JPH10320319A - Electronic mail reader having opening confirmation function and recording medium recording opening confirmation function read program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To confirm whether the other party opens a mail or not without hanging an existing mail system by containing an opening conformation function in a mail reader of a client and using the reader on both sides of a sender and a receiver even a mail that passes through different mail servers which are interconnected. SOLUTION: A sending function part 1 of an electronic mail reader 6 that has an opening confirmation function adds a recognition character string that needs opening confirmation to a sending mail 7 which is inputted from an input device 4, makes a registration request to a sending mail database part 3 and also sends it to a mail server 5. An incoming function part 2 stores an incoming mail that is received from the server 5 in a mail box 13 and when the recognition character spring is designated read information, the part 2 requests the part 3 from updation. The part 3 writes on a database part 41 according to a registration request or an updation request from the parts 1 or 2 and shows an updation result on an output device 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mail system using a standard e-mail protocol on an interconnected network, which is incorporated in a mail reading device of a client without changing an existing mail system. The present invention relates to an electronic mail reading device having an opening confirmation function capable of confirming the opening.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional e-mail apparatus is based on a standard protocol SMTP (simple mail) in the Internet technology (interconnecting network technology).
The transfer protocol (transfer protocol) enables interconnection (transmission / reception) of e-mail between different mail servers or different networks. The outgoing mail is managed by the mail server of the other party, and a standard mail system cannot confirm whether the mail has been opened from the sender. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-195275 entitled "Mail Information Management in Distributed Mail System" requires a mail information server that operates independently, in addition to the mail system. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-344148, "e-mail device", a device identification code is registered in advance for each user in order to automatically return a read information e-mail when an e-mail is opened by a partner client. There is a need.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional e-mail apparatus, since the interconnection (transmission / reception) of e-mail is not managed between the servers, the transmitting side has correctly arrived at the receiving side or has read correctly. I can't confirm whether it was done. In the case of a particularly important mail, there was a problem that the receiving side manually replies to check whether the mail has been opened and read by the other party. In addition, there is also a disadvantage that there are not a few accidents that occur because a mail considered to be read is unread at the other party.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide an e-mail reading device with an opening confirmation function that incorporates an opening confirmation function into a mail reading device of a client and can perform the opening confirmation function without changing an existing mail system. .

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail reading apparatus having an opening confirmation function, which adds a recognition character string requiring an opening confirmation to an outgoing mail input from an input device and requests a registration to a database unit. A sending function unit comprising: first means for transmitting to a mail server; and second means for generating read information when notified of opening information indicating that the incoming mail has been opened, and transmitting the read information to the mail server. Check the designation of the recognition character string of the incoming mail received from the mail server, and store the received mail in the mailbox if the received mail does not specify the recognition character string.
Means for determining whether or not the recognized character string is read information when the recognized character string is designated, and fourth means for requesting an update to the database unit when the recognized character string is specified, and for an incoming mail having the designated recognized character string. A receiving function unit including: a fifth unit that is stored in the mailbox and notifies the user of opening information when the stored incoming mail is opened; and a registration request from the transmission function unit or an update request from the receiving function unit. And an outgoing mail database unit that outputs the updated result to the database unit and displays the update result on the output device.

Further, in the electronic mail reading device with an opening confirmation function according to a second invention, in the first invention, the recognition character string comprises a recognition type, an opening character string, and a mail recognition character string; Indicates the type of electronic mail with an open confirmation function, the open character string indicates whether or not the received mail has been opened, and the mail recognition character string indicates identification of each outgoing mail.

Further, in the electronic mail reading device with an opening confirmation function according to a third invention, in the first or second invention, the database section is provided to the mail identification character string, the opening character string, and the outgoing mail. It is configured with a title name.

Further, in the electronic mail reading device with an opening confirmation function according to a fourth invention, in the first invention, the read information is set to “read” when an incoming mail with a designated character string is opened. It comprises the opening character string and the mail identification character string corresponding to the incoming mail.

Further, in the electronic mail reading device with an opening confirmation function according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first or third aspect, the outgoing mail database unit may include a mail recognition character of the outgoing mail when a registration request is made from the outgoing function unit. In the column, register in the database unit as an unopened state, display the registration result on the output device, search for the incoming mail's mail recognition character string at the time of the update request from the receiving function unit, and read it from the corresponding unopened state And displays the update result on the output device.

Further, an electronic mail reading device with an opening confirmation function according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the electronic mail reading device of the first aspect, wherein the sending function unit, the receiving function unit, and the outgoing mail database unit are incorporated in the mail reading device of the client. It is constituted by being done.

Further, an electronic mail reading program with an opening confirmation function according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is recorded on a recording medium, and a recognition character string requiring an opening confirmation is added to an outgoing mail inputted from an input device and registered in a database unit. A transmission function unit comprising: a request and transmission to a mail server; and creation of read information when notified of opening information of an incoming mail and transmission to the mail server; and recognition of the incoming mail received from the mail server. In the case of an existing incoming mail without specifying a character string, the incoming mail is stored in a mailbox, an update request to the database unit is performed when the recognition character string is the read information in which the recognition character string is specified, and the specification of the recognition character string When there is a certain incoming mail, the receiving function unit, which is stored in the mailbox and includes notification of opening information when the incoming mail is opened, It is configured to include a, and outgoing mail database unit to be displayed on the output device outputs update result in the database unit by the registration request or an update request from the receiving function unit.

[0012]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram showing a configuration of a transmission function unit in the present embodiment, and FIG. 2B is a configuration diagram of a recognition character string to be added to outgoing mail.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram showing the configuration of the incoming call function unit in the present embodiment, and FIG. 3B is a flowchart showing the operation of the mail processing unit of the incoming call function unit.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the outgoing mail database unit in the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an operation example of the mail transmitting side and the mail receiving side in the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a mail reading device 6 having an opening confirmation function according to the present invention includes a transmission function unit 1 and a reception function unit 2.
And an outgoing mail database unit 3, which is incorporated in the client 17 and used. The client 17 includes a mailbox 13 for storing incoming mail,
A mail server 5 including an input device 4 and an output device 14
Connected to The mail server 5 is a general mail server of a client server type, and sends and receives mail to and from the destination mail server 16 by interconnecting networks.

The electronic mail reading device 6 having the opening confirmation function of the present invention incorporated in the client 17
The sending function unit 1 requests the outgoing mail database unit 3 to register the outgoing mail input from the server and transmits the outgoing mail to the mail server 5, and stores the incoming mail received from the mail server 5 in the mailbox 13 and stores it in the outgoing mail database unit 3. An incoming mail function unit 2 that requests an update, and an outgoing mail database unit 3 that writes the data to the database unit 41 by a registration request or an update request from the outgoing function unit 1 or the incoming call function unit 2 and displays the update result on the output device 14. .

Next, the function of the transmitting function unit 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described in detail with reference to (a) and (b). The recognition character string 21 required for the opening confirmation function will be described with reference to FIG. The recognition character string 21 includes a “recognition type”, an “open character string”, and a “mail recognition character string”.
The “recognition type” indicates the type of the mail transmitted from the electronic mail reading device 6 with the open confirmation function. "Open String"
Indicates whether the received mail has been opened, and indicates that the mail has been read when opened, and indicates unread when unopened. The “mail recognition character string” is uniquely assigned to each outgoing mail to which the recognition character string 21 has been added.

Referring to FIG. 2A, when the transmission function unit 1 is notified of the transmission mail 7 composed of the mail header and the mail text inputted from the input device 4, the transmission mail 7 is notified.
Is passed to the recognition character string creation means 20. When the outgoing mail 7 is passed, the recognition character string creating means 20 inserts the recognition character string 21 obtained by editing the recognition type, the unread character string indicating unread, and the mail recognition character string before the mail body of the outgoing mail 7. In addition to transmitting the recognized character string transmission mail 12 to the mail server 5, the edited recognition character string 21 and the title of the mail are notified to the transmission mail database unit 3 and registered in the database unit 41.

Further, when the sending function unit 1 is notified of the opening of the recognized character string incoming mail 9 from the receiving function unit 2 of the own client, the sending function unit 1 reads the read character string of the recognized character string 21 as read. Is transmitted to the mail server 5 (reply). That is, the recognition character string 21
Is added only before the mail body, so on servers and clients that do not have the read confirmation function, only a single line of the mail body is added, and no special processing is performed, and it is treated like a normal mail.

Next, the function of the incoming call function unit 2 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Referring to FIG. 3A, the mail received from the mail server 5 includes the read information 8,
It is the recognized character string incoming mail 9 or the existing incoming mail 10. The read information 8 and the recognition character string incoming mail 9 are mails having the recognition character string 21 transmitted from the transmission function unit 1,
The existing incoming mail 10 is an existing mail without a recognized character string.

When the read information 8, the recognized character string incoming mail 9, or the existing incoming mail 10 is received from the mail server 5, it is input to the mail processing 30. Referring to FIG. 3B, the mail processing 30 first determines whether or not the mail has been transmitted by the electronic mail reading device 6 with an open confirmation function based on the presence or absence of the recognition character string 21 (step 31). If there is no recognized character string 21, it is determined that the mail is an existing incoming mail 10 and stored in the mailbox 13 in the same manner as a normal mail (step 33). When there is a recognition character string 21, the recognition character string 21
Is checked (step 32), and if it has been read, it is determined that the information has been read, and the recognized character string 21 is notified to the outgoing mail database unit 3 (step 35). If the unopened character string of the recognized character string 21 has not been read, it is determined that the recognized character string is an incoming mail 9 and stored in the mailbox 13. When the recognition character string incoming mail 9 is opened, the corresponding recognition character string 21 is edited and the opening information 22 is notified to the transmission function 1 (step 34).

Next, the function of the outgoing mail database unit 3 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The database update function 40 stores the recognition character string 21 including the unread information notified from the transmission function unit 1 and the title of the mail in the database unit 41.
And display it on the display device 14. Further, the database update function 40 refers to the database unit 41 with the read information 8 notified from the incoming call function unit 2, updates the unread state of the corresponding recognized character string to the read state, and updates the display device 1
4 is displayed.

Next, an operation example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the state of the database unit 50 before sending mail in the client on the transmitting side will be described. A mail Z51 is created from the input device 4, and a mail transmission request is made. When the transmission function unit 1 of the present invention is notified of the transmission request of the mail Z51, the recognition character string creation unit 20 transmits the mail Z52 in which the recognition character string 21 including the unread information is added to the mail Z51 to the mail server 57. The outgoing mail database unit 3 is notified and the mail Z52 is sent to the database unit 5
0 is additionally registered in an unread state, and the state of the database unit 53 is established.

The mail Z52 is transmitted from the mail server 57 to the mail server 58 which is interconnected between networks such as the Internet. The mail Z52 arrives at the client on the receiving side and becomes the mail Z60 of the present invention as the mail Z60.
Will be notified. When the received mail Z60 is opened, the read information 61 corresponding to the mail Z60 is returned to the mail server 58 by the mail processing unit 30 of the receiving function unit 2. The read information 61 is transmitted from the mail server 58 to the mail server 57 again, and the read information 61
4 and is notified to the incoming call function unit 2 of the present invention, is notified to the outgoing mail database unit 3, and refers to the database unit 53 with the recognized character string of the read information 54 to change the unread state of the mail Z52 to the read state. It becomes the part 55.

Also, the existing mail 56 transmitted from the standard existing client arrives at the mail server 58 via the mail server 57 and is notified as the existing mail 59 by the receiving function unit 2 of the present invention. Since there is no recognition character string 21, the special processing of the present invention is not performed, and the processing becomes the existing normal processing.

Another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The present embodiment includes a recording medium 18 on which an electronic mail reading program with an opening confirmation function is recorded, and the recording medium 18 may be a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, or another recording medium.

The electronic mail reading program with the opening confirmation function is read from the recording medium 18 into the mail reading device of the client 17 and controls the operation of confirming the opening of the electronic mail. The client 17 performs the following processing under the control of the electronic mail reading program with the opening confirmation function.

When the outgoing mail input from the input device 14 is notified to the outgoing function unit 1, a recognition character string that requires opening confirmation is added to the outgoing mail, a registration request is made to the outgoing mail database unit 3, and a mail server is sent. 5 is transmitted. Also, when notified of the opening information of the incoming mail, the read information is created and transmitted to the mail server.

When the incoming mail received from the mail server 5 is notified to the incoming call function unit 2, and when the incoming mail does not specify a recognition character string, the incoming mail is stored in the mailbox 13. When the recognized character string is the already-read information 8, an update request to the outgoing mail database unit 3 is made. When an incoming mail with a specified recognition character string is specified, the mail is stored in the mailbox 13 and the opening information is notified to the transmission function unit 1 when the incoming mail is opened.

When a registration request from the sending function unit 1 or an update request from the receiving function unit 2 is notified to the outgoing mail database unit 3, the information is output to the database unit 41 and the update result is displayed on the output unit 14.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even if the mail has passed between different mail servers interconnected via the Internet, etc., use the mail reading device with the open confirmation function on both the sending and receiving sides to check whether or not the other party has opened the package without being aware of it. it can. Also,
By incorporating the present invention into a mail reading device of a client, an existing mail system can be used, and there is an effect that no special mail server or protocol change is required.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a transmission function unit, and FIG. 2B is a configuration diagram of a recognition character string to be added to a transmission mail;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams illustrating a configuration of a receiving function unit in the present embodiment, and FIG. 3B is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a mail processing unit of the receiving function unit;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an outgoing mail database unit according to the present embodiment. .

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an operation example of sending and receiving mail according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Outgoing function part 2 Incoming function part 3 Outgoing mail database part 4 Input device 5, 57, 58 Mail server 6 E-mail reading device with opening confirmation function 7 Outgoing mail 8, 11, 54, 61 Read information 9 Recognized character string incoming Mail 10 Existing incoming mail 12 Recognized character string outgoing mail 13 Mailbox 14 Output device 16 Destination mail server 17 Client 18 Recording medium 20 Recognized character string creation means 21 Recognized character string 30 Mail processing unit 40 Database update function 41, 50, 53 , 55 Database part 51, 52, 60 Mail Z 56, 59 Existing mail

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An electronic mail reading device having an open confirmation function for mutually confirming whether or not an electronic mail transmitted between clients via a mail server on a mutually connected network has been opened. The first means for adding a recognition character string that requires opening confirmation to the sent outgoing mail, requesting registration to the database unit, and sending it to the mail server, and reading the opening information indicating that the incoming mail has been opened, has been read An outgoing function unit having second means for creating information and transmitting it to the mail server; and checking the designation of the recognition character string of the incoming mail received from the mail server, and checking the existing incoming call without specifying the recognition character string. A third means for storing the incoming mail in a mailbox at the time of mail and judging whether or not the recognized character string is read information when the recognition character string is designated; Fourth means for requesting an update to the database unit in the case of reading information, and fifth means for storing in the mailbox for an incoming mail having the designation of the recognition character string and notifying the opening information when the stored incoming mail is opened. Means, and an outgoing mail database unit that outputs to a database unit according to a registration request from the outgoing function unit or an update request from the incoming call function unit and displays an update result on an output device. An e-mail reading device with an open confirmation function. 2. The recognition character string is composed of a recognition type, an opening character string, and a mail recognition character string, wherein the recognition type indicates a type of an electronic mail with an opening confirmation function, and the opening character string is received. 2. The electronic mail reading device with an opening confirmation function according to claim 1, wherein it indicates whether or not the mail has been opened, and the mail recognition character string indicates the identification of each outgoing mail. 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the database unit includes the mail identification character string, the opening character string, and a title name given to the outgoing mail.
Or the electronic mail reading device with the opening confirmation function described in 2. 4. The read information includes the opened character string set as read when an incoming mail with a designated recognition character string is opened and the mail identification character string corresponding to the incoming mail. The electronic mail reading device with an opening confirmation function according to claim 1, wherein 5. The outgoing mail database unit, when a registration request is made from the outgoing function unit, registers the outgoing mail in an unopened state with a mail recognition character string of the outgoing mail, and displays the registration result on an output device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein when an update request is received from the incoming call function unit, a search is performed using a mail recognition character string of the incoming mail, the unread state is updated to a read state, and the update result is displayed on an output device. 3. An e-mail reading device with an opening confirmation function described in 3. 6. The electronic mail reading device with an opening confirmation function according to claim 1, wherein the sending function unit, the receiving function unit, and the outgoing mail database unit are incorporated in the mail reading device of the client. 7. A recording medium storing an e-mail reading program with an opening confirmation function for causing a client to operate an opening confirmation function of an e-mail, wherein the outgoing mail input from the input device needs to be confirmed for opening. A transmission function unit having a recognition character string to be added, a registration request to the database unit, transmission to the mail server, and creation of read information when the opening information of the incoming mail is notified and transmission to the mail server; When the incoming mail received from the mail server is an existing incoming mail without specifying the recognition character string, the incoming mail is stored in the mailbox, and when the recognition character string is the read information specified, the received mail is sent to the database unit. Request and an incoming mail with the recognition character string specified is stored in the mailbox, and when the incoming mail is opened, An incoming mail function unit having knowledge and an outgoing mail database unit that outputs to a database unit in response to a registration request from the outgoing function unit or an update request from the incoming call function unit and displays an update result on an output device. Recording medium for recording e-mail reading program with opening confirmation function