JPH05225086A - Message transmission system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the message transmission system capable of an easy and speedy replacement of the correct address even though an erroneous address is inputted. CONSTITUTION:This system having a discrimination means 51 discriminating the presence or absence of registering the specified address and an informing means 42 informing an error when an unregistered address is judged is provided with a retrieval means 54 retrieving the address similar to the one judged to be unregistered, a display means displaying the retrieved similar address, a selection means 44 selecting the displayed similar address, and a replacement means 53 replacing the selected address by an unregistered address.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a message transfer system. The “message” is also called “mail”. In this specification CCITT Recommendation X. Imitating 400,
It is called a "message".

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a message transfer system, a message sent from a sender is provided with destination information designating to which subscriber the message should be sent. Generally, personal names, group names, and their abbreviations can be used as the destination information. (For example, Akihiro Uetani "Local Area Network-Outline of Ethernet-" revised 2nd edition (1-3
25) Maruzen p. 272-273. ) These subscriber names, group names, and their abbreviations that are the destinations are registered in advance in a database called a clearinghouse service.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the invention] By the way, as everyone experiences, when trying to issue a document etc. to a company or an individual, the official name, department, full name of the individual, etc. are unexpected. I can't remember. If a letter is delivered by a person, it will reach the other person even if it is a little wrong.
But the message does not. It is one method to allow some ambiguity, but as is well known, it is difficult to recognize ambiguity in programming,
In addition, adverse effects such as information leakage due to incorrect distribution are expected. For this reason, the destination is required to exactly match the registered name, with a few exceptions, such as the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters. However, for example, "zu" and "zu" can be easily distinguished visually, but not by sound. Therefore, if you hear such a sound on the phone and describe it as the
Some people make it "U" and some make it "ZU." [T
There are many other such examples, such as "U" and "TSU,""TI" and "CHI." Often the spelling itself is complicated or unclear when writing the address. Examples include foreigners' names and ancient names quoted in group names. In any case, after returning an error, you can either look up the dictionary again, or perform some operation to query the clearinghouse service and carefully search for the many names returned. I had to do some complicated work. Especially in the latter case, it was difficult to narrow down the candidates because the spelling itself was ambiguous, and the search for the destination was more complicated. An object of the present invention is to eliminate such drawbacks of the conventional system, and to provide a message transfer system in which even if an incorrect destination is input, it is possible to easily and quickly switch to the correct destination.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a judgment means for judging whether or not a designated destination is registered, and a notification for notifying an error if there is a destination not registered based on the judgment. In a message transfer system having means, a searching means for searching a destination similar to a destination not determined to be registered, a display means for displaying the searched similar destination, and the displayed similar destination. And selecting means for selecting the selected destination, and replacement means for replacing the selected destination with the unregistered destination.

[0005]

The retrieval means inquires of the clearinghouse service or the like whether or not the subscriber name including the wild card is registered by replacing each character of the destination with a wild card in order. The display means displays the retrieved similar destination on the screen as a destination candidate of the message. When one of the displayed similar destinations is selected by the selecting means, for example, the cursor moving on the screen in conjunction with the mouse, the replacing means replaces the similar destination with the unregistered destination. This will send the message to the correct destination.

[0006]

The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the message transfer system. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a workstation, which is provided with a message transmitting / receiving unit 2 according to the present invention. Details of the message transmitting / receiving unit 2 will be described later. Needless to say, the workstation 1 has various functions, but here, only the portion related to the present invention is extracted and displayed. The same applies to the subsequent parts. A message transfer agent (mail server) 3 receives a message sent from the workstation 1 via the network 5. The message transfer agent 3 accepts the message and checks whether the message box (mailbox) of the recipient exists in its message database 4. If there is, store it there. If not, the clearing house service (directory service) 6 is inquired about the location of the message box of the recipient. The message is transferred to the message transfer agent 3 indicated in the answer. The clearing house service 6 manages the above-mentioned matters related to subscribers and provides information, for example, acceptance of subscriber (user) registration, issuance of authentication, response regarding presence or absence of registration, network resources (file server, print server, etc. )
Providing management information related to the above (for example, p.
222-232, etc.).

FIG. 3 shows details of the message transmitting / receiving unit 2. An operation display unit 11 is used for inputting a destination by a user (sender or receiver), selecting a similar destination, inputting a message text, notifying a user of an error, and displaying a similar destination. A user input unit 12 assists the user in creating a message. A transmission processing unit 13 confirms the destination of the generated message and searches for similar destinations. 14
Is a message sending unit, which sends the destination, sender, message body, and other information to the message transfer agent 3. A message receiving unit 21 inquires of the message transfer agent 3 about the presence or absence of a message and receives a message from the agent 3. A reception processing unit 22 performs authentication confirmation with the clearing house service 6 for receiving the message. A user output unit 23 supplies the operation display unit 11 with the presence or absence of a message, the content of the received message, and the like.

FIG. 1 shows an operation display unit 11 and a user input unit 1.
2 and details of the transmission processing unit 13. An operation unit 31 includes a keyboard and a mouse, and is used for inputting data and commands. Reference numeral 32 denotes a notification sound generation unit, which generates an electronic sound when an error occurs, for example, when the destination of the message is not registered, to call the user's attention. Three
A display unit 3 displays the supplied character code, vector data and dot data, and displays a cursor at a designated position. If there is a character or the like at the cursor position, the display at that position is reversed and blinked (represented by a rectangular box in the figure). An input control unit 41 receives input data from the operation unit 31 and determines an input command based on the cursor position at that time. An error display control unit 42 instructs the notification sound generation unit 32 to ring when a destination error occurs, and also instructs the display unit 33 to perform the reverse blink 61 (FIG. 4) of the unregistered destination portion. A similar destination display control unit 43 displays the similar destinations on the similar destination display window 62 (FIG. 4). Reference numeral 44 denotes a similar destination selection control unit, which is a cursor 6 on the similar destination display window 62.
The similar destination selected by the user is determined from the movement control of No. 3 and the position of the cursor 63 when the mouse button is clicked, and the replacement unit 53 is notified.

A transmission control unit 51 stores the destination in the destination holding unit 52, makes an inquiry to the clearing house service 6 of the destination, confirms the authentication, and transmits a message to the message transmitting unit 14 regarding the authenticated message. Make requests, etc. Reference numeral 54 denotes a similar destination search unit, which, when there is a destination error, generates a destination similar to that in the procedure shown in FIG. 6 and requests the transmission control unit 51 to make an inquiry to the clearing house service 6. If the similar destination is registered, it is stored in the similar destination holding unit 55. When the search for similar destinations is completed, the similar destination display control unit 43 is requested to display. The replacement unit 53 stores the new destination supplied from the similar destination selection control unit 44 in the destination holding unit 52 (replaces the previous destination). The transmission control unit 51 corresponds to the determining means in the claims. Similarly, the error display control unit 42 is a notification unit, the similar destination search unit 54 is a search unit, the similar destination display window 62 is a display unit, and a similar destination selection control unit 44.
Is the selecting means, and the replacing section 53 is the replacing means.

FIG. 4 shows the details of the display unit 33. Reference numeral 71 denotes a sender display section, in which a sign ":" is added after the registered name of the sender to describe a higher organization name. In this example, "iid
"a" is the registered abbreviation, "KSPB" is the office name, and "A"
BCDE ”represents the company name. A destination display unit 72 displays the destination name input by the user. Multiple destinations can be specified by using "," as a delimiter. In this example, "SVD-2G" is the group name and "hi
"rosh" is the personal name. Reference numeral 73 denotes a copy sending destination display section, which displays the destination to which the copy is sent. It should be noted that even if a certain recipient is the recipient of the copy, there is no difference from the direct addressee in terms of message transfer processing. In this embodiment, similar destinations are searched, displayed, selected, replaced, and the like for these duplicated destinations. Reference numeral 74 denotes a message subject display portion, and 75 denotes a message body (comment) display portion. The actual display screen displays many other parameters. Here, in order to improve the visibility, only the portions related to the present invention are shown.

The operation of the apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. When the user instructs the transmission of the message, the transmission control unit 51 stores the destination in the destination holding unit 53 as described above, and the clearing house service 6 determines whether or not the destination is registered. Inquire (step S1). The word "step" will be omitted hereinafter. If the destination is correct (S2 "Yes"), S7
Then, the transmission control unit 51 requests the message transmission unit 14 to transmit the above message. As a result, normal mail transmission is executed. When the answer in S2 is “No”, the transmission control unit 51 requests the similar destination search unit 54 to perform a similar destination search process. The search unit 54 responds to this and executes the processing (S3).

The details are shown in FIG. Here, since the "hirosh" input as the destination has not been registered, it is assumed that the character "hirosh" on the destination display unit 72 is highlighted by the error display control unit 42. First, the variable i is set to an initial value "1", and the number of destination characters "6" input at this time is substituted into the variable w. Next, the i-th character of the destination character string is changed to the wild card "*", and the transmission control unit 51 is requested to make an inquiry to the clearing house service 6 (S12). In this embodiment, the wildcard “*” means one or more characters consisting of alphabets and special symbols or a null character. Since i = 1 here, the leading "h" character is replaced with this "*",
It becomes "* irosh". The transmission control unit 51 inquires of the clearing house service 6 whether this is registered.

When the clearing house service 6 makes this inquiry, the character string F $ from the beginning to the character before "*"
And the character string R $ following "*" is taken out. The number of characters of the character string F $ at this time is m. Next, the clearing house service 6 searches the registered user names for which the m-th character string up to the character string F $ at this time matches. A set of user names whose character strings match is defined as a prefix match group. From this prefix match group,
Those including the character string R $ at this time are selected after the m + 1th position. A set of selected user names is set as a hit group. This hit group is a similar destination related to the inquiry at this time. The clearing house service 6 transmits these to the request source transmission control unit 51. The hit group is stored in the similar destination holding unit 55 (S13).
When searching for registered user names, it is better not to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters. That is, when searching with the character “K”, the range of similar destinations is expanded by reading the user name including the character “k”. For the same reason, it is better to ignore the hyphen and space in the registered user name and perform the search. Here, the destination transmitted to the clearing house service 6 is “* iroshi”. Since there is "*" at the beginning, the character string F $ from the beginning of the destination to before "*" is "null", and the character string R $ following "*" is "iroshi". Since the character string F $ is null, all the registered user names are set as a prefix match group, and the characters "irosh" are added after the m + 1st character, that is, the first character.
The registered user name including the character string "i" is selected from the prefix matching groups and is set as the hit group. Here, the hit group is a group in which various characters are added before and after “iroshi”, which starts with “null”, for example, “hiroshi”.
ma ”and the like.

When the hit group is received, the variable i is incremented (S14), and it is checked whether the incremented variable i is larger than the number of destination characters (S15). Here, i = 2 due to the increment. Since it is smaller than w = 6, the process returns to S12 and this time, “h
The second character "i" of "irosh" is used as a wild card, and a similar destination is searched. At this time, the destination transmitted to the clearing house service 6 is “h * ros
hi ”. The registered user name with “h” at the beginning is read as the prefix match group. 2 because m = 1
The registered user name including the character string “roshi” after the first character is selected and is set as a hit group. This hit group is similarly supplied to the request source transmission control unit 51 and stored in the similar destination holding unit 55. When the wild card search for the last character "h" of the destination input in this way ends and i is incremented, the answer in S15 is "Yes". The search for the similar address ends.

When the search is completed, the similar destination search unit 54 commands the similar destination display control unit 43 to display the same, as described above. The similar destination display control unit 43 reads out the search results accumulated in the similar destination holding unit 55 and supplies data to the display unit 33 so as to display them in the similar destination display window 62. The user operates the cursor on the operation unit 31 to select "hirosak" from the displayed similar destinations.
It is assumed that "i" is selected (it is highlighted and the mouse button is clicked). The similar destination selection control unit 44 responds to the selection operation by the operation unit 31, determines the selected similar destination from the cursor position at that time, and supplies the similar destination to the replacement unit 53. The replacement unit 53 stores the selected similar destination in the destination holding unit 52. This allows
The unregistered destination is replaced with the correct destination selected by the user, that is, the registered destination. The transmission processing unit 51 uses the clearing house service 6 for this new destination.
Requesting the message sending unit 14 to send a message to this new destination.

In this embodiment, the i-th character is replaced with a wild card (S12 in FIG. 6). For example, the i-th character and the i + 1-th character, and further the i + 2-th character may be replaced with one "*". Further, instead of replacing, "*" may be inserted in order between the characters of the wrong address. In addition to the search by the similar destinations in the embodiment, the search for each similar destination may be performed. Further, the similar destination may be searched by another method.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, the destination similar to the destination not determined to be registered is searched by the search means, and the searched similar destination is displayed on the display means.
When a similar destination is selected by the selecting means, this is replaced with an unregistered destination. Therefore, even if a destination error occurs, you can easily and quickly select the desired one from the similar destinations that are displayed. No hassle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing details of each part of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a message transfer system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a message transmission / reception unit according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for confirming and exchanging destinations.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a similar destination search procedure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 42 notification means 44 selection means 51 judgment means 53 replacement means 54 search means 62 display means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A message transfer system having a judgment means for judging whether or not a designated destination is registered, and a notification means for notifying an error when there is a destination not registered based on the judgment. Search means for searching a destination similar to the destination determined not to exist, display means for displaying the searched similar destination, selection means for selecting the displayed similar destination, and the selected destination A message transfer system, comprising: a replacement unit for replacing the unregistered destination.