JPH08274809A - Electronic mail transmission/reception service monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce burden on the user of electronic mail and to improve safety and reliability by supplying suitable information concerning the handled result of its own transmitted electronic mail information to the transmission side and the reception side after the electronic mail is transmitted. CONSTITUTION: This device is provided with a means for receiving the electronic mail transmitted from transmission terminal equipment 11 to reception terminal equipment 12 and newly generating electronic mail data for which information showing the open/close state of electronic mail is added to the electronic mail at least, means for storing the electronic mail data, and means 13 for transmitting the electronic mail data to the reception terminal equipment 12 and the transmission terminal equipment 11 and monitoring whether the electronic mail transmitted to the reception terminal equipment 12 is read or not. The reception terminal 12 informs the transmission terminal equipment 11 that the electronic mail is read.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail service monitoring apparatus, and more particularly to an electronic mail system service monitoring apparatus constructed in a local area network (that is, a private information exchange network) for transmitting and receiving electronic mail between mutual terminals. In this case, the other party (receiver) automatically informs the sender's terminal whether or not it has read the e-mail, and updates the contents of the sent mail without automatically retransmitting it, and the other party automatically changes with the change of the sender. The present invention relates to an updated email service monitoring device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional electronic mail system,
Without reply from the recipient (receiver) regarding the content of the email sent by the sender, contact from the recipient, or confirmation by himself, the sent email has arrived at the recipient but is still read as accumulated. It was not possible for the sender to know if there was no response, or if it was read but the other party did not receive a response due to its low business priority.

Further, when the contents of the electronic mail transmitted by the sender side are changed, it is necessary to send the corrected electronic mail again to the other side.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional electronic mail system, the sender side of the electronic mail easily determines whether or not the electronic mail sent by the other party (recipient) has been read. If it is not possible and the e-mail is sent to the other party and the contents of the e-mail are corrected or added, it is necessary to resend the e-mail.

Therefore, in the conventional electronic mail system, for example, a problem occurs such that the person who sent the electronic mail on the electronic mail sender side arbitrarily determines that the electronic mail has been read, which is particularly important. It is insufficient in terms of certainty and safety to exchange information on the contents.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to appropriately deal with the result of handling the electronic mail information sent by itself without any extra burden on the sending side and the receiving side after the sending of the electronic mail. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail service monitoring device that is supplied with information, reduces the burden on electronic mail users, and improves safety and reliability.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electronic signal transmitted from one terminal device (referred to as "originating terminal device") to another terminal device (referred to as "receiving terminal device"). Means for receiving an email and generating at least email information indicating the open / closed state of the email, the email data being generated;
Means for storing the e-mail data, means for transmitting the e-mail data to the receiving terminal device and the originating terminal device, and means for monitoring whether or not the e-mail sent to the receiving terminal device has been read And an e-mail service monitoring device that notifies the e-mail terminal that the e-mail has been read by the e-mail terminal device.

In the present invention, preferably, means for monitoring and controlling the originating terminal device and the receiving terminal device respectively are provided, and the electronic mail is based on the contents of the electronic mail transmitted by the originating terminal device. When the update of the data is detected, the electronic mail data in the receiving terminal device is automatically updated.

In the present invention, preferably, there is provided means for registering the identification numbers of a plurality of terminal devices on the network, and when the electronic mail is inputted from the transmitting terminal device, the identification numbers registered in the means are Inquired, based on the identification number in the e-mail data the sending terminal device,
Interconnection information of the receiving terminal device and the electronic mail service monitoring device is set.

In the present invention, preferably, when the electronic mail data transmitted to the receiving terminal device is not read, the transmitting terminal device detects an update of the content of the electronic mail data. At this time, the electronic mail data of the receiving terminal device is automatically updated with reference to the identification code of the mail data.

[0011]

The operation of the present invention will be described below based on the preferred embodiment of the present invention. According to the present invention, in an e-mail service monitoring device in which a plurality of terminal devices (also referred to as “client computers”) are connected via a local area network, the terminal device receiving the service uses its own identification number for the e-mail service. It is registered in the registration information recognition table in the monitoring device, and the sender sends e-mail data (for example, mail status, erasing method setting information, sender name, recipient name, title, contents) when sending an e-mail. The e-mail to the terminal device registered in the e-mail service monitoring device is transmitted to the receiving terminal device and automatically to the e-mail service monitoring device.

When the electronic mail service monitoring device receives the electronic mail, the electronic mail service monitoring device determines whether the mail status is security on or off. If it is on, the content of the electronic mail is not disclosed. Does not access the contents.

If the security is off, the e-mail service monitoring device can access the e-mail contents, the link information function can be used through the e-mail service monitoring device, and the e-mail information can be specified as the monitoring information. Data (eg email identification number, OPE
(N / CLOSE information) is added and transferred to the sending terminal and the receiving terminal at the same time, and the e-mail identification number is mutually linked between the sending terminal device, the receiving terminal device and the e-mail service monitoring device.

The e-mail identification number is erased, that is, the e-mail file is erased, and the e-mail service monitoring device monitors the data. If the sending data is corrected or changed, the e-mail is sent again. If the data is updated and the other party reads the e-mail, the OPEN / CLOSE information added by the e-mail service monitoring device becomes "OPEN", and the e-mail service monitoring is performed at each preset time. When the device is accessed, the e-mail shows "OPE
N "is determined and the caller is notified.

At the time of sending an e-mail, if the request confirmation time is set to ON at the sending side, the OPE of the e-mail at the receiving side with respect to the sending side at the designated time.
Notify N / CLOSED status. When the request confirmation time has passed, the e-mail service monitoring device accesses the e-mail on the receiving side at a regular time interval as usual and opens the OPEN / C.
It goes to confirm the LOSED state, and when it becomes "OPEN", it notifies the calling side. As described above, according to the present invention, safety and reliability are improved while reducing the burden on the electronic mail user.

When the e-mail on the receiving side is in the "CLOSE" state, the transmitted data is monitored when the data already transmitted on the transmitting side is updated, and the difference between the transmitted data and the updated data is confirmed. Then, it is updated by linking to the data to the receiving side. Therefore, the contents of the transmitted mail are automatically updated on the receiving side without re-transmitting from the transmitting side.

[0017]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a data format of an electronic mail operated in the electronic mail system according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of this embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the electronic mail monitoring control table in this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the format of the mail monitoring information data processed in the electronic mail service device of this embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, electronic mail transmission data 1
Is composed of mail status, erasing method setting information, recipient name (destination name), e-mail subject, e-mail content, and sender name. The electronic mail transmission data 1 is input to the electronic mail service monitoring device 13 (see FIG. 2) and processed into the mail monitoring information data 2. The email monitoring information data 2 includes email identification number, email open / close (OPEN / CLOSE) information, sent / received email data link information, email status, erasing method setting information, recipient name (destination name), email It consists of the subject, the content of the e-mail, and the name of the sender.

In FIG. 2, 11 is a terminal device for sending an electronic mail (referred to as an "e-mail sending terminal device"), 12 is a terminal device for receiving an e-mail (referred to as an "e-mail receiving terminal device"), and 13 is a terminal device. An e-mail service monitoring device, including terminal devices 11 and 12, and an e-mail service monitoring device
13 is usually connected to the same local area network (for example, a local information exchange network).

Referring to FIG. 2, the electronic mail service monitoring device 13 has a registered terminal information recognition table 21 for recording the terminal devices registered in the same local area network, and the transmitted electronic mail. E-mail information processing table 22 for adding new monitoring data to the data of E, e-mail terminal monitoring control table 24 for monitoring registered terminal devices, and electronic for collating transmitted / received data. A mail storage disk 25 is provided.

Referring to FIG. 4, in the mail monitoring information data 2, the electronic mail identification number 41 stores the identification number of the electronic mail to be managed by the electronic mail service monitoring device 13, and the electronic mail OPEN / CLOSE information 42
Is set with information as to whether or not the electronic mail has been read, and the sent mail data link information 43 is set with data link information of the sent mail for access when the sending terminal updates the data.

The mail status information 44 includes status information indicating disclosure / non-disclosure of the mail content. If the information designating security of the mail status information 44 is in the ON state, the content of the electronic mail is non-disclosure designation. The e-mail service monitoring device 13 does not access the contents of the e-mail. If the security information is off, the e-mail service monitoring device 13 can access the e-mail content, and the e-mail service monitoring device
The link information function can be used via 13 and the e-mail information has predetermined data (e-mail identification number 41, e-mail OPEN / CLOSE information 42) as monitoring information.
Is added, and the electronic mail sending terminal device 11, the electronic mail receiving terminal device 12, and the electronic mail service monitoring device 13 are linked to each other via the electronic mail identification number 41.

The erasing method setting information 45 sets whether the data in the e-mail storage disk 25 is automatically erased after the e-mail is read by the e-mail receiving terminal device 12 or the sender himself / herself erases the data. This is information for. E-mail service monitoring device 13 is for setting information on how to delete e-mail
If the mail file stored in the e-mail storage disk 25 is to be automatically deleted after checking whether the deletion request is automatic deletion or manual deletion by referring to 45, if it is between the sending terminal device and the receiving terminal device Erase after confirmation in
If it is manual, it will not be erased unless requested by the caller.

In the electronic mail information processing table 22, the recipient name 26 for designating the recipient name of the electronic mail from the contents of the electronic mail transmission data 1, the electronic mail title information 27, the electronic mail contents 28, The sender name information 29 is sequentially stored in the mail monitoring information data 2.

Next, the monitoring operation of the electronic mail service monitoring device 13 in this embodiment will be described. The sender of the electronic mail inputs necessary data according to the electronic mail transmission data 1 shown in FIG.

When the e-mail sending terminal device 11 and the e-mail receiving terminal device 12 (see FIG. 2) are connected to the same local network, registration is performed in the registration terminal information recognition table 21 of the e-mail service monitoring device 13. .

After setting the registration, when sending an e-mail from the e-mail sending terminal device 11 to the e-mail sending terminal device 12, the e-mail service monitoring device 13 indicates that the e-mail sending terminal device 11 uses the registered terminal information recognition table 21. After confirming that the email has been registered, the email sending data 1 sent from the email sending terminal device 11 is input and processed into the email monitoring information data 23 in the email information processing table 22 to generate the email monitoring. The information data 23 is supplied to the e-mail terminal monitoring control table 24, and the e-mail terminal monitoring control table 24 uses the e-mail transmission information 1 as the processed e-mail transmission data 1 for the e-mail sending terminal device.
11 and the electronic mail receiving terminal device 12.

At the same time, the mail monitoring information data 23 is stored in the electronic mail storage disk 25.

After that, the electronic mail service monitoring device 13
Accesses the e-mail of the e-mail receiving terminal device 12 at regular intervals, and the e-mail OPEN / C of the mail monitoring information data 2 in the e-mail receiving terminal device 12 is opened.
See the LOSE information 42 to see if the email was read. Then, when it is in the "OPEN" state, that is, when it is read, the e-mail sending terminal device 11 is notified of that fact, and "C
If it is in the “LOSE” state, “OPE
Access until the state is "N".

At the time of sending an e-mail, if the request confirmation time is set to the ON state on the side of the e-mail sending terminal device 11, at the designated time, the opening / closing of the e-mail at the receiving side is performed with respect to the sending side. Notify the CLOSED state. Then, after the request confirmation time has passed, the e-mail service monitoring device 13 accesses the e-mail monitoring information data 23 of the e-mail receiving terminal device 12 at a fixed time interval, and the OPE
The N / CLOSED state is confirmed, and when the state becomes the "OPEN" state, the e-mail transmission terminal device 11 side is notified.

FIG. 3 is an electronic mail terminal monitoring control table.
It is a figure which shows the structure of 24. The e-mail terminal monitoring control table 24 is a sending side client monitoring control table 31 that monitors and controls the e-mail sending terminal device 11, a receiving side client monitoring control table 32 that monitors and controls the e-mail receiving terminal device 12, a sending side, and a receiving side. E-mail storage disk control table for controlling the e-mail storage disk 25 by exchanging information with the side client monitoring control tables 31 and 32
It consists of 33.

When the electronic mail OPEN / CLOSE information 42 of the mail monitoring information data 2 in the electronic mail receiving terminal device 12 is "CLOSE", the electronic mail transmitting terminal device 11
When the data that has already been sent (called "sent data") has been updated, the sending-side client monitoring control table 31 monitors the sent data, and the sent data is stored in the email storage disk 25. Email identification number 41
After confirming that they match, check the difference from the previous time,
The data is updated by linking to the data for the electronic mail receiving terminal device 12. Therefore, it is not necessary to retransmit the update data from the electronic mail transmitting terminal device 11 side. Further, the updated mail data is also stored in the electronic mail storage disk 25.

Although the present invention has been described above in connection with the above embodiments, for example, the formats of the electronic mail and the mail monitoring information data described above are merely examples for explaining the present invention. It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned modes, and includes various modes according to the principle of the present invention.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The sending terminal device is automatically notified that the e-mail sent from the sending terminal device has been read by the receiving terminal device without error, and the sending / receiving mail is monitored by monitoring the mail data on the sending / receiving side. An e-mail service monitoring device that automatically updates the content on the receiving side without retransmitting it from the sending side and significantly reduces the burden on e-mail users while improving safety and reliability. To provide. In particular, according to the invention,
It is possible to prevent unintentional deletion of mail data,
It is possible to avoid the loss of important data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a data format of an electronic mail according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an electronic mail monitoring control table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a format of mail monitoring information data processed in an electronic mail service device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 E-mail sending terminal device 12 E-mail receiving terminal device 13 E-mail service monitoring device 21 Registered terminal information recognition table 22 E-mail information processing table 23 E-mail monitoring information data 24 E-mail terminal monitoring control table 25 E-mail storage disk 31 Sender side Client monitoring control table 32 Receiving side client monitoring control table 33 E-mail storage disk control table 41 E-mail identification number 42 E-mail OPEN / CLOSE information 43 E-mail data link information 44 E-mail status information 45 Erasing method setting information 46 E-mail subject 47 Recipient name 48 Sender name

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. One terminal device (referred to as "originating terminal device")
Receives an electronic mail sent from another terminal device to another terminal device (referred to as a “reception terminal device”), and generates electronic mail data by adding at least information indicating the open / closed state of the electronic mail to the electronic mail. Means for storing the electronic mail data, transmitting the electronic mail data to the receiving terminal device and the transmitting terminal device, and monitoring whether or not the electronic mail sent to the receiving terminal device has been read Means to do
An e-mail service monitoring device, comprising: notifying the originating terminal device that the e-mail has been read by the originating terminal device. 2. An update of the data of the electronic mail is detected based on the content of the electronic mail transmitted by the outgoing terminal device, which comprises means for monitoring and controlling the outgoing terminal device and the receiving terminal device, respectively. 2. The electronic mail service monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail data in the receiving terminal device is automatically updated when the email is sent. 3. A means for registering identification codes on a network of a plurality of terminal devices, wherein when the electronic mail is input from the transmitting terminal device, the identification codes registered in the means are inquired, and the identification codes are provided. 3. The electronic mail service monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein interconnection information of the sending terminal device, the receiving terminal device, and the electronic mail service monitoring device is set in the electronic mail data based on . 4. When the sending terminal device detects an update of the contents of the electronic mail data in a state where the electronic mail data sent to the receiving terminal device is not read, Refer to the identification code,
The electronic mail service monitoring device according to claim 3, wherein the electronic mail data of the receiving terminal device is automatically updated.