JP2024115076A - Email Archive System - Google Patents

Abstract

To realize a simple mail archiving function easy to search and share a target mail, as to a huge amount of mails sent/received.SOLUTION: A mail archiving server 10 comprises: a for-archive address generating section 12 that generates a for-archive address and sends it to a user terminal 30; an object-of-archive mail receiving section 13 that receives from a mail server 40 an object-of-archive mail to a for-archive address sent from the user terminal 30; a received-mail archiving section 14 that distributes and stores received object-of-archive mails on a for-archive address basis into a mail archive DB 20; an object-of-archive mail extracting section 15 that extracts a predetermined object-of-archive mail out of accumulated object-of-archive mails and sends it to the user terminal 30; and an object-of-archive mail retrieval-processing section 16 that executes predetermined retrieval processing on the object-of-archive mail sent to the user terminal 30.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a technology for archiving emails used and sent/received by employees of, for example, a company, organization, or other such entity, such as mass emails sent to multiple recipients at once.

Generally, companies, groups, organizations, and the like use email (electronic mail) as a communication tool for employees and the like who belong to those companies to carry out their work.
For example, mass email (mass mail system), which allows the same text to be sent to multiple recipients at once, is widely used as a convenient information sharing tool that allows messages to be sent, received, and viewed only by registered members, such as members of the same department in a company or multiple members working on a common project.

Generally, emails sent and received, including mass emails, are managed and stored by the individual who sent or received the email at their own discretion using a PC, smartphone, email software (mailer), etc., and individuals also refer to past emails and search for necessary emails using the functions of email apps, etc.
This causes problems such as deleting necessary e-mails without saving them, or taking a long time to find necessary e-mails due to the large number of saved e-mails.

For the purpose of appropriately storing and managing a large number of emails as described above, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes an "email processing server, email archiving method, and email archiving system" as an archiving method that corresponds to the organizational structure of a large corporation in which multiple group companies use the same email domain, and that aims to archive by unit, such as by group company (tenant), by specific department within a group company, or by specific individual.

JP 2020-003894 A

However, there is still room for further improvement in the technologies for supporting email archiving up to now, including the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1.
For example, the email archiving method of Patent Document 1 merely stores emails for each specified group company, tenant, or specific department within a company in an organization that uses the same email domain, and does not solve the above-mentioned problems when a large number of emails, including mass emails, are sent and received.

For example, with a cloud-based email client, emails are stored on an individual basis, but when mass emails and regular emails are mixed together, users need to use the email client's folder or filter functions to sort through only the mass emails and extract the desired mass emails. In other words, users have to make an effort on their own to make it more convenient.
In terms of content, mass emails also have the problem that context is accumulated in the form of multiple quotations in the form of replies, making it difficult to understand the content even after reading it once, and making it difficult to read.

Additionally, there were problems with the search function of the email client, such as search keywords not working properly or even returning unnecessary information such as quotations, addresses, and signatures.
In addition, when multiple recipients are sent simultaneously, the recipients must store and search for the emails that are distributed to them, which is inconvenient and makes management cumbersome. Also, since emails sent before joining a group are not received, it is not possible to refer to or look back on past emails.

Furthermore, even if you have received an email, if you delete or lose it, you will no longer be able to access the information, which poses a vulnerability in the management of evidence.
In addition, as the registered members for mass mailings change due to transfers or resignations, there are cases where the currently registered members are unable to trace back past mailings addressed to the same person, which can lead to the problem that in some cases access to necessary information becomes permanently impossible.
Furthermore, when sharing information about a specific email among multiple people, if the email itself is difficult to find, it becomes difficult to share the information. Even if the target email is found, it is common to share the email by copying the email text to a business chat room or by forwarding it again, but this alone does not allow sharing of the replies that came before or after the email.
For this reason, if access to the target email was made available to relevant parties through a Web application, multiple people would be able to each refer to the email information simply by sharing a URL, for example, and each person would also be able to easily access previous and subsequent reply emails from that page, making this an extremely useful information sharing tool; however, no technology has been proposed to realize such simple information sharing.

The present invention has been proposed to solve the problems described above, and aims to provide an email archiving system that can realize a simple email archiving function that makes it easy to search for and share the desired email among the large amount of emails sent and received between individuals or within a group, and is particularly suitable for managing and operating mass email, in which large amounts of email are repeatedly sent and received between multiple people.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a system for archiving emails sent to one or more destination addresses, comprising: a user terminal used by a user who uses the archive; a mail server that receives emails sent from the user terminal and sends them to the destination addresses; and a mail archive server that is communicably connected to the user terminal and the mail server. The mail archive server is configured to include an archive address generation unit that generates a predetermined archive address in response to an input operation from the user terminal and sends it to the user terminal; an archive target mail reception unit that receives archive target mails sent from the user terminal to the archive address from the mail server; a received mail archive unit that distributes and stores the received archive target mails in a predetermined storage area for each archive address; an archive target mail extraction unit that extracts a predetermined archive target mail from the stored archive target mail in response to an input operation from the user terminal and sends it to the user terminal; and an archive target mail search processing unit that performs a predetermined search process on the archive target mails sent to the user terminal in response to an input operation from the user terminal, and sends the search results so that they can be displayed on the user terminal.

Furthermore, the present invention can be configured as a program executed in the mail archive system according to the present invention as described above.
Furthermore, the present invention can also be embodied as a method that can be implemented by the mail archive system and program according to the present invention as described above.

According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a simple email archiving function that makes it easy to find and share the desired email among large amounts of emails sent and received between individuals or within groups, for example, which are used as business and communication tools in companies and organizations.
This makes it possible to provide a mail archive system, program, and method that can provide a mail archive system that is particularly suitable for managing and operating mass mail, in which large volumes of mail are repeatedly sent and received between multiple people.

1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic diagram of an overall configuration of a mail archive system according to an embodiment of the present invention; 2 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of each part in the mail archive system. This is an explanatory diagram that shows a schematic image of email archiving in an email archive system, in which (a) shows an image of setting an archive address, (b) shows an image of sorting emails to archive, and (c) shows an image of multiple users referring to, viewing, searching, etc., stored emails to be archived. 11 is a flowchart showing a process of generating an archive address in a mail archive system; 11 is a flowchart showing the processing operations in a broadcast email transmission/archive process in the email archive system; 11 is a flowchart showing the processing operation in an extraction and search process of emails to be archived that have been archived in the email archive system. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display and search screen for emails to be archived extracted in the email archive system; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a server, a user terminal, and a system in a mail archive system.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a mail archive system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The mail archive system (this system) of the present invention described below is realized by processes, means, and functions executed by a computer according to instructions from a program (software). The program sends commands to each component of the computer, and can cause it to perform the specified processes and functions according to the present invention described below. In other words, each process, means, and function in the present invention is realized by a specific means in which the program and the computer work together.

The whole or part of the program may be provided by, for example, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or any other computer-readable recording medium, and the program may be read from the recording medium and installed on a computer for execution. The program may also be directly loaded onto a computer via a communication line and executed without using a recording medium.
Furthermore, the present system can be configured with a single information processing device (such as one personal computer) or with a plurality of information processing devices (such as a group of a plurality of server computers).

Each information processing device included in the device group constituting this system is composed of hardware including a CPU 301, a RAM 302, a ROM 303, a HDD 304, an input device 305, a display device (display) 306, a communication IF 307, etc., as shown in FIG. 8. These components are connected by a system bus, and data is exchanged via the system bus. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) 301, also called a central processing unit, is a part that performs the central processing of the computer, and controls each device and calculates and processes data. The RAM (Random Access Memory) 302 is a type of memory device that can erase and rewrite data. The ROM (Read Only Memory) 303 is a type of memory device that uses semiconductors, etc., and data can be written only once during manufacturing, and the recorded data can only be read when used. The HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 304 is an auxiliary storage device that uses the properties of magnetic materials to record and read information. The input device 305 is used by the user to give operating instructions to the computer or to input characters, etc., and specifically consists of a keyboard, mouse, etc. The display device 306 consists of, for example, a liquid crystal display, etc. Each device in this system may be equipped with a device having a touch panel function in which the input device 305 and the display device 306 are integrated. In addition, each device may be equipped with a communication function (communication IF 307) that enables communication with other terminals, information processing devices, etc. The communication IF (Interface) is a device for communicating with other devices according to a specified communication standard, and includes, for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card).

[System configuration]
As shown in FIG. 1, a mail archive system 1 (hereinafter referred to as "this system 1") according to one embodiment of the present invention is configured to include a mail archive server 10, one or more user terminals 30 (30a to 30n), a mail server 40, and a broadcast system 50.
The mail archive server 10, the user terminal 30, the mail server 40, and the multicast system 50 are connected via the Internet 100, which includes networks such as LAN and WAN, and are capable of mutual data communication.

As a result, email generated on a user terminal 30 and sent to one or more destinations is sent to the user terminal 30 at the destination address via the mail server 40 and multicast system 50, and email addressed to an archive address is sent to the mail archive server 10, where it is received and stored as archive target email that is subject to a specified archive process.
The mail archive server 10 is also connected via the Internet 100 so as to be able to communicate with, for example, a predetermined external system (not shown) installed outside the country (domestic or overseas).

Here, the mail archive server 10 and the user terminal 30 can be configured by information processing devices installed in, for example, the same organization or company. In this case, the present system 1 is configured by the mail archive server 10 and the user terminal 30, and the present system 1 can function as an in-house system operated, for example, by the same organization or company.
Furthermore, the mail archive server 10 and the user terminal 30 can be configured by information processing devices installed in different organizations, companies, etc. In this case, for example, the mail archive server 10 can be configured by an information processing device operated by a company that provides the present system 1 as a service to customers, and the user terminal 30 can be configured by an information processing device provided in one or more companies, organizations, groups, etc. that receive mail archive services via the present system 1. In this case, the user terminal 30 functions as an external device connected to the present system 1 via a network, and the present system 1 is configured only by the mail archive server 10.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the mail archive server 10, the mail server 40, and the multicast system 50 are each configured as independent, separate structures (see FIG. 1), but as long as they fulfill the functions of the present invention, they are not limited to such a structure.
For example, the mail archive server 10 may be configured as being included in the mail server 40 , and the multicast system 50 may be configured as being included in the mail server 40 or the mail archive server 10 .

[Mail Archive Server]
The mail archive server 10 is a server device for archiving mail sent to one or more destination addresses via the mail server 40 or the broadcast system 50, including mail used and sent by employees and staff in, for example, each company or organization, such as broadcast mail sent simultaneously to multiple destinations, and is an information processing device that is the core of this system 1 and constitutes the mail archive system of the present invention. Note that the mail archive server 10 may have a function of importing export data of mail from a mailer and archiving the mail, in addition to archiving received mail.
This mail archive server 10 can be configured, for example, by an information processing device on which a specified program (software) is implemented, such as one or more server computers or personal computers, or a server system consisting of one or more virtual servers built on a cloud computing service.

The mail archive server 10 is also provided with an OS (Operating System) and a DBMS (Database Management System), both not shown, and is operated as a server computer. Note that, although a server computer configuration is described here, it is also possible to implement the same functions in a so-called serverless configuration that combines cloud services.
The mail archive server 10 is implemented with software that runs on middleware such as a Web server program.
This software publishes and provides available applications to one or more user terminals 30 via a network such as the Internet 100 in the form of, for example, an API (Application Programming Interface).
As a result, each user terminal 30 can execute and use the functions of the email archive system of the present invention by calling up and logging in to a dedicated application program or web browser, etc., that is operated for the email archiving provided and executed by this system 1, such as email archiving functions, search functions, forwarding functions, and URL generation functions that are provided and proposed by the email archive server 10 (see Figure 7).
It is also possible to implement the function in a Web application without using an API. In order to provide a search function, the functions of a "search engine" and a "search index" can be included in the mail archive server 10, or the search function can be provided by using the functions of a "search engine" and a "search index" that are external to the mail archive server 10.

In addition, the mail archive server 10 is equipped with a specified mail archive DB (database) 20 (described later) which is implemented as a database or the like, and is also equipped with a storage means for acquiring and storing specified information necessary for the operation of the mail archive system of the present invention.
The storage means stores various information resources, such as specific information for executing the archive function of emails managed by this system 1, for example, identification information of users who can use the archive function of this system 1 (user name, ID, password, email address, etc.), archive addresses, email destination/sender addresses, and identification information of the memory area where the email will be archived (IP address, URL, etc.), and accumulates and stores emails to be archived that are sent from each user terminal 30, described below, to archive addresses in a memory area (email archive DB 20) set for each archive address or for each destination address that matches multiple destination addresses, and the necessary information is read out, stored, and updated as needed as this system 1 is operated.

The email archive server 10 of this embodiment is configured to function as each of the following parts, as shown in Figure 2: a user authentication processing unit 11, an archive address generation unit 12, an archive target email receiving unit 13, a received email archive unit 14, an archive target email extraction unit 15, and an archive target email search processing unit 16.
The mail archive server 10 also includes a mail archive DB 20 in which predetermined archive mail information, which is configured by the above-mentioned storage means, is accumulated and managed.

When the system 1 receives email (email to be archived) addressed to a specified archive address, the email archive DB 20 sorts and stores the email in a specified memory area for each archive address, or for each destination address of a mass email that has multiple matching destination addresses, and the email is managed and operated as a database for email archiving.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, emails to be archived are sorted, stored, and archived according to archive address or according to destination address of broadcast email, such as archive-1: 21a, archive-2: 21b, archive-3: 21c, archive-4: 21d, ..., archive-n: 21n.

As a result, the archived emails archived in the email archive DB 20 can be viewed, searched, transferred, etc. as targets for the extraction and search processes of this system 1 in response to input operations from the user terminal 30, as described below.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an image of archived mail in the present system 1. In FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3A, for example, a dedicated email address (archive address) addressed to this system 1 can be set and registered as the destination address of a broadcast email sent simultaneously to multiple users.
As a result, as shown in Figure 3 (b), broadcast emails with an archive address set as the destination address are received by the users of each destination address and are also received by this system 1 as emails to be archived, stored in a specified memory area of the email archive DB 20, and automatically archived.

3(c), the archive target emails archived in the email archive DB 20 can be viewed, searched, transferred, etc. as required for the extraction and search processing of the system 1 in response to input operations from the user terminal 30 of a user who has accessed and logged in to the system 1 via the Internet 100. This allows the user to view, search, and perform other required processing on the desired archive target emails on the Web system.
Specifically, by executing the processing operations in each of the following sections, namely a user authentication processing section 11, an archive address generation section 12, an archive target email receiving section 13, an received email archiving section 14, an archive target email extraction section 15, and an archive target email search processing section 16, email archiving according to the present invention can be realized, such as archiving emails to be archived in the email archive DB 20 and extracting and searching archived emails.

[User authentication processing unit]
The user authentication processing unit 11 executes a predetermined authentication process to allow communication between the system 1 and the user terminal 30 .
Specifically, when the user authentication processing unit 11 receives the user's identification information, such as ID and PW, sent from a user terminal 30 requesting login to the system 1, it performs authentication processing by referring to the information in the mail archive DB 20 for the ID and PW, determines whether or not the user can log in to the system 1, and sends the authentication result to the user terminal 30 related to the login request.
As a result of the authentication process, the user terminal 30 that is permitted to log in can access the system 1 and make requests such as issuing an archive address, extracting emails to be archived, and making search requests.

In this manner, the user authentication processing unit 11 automatically executes a predetermined authentication process when a login request is made from the user terminal 30 .
The specific processing operation of the user authentication processing unit 11 will be described later with reference to FIGS.

In addition, in this system 1, SSO (IDaaS) allows the authentication process (user authentication processing unit 11) for logging in to the mail archive server 10 of this system 1 and the authentication process for logging in to the multicast system 50 described later to be performed using a common ID and password.
Here, SSO (single sign-on) is a characteristic that allows resources on multiple independent software systems to be used by a single user authentication process. This characteristic eliminates the need for the user to input a set of user ID and password for each system. IDaaS is an abbreviation for "Identity as a Service" and is a service that provides ID authentication, ID password management, SSO, access control, etc. via the cloud. Such SSO and IDaaS services are provided from an external system (not shown) via a network such as the Internet 100.
In this system 1, by utilizing these functions, it is possible to improve user convenience by allowing users to log in to the mail archive server 10 and the multicast system 50 using the same ID and password.

[Archive address generation section]
The archive address generating unit 12 generates a predetermined archive address in response to an input operation from the user terminal 30 and transmits the address to the user terminal 30 .
Specifically, when the archive address generation unit 12 receives address issuance request information from a user terminal 30 requesting the issuance of a dedicated address for archiving, it generates a different dedicated archive address for each issuance request and transmits the address to the user terminal 30 related to the request.

As a result, when a user terminal 30 receives a dedicated archive address, that dedicated address can be used to generate and send emails to individuals or mass emails to multiple recipients, which can then be sent to the system 1 and stored and registered as archived emails. The archived emails can then be viewed, referenced, searched, etc., as needed.

In this way, when a request for issuing a dedicated archive address is received from the user terminal 30, the archive address generating unit 12 automatically executes a predetermined address generating and issuing process.
The specific processing operation of the archive address generating unit 12 will be described later with reference to FIGS.

[Email Reception to be Archived]
The archive target mail receiving unit 13 receives, from the mail server 40, mail to be archived that has been sent from the user terminal 30 or a terminal other than the user terminal 30 and is addressed to an archive address.
Specifically, the archive target email receiving unit 13 receives email addressed to the above-mentioned dedicated archive address, and outputs the received email to the received email archive unit 14 as an archive target email, and makes it subject to a specified archive process.

In this manner, the archive target mail receiving unit 13 automatically executes the receiving process of the archive target mail.
The specific processing operation of the archive mail receiving unit 13 will be described later with reference to FIGS.

[Received Mail Archive Section]
The received mail archive unit 14 executes an archive process in which received mail to be archived is sorted and stored in a predetermined storage area for each archive address.
Specifically, the received email archive unit 14 stores and accumulates the archive target emails received by the above-mentioned archive target email receiving unit 13 in dedicated memory areas set up in the email archive DB 20 for each archive address of the archive target email, for example, memory areas such as archive-1: 21a, archive-2: 21b, archive-3: 21c, archive-4: 21d, ..., archive-n: 21n as shown in Figure 2.

Furthermore, when storing emails to be archived, the received email archive unit 14 can add information that can be omitted when extracting and displaying emails to be archived (described later), such as information for marking citations and signatures contained in the emails. This makes it possible to omit the display of marked portions (citations, signatures, etc.) when the emails to be archived are extracted and displayed by the email extraction unit 15 to be described later and referenced on the user terminal 30.
As another example, when storing the email to be archived, it is possible to perform a process of specifying and displaying the citation and signature part in the reference display without performing a marking process. However, in this case, AI or the like may be required for the specification process, which may result in a corresponding processing load, so it is preferable to perform the above-mentioned process of adding marking information when storing in the email archive DB 20.

As described above, the received mail archive unit 14 automatically executes the archiving process for received mail to be archived.
The specific processing operation of the received mail archive unit 14 will be described later with reference to FIGS.

[Extraction of emails to be archived]
The archive target email extraction unit 15 extracts predetermined archive target emails from the stored archive target emails in response to an input operation from the user terminal 30 , and transmits the extracted emails to the user terminal 30 .
Specifically, when the archive target email extraction unit 15 receives email extraction request information, for example specifying a specific archive address, from a user terminal 30 requesting email extraction, it refers to the email archive DB 20, extracts all archive target emails that relate to the requested archive address from the stored archive target emails, and transmits them to the requested user terminal so that they can be viewed (see Figure 7).

Specifically, when any broadcast email address is selected as an email extraction request from the user terminal 30, the archive target email extraction unit 15 extracts the broadcast emails stored in the email archive DB 20 and transmits the information of the extracted email so that it is displayed on the user terminal 30, for example, in a list display format (see Figure 7).

As a result, even if an extraction request is made by a user who is not related to the mass email, the email will not be extracted. Archived mass emails will be extracted and available for viewing, reference, etc. only for specified users. This ensures the confidentiality of the email contents while providing the necessary emails only to users with the appropriate viewing authority.
In this case, the authority to view the broadcast mail is automatically given to the users who belong to the broadcast group, which makes it possible to realize a simple and reliable security function that does not require the effort of authority management.

Furthermore, the archive target email extraction unit 15 can generate predetermined identification information that can extract the archive target email sent to the user terminal 30, and transmit the information to the user terminal.
Specifically, the archive target email extraction unit 15 generates and outputs, for example as a URL, identification information indicating the location of the email archive DB 20 in which emails extracted from the user terminal 30 in response to an email extraction request and sent to the user terminal 30 are stored, and can send the URL to the requested user terminal 30.
In this way, the user of the user terminal 30 that receives the URL can send or forward the URL to another user terminal 30, allowing multiple users to refer to and view the email indicated by the URL. For example, emails and attachments exchanged between multiple users, such as mass emails, can be easily and quickly shared via the URL.

Although the above description concerns a configuration in which location information in which the target email is stored in the email archive DB is generated as a URL, the configuration may also be such that, when a URL request is received, the target email is copied to a temporary storage area in the email archive DB, and identification information indicating the copied location is generated as a URL.
In addition, the location information where the target email is stored in the email archive DB can be generated as a URL, and a user terminal that accesses this URL can be configured to display the target email regardless of whether or not it is authenticated.The target email can also be displayed only to users who can log in to this system 1, even if they are not able to receive the target email as a broadcast email address.

In particular, even users who cannot directly access emails to be archived, such as users who cannot log in to this system 1 or users who can only view mass emails from their own time at work, can share useful information easily and quickly by receiving a URL transfer as described above.
This means that a permalink is issued for each email, and by transferring and sharing the URL, for example, multiple users can share information such as "that email" or "that particular email." By saving attachments, files can also be shared via URL.

For example, when one or more emails displayed in a list or filtered display format on the user terminal 30 are selected, the archive target email extraction unit 15 generates and issues a URL for referencing the selected emails.
This enables the target user to forward the URL that was sent and displayed on the user terminal 30 to other users and share the email as shared information.
As a method of displaying the URL, for example, a web display anchor function (a function for jumping to a position on a target page on a web page) can be used. This allows emails from a certain broadcast email address to be displayed consecutively, and makes it possible to jump to and display the specified target email.

Also, a function for displaying the target email and related emails as a whole, such as a thread-type email display, can be used (whether or not they are related can be determined, for example, by the same subject line or a thread ID inserted in the email header). In this case, emails other than the target email and the emails before and after it can be displayed in a collapsed manner so that they are not visible.
Furthermore, by using such a foldable display, it is possible to specify multiple emails at random, for example, and generate and issue a URL that displays only those emails.

Also, it is possible for other users to whom the URL has been forwarded to be able to access and view the relevant page in the archive system after going through authentication processing by accessing the URL. However, in principle, it is desirable that other users not registered as members of the target mass mail cannot view the page. Note that the page may be open without authentication, or it may be configured so that whether it is open or closed to members can be selected and set for each mass mail.
Furthermore, by forwarding a URL to other users, not only can the forwarded email be identified and shared, but it can also be used to rank emails that have been viewed many times via the URL, or to place them at the top of search results, or even to bookmark them.

As described above, the archive target email extraction unit 15 functions as an authentication processing means that authorizes a specific user to extract and access a specific archive target email in response to an access and extraction request from the user terminal 30 .
This allows the authentication process (user authentication processing unit 11) when logging in to the system 1, as well as the authentication/denial of access to archived mail for each user to be determined, and for example, each user can only view the archive of broadcast mail to which he or she belongs, and can only view mail from the time when he or she was employed, and it is possible to determine and decide which archived mails a user may view and which archived mails he or she may not view, even if the user has successfully logged in to the system 1. In other words, it realizes the access authority for each user to each mail archive, and works as a mechanism to prevent the user from viewing a mail archive DB that he or she does not have the access authority to. In addition, it is also possible to automatically grant access authority to the broadcast mail archive to which the user belongs, using the above-mentioned SSO.

As described above, the archive target email extraction unit 15 automatically executes the process of extracting emails to be archived from the email archive DB 20 .
The specific processing operation of the archive target email extraction unit 15 will be described later with reference to FIGS.

[Archive target email search processing section]
The archive target email search processing unit 16 performs a predetermined search process on the archive target emails sent to the user terminal 30 in response to input operations from the user terminal 30, and transmits the search results so that they can be displayed on the user terminal 30 related to the request.
Specifically, when the archive target email search processing unit 16 receives search request information from a user terminal 30 requesting an email search, it executes a predetermined search process corresponding to the user's search request for the archive target email sent to the user terminal 30.
The search results are then transmitted to the user terminal 30 related to the search request, and are displayed so as to be viewable (see FIG. 6).

Here, the archive target email search processor 16 can execute, for example, the following search process (see FIG. 6).
[Backend]
- Extracting data from export data of email software (mailer).
Extraction of meta-information such as "To", "From", "Subject", and "Contents" contained in the email.
- Extraction of reply tree of email (threading).
- Indexing of the above data into search engines such as "Elasticsearch (registered trademark)".
- Identify and remove greetings, signatures, and quotations contained in emails, or exclude them from string searches.
・Search for similar sentences.
・Display summary and simple threads.
[front end]
・Thread display UI.
・Search UI.

Specifically, the archive target email search processing unit 16 can display only a specified portion of the archive target email included in the search results (e.g., only the body text) on the user terminal 30, and not display any portion other than the specified portion (e.g., signature, quotations, etc.).
In this way, a user who receives the search processing results by the archive target email search processing unit 16 can, for example, extract a desired broadcast email from the archive, and further, for example, display multiple broadcast emails in a thread, and also display only the email body of each broadcast email, making it possible to easily and quickly extract only the necessary and useful information, and display, view, refer to, etc.

For example, as described above, when a multicast email address is selected in response to an input operation on the user terminal 30, the archive target email extraction unit 15 extracts the multicast emails stored in the email archive DB 20 and displays the extracted emails on the user terminal 30 in a list display format, such as that shown in Figure 7.
This allows the user to use the above-mentioned search UI (see FIG. 7) displayed on the user terminal 30 to display only desired emails by filtering, for example, by keyword, date and time, etc. Also, a cross-search of multiple broadcast addresses may be performed.

Furthermore, when a list of multiple emails or searched and extracted emails are displayed in the text, quoted emails and signatures can be omitted when displayed using marking information added to each email.
Furthermore, by selecting one or more emails displayed through filtering in response to input operations on the user terminal 30, the above-mentioned archive target email extraction unit 15 can generate and issue a reference URL, thereby enabling the target user to transfer the issued URL to other users.

As described above, the archive target email search processor 16 automatically executes a search process for archive target emails extracted from the email archive DB 20 .
The specific processing operation of the archive target email search processor 16 will be described later with reference to FIGS.

[User terminal]
The user terminal 30 (30a to 30n) can be composed of one or more information processing devices, such as a PC, tablet terminal, smartphone, etc., that can be connected to the email archive server 10, email server 40, and broadcast system 50 via an in-house network such as a LAN or WAN, or the Internet 100, and are used for generating, sending, and receiving emails to be archived by this system 1.

And through such a user terminal 30, employees, staff, etc. belonging to the company or organization can send and receive necessary emails from the mail server 40 via the Internet 100, and can also access the mail archive server 10 to access desired archived emails, extract the necessary information, and view, refer to, search, etc. (see Figure 7).

[Mail server/multicast system]
The mail server 40 is an information processing device that includes a PC, a group of servers, and the like that functions as a mail server for sending and receiving mail in the present system 1 .
The broadcast system 50 is an information processing device that includes a PC, a server group, and the like that functions as a broadcast system for transmitting and receiving broadcast e-mails in the present system 1 .

Specifically, the mail server 40 is a mail server system that includes multiple servers, such as an SMTP server that sends and delivers mail, a DNS server that checks the destination IP address, and a POP server used for receiving mail, and allows mail sent from each user terminal 30 to be received by other user terminals 30 at the destination address or by this system.
In addition, multicast system 50 is a system for transmitting an email sent to one multicast address to one or more destination addresses registered in advance as destination addresses for multicast email. When an email is sent to one multicast address, the same email is sent simultaneously to one or more registered destination addresses for the multicast email. When a user who receives the multicast email replies to the received multicast email, the email can be sent to all other registered destination addresses for the multicast email.

In this system 1, when one or more emails/broadcast emails are sent from each user terminal 30, with the archive address generated by the above-mentioned archive address generation unit 12 as the destination address or including it as a destination address, the email/broadcast email is received in this system 1 via the mail server 40/broadcast system 50, and a predetermined email archiving process is performed by each of the above-mentioned archive target email receiving unit 13, received email archive unit 14, archive target email extraction unit 15, archive target email search processing unit 16 and email archive DB 20.
In addition, the mail server 40/multicast system 50 can be realized by utilizing an existing mail server/multicast system as long as it is communicably connected to the present system 1, so further detailed explanation will be omitted.

[Action]
Next, specific processing and operations (implementation of the mail archiving method) in the above-described system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
In this system 1, a series of processing operations are automatically executed by each of the above-mentioned parts of the email archive server 10, including the user authentication processing unit 11, archive address generation unit 12, archive target email receiving unit 13, received email archive unit 14, archive target email extraction unit 15, archive target email search processing unit 16, and email archive DB 20, thereby realizing an email archive function that makes it easy to find the desired email among emails sent and received between multiple user terminals 30 and to share information.

[Archive address generation process]
First, the process of generating an archive address in the system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the processing operation in the process of generating an archive address in the present system 1. In FIG.
As shown in the figure, the process of generating an archive address starts with a login and authentication process to the system 1 via a user terminal 30 .
As described above, in this system 1, SSO (IDaaS) makes it possible to perform the authentication process (FIG. 4) for logging in to the mail archive server 10 of this system 1 and the authentication process (FIG. 5) for logging in to the multicast system 50 described below using a common ID and password.

Specifically, a specific ID/PW is input into the user terminal 30 in response to an input operation by the user, and is transmitted to the system 1, thereby starting the login/authentication process (step 401).
In this system 1, when the ID/PW transmitted from the user terminal 30 is received (step 402), authentication processing is carried out based on the ID/PW (step 403: user authentication processing unit 11).
Specifically, if the ID/PW sent from the user terminal 30 matches the ID/PW of the corresponding user registered in the mail archive DB 20 of this system 1, the authentication is successful (step 404: Yes), and the login of the user terminal 30 to this system 1 is completed (step 405).

Next, the user can have the system 1 generate and transmit an archive address dedicated to archiving.
Specifically, the process of generating an archive address begins when a user who has logged in to the system 1 sends from the user terminal 30 a request for an archive address, which will be the destination address for emails to be archived in the system 1 (step 406).
In this system 1, when an archive address request sent from a user terminal 30 is received (step 407), an archive address dedicated to that user is generated (step 408), and the generated archive address is sent to the user terminal 30 of that user (step 409: archive address generation unit 12).
When the user who requested the archive address receives the archive address on the user terminal 30 (step 410), the user can thereafter use the archive address as the destination address for email/mass mail sent from the user terminal 30, and email addressed to the archive address is received by this system 1 and processed as archive mail.

[Mass mail sending and archiving]
Next, the processing operation of the transmission and archiving of broadcast mail in the present system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing operations in the process of sending and archiving a broadcast e-mail in the present system 1. In FIG.
As shown in the figure, the process of sending and archiving a broadcast mail starts with a login and authentication process to a broadcast system 50 via a user terminal 30 .

Specifically, a predetermined ID/PW is input into the user terminal 30 in response to an input operation by the user, and is transmitted to the multicast system 50, thereby starting a login/authentication process in the multicast system 50 (step 501).
In the broadcast system 50, when the ID/PW transmitted from the user terminal 30 is received (step 502), authentication processing is carried out based on the ID/PW (step 503).
Specifically, if the ID/PW sent from the user terminal 30 matches the ID/PW of the corresponding user registered in the broadcast system 50, the authentication is successful (step 504: Yes), and the login of the user terminal 30 to the broadcast system 50 is completed (step 505).

Next, the user who has logged in to the multicast system 50 can add the archive address issued and acquired from the system 1 to the destination addresses of the multicast mail (step 506). Specifically, predetermined information including the archive address is transmitted from the user terminal 30 to the multicast system 50 (step 506).
When the multicast system 50 receives the archive address sent from the user terminal 30, the archive address is registered as a destination address for multicast mail together with the user's identification information, multicast mail address, etc. (step 507).
This allows the user to create and send broadcast emails that include the archive address as the destination email to be sent from the user terminal 30, and the broadcast emails with the archive address as the destination email will be received by the system 1 and processed as archive emails.

Next, the user who has registered the archive address in the broadcast system 50 sends and receives broadcast e-mails whose destination includes the archive address issued and obtained from the present system 1. Naturally, any unspecified user who knows the broadcast address can send e-mail to the broadcast address, and all users who are broadcast to the broadcast address can receive e-mails addressed to the broadcast address.
Specifically, as an example, in response to a user's input operation, a broadcast email specifying a broadcast address that includes the archive address as the destination is created on the user terminal 30 (step 508), and when it is sent (step 509), the broadcast email is first received by the broadcast system 50 (step 510).

In the broadcast system 50, the received broadcast mail is sent to one or more destination addresses registered in the broadcast address of the mail, which destination address includes an archive address (step 511).
The broadcast mail sent from the broadcast system 50 is received by the mail server 40 (step 512), and is then sent from the mail server 40 to the destination addresses including the archive address (step 513).

The broadcast email sent from the mail server 40 is received by this system 1 as an archive target email with the archive address as the destination (step 514: archive target email receiving unit 13), and is stored and archived in a specified memory area of the email archive DB 20 (step 515: received email archive unit 14).
As a result, the broadcast emails archived in the email archive DB 20 will be retained and managed as archive emails of this system 1, and will be subject to archive processing such as extraction, viewing, reference, search, and forwarding in response to access from the user terminal 30.

[Extraction and search processing of emails to be archived]
Furthermore, the processing operation of the extraction and search process of emails to be archived in the present system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the processing operation in the process of extracting and searching emails to be archived that have been archived in the system 1. In FIG.
As shown in the figure, the process of extracting and searching emails to be archived is started by access from a user terminal 30 that is logged into the system 1 .

Specifically, first, a user who has logged in to the system 1 can transmit a display request for mail to be archived, specifying a desired archive address, to the system from the user terminal 30 (step 601).
In this system 1, when an archive display request sent from a user terminal 30 is received (step 602), the email archive DB 20 is referenced to extract emails to be archived that include the archive address related to the display request (step 604), and the extracted emails to be archived are sent to the user terminal 30 of the user related to the display request (step 604: archive target email extraction unit 15).

The mail to be archived that is sent from the system 1 is received by the user terminal 30 (step 606) and displayed in a format that can be viewed and referred to.
For example, the extracted emails to be archived will be displayed in a list display format or thread display format as shown in Figure 7, and the user can view and refer to the desired emails and perform search processing for the target emails in accordance with input operations on the user terminal 30.

The process of searching for emails to be archived begins when a user who has logged in to the system 1 sends an archive search request specifying, for example, desired keywords, date and time, email address, etc. to the system from the user terminal 30 (step 607).
In this system 1, when an archive search request sent from a user terminal 30 is received (step 608), a search process is executed to refer to and search the email archive DB 20 based on the keywords, etc. specified in the search request (step 609), and the search results extracting the relevant archive target emails are sent to the user terminal 30 of the user related to the search request (step 610: archive target email search processing unit 16).

The search results sent from the system 1 are received by the user terminal 30 (step 606) and displayed in a format that can be viewed and referenced.
For example, the searched emails to be archived will be displayed in a list display format or thread display format as shown in Figure 7, and the user can view and refer to the desired email and share specific emails in accordance with input operations on the user terminal 30.

The sharing process (which can also be called the forwarding process) of emails to be archived is initiated by a user who has logged in to the system 1 sending a URL request for the desired email to be forwarded from the emails to be archived to the system from the user terminal 30 (step 612).
In this system 1, when a URL request for the relevant email sent from the user terminal 30 is received (step 613), the email archive DB 20 is referenced and searched based on the email to be archived specified in the URL request, a URL indicating the location of the storage area of the relevant email to be archived is generated, and this is sent to the user terminal 30 of the user who sent the URL request (step 614: archive target email extraction unit 15).

The URL transmitted from the system 1 is received by the user terminal 30 (step 615), and can be shared from the user terminal 30 with the user terminals 30 of other users.
This allows an email indicated by a URL to be shared among a plurality of users, and allows the information in the email body, attachments, and the like to be shared easily and reliably via the URL.

As explained above, with this system 1, for large volumes of email sent and received between many users, such as email exchanged between individuals, or bulk email used within a group or among specific members of a group, all you need to do is register an email address dedicated to archiving (archive address), add it to the destination address, and send and receive the email in the same way as you would a normal email; the relevant email to be archived will then be automatically archived, allowing users to freely view and search the email, for example, on a web system, and also allowing users to easily transfer and share the desired email via, for example, a URL.

For example, it will be possible to utilize search capabilities, precision, and UI that are not available in existing mailers (email software), allowing users to obtain search results appropriate to their search keywords, and it will also be possible to hide unnecessary information such as quotations, addresses, and signatures by deleting or folding them.
Furthermore, by simply specifying an archive address as the destination, sent emails are automatically archived in this system 1, so there is no need for individuals to store, manage, or search for sent or received emails, whether they are regular general emails or mass emails sent to multiple recipients at once, making it possible to use the system as an extremely convenient and manageable email management tool.

In addition, it is also easy to refer to or look back on past mass emails sent or received before joining a mass email group by forwarding or identifying them using a search or URL.
Furthermore, even if an email that you have received is accidentally deleted or lost, if the email was sent to this system 1 as email to be archived, it can be accessed as an archived email and viewed or referenced.
Furthermore, when sharing email conversations among multiple people, the target email can be shared via a URL or the like, which can replace operations such as copying the email text to a chat or re-forwarding the email.

In this way, according to the present system 1, it is possible to realize a simple email archiving function that makes it easy to find and share the desired email for general email/mass mail used as a business tool or communication tool, for example, in companies, organizations, etc.
Therefore, it is possible to provide a mail archive system that is particularly suitable for managing and operating broadcast mail, in which a large amount of mail is repeatedly sent and received between multiple people.

Although the present invention has been described above by showing preferred embodiments thereof, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the email to be archived in the present invention has been mainly described as a mass email, but the email to which the present invention is applicable is not limited to a mass email.
In other words, the present invention can be applied to any type or format of email, regardless of whether it is normal email (general email) or mass email sent to multiple members at once, as long as an archive function is required.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the search function for archived mail includes filtering using keywords, date and time, etc., cross-searching multiple broadcast addresses, and displaying deleted signatures, quotations, etc. However, the search function for archived mail according to the present invention can also be realized in various applied forms, for example as follows.
・Analysis using text mining.
- Classification, tagging, and assignment using AI/machine learning based on the text.
- AI-based reminders (detection of neglected replies and false hits).
・Automatic FAQ and knowledge generation.

In the above embodiment, the multicast system 50 and the mail server 40 are described as each having the above-mentioned functions, but it is also possible to implement the multicast system 50 and the mail server 40 as one integrated unit, or to implement a configuration in which one function is transferred to the other. For example, a configuration in which a dedicated archive address is automatically generated and registered in the multicast system at the same time as the multicast email address is created (omitting the process of creating an archive address via a user terminal), or a configuration in which emails sent to the multicast email address are directly linked to the email archive system (without going through an archive address).

In addition, in this embodiment, an archive address is generated separately, and this archive address is added to the destination of the broadcast email, making it possible to store and reference the broadcast email; however, instead of generating an archive address separately, a uniform, same archive address can be used. By adding such a unified archive address to the destination of the broadcast email, multiple types of broadcast emails will be received as emails to the same destination, and the email archive server will identify which broadcast email it is based on the broadcast email address and store it, and when a user requests a reference, by receiving a specification of which broadcast email it is, it becomes possible to allow the user to reference the archived email of the corresponding broadcast email.

In addition, in this embodiment, the archive target email extraction unit 15 can be configured to extract only the archive target email corresponding to the sender address of the email sent from the user terminal 30 from among the stored archive target emails in response to an input operation from the user terminal 30. As a result, whether the archive target email is a general email or a mass email, email extraction is not performed even if an extraction request is made from a user unrelated to the email, and the archived email is extracted and can be viewed, referenced, etc. only by the sender of the corresponding email, ensuring the security of the email content and providing the necessary email only to users with the corresponding reference authority. At this time, the reference authority for the corresponding email is automatically given to the sending user of the email, making it possible to realize a simple and reliable security function that does not require the effort of authority management.

In addition, in this embodiment, when the mail to be archived is a broadcast mail sent to multiple destination addresses, the received mail archive unit 14 can be configured to distribute and store the mail to be archived in a specified storage area for each broadcast mail address instead of the archive address of the received mail. In the case of a broadcast mail, the attributes of the broadcast mail can be uniquely specified and identified not only by the dedicated archive address but also by the broadcast mail address, so in that case, either the dedicated archive address or the broadcast mail address can be used as identification information for archiving the mail (or both). In contrast to this received mail archive unit 14, the archive target mail extraction unit 15 can also be configured to extract only the archive target mail corresponding to the broadcast mail address from among the archive target mails stored in the mail archive DB 20 when the sent archive target mail is sent in response to a mail extraction request from the user terminal 30.

In addition, in this embodiment, the authentication of the multicast system and the mail archive server may be linked, so that when referring to emails archived in the mail archive server, it is confirmed which multicast email the target user belongs to, and when referring to emails, only archived emails related to the multicast email to which the target user belongs can be viewed.

The present invention can be suitably used as an email archiving system for archiving emails used and sent by employees of companies, organizations, and other such organizations, particularly mass emails sent simultaneously to multiple recipients.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Email archive system 10 Email archive server 11 User authentication processing unit 12 Archive address generation unit 13 Archive target email reception unit 14 Received email archive unit 15 Archive target email extraction unit 16 Archive target email search processing unit 20 Email archive database 30 User terminal 40 Email server 50 Broadcast system

Claims (9)

1. A system for archiving email sent to one or more destination addresses, comprising:
The system includes a user terminal used by a user who uses the archive, a mail server that receives mail sent from the user terminal and sends it to a destination address, and a mail archive server that is communicably connected to the user terminal and the mail server,
The mail archive server includes:
an archive target email receiving unit that receives an archive target email addressed to an archive address from the email server;
a received mail archive unit that distributes and stores received mail to be archived in a predetermined storage area for each of the archive addresses;
An email archive system comprising: an archive target email extraction unit that extracts specified archive target emails from the stored archive target emails in response to input operations from the user terminal and sends them to the user terminal. The email archive system of claim 1, further comprising an archive target email search processing unit that performs a predetermined search process on the archive target emails sent to the user terminal in response to input operations from the user terminal, and transmits the search results so that they can be displayed on the user terminal. When the email to be archived sent from the user terminal is a broadcast email sent to multiple destination addresses,
The received mail archive unit is
3. The mail archive system according to claim 1, wherein the mail to be archived is sorted and stored in the specified storage area for each destination address that matches the multiple destination addresses instead of the archive address. When the email to be archived sent from the user terminal is a broadcast email sent to multiple destination addresses,
The archive target email extraction unit
3. The email archive system according to claim 1, further comprising: extracting, from the stored emails to be archived, only those emails to be archived that correspond to the destination address of the broadcast email in response to an input operation from the user terminal. The archive target email extraction unit
The email archive system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, in response to input operations from the user terminal, only archive target emails corresponding to the sender address of emails sent from the user terminal are extracted from the stored archive target emails. The archive target email extraction unit
3. The mail archive system according to claim 1, further comprising: generating predetermined identification information capable of extracting mail to be archived that has been sent to said user terminal; and transmitting the information to said user terminal. The archive target email search processing unit includes:
3. The mail archive system according to claim 1, wherein only a predetermined portion of the mail to be archived included in the search result is displayed on the user terminal, and a portion other than the predetermined portion is not displayed. 3. The mail archive system according to claim 1, further comprising a user authentication processing unit that executes a predetermined authentication process for allowing communication with the user terminal. A mail archive server constituting a device for archiving mail sent to one or more destination addresses, comprising:
The archive server is communicatively connected to a user terminal used by a user who uses the archive, and to a mail server that receives mail sent from the user terminal and sends the mail to a destination address;
an archive target email receiving unit that receives an archive target email addressed to an archive address from the email server;
a received mail archive unit that distributes and stores received mail to be archived in a predetermined storage area for each of the archive addresses;
An email archive server comprising: an archive target email extraction unit that extracts specified archive target emails from the stored archive target emails in response to input operations from the user terminal and sends them to the user terminal.

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