JPH114250A - Email device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] In the use of e-mail, secondary transfer of mail (the mail recipient can further transfer the mail to a third user) can be easily performed. In the e-mail device, there was no function to check a transfer destination and a transfer route of the mail. In an electronic mail device according to the present invention, means (1) for adding information indicating the original author of a mail as mail attribute information to the mail, and when a mail receiver transfers the mail to a third party, Email forwarder (email recipient)
Means 7 for notifying the mail creator of the information of the transfer destination (third party) of the mail and the transfer notice received, and means 6 for creating transfer route list data from the received transfer notification and holding the list data as internal data and the internal data Means 8 for analyzing the mail transfer destination list and the mail transfer route list. This makes it possible to check the transfer destination and transfer route of the created mail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail transmitting / receiving apparatus using a data processing apparatus such as a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When using e-mail, the
Secondary transfer (the mail receiver further transfers the mail to a third user) can be easily performed.

[0003] For this reason, there is a request from the original creator of the mail to want to know to whom and via whom the created mail is transferred. However, the conventional e-mail apparatus does not have a function for checking the destination and the transfer route of the created e-mail for the original creator of the e-mail.

As a technique for preventing a mail from being forwarded to an unintended user by the mail creator, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-336162 discloses a technique for permitting the mail creator to forward the mail when sending the mail. A method of designating is disclosed.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to enable an original creator of a mail to confirm a mail transfer destination and a mail transfer route by secondary transfer.

The above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-336162 is excellent in completely preventing undesired mail transfer by the original creator of the mail. However, there is room for further study in terms of flexible operation of the system. Is leaving. The point is that the author of the mail must strictly specify who is allowed to forward the mail when sending the mail. As a problem that can be considered in actual work, it is conceivable that the mail creator has forgotten to specify the permission and the mail cannot be transferred to the person to whom the mail should be transferred.

According to the present invention, the original author of the above-mentioned mail is made known to all system users that the original author of the mail can confirm the transfer destination and the transfer route of the mail by the secondary transfer. Can also implicitly prevent unintended mail transfer.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic mail device according to the present invention comprises: means for adding information indicating the original author of the mail to the mail as mail attribute information; When an e-mail is forwarded to a third party, transfer route list data from the means for notifying the original author of the e-mail the information of the person who forwarded the e-mail (e-mail recipient) and the destination of the e-mail (third party) To create
A means for holding the list data as internal data and a means for analyzing the internal data and displaying a mail transfer destination list and a mail transfer path list are provided.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.
This will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an electronic mail apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

Here, the e-mail device includes an upper network (represented by WAN), a server (represented by SERVER-A, SERVER-B), a local area network (represented by LAN-A, LAN-B), and a terminal (PC). -A-0, PC-B-0, etc.) and e-mail users (shown as A-0, B-0, etc.). Hereinafter, the electronic mail may be simply referred to as mail.

The upper network WAN connects the servers. The server has a hardware configuration shown in FIG. 31 and provides a service to a group of terminals connected by a local area network. The local area network connects a server and a group of terminals under its management. The terminal provides a user with a mail creation function, a mail transmission function, a received mail display function, and the like.

The server holds the table shown in FIG. 2 in its storage device. FIG. 2 shows a destination table. Here, the correspondence between the user ID and the server in which the user ID is registered is shown. This table is the same for all servers. If there is a change in the registration list,
You need to change the destination table on all servers. The server requested to send the mail can refer to the destination table to check the server to which the mail is sent. For example, when the server SERVER-A receives a mail transmission request from the user A-0 to B-0, the server SERVER- searches the address table for B-0. Then, the server to which B-0 belongs is SERVE
It turns out that it is RB. Therefore, server SERVER-A
The mail can be sent to the server SERVER-B.

[0014] Here, each case in which the user A-0 sends an e-mail to the user B-0 using the terminal PC-B-0 using the terminal PC-A-0. An outline of the operation of the device will be described.

(1) The user A-0 creates a document of an e-mail using the terminal PC-A-0, and instructs transmission of the e-mail to the user B-0. The e-mail device program running on the terminal sends the e-mail created by the user A-0 to the server to which it belongs, SERVER-A.

(2) Server SE that has received the e-mail
RVER-A stores the e-mail in a storage device. SERV
The ER-A analyzes the attribute information data included in the received e-mail, and reads out the destination described therein. The destination table shown in FIG. 2 is searched to obtain a server to which the destination belongs. Then, the electronic mail is transmitted to the server to which the destination user belongs.

A plurality of destinations can be specified in the e-mail, and when a plurality of destinations are specified in the mail, the above-described mail transmission processing is performed for all the destinations.

(3) Upon receiving the e-mail from SERVER-A, server SERVER-B stores the e-mail in the storage device.

(4) When the user B-0 logs in to the e-mail system using the terminal PC-B-0, the e-mail device program confirms that the mail addressed to the user B-0 has arrived. Display on the screen and notify user B-0. User B
-0 instructs to read the mail, the mail is sent from SERVER-B to terminal PC-B-0 and displayed on the screen,
User B-0 can read the mail.

The electronic mail device shown in FIG. 1 can transmit and receive an electronic mail according to the above procedure.

FIG. 30 is a hardware configuration diagram of the terminal in FIG. In FIG. 1, a processing unit 1 executes a program read from a memory 2 and instructs data input / output. The input / output control unit 3 controls an input / output device. The input / output control unit 3 includes a network adapter 4 for transmitting / receiving data via a network, an input device 5 including a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, a display device 6 for displaying a result of executing a program, a floppy disk or a CD. A program reading device 7 for reading a program from a program medium such as a ROM, and a storage device 8 for storing and holding programs and data; However, the program reading device 7 and the storage device 8 are unnecessary when a system is constructed by a method of reading a program from a server via a network.

FIG. 31 is a hardware configuration diagram of the server in FIG. Except for the following, the configuration of the server is the same as that of the terminal. Since the server performs central processing of the electronic mail apparatus system, such as sending and receiving and holding mail, the memory 2 and the storage device 8 to be connected have a larger capacity than the terminal. In addition, a plurality of network adapters 4 are connected to connect to other networks besides the network to which the user belongs.

Next, an outline of the characteristic functions of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 3 logically shows the transfer of mail. In the example of FIG. 3, the user who is the original author of the mail
A-0 forwards the e-mail to user A-1, user B-1, and user C-1, then user A-1 becomes user A-11 and user A
-12, User B-1 is User B-11, User B-12 is User
C-1 transfers to User C-11, User C-12, User C-13,
Further, a case where the user A-11 has transferred to the user A-111 is shown.

According to the present invention, when the mail transfer as shown in FIG. 3 is performed, a mail transfer destination list as shown in FIG. 4 and a mail transfer destination list as shown in FIG. The function to display the mail transfer route list on the screen as shown in FIG.

In order to realize this function, two types of e-mails, ie, a normal mail and a transfer notification mail, are prepared (FIG. 6).

(1) Normal mail (data structure is shown in FIG. 7) Normal electronic mail data including the mail text. A normal mail is composed of attribute information and a text.

Referring to FIG.

The attribute information is as follows.

Mail type: information for identifying whether this data is a normal mail or a transfer notification mail. Here, since the mail is a normal mail, “normal” is set.

Mail ID: Information unique to each normal mail. When the transfer notification mail is received, it is used to identify which mail the transfer notification mail is for.

Creation information: The creation information includes the following two items.

(1) Original creator: User ID of the person who created the mail.

(2) Date and time of creation: date and time information when the mail was created.

Sender ID: User ID of the person who sent the mail.

Destination information: User I of the destination of the mail
D. This information is of variable length. Insert a terminator at the end of the information. Thereby, the end of the destination information is recognized.

Transfer notification required / not required: Indicates whether or not the original creator of the mail sets acquisition of transfer destination information and transfer route information for the mail. If this information is “No”, no transfer notification is made.

Transfer route information: Transfer route information until the mail reaches the sender. This information is also of variable length.

An end symbol is inserted at the end of the information. Thus, the end of the transfer path information is recognized.

(2) Transfer notification mail (data structure shown in FIG. 8
Shown in An email used by the recipient of the email to notify the original author that the email has been forwarded. This e-mail contains only the attribute information and does not include the text.

Referring to FIG.

The attribute information is as follows.

Mail type: information for identifying whether this data is a normal mail or a transfer notification mail. Here, since it is a transfer notification mail, “transfer notification” is set.

Mail ID: ID of a normal mail targeted for the transfer notification mail.

Creation information: The creation information includes the following two items.

(1) Original creator: User ID of the person who created the mail.

(2) Date and time of creation: date and time information when the mail was created.

Sender ID: User ID of the person who sent the transfer notification mail.

Destination information: User ID of the destination of the transfer notification mail. The ID of the original creator of the target normal mail. Therefore, although a plurality of pieces of destination information are not specified, here, the data structure is assumed to be the same as that of a normal mail, and an end symbol is inserted at the end of the information in consideration of common analysis processing.

Transfer notification required / not required: Although the transfer notification mail is unnecessary information, this information is also left in consideration of simplification of processing.

Transfer route information: Transfer route information until the mail reaches the sender. This information is also of variable length. Insert a terminator at the end of the information. Thus, the end of the transfer path information is recognized. The process of the original creator creates transfer destination list and transfer path list information based on this information.

FIG. 9 shows the configuration of a program for realizing an electronic mail device. Here, in order to simplify the description, it is assumed that all of these programs operate on the server. The programs on the e-mail terminal are assumed to be the only programs that send the input from the user to the server and the program that displays the screen display data from the server on the terminal screen. However, in order to allow these programs to operate efficiently, a method of mounting the programs separately on a part operating on the server and a part operating on the terminal is also conceivable. These programs are shown in FIG.
The program is read from a program medium such as a floppy disk or CD-ROM set in the program reading device 7 shown in FIG. In particular, the mail receiving process 5 is started when mail arrives at the server. The received mail check process 9 is a program that is activated at regular intervals.

The operation of these programs will be described below.

FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of the electronic mail device main processing program. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(10-1) In step 10a, it is checked whether or not an instruction has been input from the user.

(10-2) If there is an instruction input from the user in step 10b, the flow proceeds to step 10c. If there is no input, the process proceeds to step 10i.

(10-3) In step 10c, it is checked whether or not the instruction from the user is "create mail". If "compose mail" is instructed, the process proceeds to step 10d, and the mail creation process MAIL_CREATE is called. Upon completion of the mail creation process, the process proceeds to step 10i.

If the instruction from the user is not "create mail", the process proceeds to step 10e.

(10-4) In step 10e, it is checked whether or not the instruction from the user is "display received mail". If "display received mail" is instructed, the process proceeds to step 10f, and the received mail display process MAIL_DISP is called. When the received mail display processing is completed, the process proceeds to step 10i.

If the instruction from the user is not "display received mail", the process proceeds to step 10g.

(10-5) In step 10g, it is checked whether or not the instruction from the user is "display of mail transfer destination list / transfer route list". “Display mail forwarding destination list / forwarding route list”
Has been instructed, the flow advances to step 10h to call the mail transfer destination list / transfer route list display function processing DISP_ROUTE. When the process ends, the process proceeds to a step 10i.

The instruction from the user is “mail transfer destination list /
If not, the process proceeds to step 10i.

(10-6) In step 10i, it is checked whether or not a predetermined time has passed since the last check of the presence or absence of the received mail. If the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process returns to step 10a. If a certain period of time has passed, the incoming mail check process MAIL_CHK is called, and after the end of the process,
It returns to step 10a.

FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of the mail receiving process MAIL_RESV. This process is started when a mail arrives. If the received mail is a “normal” mail, the mail is stored in a storage device of the server, and if the received mail is a “forward notification” mail, based on the contents described in the received mail, Create transfer route data. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(11-1) In step 11a, the mail type of the received mail attribute information is read.

(11-2) In step 11b, it is checked whether the type of the read received mail is "normal".

If the mail type is “normal”, step 1
Proceed to 1d. Otherwise, proceed to step 11c,
Call the transfer route data creation process ROUTEDATA_CREATE.
When this process ends, this process ends.

(11-3) If the mail type is "normal", in step 11d, the received data is read out and stored in the storage device as the received mail.

(11-4) In step 11e, it is checked whether or not the transfer notification necessity column in the attribute information of the received mail is "necessary". If the transfer notification required / not required column is "necessary", the process proceeds to step 11f, and the transfer notification mail creation process NO
Call TICE_MAIL_CREATE. When the process is completed,
This processing ends. If the transfer notification required / not required field is not “required”, the present process is terminated.

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the mail creation process MAIL_CREATE. This processing is for creating, editing, and transmitting an e-mail. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(12-1) In step 12a, the input from the user is accepted, and the mail text is created and edited.

(12-2) In step 12b, attribute information of the mail shown in FIG. 7 is created by, for example, allowing the user to specify a destination.

(12-3) In step 12c, the user is asked whether to acquire transfer information for the created mail.

(12-4) If it is instructed in step 12d that it is necessary to obtain the transfer information of the created mail, the process proceeds to step 12e, and "necessary" is set in the transfer notification required / not required column in the attribute information. Set. When it is instructed that acquisition of the transfer information of the created mail is unnecessary, the process proceeds to step 12f, and “No” is set in the transfer notification required / not required column in the attribute information.

(12-5) In step 12g, mail transmission processing MAIL_SEND is called, and the prepared mail is transmitted.
This processing ends.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of the mail transmission processing MAIL_SEND. In this process, an electronic mail transmission process is performed. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(13-1) In step 13a, one destination specified in the attribute information of the mail is extracted.

(13-2) In step 13b, the server to which the extracted destination belongs is searched from the address book shown in FIG.

(13-3) In step 13c, step 1
It is checked whether the server to which the destination belongs is found as a result of the search in 3b. When the belonging server is found, the process proceeds to step 13e, and the mail is transmitted to the destination server. If the belonging server is not found, the process proceeds to step 13d, and an error message "Destination unknown" is displayed.

(13-4) At step 13f, it is checked whether all the destinations specified in the mail attribute information have been processed. If all designated destinations have been processed, this processing ends. If there are destinations to be processed, the process returns to step 13a and the processing is continued.

FIG. 14 shows a flowchart of the received mail display processing MAIL_DISP. This processing is to display the text of the received mail. Further, in this process, a process of transferring the selected mail to another user is also performed according to an instruction from the user. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(14-1) In step 14a, a list of titles of the received mail is displayed, and the user is allowed to select an operation target mail.

(14-2) In step 14b, an instruction from the user is accepted.

(14-3) In step 14c, it is checked whether or not the instruction from the user is the display of the text of the mail.

If the instruction from the user is to display the text of the mail, the process proceeds to step 14d, where the text of the mail is displayed.
Thereafter, the process returns to step 14a.

If the instruction from the user is not the display of the mail text, the process proceeds to step 14e.

(14-4) In step 14e, it is checked whether or not the instruction from the user is a mail transfer.

If the instruction from the user is a mail transfer, the process proceeds to step 14f, where the mail transfer process MAIL_TRANS
Call. After the end of the process, the process returns to step 14a.

If the instruction from the user is not a mail transfer, the process proceeds to step 14g.

(14-5) In step 14g, it is determined whether or not the instruction from the user is the end of the present process. If the instruction from the user is to end the process, the process ends. Otherwise, return to step 14a.

FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of the mail transfer process MAIL_TRANS. In this process, the mail is transferred. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(15-1) In step 15a, the transfer destination address is obtained from the user.

(15-2) In step 15b, step 1
The transfer destination acquired in 5a is set as the destination information in the attribute information of the mail.

(15-3) In step 15c, the sender ID in the attribute information of the mail before transfer is added to the end of the transfer route information.

(15-4) In step 15d, the own ID is set as the caller ID.

(15-5) In step 15e, a mail transmission process MAIL_SEND is called and a mail is transmitted.

Thus, the present processing ends.

FIG. 16 shows a transfer notification mail creation process NOTICE_M.
The flowchart of AIL_CREATE is shown. In this process, when a transfer mail is received, a transfer notification mail notifying that the mail has been transferred is created and transmitted. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(16-1) In step 16a, "transfer notification" is set as the mail type in the attribute information.

(16-2) In step 16b, the mail ID,
For the creation information and transfer notification required / not required columns, the information set in the attribute information is copied and created.

(16-3) In step 16c, the own ID is set as the caller ID.

(16-4) In step 16d, an ID described in the original creator ID of the received mail is set in the destination information.

(16-5) In step 16e, the transfer route information of the received mail is copied to the transfer route information, and the sender ID of the received mail is added after that, and the own ID is further added.
At the end.

(16-6) In step 16f, a mail transmission process MAIL_SEND is called, and a mail is transmitted.

This is the end of the process.

FIG. 17 shows received mail check processing MAIL_CHK.
The flowchart of FIG. This process is called from the e-mail device main process every fixed time, and checks whether there is a received mail addressed to the own ID. When there is a received mail addressed to the own ID, a message is displayed on the screen and the user is notified. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(17-1) At step 17a, it is checked whether or not there is a received mail addressed to the own ID in the storage device of the affiliated server.

(17-2) In step 17b, the result of the check is checked, and if there is a received mail addressed to the own ID, the flow advances to step 17c to display a message indicating that there is an unread received mail. finish. If there is no received mail addressed to the own ID, the process ends without doing anything.

Next, creation of transfer path data from the transfer notification mail, and creation of a transfer destination list and a transfer path list from the created transfer path data will be described. Before that, the structure of transfer path data held as internal data will be described.

FIG. 18 shows an internal data structure for holding a mail transfer route. When the mail is transferred as shown in FIG. 3, the transfer route is held by the list data as shown in FIG. 18 as the internal data of the electronic mail device program.

The characteristics of the data structure are as follows.

(1) The head of the list data is indicated by a head pointer.

(2) The minimum unit of data is called a "cell".

(3) The cell has three values, and the leftmost box (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “.RIGHT” in the flowchart) holds the value of the destination (user ID). I do.

(4) The box in the middle of the cell (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “.CENTER” in the flowchart) holds a link pointer to the next level. Here, the level indicates the number of transfer stages. Referring to FIG. 3, A-1, B-1, and C-1 are the first levels, A-11, A-12, and B-1.
1,..., C-13 are the second level, and A-111 is the third level.

(5) The box on the right side of the cell (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “.CENTER” in the flowchart) holds a link pointer to the same level.

(6) As a special link pointer, a link pointer indicating the end of the link is prepared.

FIG. 19 shows an example of transfer route data created from a transfer notification mail. This transfer notification mail is transferred to the mail created by A-0 in the order of A-1, A-11, and when it is transferred from A-11 to A-111, it is sent from A-111 to A-0. It is a thing. Transfer path data created from the transfer notification mail is shown in the right side of FIG. This is the list data in the case where the mail is transferred in the order of A-1, A-11, and A-111, but the mail is also transferred through other routes. For this reason, the held list data is obtained by integrating the transfer path data with other transfer path list data. FIG. 2 shows a program for performing such processing.
Description will be made after 0.

FIG. 20 shows a transfer route data creation process ROUTEDATA_CREATE called from the mail reception process MAIL_RESV.
The flowchart of FIG. In this process, the transfer path data is created from the transfer notification mail, and the list data addition processing is called in order to add the created transfer path data to the list data holding all the transfer destinations and transfer paths of the mail. I do. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(20-1) In step 20a, transfer route list data is created from the transfer route information of the transfer notification mail as shown in FIG.

(20-2) In step 20b, list data addition processing ADD_LIST is called, and the transfer path data created in step 20a is added to the list data holding all transfer destinations and transfer paths of the mail. Do. This ends the processing.

FIG. 21 shows a list data addition process ADD_LIST.
The flowchart of FIG. In this process, the transfer path data created from the transfer notification mail is added to the list data holding all transfer destinations and transfer paths of the mail. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(21-1) In step 21a, a transfer path list operation pointer LP is prepared, and the leading pointer of the transfer path list of the mail ID is set in LP. Further, an additional list operation pointer AP is prepared, the start pointer of the additional list is set to the AP, and the values of LP and AP are initialized.

(21-2) In step 21b, the variable VALUE
And retrieves and sets the destination stored in the cell pointed to by the additional list operation pointer AP.

(21-3) In step 21c, the same level search processing SEARCH_LEVEL is called, and the destination acquired in step 21b is included in the list at the same level as the cell indicated by the current transfer path list operation pointer LP. Check if the same thing exists.

(21-4) In step 21d, it is checked whether or not the same destination is found in the transfer route list from the processing result of the same level search processing SEARCH_LEVEL. If found, go to step 21f. If not found, the process proceeds to step 21e, where the pointer AP for additional list operation is set to the same level pointer (cell on the right side) of the last cell connected to the level searched in step 21c.
Set the value of and connect the additional list. Then, the present process ends.

(21-5) Step 21f is the same as step 21
This is the process when the same destination is found in the transfer route list in d. In this case, since the destination to be added already exists in the transfer route list, it is determined that the destination has been processed, and each pointer is advanced to the next level.

(21-6) In step 21g, it is checked whether or not the additional list operation pointer AP indicates the end of the list. If AP is the end symbol of the list, it indicates that all the additional lists have been processed, and thus this processing ends. If AP is not the end symbol of the list, the process returns to step 21b and continues.

FIG. 22 shows a search process SEARCH within the same level.
The flowchart of _LEVEL is shown. This processing checks whether or not the same destination as the given destination VALUE exists in the link list at the same level as the cell indicated by the current pointer LP. If the same destination as the given destination exists, the value (address) of the pointer indicating the cell is used as a return value, and if the given destination does not exist, “the same destination was not found” is returned. Value. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(22-1) At step 22a, it is checked whether the destination stored in the cell currently pointed to by the pointer LP is the same as the given destination VALUE. If they are the same, the process proceeds to step 22b, where the current value of LP is set as the return value, and the process ends. If not the same, proceed to step 22c.

(22-2) In step 22c, the value of the pointer to the next cell is set to LP.

(22-3) In step 22d, it is checked whether the value of the pointer to the next cell is an end symbol. If it is an end symbol, the process proceeds to step 22e, where the value "the same destination was not found in the list" is set as a return value, and the process ends. If the value of the pointer to the next cell is not the end symbol, the process returns to step 22a to continue the processing.

FIG. 23 shows a flowchart of the mail transfer destination list / transfer route list display processing DISP_ROUTE. This process accepts an instruction from the user,
Alternatively, one of the display processes of the mail transfer route list is executed. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(23-1) In step 23a, a list of the titles of the mails transmitted with "Transfer notification required" set is displayed, and the mail for displaying the mail transfer destination list or the mail transfer route list is provided to the user. Let me choose.

(23-2) In step 23b, an instruction from the user regarding the above is received.

(23-3) In step 23c, it is checked whether or not the instruction from the user is a mail transfer destination list display. If so, proceed to step 23d to call the mail transfer destination list display processing DISP_TRANS_USER_ID. After the end of the process,
Returning to step 23a, the processing is continued. If the instruction from the user is not the mail transfer destination list display, step 23
Proceed to e.

(23-4) In step 23e, it is checked whether or not the instruction from the user is a mail transfer route list display. If so, the process proceeds to step 23f to call the mail transfer route list display processing DISP_TRANS_ROUTE. After the end of the process, the process returns to step 23a to continue the process. If the instruction from the user is not the mail transfer route list display, the process proceeds to step 23g.

(23-5) In step 23g, it is checked whether or not the instruction from the user is the end of this processing. If the instruction from the user is to end this processing, this processing is ended. Otherwise, the process returns to step 23a to continue the process.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing the mail transfer destination list display processing DISP.
13 shows a flowchart of _TRANS_USER_ID. This processing initializes the current pointer LP for the mail transfer destination list display processing and calls the mail transfer destination acquisition processing GET_ID. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(24-1) In step 24a, the value of the head pointer of the transfer path list of the mail ID is set in the transfer path list operation pointer LP.

(24-2) In step 24b, a mail transfer destination acquisition process GET_ID is called. After the end of the process, the present process ends.

FIGS. 25 and 26 show flowcharts of the mail transfer destination acquisition processing GET_ID. This processing is performed as shown in FIG.
All the transfer destinations are displayed on the screen from the transfer route list of the mail ID created in the transfer route data creation process ROUTEDATA_CREATE shown in FIG. This process is a program that can be called recursively. In this process, a pointer LP indicating the position of the currently operated cell in the transfer path list of the mail ID is input. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(25-1) In step 25a, the destination currently stored in the cell pointed to by the pointer LP is extracted and displayed on the screen as the mail transfer destination.

(25-2) In step 25b, it is checked whether or not the pointer value to the next level of the cell indicated by the current pointer LP is an end symbol. If it is not an end symbol, the process branches to 26-1 in FIG. If it is an end symbol, the process proceeds to step 25c.

(25-3) In step 25c, it is checked whether or not the pointer value to the same level of the cell indicated by the current pointer LP is an end symbol. If it is an end symbol, the process ends.
If it is not an end symbol, the process proceeds to step 25d.

(25-4) In step 25d, the current pointer LP is stored in the stack. This is to continue processing after a recursive call.

(25-5) In step 25e, a pointer value to the same level of the cell indicated by the current pointer LP is substituted for the current pointer LP.

(25-6) In step 25f, a recursive call of the mail transfer destination acquisition processing GET_ID, which is the present processing, is performed.

(25-7) In Step 25g, Step 2
The LP stored at 5d is recovered from the stack.
Then, the present process ends.

FIG. 26 shows the mail transfer destination acquisition process of FIG.
7 shows a flowchart following the GET_ID. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(26-1) In step 26a, the current pointer LP is stored in the stack. This is to continue processing after a recursive call.

(26-2) In step 26b, the value of the pointer to the next level of the cell indicated by the current pointer LP is substituted for the current pointer LP.

(26-3) In step 26c, a recursive call of the mail transfer destination acquisition processing GET_ID, which is the present processing, is performed.

(26-4) In step 26d, step 2
The LP stored at 6a is recovered from the stack.

(26-5) In step 26e, it is checked whether or not the pointer value to the same level of the cell indicated by the current pointer LP is an end symbol. If it is an end symbol, the process ends. If not, the process proceeds to step 26f.

(26-6) In step 26f, the current pointer LP is stored in the stack. This is to continue processing after a recursive call.

(26-7) In step 26g, the pointer value to the same level of the cell pointed to by the current pointer LP is substituted for the current pointer LP.

(26-8) In step 26h, a recursive call of the mail transfer destination acquisition processing GET_ID, which is the present processing, is performed.

(26-9) In step 26i, step 2
The LP stored at 6f is recovered from the stack.
Then, the present process ends.

FIG. 27 shows a mail transfer path list created by the mail transfer path list display processing shown in FIGS. 28 and 29. These are lists obtained by extracting the transfer paths one by one from the data structure of FIG. The transfer path list is displayed on the screen using these lists.

FIG. 28 shows a mail transfer route list display process DI.
4 shows a flowchart of SP_TRANS_ROUTE. In this processing, the transfer paths are extracted one by one while analyzing the transfer path list, and the acquired transfer paths are displayed on the screen. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(28-1) In step 28a, a copy of the transfer route list of the mail ID is created. This is because this processing is performed while changing the contents of the list. This is to operate the copy list and not to destroy the original list.

(28-2) In step 28b, the start address of the copy list is set in the list start pointer ROOT.

(28-3) In step 28c, ROOT is substituted for the current pointer LP and the current pointer save pointer PREVP, and initialized.

(28-4) In step 28d, it is checked whether the list head pointer ROOT is an end symbol. If ROOT is an end symbol, it indicates that all processing has been completed, and thus this processing ends. If ROOT is not a terminator, step 2
Proceed to 8e.

(28-5) In step 28e, a transfer route acquisition process GET_ROUTE is called to acquire one of the transfer routes.

(28-6) In step 28f, step 2
The transfer route acquired in 8e is displayed on the screen. Thereafter, the process returns to step 28c.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart of the transfer route acquisition processing GET_ROUTE. In this process, the transfer path list in which the given LP indicates the head is analyzed, and one transfer path is obtained from the list. Hereinafter, the flow of this processing will be described.

(29-1) In step 29a, the destination of the cell indicated by the current pointer LP is extracted and added to the transfer path list to be extracted this time.

(29-2) In step 29b, it is checked whether the value of the pointer to the next level of the cell indicated by the current pointer LP is an end symbol. If not, step 29
Proceed to c. If it is an end symbol, the process proceeds to step 29d.

(29-3) In step 29c, the current pointer LP is substituted into the current pointer save pointer PREVP.
The next pointer value of the cell pointed to by the current pointer LP is substituted for the current pointer LP. Thereafter, the process returns to step 29a.

(29-4) In step 29d, it is checked whether the save pointer PREVP of the current pointer is the head pointer ROOT. If the value of PREVP is not ROOT, step 29e
Proceed to. If the value of PREVP is ROOT, the process proceeds to step 29f.

(29-5) In step 29e, the pointer value to the same level of the cell indicated by the current pointer LP is substituted for the pointer value to the next level of the cell indicated by the current pointer retreat pointer PREVP. After that, the process ends.

(29-6) In step 29f, the pointer value to the same level of the cell pointed by the current pointer LP is substituted for the head pointer ROOT. After that, the process ends.

As is clear from the above description, according to the electronic mail device of the present embodiment, the original creator of the mail can know the transfer destination and the transfer route of the created mail.

[0176]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the mail creator can easily know the transfer destination and transfer route of the mail created by the mail creator. You can know who created the mail and through what route.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a destination table stored in a storage device of the electronic mail server.

FIG. 3 is a diagram logically showing transfer of an electronic mail.

FIG. 4 is an example of a mail transfer destination list display screen.

FIG. 5 is an example of a mail transfer route list display screen.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an electronic mail type.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data structure of a normal mail.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data structure of a transfer notification mail.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a program that operates on the electronic mail device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a main processing procedure of the electronic mail device.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a mail reception processing procedure.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a mail creation processing procedure.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a mail transmission processing procedure.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a received mail display processing procedure.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a mail transfer processing procedure.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a transfer notification mail creation processing procedure.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a received mail check processing procedure.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an internal data structure for holding a mail transfer route.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of transfer route data created from a transfer notification mail.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a transfer path data creation processing procedure;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a list data addition processing procedure.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the same level search processing procedure.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing a mail transfer destination / transfer route list display processing procedure.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing a mail transfer destination list display processing procedure;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing a mail transfer destination acquisition processing procedure.

FIG. 26 is a mail transfer destination acquisition processing procedure (continuation of FIG. 25);
It is a flowchart which shows.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a mail transfer path list created by the mail transfer path list display processing shown in FIGS. 28 and 29.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing a mail transfer route list display processing procedure.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart illustrating a transfer path acquisition processing procedure.

FIG. 30 is a hardware configuration diagram of an electronic mail terminal.

FIG. 31 is a hardware configuration diagram of an electronic mail server.

[Explanation of symbols]

WAN: Host network, LAN-A: Local area network A, LAN-B: Local area network B, SERVER-A: E-mail servers A, C
PU-A: processing unit of the electronic mail server A, DISK-
A: Storage device of e-mail server A, SERVER-B
... E-mail server B, CPU-B ... E-mail server B processing device, DISK-B ... E-mail server B storage device, PC-A-0 ... E-mail terminal A-0, PC-
A-1 ... E-mail terminal A-1, PC-A-2 ... E-mail terminal A-2, PC-B-0 ... E-mail terminal B-
0, PC-B-1 ... E-mail terminal B-1, PC-B-
2 ... E-mail terminal B-2, A-0 ... E-mail user A-0, A-1 ... E-mail user A-1, A-2 ... E-mail user A-2, B-0 ... E-mail Email User B-
0, B-1 ... E-mail user B-1, B-2 ... E-mail user B-2, 1 ... Processing unit, 2 ...
Memory 3 input / output control unit 4 network adapter 5 input / output device 6 display device 7 program reading device 8 storage device

Claims (2)

[Claims] An e-mail transmission / reception device for adding information indicating the original author of the e-mail to the e-mail as attribute information of the e-mail; and when the e-mail recipient forwards the e-mail to a third party, A means for notifying the mail creator of the information of the forwarder (mail recipient) and the forwarding destination (third party) of the email, and creating forwarding route list data from the received forwarding notification,
An electronic mail device comprising: means for holding the list data as internal data; and means for analyzing the internal data and displaying a mail transfer destination list and a mail transfer path list. 2. An electronic mail transmitting / receiving apparatus, comprising: means for adding information indicating the original author of the mail to the mail as attribute information of the mail; and when the mail receiver transfers the mail to a third party, the mail A means for notifying the mail creator of the information of the forwarder (mail recipient) and the forwarding destination (third party) of the email, and creating forwarding route list data from the received forwarding notification,
A medium storing a program for executing means for holding the list data as internal data, and means for analyzing the internal data and displaying a mail transfer destination list and a mail transfer path list.