JPH03113934A - Mail address designating system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily input the address of a transmission opposite party of a mail without fail by providing a retrieving mechanism retrieving at least one of a caller information file, a department exclusive address file and an individual exclusive address file when an address is not a real address. CONSTITUTION:When a mail server 6 starts the service, the transmission is prepared and an address checking mechanism 2a checks the address. When the address is discriminated to be no real address, a mail address data retrieving mechanism 6a references to the caller information file 7a stored in a shared file storage medium 7 to designate a retrieval file and to retrieve a document in the file and discriminates whether or not the same key as the address exists, the address in an address column is replaced into the real user address and a mail transmission mechanism 2b is started.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an e-mail address designation system, and in particular, to a method that allows an operator to enter the address of the recipient of an e-mail in a format that is easy and unlikely to cause errors. Regarding the email address specification method.

(Prior Art) In a conventional e-mail service, a user address is registered in advance in a network service, and an operator determines whether or not the addressee entered in the e-mail matches the registered user address. , a method is adopted that allows an email to be sent to the recipient if there is a match.

FIG. 7 shows a system block diagram of a conventional e-mail service. In the figure, l is an e-mail creation device such as a workstation or a personal computer, 2 is a mail server, 3 is a first shared file storage medium in which a user address is registered, and 4 is a mailbox in which the received mail body is stored. , 5 are communication lines that connect each of the above-mentioned devices and a number of devices (not shown) to each other.

The mail server 2 determines whether or not characters other than alphanumeric characters are used in the addressee, or whether the addressee is registered in the user address file stored in the first shared file storage medium 3, etc. It has an address check mechanism 2a that performs an address check. The address checking mechanism 2a activates the mail sending mechanism 2b if the addressee is correct. On the other hand, if it is incorrect, the error processing mechanism 2C is activated.

When activated, the mail sending mechanism 2b sends mail based on the address entered in the address field. Further, the error processing mechanism 2C activates an error routine to perform error processing, and displays an error message such as that the user address of the recipient is not registered on the screen of the e-mail creation device 1.

Now, the operator sends a document or message created using the e-mail creation device 1 by e-mail, for example, to
If the operator attempts to send an e-mail to a person named ``Part 11,'' the operator should write r Ichlro in the address field of the e-mail.
Enter 5hodaJ. The email service is
Detect whether Ichiro 5hodaJ is registered as a user address by searching the user address file registered in the storage medium 3 of the first shared file, and if it is registered, send the email. Start the procedure.

On the other hand, if the user address entered in alphanumeric characters in the address field is different even by one character, it is determined that there is an error and the e-mail sending procedure is interrupted.

For example, in the above example, r Ichirou 5ho
If the spelling of the user address, such as da J, rltiro 5hoda J, etc., differs by even one character from the user address registered in advance in the user address file, an error message is displayed and the operator is unable to send the e-mail.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) Generally, an e-mail address must be something that the system can uniquely identify the recipient, like a user ID or an alias (Atlas).
When an operator writes an address, he or she must know the user address registered in the network service. Therefore, if you know the name of the recipient's department but cannot know the e-mail user address of a specific person belonging to that department, or if you have trouble remembering the address and forget it, the sender must manage the user ID, etc. There is a problem in that the operation is cumbersome because it is necessary to request the service to display the registration list or to directly ask the recipient.

In addition, since user addresses are generally registered in English characters rather than Japanese characters in the registration list, it is easy for operators to make mistakes when copying the user addresses into the recipient field of the e-mail, resulting in failures in e-mail transmission. The problem was that it was easy to cause

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail address designation method that eliminates the problems of the prior art and allows the user to easily and accurately input the address of the recipient of the e-mail.

(Means and effects for solving the problem) This invention has the following features:
In order to achieve the above purpose, the mail server is equipped with an address check mechanism that checks whether the address entered in the email is a real address, and if the address is not a real address, the sender information file and the department-specific an email address data search mechanism that searches at least one of an address file and a personal address file;
At least it is distinctive in that it is provided.

According to the present invention, a sender of an e-mail can write the address in the address field of the e-mail using not only alphanumeric characters but also Japanese characters such as kana, kanji, etc., or a nickname. If characters other than alphanumeric characters are written in the address field, or if an address that does not match the registered user address is written, the address check mechanism activates the mail address data search mechanism.

Then, the email address data search mechanism searches the sender information file using the sender's name as a key, and determines the file name to be searched. The searched file contains a conversion table between address keys and real addresses, so the address written in the address field of the email in a format that is simple and difficult for the sender to make mistakes. will be automatically converted to a real address and sent successfully.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a system block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 6 is a mail server according to the present invention, 7 is a second shared file storage medium storing a sender information file 7a that provides a clue for determining an email address, and 8 is a shared file storage medium shared by the department to which the sender belongs. A third shared file storage medium stores a department-only address file 8a, 9 is a personal file storage medium that stores an individual-only address file 9a owned by sender 0, and other symbols refer to the third shared file storage medium. Shows the same or equivalent as Figure 7.

As is clear from the figure, the mail server 6 has a mail address data search mechanism 6a in addition to the address checking mechanism 2as, mail sending mechanism 2b, and error processing mechanism 2C. The function or operation of the email address data search mechanism 6a will be explained in detail later.

FIG. 2 shows a specific example of the sender information file 7a. As shown in the figure, the sender information file 7a is composed of a user account, department, shared file, related directory name, file name, etc.

When the sender information file 7a is accessed, for example, by a user account, the shared file to be accessed, that is, the department-specific address file 8a, is determined by the department to which the user belongs, and the personal address to be accessed is determined by the related directory name. Data file 9a
is determined.

The department-specific address file 8a has a configuration shown in FIG. 3, for example. The department-specific address file 8a is a file created corresponding to each department, and is formed from a correspondence table of address keys and real addresses, as shown in the figure. The name of a department with which communication is frequently performed is registered in the address key, and the name of a specific individual in that department is registered in the real address.

This department-specific address file 8a is useful for e-mails where the department to which the e-mail will be sent is known, but the name of the person in charge of that department is of no particular interest. For example, if Mr. A from the research department makes an invention, describes the invention in a document, and then sends it to the patent department, Mr. A is interested in ensuring that his document reaches his person in the patent department correctly. However, the specific person in charge is often of no interest.

According to this embodiment, when Mr. A simply writes "Patent Department, Patent Section" in the address field of an email, this will be converted to a real address and sent.

In this way, if Mr. A is not interested in the name of the person in charge of Mr. A in the patent department, or even if he is interested and knew the name of the person in charge at a certain point, If there is a change in the person in charge due to the transfer of Mr. A, if the data in the department-specific address file 8a is always updated to the latest data, Mr. A will be able to send the message with "
Just write the same department name as before, ``Patent Department, Patent Section'', and
The address of Mr. A's document will be automatically converted to the person in charge of Mr. A in the Patent Division of the Patent Department. Therefore, Mr. A can input the address of the recipient of the email in a format that is easy and unlikely to cause mistakes. Furthermore, even if there is a change in the person in charge due to personnel changes, etc., there is no need to change the address entered in the recipient's name.

Further, the personal address data file 9a is
As shown in FIG. 4, like the department-specific address file 8a, it is formed from a correspondence chain of address keys and real addresses. The address key contains
The owner of the file can register a person with a high communication openness by giving a name of his/her choice. For example, a nickname, nickname, abbreviation, etc. can be added and registered. Since the real address is registered corresponding to the name, the sender of the e-mail can simply write the address in the address field in a format that is difficult to make mistakes, and the e-mail will automatically send the address to the correct address according to the e-mail system. converted.

Next, the operation of the mail server 6 will be explained with reference to FIG.

When the mail server 6 starts service, it prepares for sending (step S1), and then performs an address check in the address check mechanism 2a (step S2).

In this address check, it is checked whether the addressee entered in the addressee field of the email matches the real address, and if it is a real address, the email sending mechanism 2b is activated to start sending ( Step S3).

On the other hand, if it is determined that the destination address is not a real address, the email address data search mechanism 6a is activated. The email address data search mechanism 6a refers to the sender information file 7a stored in the second shared file storage medium 7 and specifies a search file (step S4). Once the search file is determined, the document in the file is then searched (step S5), and it is determined whether the same key as the addressee exists (step S6).
).

If the determination is affirmative, the address in the address field is replaced with the real user address (step S7), and the mail sending mechanism 2b is activated (step S8). On the other hand, if the determination is negative, it is determined whether the search is finished, and if the determination is negative, the process returns to step S4 and another search file is specified. If step S9 is affirmative, the error processing mechanism 20 is activated and transmission error processing is executed (step 510).

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained using a specific example.

Now, the e-mail creation device 1 allows the user to
Suppose that you have created an e-mail as shown in Figure (a). In the address field of the TJ'FZ child email, "Patent Department Patent Law" is written in kanji, so if it were a conventional e-mail system, it would be judged as an error because it was not written in alphanumeric characters. Perform error handling. However, in this embodiment, the address check mechanism 2a (see FIG. 1) is the e-mail address data search mechanism 6a.
Start.

The email address data search mechanism 6a first searches the second
The sender information file 7a (see FIG. 2) stored in the shared file storage medium 7 is accessed. The sender information file 7a is searched using the name entered in the sender field of the e-mail. In this example,
The name is rKusuwoto:5hlbuya:PX
J, so this name is used to search.

Looking at the sender information file 7a in FIG. 2, the sender's name is registered in the user account, and the file name ``Doc/pub/AddressJ'' is registered in the shared file column. /A-Doc/pub/Add
rcssJ is specified, and this time a search is performed within the file using the address "Patent Department Patent Law" as an address key.

The file name "/^-Doc/pub/Δadd rcs
When searching for the sJ file, the "Patent Department Patent Law" is registered in the address key, so the corresponding real address rsato:Akasaka:FX J is searched, and the real address is added to the address field of the e-mail. (see Figure 6 (11) 2).

As a result of the above, when a real address is entered in the address field of the e-mail, the mail sending mechanism 2b is activated and the same mail service as the conventional one is executed.

Note that if "Patent Department Patent Law" is not registered in the address key field of the department-specific address file 8a, the individual-specific address data file 9a shown in FIG. 4 is accessed and the address is Determine whether the "Patent Department Patent Law" is registered in the key column.

Further, if the "Patent Department Patent Law" is not registered in both the department-specific address file 8a and the individual-specific address data file 9a, it is determined that an error has occurred, and the error processing mechanism 20 is activated.

Which of the department-specific address file 8a and the individual-specific address data file 9a should be searched first may be determined by the user directly or by the system administrator.

In the above example, the addressee is "Patent Department, Patent Section," but if the addressee is, for example, the nickname "Kin-chan," the personal address data file 9a shown in FIG. 4 is specified, r Kinashl :5hibuya:F) It will be converted to the real address of L and transmitted normally.

Note that the shared file storage media 7 and 8 may be file storage media that can be accessed only from the mail server.

As described above, according to this embodiment, in the address field of the email,
Since the recipient's address can be entered in a simple and error-prone format, the sender can write the recipient's address in the same way as writing a regular letter. Additionally, errors in entering the addressee are reduced. Additionally, everyone in the department does not need to know the specific user address registered in the system.
In addition, if there is a personnel change in the department to which you are sending the e-mail, you can deal with it simply by updating the department-specific address file 8a stored in the third shared file storage medium. It has the advantage of being resistant to data changes due to transfers, etc.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, the present invention has the advantage that the sender can easily enter the address of an email in a format that is difficult to make a mistake. That is, the addressee can be written not only in alphanumeric characters, but also in Japanese such as kana and kanji, and can also be written in nicknames, abbreviations, and the like.

In addition, this has the effect of allowing the sender to write the email address in the natural sense of writing an address on a letter, making it easier to remember the address, and reducing the number of errors in writing the address.
It has the effect of being reduced to 1.

Furthermore, even if the person in charge of the department to which they belong changes due to personnel changes, etc., by making corrections to the department-specific address file, the email sender can still enter the recipient's address using the same address as before. In this way, there is no need for individual email senders to change the addresses they write in the address field, making it easy to operate, and since only the department-specific address file needs to be modified, it is easy to use when there is a personnel change, etc. The effect is that it can be easily dealt with.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a system block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a system block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a conceptual diagram showing a specific example of a sender information file.
The figure is a conceptual diagram showing a specific example of a department-only address file, FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a specific example of an individual-specific address file, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the mail server of this embodiment. , FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example of e-mail, and FIG. 7 is a system block diagram of a conventional example.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A communication line includes at least a mail server, a first file storage medium that stores a sender information file, a second file storage medium that stores a department-specific address file, and a personal file that stores an individual-specific address file. This is an e-mail addressing method in a network to which at least one of the storage media is connected, and the e-mail server has an address check mechanism that checks whether the address entered in the e-mail is a real address, and an address check mechanism that checks whether the address written in the e-mail is a real address or not. an email address data search mechanism for searching the sender information file and at least one of the department-specific address file and the individual-specific address file; An e-mail address specification method characterized by converting the recipient's name into a real address.