a mail address of kdhong@yahoo.com sends a mail to a recipient, tjkim@cntc.ac.kr, the mail is delivered through the following process. Mail from a person named kdhong@yahoo.com is first delivered to the mail.yahoo.com mail server via the SMTP protocol. The sendmail daemon, which was waiting on mail.yahoo.com, temporarily stores mail in the mail queue directory (/ var / spool / mqueue), and then sends it back to the mail.cntc.ac.kr mail server via the SMTP protocol. Delete the saved mail. In mail.cntc.ac.kr, the sendmail daemon waits, and if the mail.yahoo.com mail server checks the destination of the mail sent to it, if it is correct, the file tjkim in the receiving mailbox (/ var / mail directory) is found. Save as. A recipient with the e-mail address tjkim@cntc.ac.kr receives a message from a mailbox on the receiving mail server using a message user agent such as Microsoft Outlook.

In the conventional e-mail method, regardless of the receiver's intention, the sender arbitrarily sends the mail and fills it in the receiving mail box of the receiving mail server. There is a heavy burden on mail delivery, such as having to keep a mailbox in a mailbox and reading or deleting the archived mail. Therefore, there is a moral hazard of sending mails from the sender without any burden on the use of e-mails. This causes the Internet to be congested and the receiving mail server is filled with spam mails, which greatly affects the necessary mail communication. This causes a huge dysfunction of e-mail, such as overloading the receiving mail server.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present invention allows the original mail sent by the sender to be stored in the sending mail mailbox of the sending mail server, and only the sending notification mail is delivered to the recipient in the conventional electronic mail form, and the sending notification is sent. Recipients who receive the mail should, by their intentions, receive the original mail stored in the sending mail mailbox of the sending mail server. In this case, send the receiving notification mail to the sender to let them know that the mail was received correctly. . As such, the new down-mail method of receiving mail from the sender's mail box is intended to solve the adverse function of the conventional e-mail method by transferring the initiative of the mail communication to the recipient and preventing the mail from being controlled indefinitely.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a conventional e-mail method

2 is an overall configuration diagram of the down-mail method according to an embodiment of the present invention

Figure 3 is an outgoing notification mail format according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention

4 is a flowchart illustrating a message delivery agent according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart for receiving a mail of a receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of a sending mail mailbox according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

7 is an operation example of the down-mail method according to an embodiment of the present invention

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 2 shows the overall configuration of the down-mail method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Looking at the delivery system of the down mail as a whole, a sender 101 for creating a mail using a personal computer and sending it to the sender down mail server 102; Receives the mail requested by the sender to send it and stores it in the sender mail mailbox 109, and then sends the send notification mail to the receiving downmail server 103, and at the request of the receiver 104, the sender mail mailbox 109. A sending side down mail server 102 for sending a mail stored in the mail to the receiver 104; A receiving side down mail server 103 which receives the sending notification mail from the sending down mail server 102 and stores it in the receiving mail box 107 and delivers the sending notification mail to the receiver upon request of the receiver 104; And a recipient who receives the sending notification mail from the receiving mail server 103 and downloads the mail stored in the sending mail mailbox 109 of the sending down mail server 102 by the selection of the recipient 104 ( 104). In addition, the sending down mail server 102 and the receiving down mail server 103 may include a message delivery agent 105 for receiving a mail or delivering a mail requested to be delivered to a destination mail server; A receiving mail box 107 for storing the received sending notification mail; Receiving side mail box manager 106 for receiving the request of the receiver 104 and delivers the sending notification mail in storage; A sending mail box 109 for storing the mail sent by the sender 101; And a sender mail mailbox manager 108 which receives the request of the receiver 104 and sends the mail stored in the sender mail mailbox 109 to the receiver 104. In addition, the sender 101 and the receiver 104 are equipped with a message user agent 105 to assist in the operation of creating, sending, receiving a mail notification mail and receiving the original mail. The receiving mailbox manager 106, the receiving mail mailbox 107, and the sender 101 are the same as in the conventional electronic mail system.

In FIG. 2, the communication procedure between each component uses the same standardized communication procedure as the conventional electronic mail method. The sender 101 delivers the mail to the message forwarding agent 105 in the sender's down-mail server 102, and the message forwarding agent 105 in the sender's down-mail server 102 sends the recipient's down-mail server ( Delivering the sending notification mail to the message delivery agent 105 in 103 is performed by a standardized communication procedure called SMTP, and the receiver 104 receives the receiving mail mailbox manager (receiving mail at the receiving mail server 103). Receiving the sending notification mail from 106 and receiving the mail source from the sending mail mailbox manager 108 in the sending down-mail server 102 is performed by a standardized communication procedure called IMAP or POP3. In the case of webmail, which has been widely used in recent years, when the sender 101 delivers the mail to the message delivery agent 105 in the sender downmail server 102, and the receiver 104 receives the downlink server 103 When the receiving mail mailbox manager 106 receives his mail, he uses an interface called CGI over HTTP, which is a web protocol, instead of the conventional communication procedure.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the newly-defined sender mail box 109 is as follows. The sender mail mailbox 109 stores the original mail requested by the sender 101 until delivery by the receiver 104. Here, the original mail is the same as the mail delivered in the conventional electronic mail system. The original mail is stored in a separate directory for each sender, and the original mail of each sender is stored in a separate directory for each recipient of the mail. In addition, the mail sent by each sender to a specific recipient is stored in a separate directory for each mail. The directory system of the sending mail mailbox 109 is as follows.

"Sender's Mail Mailbox / Sender Identifier / Recipient Identifier / Email Number /"

Each part of the above directory system is described. The sender's mail mailbox is the name of the home directory where the original mail is stored. It can also be shortened to a simple English letter "tx_mailbox". The sender identifier is an identifier for distinguishing the senders 101 transmitting mail through the sender down-mail server 105. The e-mail address is "mail identifier @ domain name". The sender identifier may be configured by using a string in which the symbol or special character "@" is deleted from the sender 101's e-mail address. If only the mail identifier can identify all the senders who send the mail via the sender mail server 105, the sender identifier may be configured only with the mail identifier. The recipient identifier is constructed by using a string in which the "@" character, which is a symbol or a special character, is deleted from the recipient's mail address. The mail number is an identifier for distinguishing each mail when a plurality of mails to be delivered by a specific sender 101 to a specific receiver 104 are provided. Two files are stored in the mail number directory, one is a file containing original mail, and the other is a file containing a password used to authenticate the recipient 104 who reads the original mail. The directory for each mail is deleted after the receiver 104 receives the original mail in that directory or by the command of the sender 101.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a sender who wants to open his or her mailbox in the sender's mail mailbox 109 opens his sender's mail mailbox in the sender's down-mail server 102 having the sender's mailbox. Register an account. When registering such an account, the sending downmail server 102 automatically creates a directory of the sender identifier in the sending mail mailbox 109, that is, a "sending mailer / sender identifier /" directory.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mail is defined as follows.

The mail consists of a header and a body. The header provides important information in the delivery of the mail, such as the postal code or address of the envelope, and the body refers to the content of the information to be delivered together with the contents of the letter. . The mail is classified into the original mail and the signal mail. The original mail is the same as the conventional mail including the contents that the sender wants to deliver to the receiver. The signal mail is the notification mail of the sender's mail to the receiver or the receiver receives the mail. It is used to notify the sender that the message has been sent and is used as an aid for the smooth delivery of the original mail. The difference between the signal mail and the original mail is the length of the body. If the length of the body is the same or shorter than the specified length, it is considered as the signal mail. Thus, original mail with a body shorter than the specified length is treated as a signal mail. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the body length of the signal mail is set to 32 bytes or less, which can be adjusted later.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, two newly defined signaling mails, a sending notification mail and a receiving notification mail, are as follows. 3 shows the sending notification mail 301, which is composed of a header 302 and a body as in the existing mail, and the body is composed of a user identifier 303 and a password 304. Allocate 22 bytes for the user identifier 303 and 10 bytes for the encryption 304 to size the entire body to 32 bytes, which can be adjusted later. The header 302 is the same as the header of the original mail. The user identifier 303 and the password 304 are for authenticating a recipient who wants to receive the original mail, that is, a user, and for quickly finding a desired original mail in the sender's mailbox 106. Deleted the sender's mail mailbox portion from the sender's mail mailbox / sender identifier / receiver identifier / mail number /, which is the directory path of the original mail stored in the sender's mail mailbox 106, " sender identifier / Recipient identifier / mail number / ", and password 304 is composed of ASCII characters. The user identifier 303 and the password 304 is a one-time user identifier and a one-time password that is different for each sent notification.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the newly defined receiving notification mail notifies the sender that the recipient has received the original mail. The format of the receiving notification mail includes a header and a body having 32 bytes of additional information. Can be adjusted later. The header is created from the header of the original message, changing the address of the sender and receiver, prefixed with "Received:" before the subject. The 32-byte additional information in the body is intended to inform the sender of additional information about the recipient's receipt of the mail.

4 shows a flow diagram of a message delivery agent 105 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. From the sender information of the received mail 401, it is checked whether the mail is allowed to be relayed as in the conventional electronic mail system, or whether the mail server equipped with the message delivery agent 105 is the destination of the received mail. (402). If the mail is allowed to be relayed, the type of mail is examined (403). The type of mail is determined by the length of the body. If it is less than or equal to the specified length, it is a signal mail or an original mail. If the type of mail is the original mail, the original mail is stored in the sending mail mailbox 109 as follows (404). To store the original mail, obtain the sender identifier from the sender information in the header of the mail, and register an account with the sender's own mail mailbox on the sender down-mail server 102 equipped with the message forwarding agent 105. If it is registered, obtain the recipient identifier from the recipient information in the header of the message and obtain a directory number that is low to the empty number in the corresponding directory "Sender's Mail Mailbox / Sender Identifier / Recipient Identifier /", which corresponds to the mail number. Find and create a directory with that number, save the original mail in the created directory, namely "Sender's Mail Mailbox / Sender Identifier / Recipient Identifier / E-mail Number /" directory, create a password string and save it as a password file.

The original mail storage 404 is checked in the sender's mail mailbox (405), and if it is normal, a mail notification mail 301 is generated (406), and the mail is processed in a conventional manner (407). The generation process of the sending notification mail 301 is as follows; In the user identifier 303, a part of the directory path information in which the original mail is stored is stored in the user identifier 303, and the password stored in the corresponding mail number directory is stored in the password 304 to create a body. The header of the mail is created by including the header 302. If the original mail storage 404 result is abnormal in the sender's mailbox, if the sender's down-mail server 102 does not have its own sender's mailbox, the sender sends an SMTP error code 550, and the mailbox is opened. If there is no free space, the relevant SMTP error code 450 is returned (408).

When the mail server equipped with the message transfer agent 105 checks whether or not the relay is allowed or not, the result of checking whether the relay is the destination of the received mail (402), the relay is not allowed, but the message delivery agent 105 is loaded. If the downloaded mail server is the destination of the received mail, it checks the mail type (409). If it is a signal mail, it performs the conventional mail receiving process (410), and if it is the original mail, it cannot receive the SMTP message. Error code 501 is returned (411). If the relay is not allowed and is not the destination, an error is returned 412 in the conventional manner.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the receiver 104 can receive both mails, such as signal mail and original mail. In order to receive the signal mail, the receiver accesses the mail mailbox manager 106 of the downside mail server 103 and receives the signal mail sent to the user through an authentication process with a user identifier and a password. Receiving such a signal mail is the same as the conventional electronic mail method. After receiving the sending notification mail, which is a kind of signal mail, accessing the sending mail mailbox manager 108 of the sending down mail server 102 with the information in the sending notification mail, and authenticating the user mail with the user identifier and password. Take a look. The procedure for receiving signal mails and original mails is the same except that the access mail server and the mail mailbox are different, and the identifier and password used are different.

5 shows a procedure in which the receiver 104 receives a mail in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. After receiving the sending notification mail 301, which is a kind of the signal mail (501), it is determined whether to receive the original mail (502). If desired, the user's mail box manager 108 of the sender's down-mail server 102 obtains the user identifier and password required for authentication from the sender notification mail 301 (503). Thereafter, the sender accesses the mail mailbox manager 108 of the down mail server 102 and receives the original mail (504). Here, the process of obtaining the user identifier and password and receiving the original mail can be easily automated by the program.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sending mail mailbox manager 108 mounted on the sending mail server 102 and the receiving mail server 103 performs a function similar to that of the receiving mail mail manager 106. .

Figure 6 shows the process of the sending mail mailbox manager 108 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. When the original mail request is received from the receiver 104 (601), the user identifier and password are received and the user is authenticated by checking whether a directory corresponding to the user identifier exists and whether the directory matches the password stored in the directory (602). If authentication fails, the request is rejected. If the authentication passes, the original mail is sent to the recipient 105 in the directory corresponding to the user identifier (603). If the original mail is successfully delivered, an acknowledgment mail is created and sent to the sender, and the original mail is deleted (604). The communication between the sender's mailbox manager 108 and the receiver 104 is performed by IMAP or POP3, which is a standardized communication procedure.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sending mail mailbox manager 108 and the receiving mail mailbox manager 106 may be implemented in two ways as follows. The first method is to configure the sender mailbox manager 108 as a separate program from the conventional receiver mailbox manager 106 and assign a separate TCP / UDP port number. The second method uses the TCP / UDP port number that was assigned to the conventional receiving mailbox manager 108 by configuring the sending mailbox manager 108 as a program with the conventional receiving mailbox manager 106. This is to identify which mailbox manager requests access in the form of a character of a user identifier used when requesting an access of the receiver 104. For example, if the user identifier is a plain character, it tries to access the receiving mail mailbox manager 106, and if it contains the special character "/", it distinguishes it from trying to access the sending mail mailbox manager 108. It is.

FIG. 7 illustrates a process of sending a mail to a receiver 104 having a mail address of tjkim@cntc.ac.kr by a sender 101 having a mail address of kdhong@yahoo.com in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Here, the sending downmail server is allowed to relay mail sent from the yahoo.com domain.

The sender creates a mail and sends it to mail.yahoo.com, which is the sender down mail server 102. The message delivery agent (105) of the mail.yahoo.com mail server sees that the e-mail is allowed to be relayed and accepts it. If there is no directory named tjkimcntcackr in the sending mailbox "tx_mailbox / kdhong /", create an empty directory number in "tx_mailbox / kdhong / tjkimcntcackr /". For example, if the second is empty, create a subdirectory with the number 2 The mail text is stored in the directory "tx_mailbox / kdhong / tjkimcntcackr / 2", and a password is created and stored in the password file. In addition, a sender notification mail 301 is created by using a user identifier "kdhong / tjkimcntcackr / 2" which is a header of the original mail and the path information in which the original mail is stored, and a stored password. mail.cntc.ac.kr Sends to the mail server.

In the mail.cntc.ac.kr, the message delivery agent (105) is waiting, and if the mail.yahoo.com mail server checks the destination of the sent mail, it checks the size of the mail body and checks whether it is a signal mail. If so, save it as a file called tjkim in your mailbox (/ var / mail directory). If it is not a signal mail, it returns the error code SMTP 501.

When the receiver 104 receives the mail notification mail and receives the original mail, the receiver 104 first accesses the mail downloader mail.yahoo.com using the user identifier and password in the mail notification mail and receives the mail mail. The sender's mailbox manager 108 of mail.yahoo.com, which is the sender's down-mail server 102, delivers the mail source, deletes the directory "tx_mailbox / kdhong / tjkimcntcackr / 2", and confirms the receipt. Is sent to the sender kdhong@yahoo.com

According to the present invention, the original mail sent by the sender 101 is stored in the sending mail mailbox 108 of the sending down mail server 102, and only the sending notification mail 301 is provided to the recipient 104 in the conventional electronic mail form. And the recipient 104 who receives the delivery notification mail 301 and reads the original mail stored in the sending mail mailbox 108 in the sending down mail server 102 by his intention. In other words, it relates to a down-mail method of communicating mail in the form of a download. The following effects can be expected by giving an initiative of the mail communication to the recipients to prevent inadvertent transmission of the mail.

First, since the sender does not bear most of the burden of the mail communication, it is possible to refrain from sending unrestricted mail.

Second, the recipient can see the outgoing notification mail first, and then receive it only if he wants to see the original mail, thereby greatly reducing the burden of processing the spam mail.

Third, since the sender stores the mail, the mail communication obstacle caused by the overload of the receiving mail server is largely eliminated.

Fourth, the receipt notification mail confirms whether the recipient took the mail.

In addition, the above description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description only. The invention is not limited to the form shown, and many variations and modifications are possible in light of the principles of the invention described above. The described embodiments are selected to best describe the principles and substantive provisions of the present invention in order that those skilled in the art may use the invention in various embodiments and as appropriate to the specific application desired. It is intended that the scope of the invention only be limited by the appended claims below.

Claims (5)

In e-mail communication methods such as Internet mail or web mail, The original mail sent by the sender 101 is stored in the sending mail mailbox 108 of the sending mail server 102, and then a sending notification mail 301 is created, and only the sending notification mail 301 is a conventional electronic mail system. The sender's mail mailbox of the sender's mail server 102 by IMAP or POP3, which is a communication procedure standardized by its intention, which is delivered to the receiver 104 and received the send notification mail 301. Receiving the original mail stored in the (108) and the down-mail method and system characterized in that when the recipient (104) receives the original mail received notification mail sent to the sender (101) of the original mail. The method of claim 1, Send to provide the sender's mail mailbox in the form of "Sender's mail mailbox / Sender identifier / Recipient identifier / Mail number /" directory to the sender 101 registered in the sender's down-mail server 102 with an account having the sender's mail mailbox. Side mail mailbox 109; And when the recipient 104 reads the delivery notification mail (301) requests the original mail with the user identifier 303 and the password 304 carried in the delivery notification mail (301), the original mail is delivered after the authentication, The sender's mail mailbox manager 108 which notifies the sender 101 that the original mail has been received by the received notification mail. The method of claim 1, Receive the original mail which is allowed to be relayed and store in the sender's sender's mail mailbox 108 (404), and sender identifier / which is some path information of the original mail stored in the header of the original mail and the sender's mailbox (109). Sending notification mail 301 is generated with a user identifier made of a recipient identifier / mail number / "and a randomly generated password (406) and delivered to the receiving side down-mail server 103 (407), and the receiving side equipped with Even if the down mail server 103 is the destination of the received mail, the message forwarding agent 105 blocks the reception of the original mail other than the signal mail and returns the SMTP error code 501 (411). The method of claim 1, Classifying mail into original mail and signal mail; Distinguishing the signal mail from the original mail by the length of the mail body (403, 409); A sending notification mail 301 consisting of a header of the original mail, a user identifier and a password, and a method of notifying the sending of the body mail using the same (406); And a receiving notification mail made by changing the address of the sender and the receiver in the header of the original mail and prefixing the form with the "received:" and a method of notifying the recipient 104 that the original mail has been received using the same. The method of claim 1, The sender's mailbox manager 108 is configured with the conventional recipient's mailbox manager 106 as one program to use the TCP / UDP port number assigned to the recipient's mailbox manager 108 and the receiver 104. How to identify which mailbox manager is requesting access in the form of the character of the user identifier used when requesting access.