WO2010037327A1

WO2010037327A1 - Notifying method and equipment for e-mail arrival

Info

Publication number: WO2010037327A1
Application number: PCT/CN2009/074103
Authority: WO
Inventors: 王新亮
Original assignee: 腾讯科技（深圳）有限公司
Priority date: 2008-09-27
Filing date: 2009-09-22
Publication date: 2010-04-08
Also published as: CN101360073A

Abstract

The embodiments of the invention disclose a notifying method and equipment for e-mail arrival, wherein, the method includes: a mail notifying equipment is set between a mail server and a mail receiver, and the mail server receives an e-mail, extracts the mail receiver information carried in the e-mail, and transmits the mail receiver information to the mail notifying equipment; the notifying manner which should be adopted currently is determined according to the received mail receiver information, and the mail arrival notification is transmitted to the mail receiver using the notifying manner. The present invention allows the user to know in time whether an e-mail is received currently without logging in his e-mail box, thus greatly improving the experience degree of the user.

Description

Notification method and device for email arrival

The present invention relates to the Internet technology, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for notifying an email arrival. Background of the invention

E-mail service, known as Email, is a communication service widely used in the Internet. It has been rapidly developed due to its convenience and speed.

The existing e-mail system is based on the general network e-mail service, providing users with only e-mail receiving and sending services. The structure of the existing email system includes a client and a mail server. If the email sender of the mail sender and the mail recipient share the same mail server, refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic structural diagram of the existing email system. As shown in Figure 1, the email system includes a client 1, a client 2, and a mail server.

Among them, the client 1 sends the email to be sent by the user to the mail server according to a predetermined standard communication protocol such as a single mail transfer protocol (SMTP). The mail server receives the email and extracts the email recipient information corresponding to the email (generally the email recipient's email account), and then the mail server follows a predetermined standard communication protocol such as a post office receiving protocol (POP: Post Office) Protocol ) Send the email to the recipient of the email. In this way, the mail recipient can view the received email content by logging in to his or her own email address on the client 2.

It can be seen that the existing email system can send an email from the sender of the email to the recipient of the email. However, using an existing email system, if the user wants to get Knowing whether there is a new email currently, this requires the user to log in to their email address to know if they are currently receiving a new email. In this way, there will be a problem: If the user's email receives one or more emails, but the user does not log in to their own email address, the user will not be able to know the received email in time, and thus Subsequent processing cannot be performed based on the content of the received email. Summary of the invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and a device for notifying the arrival of an email, so that the user can know the arrived email in time.

A method for notifying an e-mail arrival according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: setting an e-mail notification device between a mail server and a mail recipient, the method comprising the steps of: receiving an e-mail by the mail server, extracting the e-mail Carrying the mail recipient information, and transmitting the mail recipient information to the mail notification device;

The mail notification device determines a notification mode to be currently used based on the mail recipient information, and transmits a mail arrival notification to the mail recipient by using the notification method.

An email notification device is provided in the embodiment of the present invention. The device is disposed between the mail server and the mail receiving party, and includes: an information receiving unit, a determining unit, and a notification unit. The information receiving unit is configured to receive the mail server. Mail recipient information, the mail recipient information is mail recipient information carried by the email received by the mail server;

The determining unit is configured to determine, according to the mail recipient information received by the information receiving unit, a notification manner to be currently used;

The notification unit is configured to send a mail arrival notification to the mail recipient by using the notification manner determined by the determining unit.

A mail server provided by an embodiment of the present invention includes: Receiving unit, extracting unit and transmitting unit; wherein

The mail receiving unit is configured to receive an email;

The extracting unit is configured to extract mail recipient information in an email received by the mail receiving unit;

The transmitting unit is configured to send the mail recipient information extracted by the extracting unit to the mail notification device.

As can be seen from the above solution, in the method and apparatus for notifying the arrival of an e-mail provided by the present invention, by setting an e-mail notification device between the mail server and the mail recipient, after the mail server receives the e-mail, the e-mail server extracts the The mail recipient information in the email, and sending the mail recipient information to the mail notification device according to a preset rule; the mail notification device determines the current notification method to be used according to the received mail recipient information, and uses the determined notification The way to send a mail arrival notification to the mail recipient. In this way, compared with the prior art, the user can be informed in time whether or not the email is received without having to log in to his or her corresponding email address, thereby greatly improving the user experience. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic structural diagram of an existing email system;

2 is a system structural diagram of a notification of an e-mail arrival in an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of an e-mail notification apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a structural diagram of a mail server in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a basic flowchart of a method for notifying an e-mail arrival according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a detailed flowchart of a method for notifying an e-mail arrival according to an embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of the present invention provides a method for notifying an e-mail arrival, by using the method, It allows users to know whether they are currently receiving email without logging in to their corresponding email address. In a specific implementation, in the method, an email notification device is set between the mail server and the mail recipient, and after the mail server receives the email, the mail server extracts the email receiver information in the email, and the fixed information is fixed. The extracted mail recipient information is transmitted to the mail notification device at a time interval; the mail notification device determines the current notification method to be used based on the received mail recipient information, and transmits the mail arrival notification to the mail recipient by using the notification method. In this way, it is not necessary to require the user to log in to his or her own email address to know whether a new email has been received, which greatly improves the user experience.

The mail notification message is information for notifying the arrival of the mail, and is specifically a mail arrival notification. Moreover, the notification manner currently determined by the email notification device may be in various forms, such as: using an instant messaging account for notification, or using a mobile terminal number for notification, or using other electronic components of the email recipient. Mail account notifications, etc.

The embodiment of the present invention supplements the existing existing e-mail system. On the basis of the existing e-mail system, a new function is provided, that is, the mail notification device arrives at the mail in time after receiving the e-mail from the mail server. The information is notified to the mail recipient. In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clear, the following describes the notification system of the e-mail arrival provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a system structural diagram of a notification of an arrival of an email according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 2, the system includes: a mail server 201 and a mail notification device 202.

The mail server 201 is configured to extract the mail recipient information in the email after receiving the email, and send the email receiver information to the email notification device 202.

Here, the mail recipient information may be an email account of the mail recipient, and the mail recipient may be a client corresponding to the mail recipient information. The mail notification device 202 is configured to receive the mail recipient information, determine the current notification method to be used according to the mail recipient information, and generate an mail notification message, and send the mail notification message to the mail recipient by using the determined notification method.

Here, the above email notification message may be information that the email arrives, for example, it may be: Currently receiving a new email.

Preferably, the mail server 201 sends the mail recipient information to the mail notification device. Specifically, the mail server sends the mail recipient information to the mail notification device at regular intervals. The mail server can send the mail receiver information to the mail notification device at regular intervals. The specific implementation can be implemented in multiple implementations. For example, if the fixed time interval is a period of time, the mail server 201 is at each time point. After receiving the email, the email recipient information is not immediately sent to the email notification device 202, but concentrates on each electronic received within a time period between when the time point arrives at a certain point in time. The mail recipient information in the mail is sent to the mail notifying means 202, thus saving the performance resources of the mail server 201; or, if the fixed time interval is close to the time when the mail server 201 receives the mail (recorded as immediate), the mail The server 201 may also extract the mail recipient information in the email after receiving the email at a certain time point, and then immediately transmit the mail recipient information to the mail notification device 202. The specific situation requires specific analysis, which is not limited in this embodiment.

Preferably, in order to facilitate the user to obtain the information of the received new email as much as possible, the mail server 201 is also used for receiving the email after receiving the email, in the operation of sending the email recipient information to the email notification device. The information content for notifying the mail recipient is obtained in the email, and the obtained information content is transmitted to the mail notification device 202. The obtained information content may include: one or more of mail sender information, time when the mail arrives, mail receiver information, number of mails, and mail subject.

Here, the mail server 201 is convenient for transmitting the acquired information content to the mail notification device. The acquired information content is usually transmitted to the mail notification device 202 in the form of a data stream or a frame structure. However, this form is not easily recognized by the user. Therefore, preferably, the mail notification device 202 is further configured to receive the information content and generate text information corresponding to the information content. Thus, the mail notification device 202 uses the determined notification method to The text information is carried in the generated mail notification message and sent to the mail recipient.

In this way, after receiving the mail notification message, the mail receiving party (the client) can know the specific information of the currently received email. For example, if the information content obtained above includes: mail sender information and mail receiver information, the mail receiving convenience can be based on the mail recipient information to know which email account currently receives a new email, and further, the mail receiving The party can also know who sent the email to itself based on the recipient information.

Preferably, as indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 2, if the mail notification device determines that the notification mode to be used currently is to use the mobile terminal number for notification, the system further includes: a message gateway 203.

The mail notification device 201 carries the mobile terminal number and text information in the mail notification message according to a preset Internet protocol, and sends the message to the message gateway 203.

The message gateway 203 is applied to the mobile communication network, and is configured to receive the mail notification message, and send the mail notification message to the mobile terminal corresponding to the mobile terminal number carried in the mail notification message by using the mobile communication network, the mobile terminal Provide this email notification message to the recipient of the email.

Correspondingly, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an email notification device. In a specific implementation, the mail notification device can be implemented in various forms. FIG. 3 is a basic structural diagram of the mail notification device in the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the mail notification device is disposed between the mail server and the mail recipient, and may include: an information receiving unit 301, a determining unit 302, and a notifying unit 303. The information receiving unit 301 is configured to receive mail recipient information, specifically for receiving mail recipient information sent by the mail server.

The determining unit 302 is configured to determine, according to the mail recipient information received by the information receiving unit 301, the notification mode to be currently used.

The notification unit 303 is configured to send the mail arrival notification to the mail recipient by using the notification manner determined by the determining unit 302. Specifically, the notification unit 303 generates an email notification message (specifically, a mail arrival notification), and uses the notification determined by the determining unit 302. The way to send the email notification message to the mail recipient.

Preferably, in order to facilitate the user to obtain as much information as possible of the received email, such as mail sender information, time of arrival of the mail, mail recipient information and mail subject, the information receiving unit 302 is further used for every fixed time. The information content acquired by the interval receiving server for notifying the mail recipient; in general, the information content received by the information receiving unit is in the form of a data stream or a frame structure that is not easily recognized by the user. Therefore, referring to FIG. 3, as indicated by a broken line in FIG. 3, the mail notification device may further include: an information generating unit 304.

The information generating unit 304 is configured to generate text information corresponding to the information content received by the information receiving unit 301, and send the generated text information to the notification unit 303. In this manner, the notification unit 303 carries the text information in the mail notification message. Thereafter, the mail notification message carrying the text message is sent to the mail recipient by the notification method determined by the determining unit 302.

Preferably, the mail receiving party information sent by the information receiving unit from the mail server may be an email account of the mail receiving party; wherein the mail receiving party may be the user end corresponding to the mail receiving party information, see FIG. 3 , for example, As shown by the dotted line in FIG. 3, the mail notification device further includes: a mode setting unit 305.

The mode setting unit 305 is configured to preset a notification manner corresponding to each email account of the service itself, specifically, a notification for setting an email account and an email account. The correspondence between the modes.

In this way, the determining unit 302 searches for the notification manner corresponding to the email account of the mail recipient in the corresponding relationship preset by the mode setting unit 305, and when found, determines that the found notification manner is the current notification manner to be used. .

Here, the notification manner determined by the determining unit 302 may be: using an instant messaging account to make a notification, or using a mobile terminal number for notification, or using the email recipient's other email account for notification, and the like.

Preferably, if the determining unit 302 determines that the notification mode to be used is to use the mobile terminal number for notification, the notification unit 303 carries the mobile terminal number in the mail arrival notification according to a preset Internet protocol and sends the notification to the mail arrival notification. a message gateway in the mobile communication network, wherein the message gateway sends the mail arrival notification to the mobile terminal corresponding to the mobile terminal number carried by the mail arrival notification by the mobile communication network, and then, when the user directly views the mobile terminal, Information about the arrival of the mail is available.

Correspondingly, an embodiment of the present invention also provides a mail server. The mail server can be implemented in various forms. FIG. 4 is a basic structural diagram of a mail server in the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the mail server includes: a mail receiving unit 401, an extracting unit 402, and a transmitting unit 403.

The mail receiving unit 401 is configured to receive an email.

The extracting unit 402 is for extracting the mail recipient information in the electronic mail received by the mail receiving unit 401.

The transmitting unit 403 is configured to transmit the mail recipient information extracted by the extracting unit 402 to the mail notifying device in accordance with a preset rule.

Preferably, in order to facilitate the user to obtain as much information as possible of the received email, such as mail sender information, time of arrival of the mail, mail recipient information and mail subject, see FIG. 4, as indicated by the dotted line in FIG. The mail server may further include: an information acquisition slip Yuan 404.

The information obtaining unit 404 is configured to obtain, from the email receiving unit 401, the information content for notifying the email recipient of the email receiving unit 401;

The transmitting unit 403 also transmits the information content acquired by the information acquiring unit 404 to the mail notifying means in the operation of transmitting the mail receiving party information to the mail notifying means.

In order to make the objects, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention more clear, the method for notifying the arrival of an e-mail provided by the embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

Referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for notifying an e-mail arrival in an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an email notification device is disposed between the mail server and the mail recipient. As shown in FIG. 5, after the mail server receives the email, the process includes the following steps: Step 501: The email server extracts the email Mail recipient information. Here, the mail recipient information may be an email account of the mail recipient.

Step 502: The mail server sends the mail recipient information to the mail notification device according to a preset rule.

Here, specifically, the above step 502 may be: the mail server sends the mail recipient information to the mail notification device at regular time intervals, for example, the mail server sends the mail recipient information to the mail notification device every 10 minutes. In this way, it is possible to prevent the mail server from immediately transmitting the mail recipient information to the mail notification device after receiving the email at each time point, but focusing on receiving the received mail within a certain time period at a certain time point. The mail recipient information in each email is sent to the mail notification device to save performance resources of the mail server; or the mail server immediately sends the mail recipient information to the mail notification device after extracting the mail recipient information in the email In this way, it is better to ensure that the recipient of the email knows as soon as possible whether or not the email is received. The specific situation is specifically analyzed, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present invention.

Step 503: The mail notification device determines, according to the received mail recipient information The notification method to be used before.

Here, the notification manner currently determined by the email notification device may be: using an instant messaging account for notification, or using a mobile terminal number for notification, or using other email accounts corresponding to the email recipient to notify .

Step 504: The mail notification device generates an email notification message, and sends the email notification message to the email recipient by using the determined notification manner.

Here, the mail notification message is specifically a mail arrival notification. The above mail recipient is the client corresponding to the mail recipient information.

So far, the operation of the notification method of the arrival of an e-mail in the embodiment of the present invention has been achieved. In order to make the present invention clearer, the application of the notification method of email arrival provided by the embodiment of the present invention is described in detail below.

Referring to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a detailed flowchart of a method for notifying an e-mail arrival according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an email notification device is provided between the mail server and the mail recipient. As shown in FIG. 6, after the mail server receives the email, the process includes the following steps:

Step 601 is the same as step 501 above, and details are not described herein again.

Here, in order to facilitate the user to further know the specific information about the email received by the mail server, such as the mail sender information, the time when the mail arrives, the mail recipient information, the number of mails, and the subject of the mail, the embodiment of the present invention Step 602 can be further performed.

Step 602: The mail server acquires information content for notifying the recipient of the mail from the received email.

Here, the information content obtained by the mail server includes one or more of the mail sender information, the time when the mail arrives, the mail recipient information, the number of mails, and the subject of the mail.

Step 603: The mail server sends the mail recipient information and the obtained information content to the mail notification device according to a preset rule. Here, the mail server may send the mail recipient information to the mail notification device every fixed time interval, such as 10 minutes, or immediately after receiving the mail receiver information and the obtained information content, immediately send the mail recipient information and the obtained information. The information content is sent to the mail notification device.

Step 604: The mail notification device determines, according to the received mail recipient information, a notification manner to be used currently.

The mail recipient information obtained in step 601 can be: an email recipient account of the mail recipient. Typically, the user selects a notification method for prompting the arrival of an email when registering an email account. Therefore, the mail notification device can preset the notification manner corresponding to each email account of the service itself, specifically: pre-setting the correspondence between the email account and the notification method of the email account. In this way, the email notification device determines, according to the received email recipient information, that the notification method to be used currently is: the email notification device searches for a notification corresponding to the email account of the email recipient in a preset correspondence relationship. The method, when the notification mode is found, determines that the notification mode is the current notification mode to be used.

The email notification device determines that the notification method to be used currently may be: using an instant messaging account for notification, or using a mobile terminal number for notification, or using the email recipient's other email account for notification. Here, the mail notification device determines that the notification method to be currently used is the notification using the mobile terminal number as an example.

Generally, the information content obtained by the mail server received by the mail notification device exists in a form that is not easily recognized by the user, such as in a data stream, a frame structure, or an original code. Therefore, in order to facilitate the user to correctly identify the information content obtained by the mail server, the embodiment of the present invention may perform step 605.

Step 605: The mail notification device generates text information corresponding to the information content acquired by the mail server.

Thus, the mail notification device generates text information that is easy for the user to recognize. It should be noted that step 604 and step 605 have no fixed chronological order. Here, the mail notification device and the mobile terminal are devices in two different networks, and the two cannot communicate directly. If the mail notification message is notified to the mail recipient by using the mobile terminal number, the message gateway in the intermediate unit-mobile communication network must pass. The operation of the mail notification device to transmit the above-mentioned mail notification message to the mobile terminal number can be realized. Therefore, the embodiment of the present invention further needs to perform step 606.

Step 606: The mail notification device carries the text information and the mobile terminal number in the mail notification message according to a preset internet protocol, and sends the message information to the message gateway in the mobile communication network.

The message gateway in the mobile communication network is a relatively mature device in the existing network, and the foregoing preset protocol is any protocol suitable for the mail notification device to send the email notification message to the message gateway, such as a POP protocol. .

Step 607: The message gateway receives the email notification message, and sends the email notification message to the mobile terminal corresponding to the mobile terminal number by using the mobile communication network.

Specifically, the mobile terminal number displays the mail notification message to the mail recipient through the corresponding mobile terminal.

In this way, the mail receiving party can know that it has received a new email according to the mail notification message provided by the mobile terminal, and, specifically, the information content acquired by the mail server includes the mail sender information, the mail receiver information, and the mail. The subject, the recipient of the mail can know the specific information of the received email according to the text information carried in the email notification message, and can obtain the information of the sender of the email, the subject of the email, and which email account receives the email information. After that, the user can log in to the corresponding email account to view the specific content of the received email.

So far, an operation of notifying the user that the e-mail arrives using the mobile terminal number is realized. Of course, if the mail notification device obtains the user corresponding to the mail recipient, The notification mode is: using an instant messaging account for notification, or for notifying other email accounts of the user corresponding to the email recipient, and then step 605 to step 607 are directly replaced by: the email notification device directly according to the preset protocol Carrying the instant messaging account or other email account of the mail receiving party and the above information content in the mail notification message and sending to the instant messaging account or other email account corresponding to the mail receiving party, the instant messaging account or the mail receiving party The server corresponding to the other email account provides the email notification message to the mail recipient through the client.

It can be seen that the method, system and device for notifying the arrival of an e-mail provided by the embodiment of the present invention, in the method, by setting an e-mail notification device between the mail server and the mail receiving party, when the mail server receives the e-mail, Extracting the mail recipient information in the email, and sending the mail recipient information to the mail notification device according to a preset rule; the mail notification device determines the current notification method to be used according to the received mail recipient information, and The email notification message is generated, and the email notification information is sent to the email receiver by using the determined notification manner, so that the user can know whether the new email has been received without logging in to his or her own email address, thereby greatly improving the user's Experience.

The above described specific embodiments of the present invention are further described in detail, and it is to be understood that the foregoing description is only the preferred embodiments of the present invention The scope of the present invention is intended to be included within the scope of the present invention. Any modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc., are included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

Claim

A method for notifying an e-mail arrival, characterized in that an e-mail notification device is provided between a mail server and a mail recipient, the method comprising the steps of:

Receiving the email by the mail server, extracting the email recipient information carried by the email, and transmitting the email recipient information to the email notification device;

The method according to claim 1, wherein said mail server transmits said mail recipient information to said mail notifying means every fixed time interval.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the mail server transmitting the mail recipient information to the mail notification device further comprises: the mail server obtaining the information content for notifying the mail recipient from the received email, sending The acquired information content is sent to the mail notification device;

The sending the mail arrival notification to the mail receiving party by using the notification method comprises: generating corresponding text information according to the received information content; and carrying the text information in the mail arrival notification by the notification method to the mail receiving party.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the mail recipient information is an email account of the mail recipient;

Determining the notification manner to be currently used includes: searching for a notification manner corresponding to the email account of the email recipient in a correspondence between the preset email account and the notification manner of the email account, When you determine the notification method you are looking for, it is the current notification method.

The method according to claim 4, wherein the mode of the port to be currently used is: The instant messaging account is used for notification, or the mobile terminal number is used for notification, or the email recipient's other email account is used for notification.

The method according to claim 5, wherein, if the mail notification device determines that the notification mode to be used is to use the mobile terminal number for notification, the notification notification method is used to send the mail arrival notification to the mail recipient. :

Carrying the mobile terminal number in the mail arrival notification according to a preset internet protocol and sending the message to the message gateway in the mobile communication network;

Receiving, by the message gateway, the mail arrival notification, and transmitting, by the mobile communication network, the mail arrival notification to the mobile terminal corresponding to the mobile terminal number carried by the mail arrival notification, and the mobile terminal provides the received mail arrival notification to the mail receiver.

_7. A mail notification apparatus, characterized in that the means disposed between the mail server and the e-mail recipient, comprising: an information receiving unit, determination unit, and a notification unit; wherein the information receiving means for receiving mail server to send Mail recipient information, the mail recipient information is mail recipient information carried by the email received by the mail server;

The device according to claim 7, wherein the information receiving unit is further configured to receive the information content sent by the mail server for notifying the mail recipient; the device further comprising: an information generating unit;

The information generating unit is configured to generate text information corresponding to the information content received by the information receiving unit;

The notification unit carries the text information generated by the information generating unit in the arrival of the mail In the notification, it is sent to the mail recipient by the determined notification method.

The device according to claim 7, wherein the mail recipient information is an email account of the mail recipient; and the mail notification device further comprises:

a mode setting unit, configured to preset a correspondence between an email account and an email account notification manner;

The determining unit searches for a notification manner corresponding to the email account of the mail recipient in the corresponding relationship set by the mode setting unit, and when found, determines that the found notification manner is the current notification manner to be used. .

The device according to claim 9, wherein, if the determining unit determines that the notification mode to be used currently is to use the mobile terminal number for notification, the notification unit according to a preset Internet protocol The mobile terminal number is carried in the mail arrival notification and sent to the message gateway in the mobile communication network, and the message gateway sends the mail arrival notification to the mobile terminal number carried by the mail arrival notification through the mobile communication network. Mobile terminal.

A mail server, comprising: a mail receiving unit, an extracting unit, and a sending unit; wherein

The mail receiving unit is configured to receive an email;

The mail server according to claim 11, wherein the mail server further comprises:

An information obtaining unit, configured to obtain, from the email receiving unit, an information received by the email receiving unit for notifying the email recipient of the information content; The transmitting unit is further configured to send the information content acquired by the information acquiring unit to the mail notification device in the operation of transmitting the mail recipient information to the mail notification device.