WO2001091391A1

WO2001091391A1 - Mail server, mail management system, mail management method, and recording medium

Info

Publication number: WO2001091391A1
Application number: PCT/JP2000/004953
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ryutaro Hotta; Susumu Yoshida; Takanori Amano
Original assignee: E-Jan Net Co.
Priority date: 2000-05-24
Filing date: 2000-07-25
Publication date: 2001-11-29
Also published as: AU6024300A

Abstract

The mail transmitted and received by individual users registered in a mail management server is associated with the registered users to provide mail in response to requests from the users. To prevent unauthorized access to mail, mail is provided after registered users' passwords have been authenticated. If identical messages arrive in mail, at least one of them is deleted to efficiently store mail using less storage space.

Description

Description Mail management server, mail management system, mail management method, and recording medium

The present invention relates to a mail management server, a mail management system having a mail management server, a mail management method for managing mail, and a recording medium for managing mail. In particular, the present invention relates to a mail management server that stores and manages and provides e-mail (hereinafter, referred to as mail), a mail management system having a mail management server, a mail management method, and a recording medium that stores a program for managing mail. . This application is related to the following Japanese patent application. For those designated countries that are permitted to be incorporated by reference to the literature, the contents described in the following application are incorporated into this application by reference and are incorporated as a part of the description of this application.

Japanese Patent Application No. 2 0 0 0— 1 5 3 7 3 9 Filing Date May 24, 2012 Background Technology

The number of e-mails sent to a large number of users, such as in-house business e-mail magazines, is increasing. For this reason, the number of mails received by the user is also increasing. Also, a user may have multiple email addresses, such as a corporate, home, or mobile phone. For this reason, users may delete important emails by mistake or forget which terminal has the emails they were trying to view later.

However, it is difficult for a conventional e-mail viewing software to integrate e-mails received by multiple terminals and to restore e-mails deleted due to erroneous operations.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a mail management system, a mail management server, and a mail management method that can solve the above problems. This object is achieved by a combination of features described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous embodiments of the present invention. Disclosure of the invention In order to solve the above-described problems, according to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a mail management system for managing e-mails, a mail management system for managing e-mails, and It has an SMTP server and a mail management server that receives e-mail from at least one of the plurality of SMTP servers. The e-mail management server stores a registered user database storing the e-mail address of the e-mail owned by the registered user as a registered address in association with a user ID for identifying the registered user registered in the e-mail management server; A mail receiving unit that receives the mail, an address authentication unit that determines whether at least one of the addresses of the destination and the source of the e-mail is a registered address stored in the registered user database, If at least one of the destination address and the source address of the e-mail is a registered address, the e-mail database that stores the e-mail and the e-mail that requests the e-mail stored in the e-mail database A request receiving unit that receives request information from a user and an e-mail indicated by the mail request information are provided. And having a providing unit.

The e-mail includes password information for identifying the registered user, and the mail management server may further include a password information authentication unit that authenticates the password information included in the email received by the mail receiving unit. The e-mail may be stored in the mail database when the e-mail receiving unit receives the e-mail and the personal identification information authentication unit authenticates the personal identification information. The registered user database may further store a password in association with the user ID, and the mail management server may further include a password authentication unit that authenticates a password corresponding to the user ID. When the request receiving unit receives the e-mail request information from the user, the password authentication unit may authenticate the password of the user, and when the password authentication unit authenticates the password of the registered user, the providing unit: An e-mail indicated by the e-mail request information may be provided.

The mail request information may include password information for identifying the registered user. The password information authentication unit may authenticate the password information included in the e-mail received by the request receiving unit. The mail management server has the same mail detection unit that detects emails containing the same text from multiple emails, and the text deletion that deletes at least the text of at least one of the emails detected by the same mail detection unit. And a unit. The mail database stores the e-mail whose body has been deleted by the body deletion part. If the e-mail received by the receiver and the e-mail held in the mail database contain the same body, the body deletion part The body contained in one of the e-mail and the e-mail held in the mail database may be deleted.

The same mail detection unit detects the same mail content extracted from the same mail candidate extraction unit that extracts e-mail candidates that include the same text and the same mail content extracted from the same mail extraction unit. The same mail extraction unit may be included.

The mail management server may further include a unique information generation unit that generates unique body information of the body of the electronic mail. The same mail candidate extraction unit may extract an e-mail having the same body unique information from a plurality of e-mails.

The same mail candidate extraction unit may extract an e-mail having the same transmission source from a plurality of e-mails.

The same mail candidate extraction unit may extract electronic mails having the same transmission time from a plurality of electronic mails.

The same mail catching and extracting unit may extract e-mails having the same body size from a plurality of e-mails.

The same email catching and extracting unit includes: first identical email candidate extraction means for extracting, from a plurality of emails, emails each having the same unique text body information as the unique email body; A second identical e-mail sample extraction unit for extracting an e-mail having the same sender from the e-mail extracted by the e-mail extraction unit and a second identical e-mail candidate extraction unit Third electronic mail candidate extracting means for extracting electronic mails having the same transmission time from the extracted electronic mails may be included.

The same mail candidate extraction unit may extract, from a plurality of e-mails, two e-mails whose time difference received by the mail reception unit is within a predetermined range of time.

The mail management server may further include an identification information providing unit for providing identification information for identifying the text of the received e-mail. The identification information adding unit may add the same identification information to the e-mail including the same text detected by the same mail detection unit, and the text deletion unit may set at least one of the e-mails having the same identification information. Email body You can delete it.

The e-mail receiving unit may receive the e-mail, and further include a deletion unit for deleting the received e-mail when the same e-mail as the received e-mail is stored in the mail database.

The mail database may store at least the email with the body removed. When the request receiving unit receives e-mail request information indicating the e-mail whose body has been deleted, the mail management server extracts the deleted body from the mail database and sends the extracted body to the electronic mail. It may further include a text embedding part to be embedded in the mail. The providing unit may provide the electronic mail with the text embedded.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mail management server for managing e-mail, the e-mail possessed by the registered user being associated with a user ID for identifying a registered user registered in the e-mail management server. The registered user database that stores the e-mail address of the e-mail as a registered address, the e-mail receiving unit that receives the e-mail, and at least one of the e-mail destination address and the source address An address authentication unit that determines whether the registered address is a registered address, and a mail that stores an e-mail when at least one of an e-mail destination address and a sender address is a registered address. A database, and a request receiving unit that receives mail request information for requesting e-mail stored in the mail database from the user. And a providing unit for providing an e-mail indicated by the mail request information.

The electronic device may further include a password information authentication unit that authenticates password information included in the e-mail received by the mail receiving unit. If the e-mail receiving unit receives the e-mail and the personal identification information authentication unit authenticates the personal identification information, the mail database may store the e-mail. The registered user database may further store a password in association with the user ID. A password authentication unit that authenticates a password corresponding to the user ID may be further provided. When the request receiving unit receives the e-mail request information from the user, the password authentication unit and the authentication unit authenticate the user's password, and when the password authentication unit authenticates the registered user's password, the providing unit An electronic mail indicated by the mail request information may be provided.

The password information authentication unit may authenticate password information included in the received e-mail. A same-mail detection unit that detects an e-mail containing the same text from multiple e-mails; and a text deletion unit that deletes at least the text of at least one of the e-mails detected by the same e-mail detection unit. May further have. The mail database may store the e-mail with the body deleted.

If the received e-mail and the e-mail held in the mail database contain the same body, the body deletion unit deletes the body contained in either the received e-mail or the e-mail held in the mail database. Is also good.

The same mail detection unit detects the same mail candidate extraction unit that extracts e-mails containing the same body text, and detects an e-mail whose body content is the same from the e-mails extracted by the same mail candidate extraction unit. The same mail extraction unit may be included.

It may further include a unique information generation unit that generates unique body information unique to the body of the e-mail. The same e-mail sample extraction unit may extract e-mails having the same body unique information from a plurality of e-mails.

The same-mail-sentence extraction unit may extract electronic mails having the same transmission time from a plurality of electronic mails.

The same mail candidate extraction unit is configured to: extract, from a plurality of e-mails, e-mails having the same body-specific information unique to the body of the e-mail, and a first same-email candidate extraction unit; The same sending source is extracted from the e-mail extracted by the means The second identical e-mail candidate extracting means for extracting the e-mail is the same as the transmission time from the e-mail extracted by the second e-mail candidate extracting means And third means for extracting the same email.

The same e-mail candidate extraction unit may extract two e-mails in which the difference between the times received by the e-mail reception unit is within a predetermined range of time from a plurality of e-mails.

It may further include an identification information providing unit for providing identification information for identifying the text of the received e-mail. The identification information adding unit includes the same text detected by the same mail detection unit. The same identification information may be added to the e-mail, and the body deletion unit may delete the body of at least one of the e-mails having the same identification information. When the same e-mail as the received e-mail is stored in the mail database, the mail database may further include a deletion unit for deleting the received e-mail.

The mail database stores at least the e-mail with the body deleted, and the mail management server sends the deleted body to the e-mail when the request receiving unit receives e-mail request information indicating the e-mail with the body deleted. It may further include a text extracting unit for extracting the text from the database, and a text embedding unit for embedding the extracted text in the e-mail. The providing unit may provide the electronic mail with the text embedded.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mail management method for managing e-mails stored in a mail database for storing e-mails, the method comprising: receiving a mail receiving an e-mail; Whether at least one of the sender addresses is a registered address stored in a registered user database that stores the registered user's e-mail address as a registered address in association with the user ID that identifies the registered user An address authentication step of judging whether or not the e-mail is stored in an e-mail database when at least one of an e-mail destination address and a transmission source address is a registered address, and an e-mail is stored in an e-mail database. A request receiving step of receiving e-mail request information from the user requesting an e-mail; And having a providing step of providing an electronic mail indicating the mail request information. In the storing step, the password information included in the received electronic mail may be authenticated, and if the authentication is successful, the electronic mail may be stored in the mail database.

The registered user database may further store a password in association with the user ID. The system may further include a passcode authentication step for authenticating a password corresponding to the user ID, and when the e-mail request information is received from the user and the user's password is authenticated, the providing step is indicated by the e-mail request information. An email may be provided. In the password authentication step, the password included in the received e-mail may be authenticated.

'Same email detection step of detecting emails containing the same body from multiple emails, and at least the body of at least one of the detected emails And deleting the text. The storing step may store the e-mail with the body deleted.

If the received e-mail and the e-mail held in the mail database contain the same body, the body deletion step deletes the body contained in either the received e-mail or the e-mail held in the mail database. May be.

The same e-mail detection step includes the same e-mail candidate extraction step of extracting e-mail candidates including the same text, and the same e-mail extraction step of detecting e-mails having the same text content from the extracted e-mails. May be.

The method may further include a unique information generating step of generating unique body information unique to the body of the received e-mail. An e-mail having the same body-specific information may be extracted from a plurality of e-mails.

In the same mail candidate extraction step, an e-mail having the same transmission source may be extracted from a plurality of e-mails.

In the same mail candidate extraction step, an e-mail whose transmission time is the same may be extracted from a plurality of e-mails.

In the same mail candidate extraction step, an e-mail having the same body size may be extracted from a plurality of e-mails.

The same-email candidate extraction step includes: extracting a same-email candidate extracting means for extracting an e-mail having the same body-specific information unique to the body of the e-mail from a plurality of e-mails; A second identical e-mail candidate extraction unit for extracting e-mails having the same sender from the e-mail extracted by the extraction unit, and a transmission time from the e-mail extracted by the second e-mail candidate extraction unit Third electronic mail candidate extracting means for extracting the same electronic mail may be included.

In the same mail candidate extraction stage, two e-mails whose time difference between the times received from a plurality of e-mails is within a predetermined range of time may be extracted.

It may further include an identification information adding step of adding identification information for identifying the text of the received e-mail. In the identification information adding step, the same identification information may be added to e-mails including the same text, and in the text deletion step, at least one of the e-mails having the same identification information is deleted. May be. When the same e-mail as the received e-mail is stored in the mail database, the method may further include a deleting step of deleting the received e-mail.

The mail database may store at least the email with the body removed. The mail management method includes a body extracting step of extracting the deleted body from a mail database when receiving mail request information indicating an e-mail whose body has been deleted, and a body for embedding the extracted body in the e-mail. The method may further include an embedding step. At the provision stage, an e-mail with the body embedded may be provided.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium storing a computer program for managing an electronic mail stored in a mail database storing an electronic mail, the mail receiving module receiving the electronic mail, At least one of the destination address and the source address is a registered address stored in a registered user database that stores the registered user's e-mail address as the registered address in accordance with the user ID that identifies the registered user. An address authentication module for determining whether or not there is a mail address, a storage module for storing an e-mail in a mail database when at least one of an e-mail destination and a sender address is a registered address, and a mail database Email required to request email stored in A request receiving module that information received from the user, and JP ί mat to have a provision module to provide Hisage e-mail indicating the mail request information. ·

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a mail management system.

2, _t Figure 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a mail management server 4 0 is a schematic functional Proc view of main one management unit 5 0.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the data format of the user database 80.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data format of the main database 90.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the mail registration unit 400.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of the mail providing unit 500.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mail registration unit 400. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the detailed operation of the mail registration unit 400.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the detailed operation of the mail registration unit 400. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a mail request display screen of the user terminal 12.

FIG. 12 shows a search result screen for a mail request.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mail providing unit 500.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation of the main information providing unit 500. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the detailed operation of the mail registration unit 400. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the detailed operation of the mail registration unit 400. . Explanation of Signs

1 0 Internet

2 0 P O P Server

3 0 S MTP server

4 0 Mail management server

5 0 Mail Management Department

8 0 User database

9 0 Menu / Re database

4 0 0 Email registration section

4 1 0 Mail receiver

4 2 0 Address authentication section

4 3 0 Object ID

4 4 0 Unique information generation unit

4 5 0 Same mail detector

4 5 2 Same mail candidate extraction unit

4 5 4 Same mail extractor

4 6 0 Identification information giving section

4 7 0 Mail deletion section

4 8 0 Message deletion section

5 0 0 Email provider 5 10 Request receiver

520 Password authentication unit

530 Email extractor

540 Text Extractor

550 Text embedding part

560 Provision section Best mode for carrying out the invention

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described. Figure 1 shows an overview of the entire mail management system. The mail management system includes an SMTP server 30 that receives mail from the user terminal 12 or the mobile phone 18, a POP server 20 that sends mail to the user terminal 12 or the mobile phone 18, and a mail management server 40. The mail management server 40 manages the mail of the registered user in association with the registered user who has registered the user information in advance. Here, the registered user's mail is the mail sent or received by the registered user. The mail management server 40 receives a registered user's mail from at least one of the POP server 20 and the SMTP server 30 and stores the mail. Further, the mail management server 40 receives a mail request from a registered user and provides the requested mail to the registered user.

The registered user connects to the Internet 10 using the user terminal 12 to send and receive mail. The mobile phone 18 is a wireless device having a data communication function, and the user connects to the Internet 10 via the wireless communication network 16 and the gateway 14 using the mobile phone 18, and transmits mail in the same manner as the user terminal 12. Can send and receive. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the mail management server 40. The menu management server 40 has a CPU 702, a ROM 704, a RAM 706, a communication interface 708, a hard disk drive 712, a database interface 714, a user database 80, and a menu database 90. The CPU 702 operates based on programs stored in the ROM 704 and the RAM 706. A hard disk drive 712 as an example of a storage device stores setting information and a program for operating the CPU 702. Communication interface ⁷⁰ 8 connects to the Internet 10 to send and receive mail. The database interface 714 connects to the user database 80 and the mail database 90 to receive or transfer mail data. The user database 80 stores mail addresses owned by registered users in association with user IDs for identifying registered users. The mail database 90 stores the mail transmitted and received by the registered user via the Internet 10 in association with the user ID. Also, the mail database ₉₀ stores body-specific information unique to the body of the mail in association with the mail. The text-specific information will be described later in detail.

FIG. 3 is a schematic functional block diagram of a mail management unit 50 that manages a mail characteristic of the present embodiment. The mail management unit 500 includes a mail registration unit 400 and a mail providing unit 500. As an example, the mail registration section 400 and the mail provision section 500 are realized by the cooperation of the CPU 702 in FIG. 2 and the programs stored or loaded in the ROM 704 and the RAM 706. can do. When the CPU 702 has a built-in memory, necessary programs may be stored in the memory, and various functions may be realized as firmware.

The mail registration unit 400 stores the mail transmitted and received by the registered user via the Internet 10 in the mail database 90. The mail providing unit 500 extracts a mail requested by the registered user via the Internet 10 from the mail database 90 and provides the mail to the registered user.

FIG. 4 shows the data format of the user database 80. The user database 80 stores the password and the mail address owned by the registered user in association with the registered user's user ID. When a user has a plurality of mail addresses, the user database 80 stores a plurality of mail addresses in association with one user ID. Therefore, even if the registered user has a plurality of mail addresses, the mail management server 40 can recognize these addresses as the mail addresses of the same user.

Figure 5 shows the data format of the mail database 90. The mail database 90 is the object ID unique to the mail, the mail title, the body of the mail, the sender address, the destination address, the sending date and time sent by the sender user, and the POP server. 20 stores the reception date and time received, the storage date and time stored by the mail registration unit 400, the size of the mail, the unique information of the body of the mail, and the identification information for identifying the body of the mail in association with the user ID. Here, the object ID may be a serial number in the order in which the mail management server 40 receives the mail. The mail database 90 can identify each mail by the object ID. As described above, the mail database 90 stores the mail in association with the user ID, so that the mail providing unit 500 can easily extract the mail when providing the mail to the registered user. .

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the mail registration unit 400. The mail registration section 400 includes a mail receiving section 410, an address authentication section 420, an object ID assigning section 430, a unique information generating section 440, and an identical mail detecting section 450. It has an identification information providing unit 460, a mail deleting unit 470, and a text deleting unit 480. The mail receiving unit 410 receives mail from the SMTP server 30 via the Internet 10 and sends the received mail to the address authentication unit 420. The address authentication unit 420 determines whether at least one of the destination address and the source address of the mail received from the mail receiving unit 410 is a registered address stored in the user database 80. to decide. When the address authentication unit 420 determines that at least one of the destination address and the source address of the mail is a registered address, the address authentication unit 420 converts the mail received from the mail reception unit 410 into an object ID. Send to the application section 4 3 0. The object ID adding section 430 adds the object ID to the received mail and sends it to the unique information generating section 440.

On the other hand, when the mail receiving unit 410 receives the same mail from the SMTP server 30, the address authentication unit 420 sends one of the mails to the mail deleting unit 470. The mail deletion section 470 deletes the received mail. As described above, when the same mail is received, one of them is deleted, so that the mail can be efficiently stored in the mail database 90 without wasting memory. '

Specific information generating unit 4 4 0 creates a unique body-specific information in the body of the mail received from the object ID assigning unit ⁴ 3 0 is applied to the mail. The body-specific information unique to the body of the email may be, for example, a hash obtained by simplifying the body data using a hash function. Specific information generating unit ^{4 4} 0, given the text-specific information The e-mail is sent to the same menole weather trapping and extracting unit 450. The same mail detection section 450 includes the same mail candidate extraction section 452 and the same mail extraction section 454. The same mail candidate extraction unit 452 extracts mails having the same body unique information as the body unique information attached to the received mail, from the mails stored in the mail database 90. The same mail catching and extracting unit 452 sends the mail received from the unique information generating unit 44 and the mail extracted from the mail database 90 to the same mail extracting unit 454. The same mail extraction unit 454 receives the text of the mail extracted from the mail database 90 by the same mail candidate extraction unit 452, and the same mail candidate extraction unit 452 receives from the unique information generation unit 440 Compare the full text of the email. The same e-mail extraction unit 4 54 determines that the same e-mail sentence extraction unit 4 52 has the same e-mail text as received from the unique information generation unit 4 40 and the e-mail text extracted from the e-mail database 90. If judged, both e-mails are sent to the body deletion section 480. On the other hand, when the same mail candidate extraction unit 452 determines that the text of the mail received from the unique information generation unit 440 and the text of the mail extracted from the mail database 90 are not the same, the same mail extraction The section 454 stores both mails in the mail database 90.

The body deletion unit 480 deletes the body of the mail received by the mail reception unit 410 out of the received mail, and sends it to the identification information providing unit 460 together with the mail extracted from the mail database 90. . The identification information adding unit 480 adds the object ID of the mail extracted from the mail database 90 to the mail whose body has been deleted by the body deletion unit 480 as identification information for identifying the body of the mail. The identification information adding unit 460 sends the mail with the identification information added to the mail deleting unit 470. When determining that the mail extracted from the mail database ₉₀ and the mail to which the identification information is added are the same mail, the mail deletion unit 470 deletes the mail to which the identification information is added. When determining that the mail extracted from the mail database 90 and the mail with the identification information are not the same mail, the mail deletion unit 470 stores the mail with the identification information added to the mail database 90.

As described above, since the mail is deleted from the body of the mail and stored in the mail database 90, the memory can be saved. E-mail magazines and in-house e-mails require a large amount of memory per person compared to individual e-mails, resulting in high memory usage fees. Also, since e-mail magazines and in-house e-mails are distributed to many users, there are many e-mails with the same contents in the database. In such a case, the mail management server 40 can compress a plurality of mails having the same content into one mail, so that the memory of the user terminal can be saved and the environment of the user terminal can be improved.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of the menu providing unit 500. The request receiving unit 5100 receives, via the Internet 10, a provision instruction for providing mail from a registered user, a provision method, a user ID and a password of the registered user. The request receiving section 5110 sends the user ID and password of the registered user to the password authentication section 5200. In addition, the request receiving unit 5110 sends a provision instruction to the text extracting unit 5300. Further, the request receiving section 5100 sends a mail providing method to the providing section 5600.

The password authentication unit 520 compares the received user ID with the user ID stored in the user database 80, and performs password authentication. When the password authentication unit 5200 authenticates the password, the mail extraction unit 5300 extracts a mail from the mail database 90 in accordance with the provision instruction received from the request reception unit 5110. In addition, the mail extraction unit 530 determines whether or not the text of the extracted mail has been deleted. When determining that the body of the extracted mail has been deleted, the mail extracting unit 550 sends the extracted mail to the body embedding unit 550. As described above, when e-mail is provided, the user who requested the e-mail is authenticated, so that the privacy of the user can be protected.

If the body extracting unit 540 determines that the body of the extracted mail has been deleted, it sends the identification information given to the extracted mail to the body extracting unit 540. The main text extracting unit 540 extracts the main text corresponding to the received identification information from the mail database 90 and sends it to the main text embedding unit 550. The body embedding section 540 embeds the body of the mail received from the body extracting section 540 in the mail received from the mail extracting section 530 and sends it to the providing section 560. Also, the mail extracting unit 530 sends the mail that has determined that the text has not been deleted to the providing unit 560.

The providing unit 560 provides the mail received from the mail extracting unit 530 and the body embedding unit 550 to the registered user by the providing method received from the request receiving unit 510. Mail can be provided by replying to the registered address of the registered user who made the mail request, Includes mail forwarded to an e-mail address other than the registered user who made the request. As another form, it may be stored in a storage device such as a CD-ROM without mail via the Internet 10 and mailed.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mail registration unit 400 when the mail registration unit 400 registers a mail in the mail database 900. The mail receiving unit 410 receives a mail via the Internet 10 (S100). If at least one of the destination address and the source address of the received mail is a registered address (S101), the object ID assigning section 430 assigns a unique object ID to the mail. (S102). If both the destination address and the source address of the mail are not registered addresses (S101), the operation of the mail registration unit 400 ends. The same mail detection unit 450 compares the text of the received mail with the text of the mail registered in the mail database 90 (S104). If the body of the received mail matches the body of the mail stored in the mail database 90 (S106), the body of the received mail is deleted (S108). If the body of the received mail does not match the body of the mail stored in the mail database 90 in S106, the process jumps to S116. Next, the identification information providing unit 460 adds the object ID of the same body mail as the body identification information to the mail from which the body has been deleted (S109).

Next, the mail deletion section 470 compares the received mail with the same body mail (S110). If the received mail and the same body mail are the same (S112), the mail deletion section 470 deletes the received mail (S114). When the received mail and the same body mail are not the same, the mail deleting section 4.70 stores the received mail in the mail database 90 (S116). Thus, the operation of the mail registration unit 400 ends. As described above, the mail registration unit 400 deletes the received mail when the same mail and the mail including the same text are present in the mail database 90, so that the mail management server 400 saves memory. be able to.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation of the mail registration unit 400 in S104 of FIG. The unique information generation unit 440 creates a hash of the body of the received mail (S200). Mail with the same hash as the received mail If it is stored in the source mail 90 (S 202), the same mail candidate extraction unit 452 extracts mail having the same hash as the hash of the received mail from the main database 90. I do. The hash has a smaller capacity than the full text. Therefore, comparing the hashes makes it possible to extract the same mail candidate in a shorter time than when comparing the texts. If the difference between the reception time of the next extracted mail and the reception time of the received mail is within the predetermined range time (S204), the same mail extraction unit 454 further checks whether the texts of both mails match in full text. Judge. When the texts of both mails match in full text (S206), the same mail extraction unit 454 determines that the texts of both mails are the same (S208). As described above, by limiting the same mail candidate to the mails received by the mail receiving unit 410 within the predetermined range time, the same mail detecting unit 450 can greatly reduce the processing time.

If the same hash as the mail received in S202 is not stored in the mail database 90, if the difference between the reception times of both mails is not within the predetermined range time in S204, and S206 If the texts of both mails do not match in full text, the same mail extraction unit 454 determines that the texts of both mails are not the same (S210). FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation of the mail registration unit 400 in S110 of FIG. The mail deletion section 470 determines whether the sender of the same body mail as the received mail is the same (S300). If it is determined that the source address of the same body mail as the received mail is the same, the mail deletion unit 470 determines whether the destination addresses of both mails are the same. If it is determined that the destination address of the same mail as the received mail is the same (S302), the mail deletion unit 470 determines whether the transmission times of both mails are the same. When it is determined that the transmission time of the same body mail as that of the received mail is the same (S304), the mail deletion unit 470 determines whether the titles of both mails are the same. If it is determined that the title of the received mail is the same as the title of the same body mail (S306), the mail deletion unit 470 determines that both mails are the same (S308). If it is determined that the source address of the same body mail as the mail received in S300 is not the same, if it is determined that the destination address of the received body mail and the same body mail is not the same, and the same as the received mail If it is determined that the title of the body mail is not the same, the mail deletion unit 470 determines that the mail is not the same (S3 1 0) _o

FIG. 11 shows a screen displayed on the display unit 13 of the user terminal 12 when a user makes a mail request. The user inputs necessary items for the mail request based on the standard format displayed on the display unit 13. The user enters the user ID and password in the user authentication fields 1 and 2. The search items 13 4 are entered by the user in the key words, date of transmission, date of reception, from address (source address), to address (destination address), etc., necessary for the search. The search result receiving means 1336 can be selected from reply mail to the mail address to which the user has made the mail request, mail forwarded to a mail address other than the address of the reply mail, and CD-ROM. The user sends the mail created based on the standard format to the mail management server 40 as mail request information. Since the mail request information is created based on the fixed format in this way, the user can easily request the necessary mail from the mail management server 40.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a search result for the mail request in FIG. 11 on the display unit 13. When the registered user transmits the mail request information, the registered user receives the search result from the mail management server 40. One column of e-mail corresponding to the search condition entered by the user in the search item 1 34 is displayed on the search result screen 14. The user can view the details of the e-mail by clicking on the main display area that he wants to view. The operation of the mail providing unit 500 when the user sends a mail request will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mail providing unit 500. The request receiving section 5100 receives a mail request from the user via the Internet 10 requesting reception of a mail (S400). Next, the password authentication unit 520 receives the user ID and the password entered by the user into the user authentication field 132 from the request receiving unit 5110 (S402). If the password authentication unit 520 determines that the password input by the user is a password corresponding to the user ID (S440), the body extraction unit 530 sends the mail specified by the mail request to the mail database 9 Extract from 0 (S406). When the password authentication unit 520 determines that the password input by the user is not the password corresponding to the user ID (S404), the operation of the mail providing unit 500 ends. The providing unit 550 provides the mail extracted from the mail database 90 in S 406 by a providing method instructed by the user (S 408). With the above, the e-mail provider 500 The work ends.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation of the mail providing unit 500 in S 406 of FIG. The mail extracting unit 530 extracts a request mail that satisfies the search condition indicated by the mail request from the mail database 90 (S500). If the body of the request mail has been deleted (S502), the body extracting unit 540 extracts the body corresponding to the identification information included in the mail from the mail database 90 (S500). 0 4). If the text of the mail extracted in S502 is not deleted (S502), the process jumps to S508. The body embedding section 550 embeds the extracted mail body in the request mail as the body of the request mail (S506). If the mail satisfying the search condition has not been extracted yet, the operation from S500 to S506 is repeated (S508). If the body of the mail extracted in this way is deleted, the body can be embedded in the mail and provided to registered users.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. The mail database 90 of the first embodiment stores a hash, but the mail database 90 of the present embodiment does not store a hash. The operation of the same mail detection unit 450 and the body deletion unit described in FIG. 6 in the first embodiment with reference to FIG. This is different from the operation of part 480. Also, the mail registration unit 400 of the present embodiment does not have the unique information generation unit 450. The operation of the mail registration unit 400 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The other components of the operation of the mail registration unit 400 and the mail providing unit 500 are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the description is omitted.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing the detailed operation of the mail registration unit 400 in S104 of FIG. The same mail candidate extraction unit 452 determines whether or not a mail including the same source address as the received mail exists in the database 90. When the same sender address as the received mail is stored in the mail database 90 (S602), the same mail catcher 452 extracts the same mail address having the same sender address as the received mail. -Extract mail candidates from the mail database 90 and determine whether the sending times of both mails are the same. If the transmission time of the received mail and the same candidate mail is determined to be the same (S 6 0 4), the same email candidate extracting unit 4 5 ² determines both email hashes whether same Yes (S606). Hash of the same candidate mail as the received mail If it is determined that the mails are the same, the same mail extraction unit 454 determines whether the texts of both mails match in the full text (S608). If the full text of the received e-mail matches the same sentence of the same sentiment e-mail, the same e-mail extractor 454 determines that the body of both e-mails is the same (S612).

If the same source address as the mail received in S602 is not stored in the mail database 90, if the sending time of both mails is not the same in S604, both mails in S606 If the hashes of the e-mails are not the same, and if the texts of both e-mails do not match in S 608, the same e-mail extraction unit 454 determines that the texts of both e-mails are not the same (S 6 Ten ). As described above, the search using the source address and the transmission time can be performed more quickly than the hash, so that the same e-mail candidate can be surely and quickly identified by searching for the e-mail whose source address and transmission time are the same. Email can be extracted.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the detailed operation of the mail registration unit 400 in S110 of FIG. The mail deletion section 470 determines whether the destination address of the received mail is the same as that of the same body mail (S700). If it is determined that the destination address of the received mail is the same as that of the same body mail, the mail deletion unit 470 determines whether the titles of both mails are the same (S702). If it is determined that the title of the received mail is the same as the title of the same body mail, the mail deletion unit 470 determines that both mails are the same (S704). If it is determined in S700 that the destination address of the received mail is not the same as that of the received mail, and if it is determined that the title of the same text mail is not the same as the received mail in S702, The deletion unit 470 determines that the mails are not the same (S706). As described above, the mail providing unit 500 can provide the registered user with the body embedded in the mail stored in the mail database 90 after the mail registration unit 400 deletes the body.

As described above, the present invention has been described using the embodiment, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiment. Various changes or improvements can be made to the above embodiment. It is apparent from the description of the claims that the embodiments with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

As a first modification example according to the present embodiment, FIG. Then, the same mail detection unit 450 determines that the body of the mail is the same when the source address, the transmission time, the novice, and the whole text match. Instead, the same mail detection unit 450 may determine that the mail is of the same text if the sender address and the transmission time are the same. In this way, if the search by hash is omitted and the sender address and the transmission time are the same, the same text can be detected more quickly by judging that the text is the same.

In addition, the same mail detection unit 450 may determine that the mail has the same text when the hash and the whole text are the same. Here, it is desirable that the order of judging whether or not the hash, the source address, and the like are the same is performed before the processing with a low hit rate or the processing with a high processing speed. In addition, the same mail detection unit 450 selects the order in which the text can be determined to be the same at the earliest according to the number of registered users, the size of the mail, the size of the hash, and the like. As a result, the processing time of the same mail detection unit 450 can be reduced. -A second modification according to the present embodiment will be described. The mail receiving unit 410 of the present embodiment receives mail from the SMTP server 30 via the Internet 10 and sends the received mail to the address authentication unit 420. Instead, the mail receiving unit 410 receives a mail from the SMTP server 30 via the Internet 10 and reads the password information included in the received mail. Further, mail receiving section 410 determines whether or not the read password information and the information relating to the password information stored in user database 80 correspond to each other. When the read password information and the information regarding the password information stored in the user database 80 correspond to each other, the received mail may be sent to the address authentication unit 420. In this way, by using a mail address and password as the method of identifying a registered user, access from anyone other than the registered user can be more reliably prevented.

A third modification example according to the present embodiment will be described. The password authentication unit 520 of the present embodiment determines whether or not the received user ID is stored in the user database ⁸⁰ , and if the received user ID is stored in the user database ⁸⁰ , receives the request. It was determined whether the password received from the part 501 was stored in the user database 80 in association with the received user ID. Alternatively, the user database 80 may further store information about password information in addition to the user ID, password, and mail address. Password authentication unit 5

20 receives the password information included in the mail received from the request receiving section 5 10. The password authentication unit 520 determines whether or not the received password information corresponds to the information on the password information in the user database 80. The password authentication unit 520 checks whether the user ID received from the request receiving unit 510 is stored in the user database 80 when the received password corresponds to the information on the password in the user database 80. Determine whether or not.

A fourth modification according to the present embodiment will be described. In S402 of FIG. 13 of the present embodiment, the password authentication unit 5200 sends a request from the request reception unit 5110 to the user authentication column 1

32 The user ID and password entered in 2 were received. Instead, the pass-word authentication unit 5200 receives the source address of the request mail and the pass-code from the request receiving unit 510. If it is determined that the password input by the user is the password corresponding to the source address, the body extracting unit 530 extracts the mail specified by the mail request from the mail database 90. As described above, by performing user authentication based on the transmission source address and password, the user can save the trouble of inputting the user ID, and can transmit the mail request information more easily.

A fifth modification example according to the embodiment will be described. The request receiving unit 5110 of the present embodiment receives the request mail from the registered user, but instead delivers a web page similar to the standard format displayed on the display unit 13 in FIG. You may receive the email request information entered on the web page. By creating an environment in which mail request information can be sent not only from mail but also from web, users can view previously sent and received mail even when mail is unavailable. Industrial applicability

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, an enormous amount of mail can be efficiently managed and provided.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. An email management system that manages electronic mail

A plurality of SMTP servers that receive the email from the terminal;

A mail management server that receives the electronic mail from at least one of the plurality of SMTP servers;

,

The mail management server,

A registered user database storing, as a registered address, an e-mail address of an e-mail owned by the registered user in association with a user ID for identifying a registered user registered in the mail management server;

A mail receiving unit for receiving the electronic mail;

An address authentication unit that determines whether at least one of the destination address and the source address of the electronic mail is the registered address stored in the registered user database,

When at least one of the destination address and the source address of the received e-mail is the registered address, a mail database storing the e-mail, and a mail requesting the e-mail stored in the mail database A request receiving unit that receives request information from the user;

A providing unit that provides the electronic mail indicated by the mail request information;

A mail management system that specializes in having

2. The e-mail includes password information for identifying the registered user, and the mail management server further includes a password information authentication unit that authenticates password information included in the email received by the mail receiving unit. ,

The mail according to claim 1, wherein the mail database stores the e-mail when the mail receiving unit receives the e-mail and the password information authentication unit authenticates the password information. Management system.

3. The registered user database further stores a password in association with the user ID, The mail management server further includes a password authentication unit that authenticates a password corresponding to the user ID,

When the request receiving unit receives the mail request information from the user, the password authentication unit authenticates the password of the user,

The e-mail according to claim 1, wherein, when the password authentication unit authenticates the password of the registered user, the providing unit provides the e-mail indicated by the e-mail request information. 4. Management system.

4. The mail request information includes password information for identifying the registered user,

4. The mail management system according to claim 1, wherein the password information authentication unit authenticates password information included in the electronic mail received by the request receiving unit.

5. The mail management server:

An identical mail detection unit that detects an email including the same body from the plurality of emails;

A body deletion unit for deleting at least the body of at least one of the e-mails detected by the same mail detection unit;

Further having

The mail management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the mail database stores an electronic mail whose text has been deleted by the text deletion unit.

6. If the e-mail received by the receiving unit and the e-mail held in the e-mail database include the same body, the body deletion unit transmits the received e-mail and the mail database to the e-mail. Included in one of the retained emails

6. The mail management system according to claim 5, wherein the received text is deleted.

7. The same mail detection unit

An identical mail candidate extracting unit that extracts the e-mail candidates including the same main body; and an identical mail that detects the e-mail whose main body contents are the same from the e-mail extracted by the same e-mail candidate extracting unit. Extractor and

The menu management according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that:

8. The mail management server further includes a unique information generating unit that generates body unique information unique to the body of the e-mail,

8. The mail management system according to claim 7, wherein the same mail candidate extraction unit extracts, from a plurality of the e-mails, the e-mails having the same body unique information.

9. The e-mail management system according to claim 7, wherein the same e-mail candidate extraction unit extracts the e-mail having the same transmission source from a plurality of e-mails.

10. The e-mail management system according to claim 7, wherein the same e-mail candidate extraction unit extracts the e-mails having the same transmission time from a plurality of e-mails. '

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein the same mail candidate extraction unit extracts the e-mails having the same body size from a plurality of the e-mails. Email management system.

1 2. The same mail candidate extraction unit,

First identical e-mail candidate extraction means for extracting, from a plurality of e-mails, the e-mails having the same body-specific information unique to the body of the e-mail,

A second identical e-mail candidate extracting unit for extracting the e-mail having the same transmission source from the e-mail extracted by the first identical e-mail capturing / extracting unit; and the second identical e-mail. 8. The mail management according to claim 7, further comprising: third identical email candidate extracting means for extracting the electronic mails having the same transmission time from the electronic mail extracted by the email candidate extracting means. system.

13. The same mail candidate extraction unit extracts two e-mails whose time difference received by the mail reception unit is within a predetermined range of time from a plurality of e-mails. The mail management system according to any one of 7 to 11.

14. The mail management server further includes an identification information providing unit for providing identification information for identifying a text of the received e-mail,

The identification information assigning unit assigns the same identification information to the electronic mail including the same body detected by the same mail detection unit, 14. The mail according to claim 5, wherein the body deletion unit deletes the body of at least one of the electronic mails having the same identification information. Management system.

15. The mail receiving unit receives the e-mail, and when the same e-mail as the received e-mail is stored in the e-mail database, a deletion unit for deleting the received e-mail is further provided. The mail management system according to any one of claims 1 to 14, further comprising:

16. The email database stores at least the email from which the body has been deleted,

The mail management server,

A text extracting unit that, when the request receiving unit receives the mail request information indicating the email from which the text has been deleted, extracts the deleted text from the mail database;

A text embedding unit for embedding the extracted text in the email;

Further having

16. The mail management system according to claim 5, wherein the providing unit provides the electronic mail in which the text is embedded.

1 7. A mail management server that manages emails,

A mail receiving unit that receives the email,

A mail database for storing the e-mail when at least one of a destination address and a transmission source address of the e-mail is the registered address;

A request receiving unit that receives, from the user, menu request information for requesting the electronic mail stored in the mail database; A providing unit that provides the electronic mail indicated by the mail request information;

A mail management server comprising:

18. A password information authentication unit for authenticating authentication information included in the email received by the email receiving unit,

The mail database according to claim 17, wherein the mail database stores the electronic mail when the mail receiving unit receives the electronic mail and the password information authentication unit authenticates the password information. Mail management server.

1 9. The registered user database further stores a password in association with the user ID,

A password authentication unit that authenticates a password corresponding to the user ID, wherein when the request receiving unit receives the mail request information from the user, the password authentication unit transmits the password of the user. Authenticate,

The method according to claim 17, wherein when the password authentication unit authenticates the password of the registered user, the providing unit provides the electronic mail indicated by the mail request information. Mail management server.

20. The mail management server according to any one of claims 17 to 19, wherein the password information authentication unit authenticates password information included in the received electronic mail.

2 1. An identical mail detection unit that detects the electronic mail including the same text from a plurality of the electronic mails,

Further having

The mail management server according to any one of claims 17 to 20, wherein the mail database stores the electronic mail whose body is deleted.

2 2. If the received e-mail and the e-mail held in the e-mail database include the same body, the body deletion unit performs the received e-mail and the e-mail held in the mail database. 22. The mail management server according to claim 21, wherein a text included in one of the mail management servers is deleted.

2 3. The same mail detection unit An identical mail candidate extracting unit for extracting candidates for the electronic mail including the same text; and an identical mail extracting unit for detecting the electronic mail whose text contents are the same from the electronic mail extracted by the same mail candidate extracting unit. When

The mail management server according to claim 21, wherein the mail management server includes:

24. The personal computer further includes a unique information generation unit that generates unique body information of the body of the e-mail, and the same mail candidate extraction unit has the same body unique information from a plurality of the e-mails. The mail management server according to claim 23, wherein the electronic mail is extracted.

25. The mail management server according to claim 23, wherein the same mail candidate extraction unit extracts the electronic mail having the same transmission source from a plurality of the electronic mails. .

26. The mail management according to any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein the same mail candidate extraction unit extracts the e-mails having the same transmission time from a plurality of the e-mails. server.

27. The same-mail-sentence-extraction unit extracts the e-mails having the same body size from a plurality of the e-mails according to any one of claims 23 to 26. The mail management server described in.

2 8. The same mail candidate extraction unit:

A second identical electronic mail trapping and extracting unit that extracts the electronic mail having the same transmission source from the electronic mail extracted by the first identical electronic mail candidate extracting unit; 24. The mail management server according to claim 23, further comprising: third identical e-mail candidate extracting means for extracting the e-mails having the same transmission time from the e-mail extracted by the e-mail candidate extracting means. .

29. The same e-mail candidate extraction unit extracts two e-mails whose time difference received by the e-mail reception unit is within a predetermined range of time from a plurality of e-mails. The mail management server according to any one of 23 to 28.

30. The apparatus further comprises an identification information providing unit for adding identification information for identifying the text of the received Xiaozi mail,

The identification information assigning unit assigns the same identification information to the electronic mail including the same body detected by the same mail detection unit,

The method according to any one of claims 21 to 29, wherein the body deletion unit deletes the body of at least one of the e-mails having the same identification information. Mail management server.

3 1. The mail receiving unit receives the e-mail, and when the same e-mail as the received e-mail is stored in the e-mail database, a delete unit for deleting the received e-mail is provided. The mail management server according to any one of claims 17 to 30, further comprising:

32. The mail database stores at least the electronic mail from which the text is deleted, and the mail management server includes:

A text embedding unit for embedding the extracted text in the email;

Further having

31. The mail management server according to claim 21, wherein the providing unit provides the electronic mail in which the text is embedded.

3 3. A mail management method for managing the email stored in a mail database storing emails,

An e-mail receiving step of receiving the e-mail;

At least one of the destination address and the source address of the received e-mail is stored in a registered user database that stores the e-mail address of the registered user as a registered address in association with a user ID for identifying a registered user. Address verification step to determine whether the registered dress is

At least one of the destination address and the source address of the e-mail is the registered key. If it is a dress, a storage step for storing the email in the email database;

A request receiving step of receiving, from the user, mail request information requesting the electronic mail stored in the mail database;

Providing the electronic mail indicated by the mail request information;

A mail management method comprising:

34. The storage method according to claim 33, wherein the storing step authenticates password information included in the received e-mail, and stores the e-mail in the mail database when the authentication is successful. Email management method.

35. The registered user database further stores a password in association with the user ID,

Further comprising a password authentication step of authenticating a password corresponding to the user ID;

4. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, wherein the e-mail indicated by the e-mail request information is provided when the e-mail request information is received from the user and the password of the user is authenticated. The mail management method described in 4.

36. The mail management method according to claim 33, wherein in the password information authentication step, password information included in the received electronic mail is authenticated.

3 7. The same e-mail detecting step of detecting an e-mail including the same text from the plurality of e-mails;

A body deleting step of deleting at least the body of at least one of the detected emails;

Further having

37. The mail management method according to claim 33, wherein the storing step stores the e-mail whose text has been deleted.

38. If the received e-mail and the e-mail held in the e-mail database include the same body, the body deletion step includes the step of deleting the received e-mail and the e-mail held in the mail database. The text contained in one of the emails The mail management method according to claim 37, wherein the mail is deleted.

3 9

Extracting the same e-mail candidate including the same body text,

The same e-mail extraction step of detecting the e-mail having the same body content from the extracted e-mail;

The mail management method according to claim 37, wherein the mail management method includes:

40. The method further includes a unique information generating step of generating body unique information unique to the body of the received e-mail,

30. The mail management method according to claim 39, wherein the e-mails having the same body unique information are extracted from a plurality of the e-mails.

41. The e-mail management method according to claim 39, wherein the same e-mail candidate extracting step extracts the e-mail having the same transmission source from a plurality of e-mails.

42. The mail according to any one of claims 39 to 41, wherein the same mail candidate extracting step extracts the emails having the same transmission time from a plurality of the emails. Management method.

43. The e-mail according to any one of claims 39 to 42, wherein the same e-mail candidate extraction step extracts the e-mails having the same body size from a plurality of the e-mails. Management method.

4 4. The same mail candidate extraction step includes:

Second identical e-mail candidate extraction means for extracting the e-mails having the same transmission source from the e-mail extracted by the first identical e-mail candidate extraction means, and extracting the second identical e-mail candidate 40. The mail management method according to claim 39, further comprising: third identical e-mail candidate extraction means for extracting the e-mails having the same transmission time from the e-mails extracted by the means.

4 5. In the same mail candidate extraction step, a plurality of e-mails are received. The mail management method according to any one of claims 39 to 44, characterized in that two e-mails whose time difference is within a predetermined range of time are extracted.

4 6. An identification information providing step of providing identification information for identifying the text of the received e-mail,

In the identification information providing step, the same identification information is provided to the e-mail including the same text,

The mail management according to any one of claims 37 to 45, wherein, in the body deletion step, the body of at least one of the e-mails having the same identification information is deleted. Method.

47. The method further comprising the step of deleting the received e-mail when the same e-mail as the received e-mail is stored in the e-mail database. 33 The email management method according to any of 3 to 46. 4 8. The mail database stores at least the e-mail with the body deleted.

The email management method,

A step of extracting the deleted body from the mail database when receiving the mail request information indicating the electronic mail from which the body has been deleted; and a body for embedding the extracted body in the e-mail. The embedding stage and

Further having

48. The mail management method according to claim 37, wherein in the providing step, the electronic mail in which the text is embedded is provided.

4 9. A recording medium storing a computer program for managing e-mail stored in a mail database for storing e-mail,

A mail receiving module for receiving the email,

At least one of the destination address and the source address of the email is associated with a user ID for identifying a registered user, and stored in a registered user database storing the email address of the registered user as a registered address. An address authentication module for determining whether or not the stored registered address;

At least one of the destination address and the source address of the e-mail is the registered key. If it is a dress, a storage module for storing the e-mail in the mail database;

A request receiving module for receiving, from the user, mail request information for requesting the electronic mail stored in the mail database;

A providing module for providing the electronic mail indicated by the mail request information.