JPH10240645A - Email system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To be used in a communication terminal device without changing a conventional e-mail server even if there is not enough free space for storing mail contents in a storage device of the communication terminal device. To provide an e-mail system that allows users to check the contents of e-mails at a later date simply by changing the e-mail application. SOLUTION: When sending an e-mail, the size of the e-mail to be sent is detected by a mail size detecting means 1, and the free capacity of the storage means in the terminal device is detected by the free capacity detecting means 2.
, And the two are compared by the capacity comparison means 3.
If the size of the outgoing e-mail is larger and cannot be stored in the storage unit, the e-mail destination adder 4 adds a preset mail address to the e-mail destination. The user can confirm the contents of the e-mail at a later date by searching for the e-mail delivered to the added mail address.

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, and more particularly to an application for transmitting an electronic mail from a portable communication terminal device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer) which has been widely used in the Internet conventionally.
Protocol) and POP3 (Post Off)
In an e-mail system using ice protocol-version 3), an e-mail sent by a user is not stored on an e-mail server on the sending side. For this reason, a user who uses the Internet e-mail stores the contents of the e-mail sent by the user in a designated area in his / her own communication terminal device, and when it is necessary to check the contents at a later date, etc. It is common to provide.

[0003]

However, especially in a communication terminal device such as a portable communication terminal device having only a small-capacity storage means (such as a floppy disk), the contents of the e-mail are not transmitted when the e-mail is transmitted. Since there is not enough free space in the storage means to store the sent mail, it may not be possible to save the sent mail and it may not be possible to check the contents of the sent mail at a later date. Was.

In order to solve the above problem, for example,
A so-called personal computer communication service (commercial BBS (Bull
etin Board System)). The e-mail system saves the contents of the transmitted e-mail on the e-mail server side so that the e-mail can be displayed and reused for a user later. However, the above SMT
If users of P and POP3 try to use this method, the entire e-mail system has to be replaced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem. Even if there is not enough free space for storing the contents of a mail in a storage device of a communication terminal device, a conventional electronic mail can be used. Without making any changes to the server,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an e-mail system that allows a user to check the contents of an e-mail at a later date simply by changing an e-mail application used in the communication terminal device.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, an electronic mail system according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises a mail size detecting means for detecting the size of an outgoing e-mail, and an outgoing e-mail. Comparing the size of the e-mail detected by the mail size detecting unit with the free space of the storing unit detected by the free space detecting unit. A capacity comparison unit that determines whether the outgoing e-mail can be stored in the storage unit; and a capacity setting unit that determines in advance that the outgoing e-mail cannot be stored in the storage unit. E-mail destination addition means for specifying the e-mail address as the destination of the outgoing e-mail, and e-mail to the destination e-mail address of the outgoing e-mail It is characterized in that a mail transmitting means for transmitting a Le.

That is, when the mail size detecting means detects the size of the outgoing e-mail, the free capacity detecting means detects the free capacity of the storage means. The capacity comparing means compares the size of the e-mail with the free capacity of the storage means, and determines whether or not the outgoing e-mail can be stored in the storage means. Here, when the determination result of the free space comparison means is “No”, the mail sending destination adding means adds the preset mail address to the sending destination of the email, and then the mail sending means sets the Make a call.

[0008] With this, even when the storage means has insufficient free space at the time of sending an e-mail and the outgoing e-mail cannot be stored, the e-mail delivered to the additional mail address at a later date can be searched. Thus, the contents of the transmitted e-mail can be confirmed.

In the electronic mail system according to the present invention, the mail sending destination adding means is configured to set its own mail address as the predetermined mail address.

That is, since the mail address additionally specified by the mail transmission destination adding means is its own mail address, even when confirming the contents of the e-mail at a later date, the e-mail can be easily received by a normal e-mail reception operation. It can be carried out. Also, it is only necessary to use a normal e-mail address to which the user receives the distribution without providing a special e-mail address for his / her own copy.

[0011] In the electronic mail system according to the third aspect, the mail sending means separates the electronic mail to the mail address additionally designated by the mail sending destination adding means from the electronic mail to the original sending destination. It is characterized in that it is configured to transmit to a user.

That is, by sending an e-mail to the mail address additionally specified by the mail destination addition means separately from the e-mail to the original destination,
The electronic mail to the original destination is not transmitted with the information on the additional designation of the mail address. As a result, the e-mail delivered to the original destination is the same as in normal times.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a circuit configuration of the electronic mail system according to the present embodiment.

The terminal 30 accesses the electronic mail server 40 connected by the signal line 20 and sends out an electronic mail.

The ROM 33 provided in the terminal 30 has a structure shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, a program that realizes the functions of the mail size detecting means 1, the free space detecting means 2, the capacity comparing means 3, the mail sending destination adding means 4, and the mail sending means 5 on a computer is stored.

The terminal 30 includes a ROM 33, a CPU 32 for appropriately calling and executing a program stored in the ROM 33, and a storage area for a set value (KEEP_SW) designating whether to store an outgoing e-mail.
And R used as other general-purpose work area
AM34, a display 35 for displaying various information such as e-mails, a mail to be transmitted, KEEP_SW
The keyboard 36 used when the user gives an instruction to the CPU 32, for example, setting, the I / O 37 for transmitting and receiving signals such as mail via the signal line 20, the transmitted mail and other data, etc. , And a bus 31 connecting these to each other.

The electronic mail server 40 has a ROM 43 for storing a program for realizing a function for appropriately processing a mail transmitted from the terminal 30 on a computer.
And a CPU 42 for executing the program, a RAM 44 used as a work area, a display 45 for displaying various information, a keyboard 46 used for giving instructions to the CPU 42, and a signal line 20. I / O 47 for transmitting and receiving signals such as mail, and terminal 3
The HDD 48 is configured to temporarily store the mail transmitted from 0 or to store other data and the like, and the bus 41 that connects these HDDs to each other.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of the electronic mail system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram hierarchically showing the components of e-mail data used in the e-mail system of the present embodiment.

Elements constituting the electronic mail 50 are roughly classified into additional mail information 51 sometimes called a mail header and a mail text 52.

The additional mail information 51 further includes a sender 53 of the mail, a receiver 54 of the mail, a sending time 55, and a title 56.

In the mail body 52, a message 57 to be transmitted by the sender of the mail to the receiver is described.

The "destination" described in the e-mail 50 is a single person (or e-mail address) that actually receives the e-mail, and is a single person.
Is originally separate from the description. That is, recipient 5
The description 4 is the destination list information of the e-mail described as a part of the transmission contents of the e-mail 50, and the person who received the e-mail 50 understands to whom the e-mail was sent. It is described in order to Therefore, the e-mail 50 is usually one of a plurality of persons (or e-mail addresses) described in the recipient 54.
The call is sent to each of the destinations selected one by one.

The operation of the electronic mail system according to the present embodiment will be described below mainly with reference to the flow shown in FIG.

As a method of transmitting / receiving a mail between an electronic mail server and a terminal, for example, SMTP and POP3 are known on the Internet.
In addition, a known method can be used for the transmission and reception method.

First, prior to sending a mail, the user instructs a predetermined procedure of the program to use the keyboard 36 to transmit the e-mail 50 to be transmitted.
(Hereinafter referred to as KEEP_SW) is specified.

When sending a mail, first, in step 1 (hereinafter abbreviated as S1 or the like), the set value of the KEEP_SW is checked. Here, if the setting is “do not save” (S1: No), the process proceeds to the process S8 of transmitting the electronic mail 50 to the original destination. If the setting is “Save” (S1: Yes), the e-mail 50 is sent to the terminal 3
Then, the process proceeds to the following process for checking whether or not the data can be stored in the HDD 38 as the storage means of the “0”.

In S2, the size (number of bytes) of the outgoing e-mail 50 is determined. Next, in S3, the HDD 3
The size of the empty capacity of 8 is obtained. Subsequently, in S4, S2
Of the size of the e-mail 50 obtained in step S3 and the HD obtained in step S3
E-mail 5 to be sent based on the size of the empty space of D38
It is determined whether 0 can be stored in the HDD 38 or not. In some cases, it is not sufficient to simply compare the sizes of the two, for example, when there is index information for easily displaying the saved e-mail, the capacity for the index is also taken into consideration. Must be determined.

If it is determined in S4 that "save is possible" (Yes), the e-mail 50 is stored in the HDD 38 in S5, and the e-mail is transmitted to the destination (S8).

If it is determined in S4 that "cannot be saved" (No), the process proceeds to the following process for sending the electronic mail 50 to the mail address of the sender (hereinafter, simply referred to as "self"). Move on.

In S6, the mail address of the user is added to the destination of the e-mail.

The mail address to be added to the destination of the e-mail in S6 is a mail address other than its own mail address, and may be a specific mail address set in advance.

When adding a mail address in S6, for example, a method of adding a mail address to a reference distribution column such as a cc: column of a mail system on the Internet can be used.

In S7, an e-mail 60 shown in FIG. 5 is transmitted to the own mail address added to the transmission destination.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the components of the electronic mail 60 in the same configuration as the electronic mail 50 shown in FIG.

Each element of the additional mail information 61 to the message 67 in FIG. 5 is the electronic mail 50 in FIG.
Correspond to the elements of the mail additional information 51 to the message 57 in. However, the receiver 64 is also added with his / her own name (or mail address). Also,
Although five names (or mail addresses) including the self are described in the receiver 64, the actual transmission in S7 is only for the own mail address.

It is to be noted that the receiver 64 of the electronic mail 60 does not need to describe his / her own name (or mail address).
The outgoing mail can be sent to its own mail address. In this case, in S6, only the destination field of the e-mail 50 in FIG. 4 is rewritten to its own name (or e-mail address), and this is transmitted to its own e-mail address in S7. An address is sequentially selected one by one from the description field, and mail is transmitted to each recipient.

At S8, the e-mail 50 is transmitted to the original destination. Here, unlike S7, the recipient 5
An e-mail is sent to all the persons (or e-mail addresses) described in No. 4. Although the destination of the e-mail 50 shown in FIG. 4 is “Ichiro Suzuki”, an e-mail with the same contents is also transmitted to “Jiro Sato”, “Saburo Takahashi”, and “Shiro Kimura”. .

At S8, an electronic mail 60 shown in FIG. 5 may be transmitted. In this case, the same type of mail is sent to both the original destination and the own mail address.

Further, the process of transmitting a message to its own e-mail address and the process of transmitting a message to the original destination are as follows.
The order may be reversed.

[0042]

As is clear from the above description,
According to the electronic mail system of the first aspect of the present invention, when the e-mail is transmitted, if the free space of the storage means is not enough to store the e-mail to be transmitted, the e-mail is set in advance. The content of the transmitted e-mail can be confirmed by sending the e-mail to the specified e-mail address and searching for the e-mail distributed to the additional e-mail address at a later date.

In this case, even in an e-mail system using SMTP and POP3 widely used on the Internet, by changing only the e-mail application used in the terminal without changing the conventional e-mail server. The above-mentioned effects are achieved.

According to the electronic mail system of the present invention, since the mail address additionally specified by the mail sending destination adding means is its own mail address, it is possible to confirm the contents of the electronic mail at a later date. This can be easily performed by a normal e-mail receiving operation. Also,
The user is not required to perform any complicated operation because he / she only needs to use a normal mail address to which the user himself / herself is delivered without providing a special mail address for his / her own copy.

According to the electronic mail system of the third aspect, the electronic mail to the mail address additionally specified by the mail destination adding means is transmitted separately from the electronic mail to the original destination. In addition, information relating to additional designation of a mail address is not transmitted to an electronic mail to the original destination. As a result, the e-mail delivered to the original destination is the same as in normal times.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the electronic mail system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation flow of the electronic mail system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a mail to an original destination in the electronic mail system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an e-mail to the user in the e-mail system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 mail size detecting means 2 free space detecting means 3 capacity comparing means 4 mail sending destination adding means 5 mail sending means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A mail size detecting means for detecting a size of an outgoing e-mail, an empty capacity detecting means for detecting an empty capacity of a storage means for storing an outgoing e-mail, Comparing the size of the received e-mail with the free space of the storage means detected by the free space detection means, and determining whether or not the outgoing e-mail can be stored in the storage means; If the capacity comparison means determines that the e-mail to be sent cannot be stored in the storage means, a mail sending destination adding means for additionally designating a preset mail address as a sending destination of the sending e-mail; An e-mail system comprising: e-mail sending means for sending an e-mail to an e-mail destination mail address. 2. The mail sending destination adding means is configured to set its own mail address as the previously specified mail address.
E-mail system as described in. 3. The mail sending means is configured to separately send an e-mail to a mail address additionally specified by the mail sending destination adding means and an e-mail to an original destination. 3. The e-mail system according to claim 1, wherein: