JPH09214546A - Electronic mail reception system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify the designation of an electronic mail transmission destination by allowing a receiver side to discriminate an address of a received electronic mail and to sort the mail. SOLUTION: Received electronic mails are stored (102) and a reception notice is sent to a control section 104. The control section 104 stores addresses of the electronic mails to be stored (102) to an attribute storage section 105 and sends a retrieval start command to an attribute retrieval section 106. The retrieval section 106 collates an address in a storage section 105 with contents of personal attribute information areas 411-413 and sets flags 421-423 of the applicable user and when the retrieval of the information areas 411-413 for all users is finished, a retrieval end notice is sent to the control section 104. The control section 104 copies the contents of the electronic mails in the storage section 102 to personal electronic mail storage sections 431-433 of the user whose flags 421-423 are set.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail system for computer network communication, and more particularly to a mechanism of a receiving device of the electronic mail system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional electronic mail system, when sending an electronic mail, a unique electronic mail address corresponding to an address held by an individual recipient is individually designated.
Even when the same document is sent to a plurality of target persons at the same time, all the individual email addresses of the target persons are designated. Therefore, when a sender sends a document by email to all the target persons who meet a specific condition, the sender must check the target person's email address and conditions one by one and specify all the addresses of all the target persons. There is.

As a means for solving this, the sender's electronic mail system has a database in which the electronic mail address of the recipient is associated with the attribute condition of the recipient, so that the sender can send all the recipients. There is an e-mail system that can send e-mail to all the target persons by specifying only a code indicating a certain attribute condition instead of an e-mail address.

This e-mail system collates an internal database with designated attribute conditions, searches for senders who meet the conditions, specifies addresses of all target persons, and sends e-mails to all target addresses. By
An e-mail system has been proposed in which one document can be sent as e-mail to all the target persons by specifying one attribute condition. (For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2-131049, 3-32250, and 4-288.
See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 650, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-344151, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-194750. )

[0005]

However, as a first problem, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, the attribute condition information and the e-mail address information of the latest recipient are always stored in the database in the sender's e-mail system. Need to hold. The database in the sender's e-mail system is updated each time, for example, when the attribute condition of an individual who receives the e-mail such as age is changed, or when the e-mail address of the recipient is changed. It is necessary to constantly monitor the personal information registered in the database in the sender e-mail system.

On the contrary, when the e-mail address or the attribute condition of the user is changed, the user notifies the managers of all the e-mail systems that are supposed to be sent to him, and the respective users are notified of the change. You need to update the personal information in the database in your email system. This is not realistic when constructing a relatively large-scale e-mail system such as an organization.

The second problem is that since the sender e-mail system must send e-mail to all the target persons who meet certain attribute conditions, it is possible to send a plurality of target persons under the control of one target e-mail system. When sending to the same person, it is uneconomical to send the same e-mail as many people as possible.

The above problem is because the sender's electronic mail system has a database in which the individual recipient's individual electronic mail address and personal information are recorded, so that the sender's electronic mail system must manage all of this personal information. Due to

[0009] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail receiving system capable of simplifying the designation of the electronic mail destination.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail receiving system capable of improving maintainability for an administrator of a sender e-mail system.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail receiving system that saves the trouble of describing an e-mail address, saves the communication charge, and improves the productivity.

[0012]

According to the present invention, when the electronic mail address indicating the address of the received electronic mail is the attribute condition code indicating the attribute condition, the attribute condition code is recognized and analyzed. The attribute search section, a personal attribute information area for storing attribute information of users under the control of the electronic mail system, and the personal attribute information area from the result of analyzing the attribute condition code of the destination address of the received electronic mail. An electronic mail receiving system is provided which has means for copying and distributing the electronic mail received to a target person who matches the attribute condition.

Further, according to the present invention, the shared e-mail storage unit for temporarily holding the received e-mail, the personal attribute information area in which the personal e-mail address and the attribute condition are stored, and the attribute condition are matched. In the case, the flag of the e-mail that is turned on, a personal e-mail storage unit connected to the personal attribute information area via a flag, and an e-mail address indicating the address of the received e-mail,
An attribute storage unit that extracts and stores only the electronic mail address portion received from the shared electronic mail storage unit when the attribute condition code indicates the attribute condition, and analyzes the electronic mail address stored in the attribute storage unit Then, it is determined whether the e-mail is for individuals or a group represented by the attribute condition, and if it is the latter, an attribute search unit that analyzes the attribute content, and conforms to the attribute condition. A control unit for copying and distributing the received e-mail to the target person, and an instruction to detect that the e-mail is received and store it in the shared e-mail storage unit, and at the same time notify the control unit An electronic mail receiving system is obtained, which has a communication control unit that operates and a terminal control unit that communicates with a terminal.

[0014]

When the reception of the e-mail is detected, the received e-mail is stored in the shared e-mail storage unit and the reception notification is issued to the control unit. The control unit stores the e-mail address of the e-mail stored in the shared e-mail storage unit in the attribute storage unit and issues a search start instruction to the attribute search unit. The attribute search unit collates the email address stored in the attribute storage unit with the contents of the personal attribute information area, turns on the flag of the matching user, and finishes the search of the personal attribute information area of all users. . When the search is completed, a search completion notification is issued to the control unit. The control unit copies the contents of the electronic mail stored in the shared electronic mail storage unit to the personal electronic mail storage unit of the user whose flag is turned on.

By performing the above-described operation, it becomes possible to automatically select and distribute the target person of the electronic mail, and the sender side does not particularly pay attention to the individual person who is the sender, and sends the attribute condition code to the electronic mail. By using instead of address,
E-mail easily to all desired users.

[0016]

1 through 4 show an embodiment of an electronic mail receiving system according to the present invention.

In the electronic mail receiving system of the present invention, the electronic mail address indicating the address of the received electronic mail is
It is used when it is not the unique registered name of each person but the attribute condition code indicating the attribute condition. First, the originating electronic mail system specifies an attribute condition code instead of the electronic mail address of the destination. The attribute condition code is generally preliminarily set such as a character string starting from a character that is determined so that the user cannot register it. According to such a rule, the receiving electronic mail system can easily determine whether the electronic mail address of the sent electronic mail directly indicates the target person or the attribute condition.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the receiving side electronic mail system has a communication line (LAN or the like) 2 connecting the electronic mail systems so as to detect the reception of the electronic mail.
Communication control unit 101 connected to 00 and a shared e-mail storage unit 102 that temporarily holds a received e-mail
And personal attribute information areas 411 to 413 in which individual email addresses and attribute conditions are stored, email flags (receivable flags) 421 to 423 that are turned on when the attribute conditions are met, and personal attribute information Area 411
413 includes personal electronic mail storage units 431 to 433 connected via flags 421 to 423.

Further, the receiving side e-mail system extracts an e-mail address part of an e-mail received from the shared e-mail storage part 102 and stores it, and an e-mail address stored in the attribute storage part 105. And an attribute search unit 106 that analyzes the attribute contents when the latter is the latter and determines whether the electronic mail is for individuals or a group represented by attribute conditions. The attribute search unit 106 plays a role of searching the personal attribute information areas 411 to 413 according to the attribute conditions passed and turning on the receivable flags 421 to 423 when they match.

Further, the receiving-side electronic mail system includes a control unit 104 having means for copying and distributing the received electronic mail to the target person who meets the attribute condition.
At the same time as detecting the reception of the e-mail and issuing an instruction to store it in the shared e-mail storage unit 102, the control unit 104
The communication control unit 101 and the terminal (user terminal) 3
11 to 313, 321 to 323, and 331 to 333, and a terminal control unit 103 for exchanging information.

Terminals 3311-313, 321-323,
As shown in FIG. 2, 331 to 333 correspond to the electronic mail systems A to C, and communication lines 310, 320, and 330.
(Communication line between electronic mail system and terminal). The control unit 104 gives a search instruction to the attribute search unit 106 and gives a user whose flags 421 to 423 are turned on to copy an electronic mail stored in the shared electronic mail storage unit 102.

In the receiving side electronic mail system, when it is detected that the electronic mail is received, the received electronic mail is stored in the shared electronic mail storing section 102 and a reception notice is issued to the control section 104. The control unit 104 stores the electronic mail address of the electronic mail stored in the shared electronic mail storage unit 102 in the attribute storage unit 105, and issues an instruction to start the search to the attribute search unit 106. The attribute search unit 106 collates the e-mail address stored in the attribute storage unit 105 with the contents of the personal attribute information areas 411 to 413, turns on the flags 421 to 423 of the matching users, and sets the personal information of all users. When the search of the attribute information areas 411 to 413 is completed, a notification of search completion is issued to the control unit 104. Control unit 10
Reference numeral 4 copies the contents of the electronic mail stored in the shared electronic mail storage unit 102 to the personal electronic mail storage units 431 to 423 of the users whose flags 421 to 423 are turned on.

By performing the above-mentioned operation, it becomes possible to automatically select and distribute the target person of the electronic mail, and the sender side does not pay attention to the individual person who is the sender of the attribute condition code of the electronic mail address. By using it instead,
E-mail can be easily sent to all desired users.

Further, the electronic mail system will be specifically described below.

The electronic mail system A210 shown in FIG.
A user under the control of the
13 to the terminal 3 of a user who is under the management 320 of the electronic mail system B 220 and satisfies a specific attribute condition.
Consider the case where an e-mail is sent to all 21 to 323.

First, in the electronic mail system, rules for describing attribute conditions of a destination electronic mail address are defined. In order to distinguish the registered name of a normal user from the attribute condition code, when the destination is specified by the attribute condition, it is determined that the first character of the destination electronic mail address starts with a specific character code.

In the receiving side electronic mail system, when the first character of the destination electronic mail address of the received electronic mail is the specific character code, the destination does not indicate the specific user, but the attribute condition. It is easy to determine that the code is.

For the sake of explanation, it is assumed that the destination electronic mail address specifies an attribute condition when the first character of the electronic mail address starts with "[" as shown in FIG. Then, as shown in FIG. 3 below, the rule for attribute designation of the second and subsequent characters is determined.

Further, in order to specify an e-mail address, the domain name is usually described after the user registration name, but in the case of the attribute condition code, the description after the code is the same. In other words, the target person who can send by specifying one email address can only send to the specific target person under one domain.

For example, the designation of the destination is "[M50Bd @
nec. co. jp ", the sender is domain n
ec. co. Among users under jp, a 50-year-old male person with a rating of B rank (rating of 1B) and a rating of 2 rank of d (rating 2d) is transmitted. However, here, the rating 1 / rating 2 is a category that is considered necessary for fine ranking, such as job title.

Under the above rules, the electronic mail system A2
10 The user under management 310 gives a condition code to the e-mail address of the e-mail to be sent, not the direct registered name of the target person, and sends the e-mail system B220. In this case, the designation of the domain name is the electronic mail system B220.

The communication control unit 101 for detecting the reception of the e-mail shown in FIG. 1 stores the received e-mail in the shared e-mail storage unit 102 and further notifies the control unit 104 that the e-mail has been received. .

The control unit 10 notified of the reception of the electronic mail
Reference numeral 4 instructs the destination electronic mail address to be read from the electronic mail stored in the shared electronic mail storage unit 102 and stored in the attribute (address) storage unit 105. Then, thereafter, a search start instruction is issued to the attribute search unit 106.

The attribute search unit 106 that has received the search start instruction
Reads the personal attribute contents of the personal attribute information areas 411 to 413 in order. The personal attribute information areas 411
413 includes the user name (user name) i shown in FIG.
shii, gender M, age 26, rating 1 D, rating 2
Information such as c is stored according to the rule shown in FIG.

The attribute retrieval unit 106 receives the receivable flag 4 of the target person whose personal attribute contents match the contents of the attribute storage unit 105.
21 to 423 are turned on. For example, personal attribute information area 4
When the 11 attribute conditions match the attribute condition code stored in the attribute storage unit 105, the flag 421 of the target person is turned on. Then, the flags 421 to 423 are turned on for all users who meet all the conditions in the attribute areas of the personal attribute information areas 411 to 413.

The attribute search unit 106 finishes the search for all users registered in the electronic mail system B 220, and flags 421 to 4 of all target persons who meet the conditions.
When 23 is turned on, a search end notification is sent to the control unit 104.
Issue to

Upon receipt of the search completion notification, the control unit 104 copies the e-mail stored in the shared e-mail storage unit 102 to the users whose flags 421 to 423 are cleared and copies the personal e-mail storage unit. The states of the flags 421 to 423 are restored at the same time when the flags are stored in 431 to 433.

Even if the received e-mail address is not the attribute condition code but is addressed to an individual, it is compared by comparing with the personal registered name in the personal attribute information areas 411 to 413 and by turning on the flags 421 to 423, the same. Can be dealt with.

The method of searching for the target person by the attribute search unit 106 is such that the codes stored in the attribute storage unit 105 are the “M (male) / W (female)” part, the numerical part, the uppercase part of the alphabet, and the alphabetic part. Distinguishing into lowercase letters and comparing with gender condition, age condition, rating 1 condition, rating 2 condition, and contents of personal attribute information areas 411 to 413, respectively, the former and the latter can be distinguished by taking an exclusive OR. Become.

In the above mechanism, the individual information can be managed by the individual, and the individual can deal with the change of the mail address and the attribute condition, so that the management is simplified.

However, if it is considered that the security is lowered by the management of the individual, the management of the personal attribute information areas 411 to 413 is performed by the electronic mail system B.
It should be performed by the administrator of 210, and this administrator must always manage the user information under the system management.

In the above-mentioned e-mail receiving system, the individual attribute information areas 411 to 413 are provided for each individual. However, in another embodiment, as shown in FIG. Attribute information database unit 41
There is also a method of managing as 0. This mechanism is also advantageous in that the e-mail system administrator can manage the personal information as one personal attribute information database unit 410, and thus the management is easier.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present e-mail system, the e-mail address of the received e-mail is discriminated and sorted by the receiving side, so that the sending side e-mail system is controlled by the receiving side e-mail system. It is not necessary to create a personal information database, and the sender can send an email to the target person who matches the attribute by simply describing the attribute conditions that he wants to send, which simplifies the designation of the email destination. Can be expected.

Since the sender electronic mail system does not have a database in which the personal information of the sender is recorded, it is not necessary to manage the information on the target side, and the manager of the sender electronic mail system is not required to manage it. Maintainability can be improved.

Further, the electronic mail system on the receiving side is
Since the e-mail system on the sending side has a mechanism to identify and distribute the target person of the received e-mail, even if there are multiple target people for one e-mail system (domain), one condition code Since you only have to write and send one e-mail, and you do not have to specify each target person who meets the conditions one by one, you can save the trouble of writing an e-mail address and save the communication charge, thus improving productivity. improves.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic mail receiving system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of an electronic mail system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing rules for describing an electronic mail address.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a storage information format and a storage example of a personal attribute information area.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the electronic mail receiving system and showing a state in which the personal attribute information areas are integrated into one database area.

[Explanation of symbols]

200 communication line 210 e-mail system A 220 e-mail system B 230 e-mail system C 310, 320, 330 communication line between e-mail system and user terminal 311 to 313, 321 to 323, 331 to 333
User terminal 101 Communication control unit 102 Shared e-mail storage unit 103 Terminal control unit 104 Control unit 105 Attribute storage unit 106 Attribute search unit 410 Personal attribute information database unit 411, 412, 413 Personal attribute information area 421, 422, 423 Flag 431 , 432, 433 Personal email storage

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. When an electronic mail address indicating an address of a received electronic mail is an attribute condition code indicating an attribute condition, an attribute search unit for recognizing and analyzing the attribute condition code, and an electronic mail system management unit. The personal attribute information area storing the user's attribute information and the result of analyzing the attribute condition code of the destination address of the received e-mail, the personal attribute information area is searched and the target person who meets the attribute condition is searched. An electronic mail receiving system comprising means for copying and distributing the received electronic mail. 2. A shared electronic mail storage unit for temporarily holding a received electronic mail, a personal attribute information area in which an individual electronic mail address and attribute conditions are stored, and which is turned on when the attribute conditions are met. An e-mail flag, a personal e-mail storage connected to the personal attribute information area via a flag, and an e-mail address indicating the address of the received e-mail are attribute condition codes indicating the attribute condition. In this case, the attribute storage unit that extracts and stores only the electronic mail address unit received from the shared electronic mail storage unit and the electronic mail address stored in the attribute storage unit are analyzed, and the electronic mail is for personal use. Or an attribute search unit that determines whether to target the group represented by the attribute condition, and further analyzes the attribute content in the case of the latter, At the same time as issuing a control unit that copies and distributes the received e-mail to the target person who meets the attribute condition and an instruction to detect that the e-mail is received and store it in the shared e-mail storage unit. An electronic mail receiving system, comprising: a communication control unit for notifying the control unit and a terminal control unit for communicating with a terminal. 3. The electronic mail receiving system according to claim 1, wherein the individual attribute information in the individual attribute information area is managed as one individual attribute information database unit.